My First Half Marathon : Running to Prove

Running a half marathon isn’t an easy feat but the feeling of crossing that finish line for the first time is worth all the tough training runs. Training for a half marathon, or any race for that matter, takes a lot of self motivation and mental toughness. To be completely transparent, some days you will love it and some days you will hate it, and that is absolutely to be expected. I completed the NMDC Hyderabad Half Marathon on 24th August 2025 successfully at a very decent run time for my first Half Marathon. 

Although training for a half marathon does take time and commitment, it doesn’t need to control your entire personal/social life. Plan your runs/workouts ahead of time each week, complete them when you are able to, and then move on. If one run or workout doesn’t go as planned or you get caught up doing something else that day, that is okay too. Life goes on and one missed training run or workout isn’t going to spoil the entire training process. Give yourself some grace and just get back on track the next day.

I stress this so much in all aspects of any type of workout or fitness activity, but race day should be FUN! Enjoy it. Take it all in and be proud of your accomplishments after each mile. Try not to stress or worry too much and trust that your training has prepared you for this moment more than you might realize.  The human body is pretty amazing, and you shouldn’t let your time goal or the conditions get in the way of the fact that you just did something amazing.

Close Friends who I ran with

I cannot tell you how much strength training has helped with my overall running performance. It has not only made my mile splits faster, but I feel stronger and feel better while doing it too. You can do this through a fitness class or lifting weights at your local gym. You will want to factor that into your overall training plan and most plans will designate these workouts at “cross training days.” I personally love hitting all the major muscle groups of the body to hit my resistance training goals throughout training.

While I have been on and off running for most of my life, I very rarely attempted more than a 10K. After hitting those first couple miles, my brain would tell me to stop because I wouldn’t be able to handle more. For the last few years, I had felt intrigued and inspired by those who completed a half marathon as it seemed like a great physical and mental challenge. Even more surprisingly, I had heard anecdotes that while the pain was real during training and race day, it simultaneously made for an oddly joyous and rewarding experience. As cheesy as it sounds, attempting a half marathon seemed like one avenue to try to be the best version of myself.

Friends with whom I have trained for HM

I had never run a half marathon before but this time around I had made up my mind to give it a serious try and here I am writing this experience up for my first Half Marathon of my life.

I created my own 4-week training plan. I decided to run two times a week (1 medium runs, one long run) as it felt like a sweet spot to consistently improve as a runner, without getting burnt out. In addition, I added some light weight-lifting (ex: front squats and overhead presses) before my runs and yoga after my runs (ex: forward folds and tree poses). These additions helped maintain my strength and flexibility throughout training. 

Training Week 1 - 7Kms

I tried my best to run all my runs at “Zone 2” heart rate (139–151 BPM), which is just a fancy way of saying running at a conversational pace. A lot of research has shown this “easy” running helps train your body to handle longer bouts of cardio, because it trains your body to use fat stores (longer-term energy) instead of carb stores (shorter-term energy) when running. It’s also safer on the body and results in much lower rate of injury. I definitely cannot explain the science perfectly (and may have even explained it incorrectly now), but if you’re interested you can read more here.

It was painful at times to stay so doggedly consistent with training, especially when the alarm would go off before the sun would come up. Those first few moments of waking up I questioned why I ever chose to sign up for this thing in the first place. Over the weeks though, I really began to like following a training calendar and knocking out these runs early in the morning. Each tick-marked run was a step closer to this goal that slowly felt less and less unreachable.

Training Week 2 - 10K

The runs beyond 10 Kms felt really gratifying and even surreal to complete — the first kms or two it was hard to fathom I could run for 1.5–2 hours, but slowly and steadily the distance got done, and before I knew it I had run the longest I had ever in my life! As the long runs got longer, especially my first ever 15Kms, the part of my brain that would tell me I could not run a half marathon seemed to finally quiet down.

During training runs, I had run non stop for 10Kms and 13.5 Kms the zone2 pace helped me gain distance. 

