18 miles at 13.42 min/mile.. Happy.

These past few days have been super stressful. I am juggling too many hats at once and it leaves me exhausted.. I can't sleep, I can't stop thinking.

But this Sunday I woke up with a very positive dream, I dreamt I finished the marathon before anyone else. This dream sort of gave me the courage to push harder. I was determined to do better. I just wanted to finish under 14min/mile.

We did just that this Sunday on the beautiful trails of Carderock, near great falls MD. It feels wonderful.

I feel better, still very anxious. But this Sunday when I ran, it was pure joy. Everything hurt but I was in my zone. I sort of felt God was helping me achieve my dream. It was his way of saying dream bigger, I'm here to help to stand right by you. 

When I ran this Sunday it was like never before, I don't know how I had the strength or courage but all I want to do is thank God for it. I think you are the best!

I have such strong feelings for God even though I am not religious, I feel he's always been there for me whenever I have needed him. It's amazing he always there for you always. May he help everyone who needs him. Bless us all.

Why am I not ambitious enough??

Being sick with viral has made me question myself. Most of my life I have either been good at something to begin with or have easily learnt it. The only thing I ever really worked hard at was maths, also because I loved it. Then it got me to think that I haven't actually wanted anything badly ever. Everything always falls in place magically all by itself. I was never the go getter to begin with. In fact as I can remember I have always been perfectly happy with the way things are at the moment at any moment.

Given all this I read posts with people who have just started running clocking in 6 miles/hr. I feel really happy for them and also wonder what is the matter with me. I am questioning myself if I can actually do this. I don't know if I can actually complete this marathon in time.

Okay I'm editing this post, of course I can do it. we can do it! :D:D back to interval training starting tomorrow.

No 22 mile run for me :(

I woke up in the middle of the night on sunday with a terrible headache which later also turned into a ear infection. Missed the 22 mile run. Today went to doctors as I still had a heavy head and closed ear and a runny nose and guess what the doctor told me, I have a viral flu. I also had a fever which I was unaware of, as I am generally a little warm anyways. Came home from work craving warm tomato soup but with no energy to make some. Thought I would make tea and we are fresh out of milk. I think I should sleep now. Perfect time to fall sick :(

41 days to go: 20 mile run

As promised I did attend last weeks wednesday and friday's training runs. I was exhausted before both of these but this is no time to get lazy. Legs hurt, but come on who am I to complain. Other people are putting in way too much effort and they don't complain.

Anyways, I had a talk with Zak and Sanjay and  they both mentioned that I need to improve my diet. Not enough nutritious food leaves me tired. So yesterday I went shopping and I made this awesome soup with vegetables like onion, tomato, green and red bell peppers, mushroom, kale, spinach, broccoli, spring onion, shell pasta and bulgar.

Today we were supposed to start run early but we overslept and started run with others. I have no idea how but we completed 20 miles today. I forgot to turn on my mapmyrun map in the beginning and Harsh lost his battery so we don't have exact details but there was this lady who was running with us and she told us that we ran a little over 20 miles with a pace of 15.10 mins/mile.

Need to do better. Ever since we started running we are sort of obsessed with it and as the days for the marathon get nearer thats all we can talk of. Hope everything turns out well. Touch wood.

48 days to go.. 18.44 mile run

Today I ran after 2 weeks. We did run 8 miles on last 24th but thats when the cramps hit me again after the 7th mile. I'm a funny runner when I start actually running, my hands go loose, my stride length increases and I actually start enjoying the run.. I wish I could run like that for all of 26 miles but I can't. Reason -  I don't train enough.

That brings me back to todays run. If I can just say that I felt amazing until the 13th mile. Thats when, you guessed it right, the cramps hit. Instead of giving up I kept running today. Harsh told me a story whose gist says that an injured tiger is more dangerous as it gives 150%. He compared me to an injured tigresses. I went along with this joke. To set things straight Harsh has retracted his statement about me being a tigresses and has now declared that I am a vegetarian sheep :)

Anyway this was the funny part. After 14.79 miles I had given up. I switched off my mapmyrun app and sat on the grass. I wanted to give up. Thats unacceptable to my idealistic husband. His words "We never quit. Completing what we started is most important." We walked for the rest of the distance. In the end, I could barely feel anything, it still hurt but we had done it. We made everyone wait for us, which was not at all good and we feel guilty as ever for it. But it means a lot that they stayed. The advice we receive from them is crucial and their support is what has kept us going.We took 5 hours but we completed 18 miles. Not proud of it. Not ashamed of it either.

