It was nice to finish my first half marathon yesterday. It took an embarrassing 3 hours 26 minutes to complete it, but I am glad that I was able to complete it 
I started running on 26th November 2008 just to get back in shape, but now I want to run as many marathons in my life as I can. I ran for around 15 days and then Knee Pain started. 12 days in the gym and I was back on my feet to run again…
I have been running with Varun (Gupta), Himanshu and Varun (Khurana) on Sundays at Lalbagh. We usually run as much as we can and then have a nice meal at MTR. The maximum that I had run before this was close to 5 Kms.
Stuff that helped me complete the 21 Km run:
- Music: I have started listening to Trans music now a days, specially while running and working out. Oh, and iPod Shuffle, it is the best iPod to run with. I love the fact that it has a clip and I can clip-on the iPod to my shorts while running.
- Clothes: Nike Dri Fit T-shirt and Adidas Running Shorts. I used to think that cotton is the best to run with until someone (sorry I forgot who it was) told me otherwise.
- Shoes: I don’t have the light running day shoes, but I am happy with my Nike Zoom Structure Triax+ 11. They are Motion Control Shoes for over pronators like me.
- Diet: Pretty much what LifeMojo suggested as Runner’s Diet.
- Stretching Exercises: All the stretching routines that I had mentioned before and a new one for the shin that Dharmendra suggested.
- Crowd cheering along the way: I can’t even express in words, the motivation that I got when strangers smiles and clapped as I passed the milestones. It is a great moral booster, especially for the first timer like me.
- Water: I don’t remember how much water I drank while running, but it was a lot!
It is a great feeling to complete the Half, and I would try to improve my timing next time.
(I am not the right person to take marathon running advice from. I am just sharing what I did to complete my first Half Marathon.)