"Running" Hyderabad's First Marathon

Well, I didn't physically run the marathon, but I did in the organizational sense. I helped facilitate Hyderabad's first ever marathon, along with Kyle, Suzanne, Kyla, and a few hundred other volunteers. The event was facilitated by a local group of runners, and was fairly small, but it was organized really well and had some pretty impressive sponsors! I am sure that it will grow in numbers in years to come. 

Even though we weren't doing anything particularly physically exerting, we went out for a big preparatory meal the night before, to a well known local restaurant chain called Chutneys. It was actually the first time that I have gone out for Indian food, because most of the time, we eat out to get a break from local cuisine. But it was absolutely delicious! We totally over ordered and had SO MUCH FOOD (even more came after I took this pic), but the bill was still less that 10 USD per person! And since it was all vegetarian, overeating didn't feel as terrible as it sometimes does. We happily came home and went to bed early to get ready for the big day!

We each got a dosa (huge stuffed pancake thing) plus a basket of naan and
one bread stuffed with mashed potatoes and then like five main dishes,
and all of the different kinds of chutney

We got up at 4:30am, which brought weird flash backs to morning swim practice and an interesting mix of excitement and delirium. We walked about half a mile to Gachibowli statium because we were two minutes late for the shuttle and I assumed we missed it. Guess I forgot about Indian time, because of course it came about 20 minutes after the time that the organizers had insisted it would arrive. We got our free t-shirts (may or may not have been our main motivator of the day) and our official bibs. Then, we got on a bus full of volunteers to get dropped at aid stations every two kilometers across the route.

It was still very dark out when our day began

The sun rose in a foggy gradual way across the surprisingly cool and breezy city. Our aid station was really close to our house, and once we arrived, we started setting up.

Of course, only to look at the route map again and discover we were on the wrong side of the road. But we lifted everything over the barrier and were ready to go in perfect time for the first runner!

Then, we spent 6am to around 10am screaming our lungs off for each runner. We poured Gatorade and water into cups and handed them off as they went by so they wouldn't lose a second. 

We also pealed bananas and oranges, but those were less popular. So, we ate most of the fruit and biscuits (cross between crackers and cookies) intended for the runners to keep our energy up all morning. But the athletes really appreciated us.. they had huge smiles when they heard our screams and a few runners told us that we were the best aid station! 

Such a smooth banana hand-off

After the last runner went by, we headed to the finish line for the celebration. The governor was there and all of the runners got metals and brunch. It was a really cool scene! We attended a few Hyderabad Runner's meetings leading up to this event, so now I think we are securely in with the group now, and we might start working out with them sometimes (which really needs to happen). Working this marathon was kind of random and spontaneous, but I think it was a great way to meet locals and engage in the city. Overall, it was a very successful morning!