My latest physical says I have some condition that basically makes my body feel tired most of the times.   It also accompanies with a host of other effects, my body cannot utilize all the nutrients that I pump into it. Basically my essential hormones are all acting crazy. After repeated tests I am still waiting for the final verdict.

So far so good, I will record my wednesday and friday workouts. Very little time left, need to train better.

14 mile run: Embarrassed!

Everything was going fine, I was running slowly again and had just started picking up speed after mile 2. I was sprinting and thought I would do well. Took gu at mile 5 and felt no change or burst of energy. But kept running constantly at a slow constant pace. Then I think it was mile 11 when I had this sharp spasm like pain in my lower abdomen. I ignored it and kept running. The pain never stopped and its intensity kept getting worse. At one point I just wanted to quit. I wanted to quit the race and the training altogether. I have had pain everywhere else in my body, sharp shooting pains coming from hips, shins hurting, knees hurting, stomach cramps, headaches, sore blistered toes and ankles.. Never ever ever had I felt anything like this. I thought okay this is a signal, somethings  wrong with me. I walked the rest of the distance only later to find out it was common. I didn't know if I should feel relieved or cry at my stupidity. But cry I did. And I could not help it. I had imagined the worst and until I get a check up I won't be convinced..

I was pretty put out by the whole incident. Harsh in his funny way convinced me that there's nothing to worry about and google helped too. The worst part is I have a new nick name, cramp baby. Seriously! You want to make fun of me when I am at my lowest! :) anyways I am determined to get stronger even if it means running everyday to build strength. 

Just this one year, I want to run as much as I can. I'm not the best at it, not even good at it but this is something I want to do this year. Please help me God.

Something's the matter

Hmmm I have been MIA all this days. I had too much going on in my life. Work, runs, yoga, house, home, reading, family, and commitments.. Reading is almost non existent and most Saturdays are dedicated to it.. Saturdays are our day.. It is dedicated to rest, home, family, food and reading.. While some lucky people enjoy their afternoon siesta, I take the time to catch up on my reading.. 6 weeks for 4 books is a pace slower even compared to my running :)

Back to running, yeah I missed 2 Sunday runs and have been irregular to the interval training and Friday runs.. If there's such a thing as chronic fatigue, then that's what's bothering me for over a week now.. I find myself grasping my breath for no reason, have regular headaches, upset stomach, have thrown up a couple of times and in general feel exhausted.. It's not food poisoning.. I don't know what it is. I try to sleep for adequate time but when I wake up its like I never slept. I don't know.. Maybe it's food, I need more nutritious food.. But I eat yogurt daily, eat lots of fruits and berries, have started eating eggs more than I usually do. I don't know. I seem to be complaining a lot and have started irritating my own self.. No more complaining.. Maybe it's just psychological.. 

On another note, I need to focus on my speed.. I'll do some research and get back.. Until then, buck up N.

You know this one day..

You know this one day this lady who could not even run half a mile actually completed a 16 mile run! Yes she did and she never looked back.. She went on to run more long distances, she ran 14, 15 miles the coming Sundays and she was proud of herself. Her time totally sucked though :) but hey she has a goal set in her heart and if she works really hard I'm sure she'll do much better. 

It wasn't easy though, she hurt her knee and her shins hurt like crazy.. The last few miles are torture and she drags her feet, yes literally! So far so good.. Half way there. Another half to go.

16 miles

We just ran our very first 16.01 mile run today. It took me and Harsh 4 hours 20 minutes. I ran really slowly and got tired at the end, but I didn't give up. Yes it was hard with the sun making it more difficult but I am so proud of us for doing it. It would have been impossible without Happy Feet club and we owe much gratitude to them.

