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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