The d-day

The day July 25th dawns, I wake up in the morning to get ready and leave the house by 3:30am to Venki's house from where we carpooled to Sunnyvale Caltrain station where our shuttle picked us up and dropped at the start line for San Francisco 1st Half marathon.

We reached at 5:30am. The sight of the bay bridge in the dark was very pretty! There was a lot of energy and noise and loud music playing at the start. I was already liking the experience! It was super windy and I didn't want to wait too long to start the race. So four of us (Meena, Manu, Megha and I) decided to go for an early start with wave 3 at 5:45am instead of the wave timing allotted to all Team Asha runners in wave 5. We were the group of injured and decided

to run conservatively.

I ran with Megha for the first 4 miles, we did a run-walk strategy for sometime.I was enjoying running along the bay, the beautiful views of the ocean, fisherman's wharf, ghirardeli, fort mason, crissy field..
AID runners wore "Run for India" t-shirts all running together.. it was lovely to see so many runners running all together on the roads and it was definitely enjoyable to have the road all for ourselves and having the liberty of running through the red lights on the roads while the cops held the traffic for runners.

Megha wasn't able to pick up pace and we were running too slow, so I decided to push a bit.. the achilles bothered for a bit but I took my mind off by soaking in the moment, enjoying the energy and the beauty of the city...then came the hill just before the golden gate bridge and saw my Asha buddies (Sandhya, Bhanu, Chakri, Praveen) standing there cheering for me. I was sooo happy to see them and started running faster.

Time check on the bridge and I realized that my math was wrong -that I was doing bad on time and I breezed through the bridge and forgot about the pain, the body was numb anyway due to the cold and sweat and it was foggy on the bridge but it was beautiful! The energy was amazing! there was a band playing at the vista point at the end of the bridge, made sure to have Gu after every 20mins -yea, I was on a sugar high which helped me breeze through and catch up with the 13 min/mi pace. 10 to 11mile patch was baker beach and a gorgeous breath-taking view overseeing the baker beach -it was amazzzingly stunning! The hills took a toll on running pace but the views helped me catch up... made sure I hydrated well and didn't run low on energy by consuming enough Cliff shot blocks and Gu after every few minutes.

Now running through the city and the hills, by this time, I could see most runners walk through the hills compared to the first hill where literally everyone was running through... Very close to entering the golden gate park and the cops were cheering us while blocking the traffic on the roads allowing the runners to pass by. Some folks rolled down their windows and played loud music from their cars... that was cool! :)

Now into the golden gate park -the last 0.5 miles and I was running low on energy, I was low on sugar... in that time, a female runner passing by says "you are lucky, your finish line is right here.. I have another half to go..." that gave a boost but I was tired... timing check and I was just a few mins short of making it within 3hrs, tried hard to push but felt like walking through.. that is when Devi joined me and we ran together for some distance... it was a tough to keep going, saw a bunch of TA folks but no finish line in sight yet... kept going and going and looking and looking until finally we saw Chandrika and she joined us in running the last 0.1 mile... Thanks to her, I sprinted through the last lap and was amazed at myself that I still had quite some energy left to sprint the last lap... Yes! I finished strong and felt very happy about it. The body had literally forgotten about all the pain and injuries and I was on a high! I was proud of myself that I finished within 3hours... Gave a Hi-5 to Devi, a big hug to Chandrika, Dilip and Venki... collected my medal, wrapped a blanki, changed into dry clothes, drank Irish coffee -yumm! :-) and stood in the shuttle line, back to the Asha tent, ate yumm Indian food with lassi while still basking in the glory of finishing strong and headed back home.

What an amazing race -full of energy! amazing buddies and team support! I feel so fortunate and blessed to have a set of such wonderful friends and being associated with Team Asha. I love you guys! Makes my life perfect! It was all worth it!

Race day coming up

Our last long run was at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, we ran 6 miles. I have been harboring some injuries in the past couple weeks, so I am compensating some other parts of my legs to make up for the injured parts! It was the right calf, then the runner's knee, then the right achilles and now the left ankle... :(

I did a run-walk this time and think will use this strategy on the race day. Quite anxious about completing it within the time limit!

Oh well, I will just enjoy the race, the crowd, the cheer and the beautiful course in the city! :-) As my close friend (Renu) simply put... "Go enjoy the race and paint it red" Thank you everyone for your kind wishes and support, I am blessed to have you all.