Truthfully even after a mile I was still not picking up speed and it was a concern because our original 15 mile goal seemed too daunting, but there is power of positive thinking. I kept thinking to myself that even though I don't like sharing run stuff on facebook, today I'm going to do it. I kept thinking of what should I write when I complete basically imagining completing the run. It was silly motivation but hey any motivation is good enough.. I have the urge to take the post down partly because it seems pompous but I think I should keep it there to just remind myself that this was an important run for us. We ran more than a half marathon distance today. Go us!

My next post will be about things I've learnt so far.. I guess I should note it down now when its fresh in my mind.

Eat/ Run??

Just reached home, missed another run with the team, really hungry, debating if I should run or eat.. going for a run, if i think too much I just won't do it..

I tried so hard to make it for the run today :( The team is such a motivation! Okay time to run, ah I'm hungry, maybe I'll have a banana before I run (I know I'm going to get banana burps when I run now).
Okay stopping this random thinking, but writing it out makes decision easier, run Neha run!

Week 11: 13 mile run, oh no!

I wanted to start this post with wth.. Yes that's how I feel about today's run.. 

We had our very first interval training this Wednesday and it was nice.. My legs were shaking like crazy the entire time and on the way back when I drove home.. I researched why, and turns out I am not getting enough nutrients and electrolytes into my body.. Anyway the next day we had yoga and though my legs were sore I felt yoga actually helped loosen them up a bit. By evening I was walking with a weird gait and I did not want to run on Friday and worsen it. I slept after applying some pain relief spray..

So come Sunday I think to myself it's all going to be okay.. But as I start running I notice that I'm not able to increase my pace. My legs felt like lead. After 2 miles my shins hurt and my right knee hurt. Harsh had slowed down for me and I had the terrible guilt return that he was slowing down for me, I tried running and it hurt more. I decided I would just walk. 

After 6.5 miles I wanted to quit but then we thought maybe we still had it in us. We had walked for 4 miles and run the rest so we were really late with a time of 2 hours for 6.5 miles.. We started running again and I felt I could run this time. We ran for 2 miles and thats when everything started acting up.. I actually lost track of what hurt more, the sharp pangs through my left thigh or my right knee, my shins or my soles.. 

What I felt most sad about however was the way I behaved.. I should have run. Instead I chose to give up. You should never give up! Sure it will hurt, but hey I'm strong. I shouldn't have given up. We were picked by our running mentors at mile 10.. I had given up today and let Harsh down.. I really do wish he stopped waiting for me. He may hurt himself running slow because of me.

Anyway I'm home, and trying to rest my right knee that's swollen now.. More pain relief spray.. I know I have never played any sport or been active but I do wish things change.. I am trying hard and I wish my body knew that.. It's a silly wish but I wish I ran super fast and was super strong. It doesn't hurt to dream, but dreaming doesn't fix things, hard work does. I need to work harder and figure out a way to somehow fix myself. Please God, don't let the marathon bus pick me up! I really do want to finish this race.

Week 10: A good 9.8 miles!

We started happy feet yoga practice group on 10th June. Hope it helps with stretching our muscles. I did run 4 miles last Friday and it was the fastest I have ever been with 4.2 miles in exactly 42 minutes. I had to rush though and didn't stretch later as I was supposed to drop Nav to the airport..

Sunday we were running 9.8 miles and it was great. I ran a cool 25 minutes without stopping and even my speed was pretty much better. I also felt great. Harsh was back from Belgium and I was really happy. All in all it was my best run so far, and my fastest too. We ran on Sugarland  trail.

Don't skip meals!

I've been in a pretty bad slump for a couple of weeks now. I've been skipping meals a few nights as I don't feel hungry (I don't know why!). To put things simply I feel like I have no energy and have skipped some recent runs, I am not proud of it. I also miss my running buddy!

