The Running Soul / October 10, 2024

Project Gold: Race 2: Chicago

It had been only 2 weeks since my PB in Berlin and I had no idea how my body would hold up for this one. I approached this race with wild abandon. I had no plan and no expectations.

The main reason for me, back in December, to sign up for this race was that the entire gang from home had registered for it. So the only item on the agenda was to have fun – pre race, during race and of course post race, whatever the outcome!

As we joined the sea of runners walking, shuffling, slow jogging, doing high knees, stretching, all sorts of movements, I was skipping. My joy knew no bounds as I approached race 2.

I was on a high post my Berlin run, and here I looked forward to running with my friends Ashima and Saroosh, at least for the initial few kilometres. As we walked to our corrals, the music got louder and the adrenaline started flowing. Our hearts pumped faster. Gel in, with a swig of water. I tightened my laces, one last time. Final huddle, we hi-fived one other and – Let’s Goooooo!!

Our first 2 km were slow, as all 3 of us were warming up, but the chatter had already started.

As we passed some lovely parks- we rued the lack of these back home. Coming down La Salle street, the banking and financial district, we joked how SD should buy a few of these imposing buildings. It would be a good investment, we laughed! We high fived the kids along the pavement- I embarrassed him just being my boisterous self!

Having already lost Ashima after the first 5km, by 15km SD fell back as well. I looked back, waved him a sad good bye. Then I turned around shook out my arms, loosed my shoulders. And I looked up, smiled, the sky was blue, the air was yet cool, stretched my arms out a-la-Kipchoge and shouted “Go- Chiiii-caaaaa-go!” And the crowd roared back, “Go Parooooool!”

Oh yeah, let the party begin! I found an all-girl band where I stopped for a few seconds and did some weird dance. China town, old town, we were covering the distance swiftly. My 5k laps were surprisingly consistent. 27/28 mins each. Wow!

I passed another band, singing Lionel Ritchie, “Come on and sing along” so I replied – “All night long!” Yes, I had the attention of the singer!

Half way – 1:59. OMG! how did this happen? Feeling upbeat, I drew energy from the crowds. This euphoria was unfortunately, short lived. By km 24 I could feel fatigue catching up with me.

My rational self finally woke up and berated my excited self. Don’t expend your energy on all this drama. Conserve. Okay- I told myself. No stupidity. No heroics. Just keep going like this. One step in front of the other. You are running a Marathon. Respect the distance. All my wild waving and cheering, well chastised, tempered down to demure waving and smiling.

The “josh” had dissipated and I was now in “dig deep” mode.

I smiled, made eye contact and they clapped. Called out my name. My smile was my strength.

Various thoughts flooded my mind. This second race was the tricky one, with only a 2-week recovery period. But here I was- in the last quarter of the race and all was fine. I thought of Savio’s wisdom- who had told me- “Don’t worry, take it one race at a time”. Truly, no one knew how this one would pan out. I was grateful for all my well wishers- especially those who expressed concern over my slightly far-fetched 3 race plan.

3:59 it was.

And I hugged Ashima as we finished within seconds of each other.

This is the best part of running a race with people we know. Sharing the tears of joy and of relief. The finish line is an explosion of emotions.

A celebration that marks the end of shared suffering. An acknowledgment of hard months of training that we have all done. For me, this scene is always larger than life. The music is loud, colours are more vivid, the sky is bluer and the smiles are wider. As life plays out in slow motion each moment remains imprinted in my mind. Standing across Grant Park I felt truly lucky and grateful. For everything. And everyone.

Per aspera ad astra (latin) : Through hardships to the stars