The Twin Cities Marathon

A Dream come true! Yes indeed!!

I go back quite a few years, to 1994 when Ankush was born of a very difficult childbirth; a night of repeated seizures on the fourth day of his birth followed by a battery of tests on a neonate placed in an incubator, no logical deductions but with a clear possibility of extensive damage to his physical being and cognitive abilities.  Left us young parents in a dizzying range of emotions ranging from utter confusion to heightened apprehensions.

1994 – 2008. Champa, my wife left no stone unturned in her pursuit to know everything about the impending challenge, a challenge of having a child with disabilities.  She spoke to scores of doctors in and outside the army, visited quite a few psychologists/child counselors/speech therapists, read up all the related material she could lay her hands on and eventually settled down to rearing him as the mother.  Ankush on his part, growing up from a toddler had displayed atypical characteristics such as, a strange father fixation, clinging to his mother the whole day with non-stop crying, not being able to speak till 4.5 years of age, not being able to wear shoes the right way or tying shoe laces, soiling his clothes every now & then, etc.  Later years of his childhood, his elder brother Anish became his idol and helped in forging a great sibling bonding which lasts till date. Slowly, with a good support structure both at home (he would be included in all discussions including the ones pertaining to his disability) and on the outside, friendly ecosystem in the army he started to come out of his shell, became more affable about himself with greatly enhanced interactive skills. His Principal Neeraj K. Bedhotia at Mayoor School, Ajmer, spotted him for his beautiful strides in running & predicted a likely future. He started playing golf and overtook me in two weeks time! In the humdrum of all these the family moved to Bangalore. Our mandate for his future was apparently clear.

2009-to date. Initial 3 years, Ankush practiced golf on his own way and became reasonably proficient in the game but needed his dad (father fixation continues!) to be around for almost everything, from choosing his clothes to having him caddying for the game. Number of other chores such as driving to the golf course, looking after his daily needs, dropping him off at his school(could neither cross a road nor ride a bus on his own), etc. were also to be performed to keep him going. Meanwhile, he was finally evaluated by NIMHANS to have intellectual disability (IQ rating of 66-dull to mild MR range) with 50% disability & was issued a disability certificate. In other words, he is not capable of any academic pursuit beyond a point and in our country also means, he is incapable of earning his livelihood.  Nonetheless, he could manage to clear his Secondary School certification from NIOS after attending school for 4 years at the Learner Center of Spastic Society of Karnataka(SSK), Indira Nagar. By now, he was quite a popular figure in SSK being a sportsman & an extrovert.  Ankush clearly, was enjoying life to the hilt!  Santhosh who volunteered at SSK met him; spotted his potential, met me and we finally joined the Runners’s high in November 2012.

Running trivia. No serious running started for him till our joining RH.  Ankush & I started running 10k steadily progressing to 21 k in next 2 years.  Evidently, he found his calling in running and I kept with him since it met our dual purpose of keeping up my own fitness & channeling his energy into running & golf.  These were the areas he excelled and thus my job became easier.  In 2014-15, he was selected to represent his country in golf at Special Olympics World Games at LA, USA.  He came up short in the medal reckoning and missed the bronze medal by one stroke.  The experience was overwhelming but he took it in his stride as the time went by.  Come 2016 post SCMM Mumbai, where he ran his third half marathon with a PB of 1:42, he started showing interest to crack the full marathon. Finally, when following monsoon season was nearing completion he broached the subject.  I asked him to take couple of days more to mull over and let me know. Knowing him, he was steadfast and was in no mood of relenting.  I discussed with Santhosh initially.  Santhosh wanted to take it up with George the whole issue of some of the Ananya boys & Ankush graduating to full version.  It was Okayed with the rider that I was to monitor his progress since pacing & perception of the distance involved remains a challenge due to intrinsic deficiency Ankush has.

Training for full. The excitement in Ankush’s life on joining the programme was not without its element of uncertainty.   It became palpable when he stepped into the period where long runs went beyond 21k, a distance he was familiar with and his brooding became pronounced.  He would talk to himself about it when nobody was around. One thing he was pretty sure about was that his dad would bail him out of any situation, should there be any.  Of course, talking to him on our long runs we ran together, time spent together on walks, Tuesday runs or at home fairly helped him to stay calm throughout his training. He did everything from water intake, meeting nutrition requirements, strengthening, rest & recovery schedule to the T. He took everything in his stride with immense pride and sharing with his mother at home, occasionally flexing his biceps to show off!!  He was the “Model Trainee” in every sense of the word.  I could not have asked for anything better, felt blessed to have a child like him.  He was thrilled when Santhosh ran with us on our Nandi Hill run.  We had an early start at 4.30 am and three of us ran the first loop of 6k out & back in a moonlit ethereal setting! We finished 24k in a 2:18 and headed out for our voluntary duties at SSK.  Srini V of course was monitoring his progress since I used to give him an update on our going. Ankush rounded up his training by finishing the longest run, i.e. 34k in 2:56. I knew for sure and if I can hazard a guess, so did Santhosh, Srini V & Chandra that the young lad was on course for a good finish in his very first!