Anyway, today my body just gave up and I realized how badly I've been treating it. I'm forcing myself to eat something, I took vitamins to inject some good into my system and even made some lemonade with maple syrup to, well just feel better. And even though I feel I can't run half a mile, I'm just going to push myself to run atleast 3 miles as soon as I finish writing this. Okay off to run!

Week 9: Accidental 9 miles

Last Sunday we ran with the group and I must say the first 3 miles were the hardest! I would've given up hadn't it been for Harsh bugging me so much that I had to just give in and partly because I thought I could do it. It was a simple 8 mile run with a beautiful course picked out by our mentor and I am glad I did not give up. My legs didn't ache but I had skipped dinner the previous night and breakfast that morning, save for a lone banana that I thought would help.. I was totally out of energy within the first 2 miles.. But as I have observed it always usually gets better after 4 miles, your mind tells you that you need to go back the distance some way, so just get on with it!

I think I ran better later and finished with all the other people from the team with a distance of 9.3 miles in 2 hours 10 minutes. We did miss a turn and ended up running for 1 mile extra but by then I was in my running mode so I didn't really care.


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Harsh leaves to work early but reaches home late in the evenings partly due to the long commute. It surprises me that he still has the energy to go out for a run and I have recently started joining him for his runs for two reasons, first one being that just getting out of the house for a run on your own is difficult, running once out on the road is simple and since both of us plan it a day in advance we are firmer with our resolve to run. The second reason is that I run at a much slower pace compared to our group, but I found that I start out slower but pick up the pace as I run, with Harsh he knows it and just lets me be so we start our run as we chat and once we are ready we have short sprints followed by long slow runs. Theres actually a third reason, running with him is fun! We discuss all these crazy topics and run through newer routes, and once we get back from our run we both are equally fresh, gives us time to cook or clean up.

I have given a lot of details today but I want to remember these things. I have a terrible memory and constant fear of getting alzheimer's. :)

Week 8: Wooohoooo 8.6 miles (13.8 Km)!!

Today we were supposed to run an easy 7 miles. We were late by 3 minutes and we lost our happy feet team again!! Today I was to blame, I started this book by Paulo Coelho last night and truthfully its not even one of his best works, but I don't know why I could not put it down and ended up sleeping at a quarter to four, woke up late and had to rush to the decided spot.

Harsh had a copy of the route the team had planned to take but somehow we got lost and ended up on the w&od trail. We ran a full 6 miles on the trail and if you count the 2.6 miles to get to the trail and back we did a cool 8.6 miles today. It took us exactly 2hours 52 seconds but we just want to build stamina right now. We even rewarded ourselves with some garden omelet and buttermilk pancakes from IHOP.

Yay!! This was such a fun run! This was my favorite run so far!

(PS: Ran 3.2 miles this wednesday but missed fridays run)

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Fast Forward to Week 7: 5.1 Miles run

Alright so quick recap of week 5 where we ran a comfortable 4 miles from Sterling to Reston W&OD trail. I clocked at 46 minutes 26 seconds.

Image Courtesy: http://blog.nasbephoto.com/2011/04/

Week 6 was the first 4.8 mile run and we missed it :(

Week 7 was our first 5.1 mile run through a lot of uphills and downhills.. A roller coaster of a ride.. We ran next to the beautiful Lake Newport. We reached late (alright we were overconfident that we knew where the location was and got lost! Ended up circling and reaching late for the run). Fortunately we took the same course as the team and boy was I happy when I saw them on our way back. The team is my inspiration!

We went back for the spartan training where we were supposed to swing and complete a course of monkey bars. I reconfirmed my belief that I have no upper body strength and could not even reach the monkey bars to start with :) But it was so much fun! I used to play monkey bars almost every day at school but that was  way back when I was stick thin :)

We just ran our first 5 miles, yay!

Week 4: Run 2 (#11) - 2.2 Miles!!

Slept after 2am on wednesday, was working. I was tired and sleepy when it was time for wednesdays run. I barely managed running the 2.2 miles, plus I hurt my ankle and what started out as an ankle sprain later spread to my shins. Can something like this happen? I mean sprain get transferred to shins?
I have another 2.2 mile run tomorrow but we also have a team event. I will most probably be going to bowling with my team. Rest my leg for a day and maybe makeup for the run on Saturday/Monday. Running is not so easy after all, but just seeing the progress makes it worthwhile! I suppose these were some hectic couple of days, I hope things get better.

