WHAT EVERY NEW MARATHONER GETS WRONG (AND HOW TO FIX IT)

With marathon participation in India rising sharply, thousands of new runners are preparing for their first race. These are the things no one warns you about

- By Sharan Sanil

India is deep in an endurance boom. Running has quietly become one of the country's fastest-growing sports, and the shift is most visible in its urban centres.

Hundreds of Mumbaikars gather in gated communities at 5:30 AM to stretch in the dark and head out for two-hour training runs before work, a routine now mirrored across the city and beyond. The last Tata Mumbai Marathon, due for its next edition in mid-January, crossed roughly 56,000 registrations, up by about 7 per cent of the previous year's numbers. It marks a strong year-on-year rise and signals just how many new runners are pouring into the sport.

So, if you are one of the thousands who signed up for a marathon or half marathon weeks ago and only recently realised the date is very close, you are not alone; the late-year panic is practically a rite of passage. Here's five things first-timers rarely hear but absolutely need to know::

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