First Marathon - Check, Reach fund raising minimum for LLS - check

Short Story:

Yes, I have done it. I reached the 26.2 mile mark with enough energy to jump over the finish line. Don't believe me? Look for yourself - The video is posted here. It took me a little longer than I expected but I did it without hitting a wall and without any injury. To me that was my definition of a successful run. You can view the photos here, which will be printed in Gold, why else would they charge so much for these prints? :)

As of July 5th, together we collected $4361 (112% of my goal) for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, with a couple of more matching donations still to go. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. I wouldn't have done it without your support. The donation is still open, if you or anyone you know would like to donate to LLS, please go ahead and donate here.

Long Story:

Training Blues

Three and a half to four months of 4-5 days/week workout schedule could have been torpedoed by lower back pain and flu, but I survived. My main goal for the training was to get to the start line without any major injury. When my left shin was hurting, I went to the physiotherapist at SMI and since then I had this goal in mind. If I could get to the start line without any injuries, I will be able to finish. With the painful deep tissue working its charm, I was almost injury free. With three weeks to go, all I had to do was not get hurt. So, on Monday in the gym, I over did my workout and messed up my back. I couldn't do the longest 20 mile run that week as I had to recover. The 13th weekend, when all my team mates were putting in the 20 miler in Coyote hills in Fremont, I was at my brother-in-law's college graduation at Santa Barbara. So, the only time I had was Tuesday to put in the longest run. Then, there was yet another intervention. I fell sick on Monday. On Tuesday however, I had to put in a 12 miler. With energy going down by the minute, it was the hardest run ever. Since then, I had two weeks to completely recover for the big day. I didn't go to work all week as I was miserable and by Sunday, I was feeling a lot better. With just one week, I played it safe and hoped for the best.

Race Start

By the time we reached Seattle on Friday, I had recovered but the energy level still didn't feel at 100%. So, as we woke up on Saturday morning at 3:30 to leave the hotel at 4:30, I decided, I would run slowly to make sure I have enough energy to finish. We reached at the start line at 5 and the start was at 7, so we just waited. I just sat and spent as little energy as possible while staying hydrated. When the race started at 7, we were still in the line for the porter-potties. Since the start was a wave start, our corral was not going to start before 7:25 so we got to the start line by 7:10. We still had to wait for 15-20 mins before we actually started at 7:29.

By this time, the sun had been out for about 2 hours and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The whole reason of running in Seattle was lost. Now, we had to run expecting it to be hot. So, I put on my shades and cap and started to run. Due to the adrenaline, I knew I would have to make extra effort to run slowly. I did just that and started very slowly, and at the first mile marker, saw the time, it was a little over 10 mins. That was the effect of adrenaline, instead of a 12 min / mile pace, I did 10 min. I stopped, stretched (as I always do after about half a mile to a mile) and then started again. The second mile I ran at 13+ min / mile. Nice. Now I was doing the right thing. I enjoyed the first few miles going through the neighbourhoods of Tukwila. There were bands, cheer leader squads and just people to cheer us up.

4 to 9 miles

After about 4 miles, we reached lake Washington. It was a beautiful day to run and the path right next to the lake was great. If I only had to run a half marathon, it would have been awesome, but knowing the distance I had to cover and the bright sun, I took it easy, enjoying the great houses on the way and the scenery around the lake. We even saw a bald eagle on the tree next to the lake.

9 to 12 miles

At about 9 mile marker, the half marathoners went towards the finish line, and we marathoners ran on the bridge for about 1.5 miles and back. It was great to run on the bridge on the water with a view of ice covered Mt. Reinier in the back. The people on the other side of the bridge were also honking to cheer us up on the way.

12 to 15 miles

At around 12 mile mark, we joined the half marathoners again and when we crossed the 13 mile marker, the half marathoners thought it was a joke, not realizing that it was OUR distance and not theirs. Anyhow, around our 14 mile marker and their close to 13, there was a guy saying, "All the half marathoners on the left, and all the crazy people on the right". He was right, we were crazy. It did feel ridiculous that we still had to run 12 more miles. Oh well, I kept up my slow, now 13+ min/mile average, speed and kept on going. Another team mate had suggested that her milestones were 15 and 20 miles when she ran the San Diego marathon. "If you can reach 15 mile marker without any major problems" she said, "you will finish". So, I reached the 15 mile marker and celebrated a little as everything was in working order. Phew.