Week 4: Run 1 (#10) - 3 Miles!!

I guess I just have too many things on my plate so when i finally got some time to sleep I really slept! Slept straight for 12 hours missing my Sunday run of 3 miles. I don't like missing runs with the group because whenever I run on my own or with Harsh I run at a slower pace. Monday I was working late again so I ended up running 2.5 miles on Tuesday. It was a much cleaner run and even though I was tired and had to get back to work it felt good running for the 35 minutes that we did.

Week 3: Run 2&3 (#8,9) - 2.2 Miles!!

Ran 2 miles on wednesday, not that bad. Really tired this friday, no idea why, most probably since I know I have to work over the weekend and have been working nights. Ran 2.2 miles in approximately 35 minutes.

Week 3: Run 1 (#7) - 2 Miles!!

Today we ran our 2 mile Sunday run. I was hoping that our yesterdays 4 mile run/ walk had not sucked all the life out of me, and it hadn't. The 2 mile run was not super easy but it was not super difficult too. I did walk when I needed a break but never for too long. It was Harsh's first run with the group and our silly signals for pick up speed and slow down really did help me when I wanted to stop and go back to a walk but the slowing down in pace kept me going. My knees didn't run, and I can truthfully say I felt great. I did not care too much about running quickly but whatever pace we ran with today, I did not have any trouble breathing. Hurray to that! Tomorrow is my rest day. My muscles (yay! I may have muscles after all!) need some relaxation.

PS: Today our mentor said that if we keep coming regularly to our runs, we should be able to complete our marathon. I wish his words should come true for everyone! He said he knows a charity that has extra tickets for the MCM marathon. Harsh is getting one, anyone else interested?

Makeup Run: Angry birds and Bugs Bunny!

After a disappointing run on Friday, Harsh decided to cheer me a little by taking me for another run on Saturday. I was glad he wanted to run with me because I could relax and run at a comfortable pace and get my 1 mile run correct this time. We started off slowly putting no pressure and reached the half mile point easily jogging the entire time. Then Harsh gave his signal which meant that we had to pick up our pace, even that felt good. I did pause when we reached the traffic signals but ran almost all the way. We had covered a little over 1.8 miles running when the thought that we had to run back the same distance occurred. It was a beautiful day and I saw many birds on our run, 2 of them very similar in looks to the red and blue angry birds! I even saw a bunny rabbit! Oh it was so cute, hopping along!

Well we walked a little more, we wanted to see the 2 mile marker and thats when my knees started hurting. My knees don't hurt on most runs, but they were hurting after I had slowed to a walk. Harsh asked me to brush it off, and keep my mind on the trail and nature. Nature can be very distracting at times! We saw this runner in pink waiting for the signal to cross the street with us and she was such an inspiration. We started running once again. We did a quick sprint near the last half mile marker and then decided to walk the rest of the way. My knee was surprisingly not hurting as badly and the run just made our day!

Week 2: Run 3 (# 6) - Rain + Run = Fun!

Me and my little brother used to make paper boats when it rained. We had a slope coming inwards to our house and it meant rain water collecting in our front yard when it rained. We would sneak out to get wet or if it was the first rain of the season it generally meant small hail stones falling from the skies above. We would rush to collect them in our little palms and eat them before they melted. Sometimes if we caught a big one we would rush indoors completely wet to show our granny what treasure we had caught in our palms.

It rained this friday so we got to run in the rain. It was such a fun run for most people. I don't know why I was tired this friday, my body seemed fine but mentally I was not prepared to run. When we finally ran our 1.1 mile I just dashed out, determined to be done with it as soon as possible. I just wanted to go home and have a warm cup of tea, maybe even sleep for a little while I suppose, but instead I kept pushing myself and then kept going out of breath. I would run overtake a couple of people only to go back for a walk to end up right where I started behind them. My breath was erratic and though my legs felt as if they could easily run longer my breath said a firm 'no-no'. A friend helped me get through the run. Hadn't he told me to push myself, I don't think I would've kept running.