Training Week 3 - Weekend long run 13.5 Kms

The weekend before the half marathon, I covered 17.35 Kms and suddenly I felt I am in the zone and could comfortably finish it. However, the doubts of muscle cramps, injury for the last 3.75 Kms makes you think otherwise. Oh, and by the way, the day before the race is one of the most exhilarating times, you hardly could sleep anticipating the tyranny of a long run next day.

Week 4 - weekend long run 17.35 Kms

Now the NMDC Hyderabad Marathon - Terrain Review

The Hyderabad marathon terrain is a challenging but scenic point-to-point course featuring a mix of flat sections along Necklace Road, significant climbs through four flyovers in Banjara Hills, KBR Park, a unique run over the Durgam Cheruvu cable bridge and the never ending Gachibowli flyover, fast/flat roads in the IT corridor before finishing in Gachibowli Stadium. It's known for its undulating character, combining flat stretches with demanding hills, making it a rewarding yet difficult city marathon. Its counted as one of the most difficult marathon routes in India.

Came race day, woke up at 330AM, turned up for my transport at 4am – along side 6 other friends (4 of whom I motivated to join me for the run) - gave myself enough time to relax and stretch.  I did almost two months of training for the run, and seeing the energy of other runners and the race day decorations filled me with adrenaline.

At the Start line

Please stop by take pictures. Let the phenomenal feeling sink in that you are in, and you are about to accomplish something special for your mind more than the body.

During the run at Durgam Cheruvu Bridge

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Also, a small request to all runners attending an event: Please don’t stop randomly in the middle of the road. If you’re slowing down, move towards the left so others can overtake you on the right. I wasted a ridiculous amount of energy weaving through hordes of runners and, at multiple points, got stuck behind groups blocking the entire road. Weaving through runner traffic is a problem I never thought I would face

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 Yayy!. I continued to run at good pace until the 17Kms mark giving myself refreshment breaks every 2 kms. Now, the first cramps showed up in the thighs just above the knee, I slowed myself down and walked a little. The pain didn’t go away, I just got the race assistants to spray some pain killer and woo-hoo it all went away. I was so happy that my body is not going to give up. In hindsight, I had just given enough time for the accumulated lactate to clear out, which is why I was able to continue running.

I truly experienced runner’s high during that phase of the half marathon. The satisfaction of pushing both my body and my mind, the surreal feeling of teetering on the edge of achieving something that still seems impossible, and the high fueled by my “Feel Good” playlist were indescribable. If I may, it was truly “heaven on earth”.

Around the 18.5 km mark, I wanted to slow down, take some rest, and then finish the half marathon, but that was when most people were speeding up, with the finish line so close. I, too, started pushing myself, forcing my pace even as my legs and my lungs begged me to slow down so badly. I was fighting against my mind like never before. There were so many moments where I slowed down slightly, only to win the momentary battle against my mind and speed up yet again. 

I learned about the “Adrenaline Rush” in my school science class — the state where your body seemingly does things that would normally be impossible. The phase where muscles are overloaded with oxygen and you gain hysterical strength. I experienced it at an entirely new level for the first time in my life. 

I was so proud of myself for accomplishing something I never thought I was capable of.

My base goal was to just complete the half marathon, but my stretch goal was running the race in better times compared to what I was clocking during training run days. I didn’t share this goal with family or friends, because I genuinely didn’t think it was possible for me. 

On race day though, I was shocked that I could comfortably run a lot faster than usual, probably spurred by the mix of adrenaline and the delayed benefits of the slow and steady zone 2 training. Most of the milestone(5K(34mins), 7k(48mins), 10k(73mins), 15K(120 mins) were at least 5-7 minutes better than my training run days.

Running enthusiast from Bangalore

Srinivas - Running legend and a friend

Friend and running enthusiast - completed HM in sub Two Hours

Wear your medal out to eat after your race! It is always so fun going out with friends and family after your race and wearing your medal out and about in the city you just ran in. You should feel proud about your accomplishment and wearing your medal out to brunch afterwards is just the unspoken race day rule 😜