6 down... goal met :-)

Trivandrum Marathon: Done. 6 Half Marathons in 2016: Done.

It was a good day as far as goals go and a grand one as far as runs go. I made a new PB - 2:33:25 - breaking my earlier personal record by a minute and a few seconds. I ran the race with the amazing support of my mom & dad who were cheering me on at the finish line. I had my aunt and uncle with me too at the finish - they had done their first 10k strong and had their very own PBs to celebrate. And get this: I got a podium finish - actually came in 2nd!!! Couldn't have asked for a better run to end my goal with.

The event as such was small with way less participants than the other events I've taken part in but it was well organized, the hydration stations were stocked decently well for an event this size, there were plenty of volunteers along the way to ensure everyone stuck to the correct route and in general it was smooth running. The route was just okay. Though most of it was running along the coast line it didn't offer any views of the ocean. But more than that what disappointed was the constant traffic in the relatively small roads. At one point I had to flatten myself out against a wall to avoid an oncoming public bus...

I stuck to my race plan more or less most of the way. My start was faster than planned and I reached the 5k point a minute or so early. I reached the 10k mark at 1:12:00 as per the plan but by the 15k point I had slipped by two minutes. From the 17.5k point onward I sort of had company. We kept each other's pace up (I think) for I am pretty sure I would have let myself slow down post 18k had it not been for this runner. I didn't learn anything about him because we mostly ran in silence (me listening to my music) except for talking about the remaining distance and time elapsed. I could have finished the last 100 meters in a sprint but I was distracted because I was looking for my power song to finish with and when I looked up I was suddenly at the finish already. Finished 4 minutes later than my race plan but PBed nevertheless...

I'm happy with that!

There weren't many women taking part in the 21K category and while taking the U turns, I didn't see any of them running ahead of me. I did see the winner, Kenyan Jane Mbogo enroute but she was so far up ahead that at the time I thought she was running in some other category. (Her timing is nearly an hour ahead of mine!). The results were out today and woah! here I am at second place!

I'll say it again: It was an awesome finish to my running goal for the  year!