I was throughly disappointed in myself. Not even the rain or the pretty little turtle that I held in my hand (to take him off the road) could cheer me. I just wanted another chance to redo my run, to do it right this time.

Week 2: Run 2 - I can run!

We were running another 1 mile run with the group today. One of my goals for today was to run the 0.5 mile at a stretch and try to beat the time of 14 minutes that I usually take to complete the 1.1 mile mark. Today I did both and I couldn't be happier. I realized near the very end that I may not be able to make it before the 14 minute target and thats when I said to myself, whats the worst that can happen if I start sprinting for the last few meters or so. My brain did not give me any reason not to, maybe it was too tired or too optimistic or still stuck on the validation that I working on. And surprisingly my legs took off and I think I finished somewhere close to the 13 minute time today. When I finished I was out of breath, but my legs were numb, I didn't feel any pain! The legs did pain for a while later but nothing too serious. Feels good to push yourself and be able to achieve something as simple finishing one minute faster. But for that instant I felt good about it. Week 2, run 2, so far so good!

Hydration, hydration.. hydration!

So I found out something about running that I didn't know before. Running during late evenings makes you fresh! By fresh I don't mean the usual I feel good fresh, but I'm talking about the lime and lemon fresh, fresh as in I have finished two bottles of RedBull and a bottle of 5 hour energy and I can do anything fresh! :)

Yesterday I felt so good, I did all of my chores, finished the book that I have been reading for days, watched a cartoon on netflix, saw a ton of youtube videos about running, spent a minimum of 1 hour researching between  hydration belt and hydration pack, spent another 1 hour researching and going over reviews for various belts. I can't say I was super productive but hey, I didn't watch TV (youtube is not TV!) and I actually did stuff that seemed interesting at the time. Hey, Amazon and youtube are seriously addictive!

Finally bought the FuelBelt revenge 4 water belt from amazon. No logic there, it was close to 3am in the morning and I just had to make a choice. PS: Hydration is super important while running, however over hydration on the other hand is not really good (Heres why: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/6/6_1/1179.shtml). So my research resulted in the conclusion that one should drink water only when one feels thirsty.  

Week 2: Run 1 - The Hare and the Tortoise

We missed this Sunday's run as we were out late with my husbands friends.
In order to make up we decided to go for a 1.5 mile run today. We skipped the treadmill and took the sidewalk instead. Treadmill is for kids (Oh I miss you treadmill!). We figured 2 laps would be roughly 1.5 miles.

I started off running faster determined to improve my speed today, also, I wanted to show off to my husband that I was getting much better at my runs. He on the other hand started off slow at a constant pace. What I had forgotten is that he used to run! Even before we reached the .5 mile mark he was ahead of me, I decided I needed to breathe better and keep my speed higher. I ran faster over taking him several times only to go back to a walk out of breath a few minutes later to find him come from nowhere to over take me comfortably every single time.

There is nothing like some healthy (literally in this case!) competition once in a while. I realized after our 2 laps were done that even though he hadn't run in over 4 years, he was still better at it than me. We walked another lap just to be sure we covered the 1.5 mile distance. As the story goes the Tortoise won the race comfortably and by a huge distance all the while steadily increasing his pace while the Hare in this case panted for air! :)

I will find out what I missed in this Sunday's run and update this blog. Week 2 starts, so far so good.

Week 1: Run 3 - The Click

We run shorter distances every Wednesday and Friday and run longer distances on Sundays. Today I ran another 1.1 mile in 14 minutes again and I ran almost all of the way.. Yay! I had almost given up as I was reaching the end and wanted to walk, but I guess I have a stronger will than when I had first begun. There is this sign board we touch at the end of the run and I just wanted to run all the way to it, and I just did that. It also felt good that two of my closest friends came running with me today. And we gave each other high fives, oh yes we did, call us childish but it actually felt good because we knew we deserved it.