The Race Day. We arrived as a family of four at Mumbai on the previous day feeling quite upbeat.  Both of us knew that we have trained well, did everything right the way it was supposed to be.  All of us had a hearty lunch and was eager to meet everyone during our dinner meet. As usual, the friendly banter, the camaraderie of RH during the dinner set the tone for a good race the next day.  On the race day, morning rituals of waking up, getting ready, green tea, pre-race snacking, checking garmin, stop watch & loading up the on-course nutrition (trail mix, methi paratha, dates, et al) on person, etc., all went as per schedule. Champa & Anish  were there to wish us good luck before we left the hotel.  Quickly, reached the holding area, met few of RHers and joined the huddle to move towards the start line.   We started the race 3 mins off the gun time, started running together.  The whole idea was to pace Ankush in his first ever-full start to finish and thus we stayed together.  Of course I realized shortly afterwards that the race day euphoria had affected Ankush and he had set for himself a blistering pace and I was only partially successful in slowing him down to the desired pace during the first half.  The humidity made the early morning muggy, but wasn’t really affecting the running.  However, I sensed the hydration has to go on an overdrive and we grabbed a bottle each to keep ourselves adequately hydrated.  We finished the 10k in 50 minutes and hit the half way mark around 1:48, which incidentally was 2 minutes faster than the intended time. Ankush by now was showing early signs of tiring out, as he now wanted to walk a little.  I could sense it coming as he slowed down at the beginning of the sea-link. I had my plan B ready which was to allow him to catch his breath by going 10 odd paces, feed him something and start him back on the run with our usual chat.  Between 25k to 30k, he kept asking me about the remaining distance ostensibly to get some kind of reassurance.  I told him something about equivalent of completing two (5k)loops of Cubbon park about the remaining distance.  It worked fine till 33k, all the same his walks were getting longer.  Of course, not even once he showed any inclination of giving up and this is where his extra effort at the strengthening session (mostly done together at home as per Chandra’s schedule, thank heavens!) came to his rescue. Then I started telling him about how we will go on doing 6-10 paces of walk and then running with our heads down, watching only own feet going ahead of each other!! I also kept talking about Santhosh, Chandra & Srini V (He idolize each one of them) & their efforts towards his training & their expectations.  Glib talk but it helps! Meeting Ashok & Abhishek at 33K was again god-send for him. We were lovingly shoved with some goodies.  I requested Ashok to take a picture of us, which he readily obliged. Incidentally, this photo was the only one taken of ours and am indeed indebted to Ashok.  It worked finally and soon we hit Peddar road. I found him suddenly with a spring in his legs surging ahead of me.  We ran downhill, met Santhosh on the turn towards Babulnath temple and soon were on the Marine drive stretch.  Suddenly, behind us there was frantic activity of clearing the road for returning elite runners. We both stopped to catch an up-close glimpse of their mesmerizing strides and then restarted our now slow trudge towards the finish.  A quick strategy of walk-run kept him alive to the fact that a good finish whether sub-4 hrs or not is very much within his reach.  He did well, however kept asking for the Ambassador Hotel turn, which finally showed up.  I told him that we will now only stop on finishing and he seemed to agree.   Finally around 300 meters, I showed him the shiny sky blue mat to the finish and asked him to go ahead.  Ankush crossed the finish line in 4:02:56 and I crossed 3 seconds later.  Champa & Anish were there crying out their throats.  We all gave him tight hugs. The moment was unbelievable; Ankush,  for whom some learned doctors & psychologists had predicted life as an invalid person, had just finished running a marathon by himself! His self belief nurtured by his own gifted capabilities, his zest for living life to the full, his no-nonsense focus on training and blessings of this wonderful community of Runner’s High, and the support from his alma mater SSK has made all this possible. Our family does not have adequate words to express our immense gratitude.

Heartfelt Thanks to you all out there!

Bipra, Champa, Anish & Ankush