16 to 24 miles

By the 16th mile we were running on the double decker freeway where we were going out on the bottom deck and the people on the top were doing their 23rd or 24th mile. I knew that the turn around was after the 18th mile, so there was nothing else to do but keep on going forward. By this time, I was already stopping every time I felt like, which about about once every mile at least or about every 7 mins or so. The path was going through some un-interesting neighborhoods, there was a bridge which was very high up on the water and interesting to run on, then there was the space needle on the side, but I don't think people were even noticing by then.

After I crossed the 18 mile marker, I knew now all I had to do was make it back. I was entering unchartered territory as I had never run more than 18 miles in my life. I wasn't feeling completely devoid of energy like I was when I was sick and I had to run 12 miles, so I knew energy was not going to be a problem, so all I had to worry about now was hydrating well so that I do not cramp up or hit a wall. I kept drinking cytomax and water on every water stop which were plenty. There were about 18 water stations throughout the course, so I just ran with 2 small bottles on my fuel belt instead of 4. I kept on stopping at every mile to stretch properly. Around 20th mile, my legs were beginning to feel tired and even my hip area felt tight. So I kept on stopping every 5 minutes and stretching.

At this point, I was tired but I had the words of a good friend, Pradnya, in my mind. She said its "relentless forward motion", I felt its the "power of one", one goal in mind, to cross the finish line. I kept on moving forward thinking about the cancer patients who have to go through much worse pain. The random people who had come to just cheer the Team In Training people up also helped. By this time the people running around me were also the same people. We would cross each other and make small talk. Also, the knowledge that my friend Sai, who had started about 10 mins after me, was also behind me helped keep my spirits up. After every turnaround I would look for him to high-five. Also, another way that I had organized the course was 6x4 + 2.2, so 24 miler was my big milestone. If I could reach 24 mile marker, I could cross the finish line walking the rest of the way. So every 6 miles, I would celebrate by walking, stretching and re-fueling. At around 22nd mile, I took my last Gu-chomps break and streched as I felt my left calf could get a cramp. But keeping myself hydrated, I kept the relentless forward motion.

The difficult miles - 24-26

The cruelty of the last few miles was apparent when we reached the 23rd mile, we could see the 26 mile marker but for that we had to go out 1.5 mile and come back. Ah, the last turn around was after 24th mile and it felt great to know that all I had to do was just go back 2 miles and get done with this massive project of keeping myself sane, hydrated and motivated to achieve that singular goal. At this point, on the 25th mile, there was a small ramp up to the freeway to get to the 25th mile marker. It felt like a big hill. Everybody must have cursed the course designer for keeping that "hill" on the 25th mile.

The finish line

The end was in sight, I kept on doing the 5-2 split and ran towards the finish line. When I saw the 26 mile marker, I just kept on running not worrying about the splits. I had saved up my energy for this. After you cross the 26 mile, the last .2 miles feels so great. You feel like a celebrity. People lined up on both sides cheering for you to finish. The photographers clicking away to sell the precious pictures for gazillion dollars. I had enough energy to jump over the finish line.

Post Race

The enormity of the task was such that after achieving it, I did feel a few tears in my eyes for couple of seconds. After overcoming shin splints, back problem, flu and marathon distance, I had done it. The first in my family and my in-law's family, to cross 26.2 miles (42 kms) without any major problems. Raising around $4K for a worthy cause. I was on the top of the world.

"Without any major problems" was important. Later that evening, we heard numerous stories of other people. One lady collapsed just before the 26th mile. She had to be taken away on a stretcher. One guy was hallucinating that he was in a bazaar, and he kept on asking for price for various things. Another guy removed his shoes at the 22nd mile to see that all around his feet were big blisters. When he got the courage to put his shoes back on and started walking, he realized that his muscles were cramping and he could not walk. And numerous people who had to walk last 3-4 miles because their muscles were cramping.

Considering all this, I feel I did run a good first run. I am not proud of the timing (about 6 hours 10 mins) but I am proud of running the race and finishing without any injuries. I am also proud that with all your support, we were able to raise more than $4K towards Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Before I go, I would like to say that running with Team In Training was great. They have the whole program set with good coaches to guide you cross the finish line.

I will post one more entry on this blog to share all that I have learned about recovering from long and brutal runs.

After the run, I took a nice ice bath and ate half of large butter paneer Can-am pizza (the best Indian pizza ever) which my friends (Mihir and Munjal) brought to our hotel room. Attended the victory party that night with other TnT people, exchanged stories, slept for about 10 hours and took the flight back to the bay area feeling satisfied of having becoming a marathoner.

Thank you SOOOOO MUCH for supporting me.

Go Team!!!