We were given a question today. Why don't we all run fast? What is the one major thing that holds us back. We had a couple of great answers, someone said our mind, someone said stamina, someone said muscles and we had a couple of funny answers too, but there was another answer which the questioner suggested that we had not thought of. He said it was our breath. He reasoned that when we run our strongest muscles are put into action and they need oxygen. So when we run try to focus only on the run, focus on breathing deeper to get as much oxygen to our muscles.

I found this great article on runners world on how to improve breathing as we run.
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/lung-power?page=single

And you ask me why I named this run a click? Well thats the sound my knee has been making since afternoon. Its a sound I have heard it make before and I am not too worried about it. If my knee hurts more I will get it checked but for now, so far so good. 

Week 1: Run 2 - Snake!

For me, todays run was much better than the previous one. I started running at a comfortable pace which I thought gave me a chance to warm up. I did run faster when I could and alternated between a run and a jog also walking for sometime in between.  We probably ran a little over a mile in about 14 mins. So far so good!

It was nice for our experienced runners to point out that the first two miles of a run are always tough. Another good advice was, if you feel you have some energy left, focus on improving your speed rather than trying to go for an extra mile when you are running less than 5 miles. If you are an excellent runner and are in peak shape, you can try running extra miles but only after you give your 100% to your set goal distance. Hydrate yourself.

I will update this post in case I missed something but this was it for the day. Oh yes, we saw a snake somewhere down the half way point. Never a dull moment!

First run

Sunday, April 7th was our very first run, to kick off our training for the marathon. It was a simple 1 mile run for which many of my colleagues who are part of our Happy Feet running club had showed up early morning at 8am.

I was excited to say the least and to prove it, I actually woke up before my alarm went off and was ready in record time determined not to miss the very first run. The atmosphere was almost electric (alright, I am exaggerating a little, but everyone seemed really happy and excited to be there). It seemed like an encouraging group of people and when the group finally begun our run, I was cruising off with the others filled with a good old sense of positive energy and with a feeling that 1 mile should be a breeze. It was not! Also I had never run on an actual road before and never imagined it to be so cold. I had started my run at a higher pace than I would normally and soon after about 0.7 miles I was literally panting. My throat had turned dry and even though my feet could have carried me to the 1 mile mark, my will sure wanted to take it slow. I walked the remaining distance. We stretched with everyone and I was happy, thinking to myself that it felt good that I could run as far as I did. I did go back for a cool down walk for another mile and that was it for the day.

Sunday evening I had a bad case of headache probably because of the exposure to cold and not wearing any ear warmers. Had a ton of work to be done and come monday the headache still continued and so did the feeling of tiredness. I did google it like any normal person in the 21st century and found that it is perfectly normal.

We have our 2nd run for 1.5 miles coming this wednesday evening. I think I am going to let my body rest until then. So far so good.

PS: I wonder what should I be eating before a run, I sort of skipped breakfast on sunday and I have a feeling I shouldn't have done it.

To new beginnings..

As I write my first few words I am gripped with the fear that its going to be out there for everyone to see. Everyone's going to know that I have been silly enough to do something as crazy as register for the Marine Corps Marathon this coming October. They say the power of imagination is a very powerful tool in training. Imagine yourself cross the finish line they say, I have no problem imaging myself crossing the finish line, it is the 26.2 miles leading to the finish line thats all a blur.

I still remember the reaction I got when I told my husband and family about my decision to prepare for a marathon. I had never heard them laugh so loudly in my life! I guess they thought it was just a phase I was going through like the phase I decided it was about time to overcome my fear of water and learn how to swim! I never did learn how to swim and I am going to carry that shame with me until the day I am finally able to complete that first lap on my own. But given that its been a few days and the marathon fever hasn't subsided, I am so glad that both my husband and family have decided to stick by me and show their support.

So this is me, a non runner taking on the seemingly impossible dream of finishing her first marathon in exactly 202 days, injury free hopefully with some great people at work with a similar dream.
I even made a counter for it (http://bit.ly/10IxYZJ).
Phew! 26.2 miles, its just a number, its just a number, its just a number..