Until later, take care and happy running.
 

Waka Waka @Crissy Field

11miler was at Crissy Field (San Francisco) this weekend. It is a beautiful course which covers part of the official San Francisco marathon course. Pretty view of the golden gate bridge, the bay, alcatraz, passing by the Ghirardeli square and the city. Perfect weather (no sun) for running and what gorgeous views!

I was deeply immersed in the beauty for the first half of the run, it felt awesome, until I started running out of energy after about an hour and a half and felt exhausted, so my running buddy (Nupur) and I took a break to eat a piece of banana but that didn't quite help so we had GU a the next water stop and felt much better with the carb and sugar rush. Note to self: need to eat and hydrate well throughout the week and have proper breakfast before the run.

Achilles started bothering more during the last 3 miles, but I still kept running with some walk breaks in between but the last mile killed me... a shooting pain developed in the achilles and Swamy stopped me from pushing myself and Satya loosened my shoe laces :-) I noticed that my form had distorted badly and thus ended up hurting pretty much most my body parts badly including the back, it was time to take it easy, so I walked off the last mile. No, I didn't finish strong this time :-( but some lessons learnt, hope to incorporate them the next time. Interestingly the runner's knee didn't occur this time around.

The treat at the finish was samosa, jalebi, chai and dance to Waka Waka! What else can one ask for after a tough but beautiful 11mile run. Thank you all lovely volunteers to make this fun and happening! 

D-day coming up in less than a couple weeks... Time for a massage and get rejuvenated to experience the fun. Until later, stay tuned...

MIA

I have been missing in action for quite some time now... The last long run (6miles) didn't feel too good because of stiff legs and the whole body didn't have a good feeling. The achilles bothered quite a bit throughout the run, so I did run-walk for most of it (I hate stopping while running but couldn't help this time) I developed a runner's knee and quite a few other leg injuries, so have been taking it easy and trying to cross train to strengthen those weak parts. Have a 11miler coming up tomorrow, I hope to be well rested and better prepared.

More updates coming up. Until later, Sayonara!

Are you going to finish strong?

... is what I think of constantly while running long distance these days. One step at a time, slightly pushing myself and striving to maintain that consistent pace throughout the run while listening to the body.

My running buddy (Nupur) and I ran non-stop 9 miles on Oracle trail and completed in almost 2 hours (running the first mile at 12min/mile pace). We did take three quick waterstop breaks on the way to stretch and grab some gatorade. It was a hot day and the trail (mostly concrete) is not shaded, but the flat course and the cool breeze made it easier.

The waterstop volunteers were kind enough to make the gatorade concentrated which helped us keep going till the end. There was also a kid playing tabla at one of the waterstops -it was lovely! :) Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who make our runs possible and smooth week-after-week. Hats off to you guys!

Here's where that question comes from, a really touching and inspiring video:

Wild Cat @Rancho

It was hill training today. We ran 4.5 miles on the wild cat trail at Rancho. First half was a steep climb, was running out of breath faster, so walked most of it until the vista point. Gorgeous view of the valley from the top and Shiva gave us a quick tour :)

Thank God for the water I was carrying, but I need to find an optimum way for the fuel belt to stay stable on my waist -it seems to be bothering me a lot during the run! :(

Second half was a breeze! Felt like an altogether different world, lush green and very well shaded... Oh did I forget to say we spotted a few deer on the way, yea :)

Slight pain in the achilles towards the end but what a wonderful run!

7 miler at Sawyer camp

This is one of my favorite trails since it is very scenic, mostly shaded and we get to run by the reservoir. Started the run early morning with the larger group. Some experimentation with my new fuel belt and it makes me happy that I ain't running with my iPod anymore, rather enjoying running with my buddies. Need my watch to time the run and pace myself. Had a slight pain in my right achilles, wonder if the calf hurt has moved down to achilles now. The knees felt some discomfort towards the end and after the run. Guess, I need some cross training and strengthening for my knees.

But more importantly, we finished strong. 7-miler seems longer if you are running by yourself but the team makes it seem like a breeze. It is challenging to organize the runs on this trail operations-wise, especially the water stops, with no close access to road, etc. Hats off to the Ops team and all the volunteers that make it happen!

Go Team Asha!