So I havent run in like ages. Last year I attem,pted to run the NYC full Marathon, trained for 3.5 months and then went on a 3.5 week vacation to india and gave up... all that amazing indian food just totally won me over... so i do regreat not finished what i started last year...but now I have to start running man... even if i dont run any races this yr, i have to run...i have become twice my size and need to get a little bit moulded to fit into my jeans...
man , i cannot wait to start running...when is this winter gonna end?
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, November 2, 2007
26.2 miles... I still cant believe I did it!
So the pre-marathon procedure was the same as the half –marathon. The usual – color your hair, cover up the grays, paint ur nails and get pretty for the cameras. I did not want to write in before the marathon because I was so nervous; I would have freaked everyone out. So I restricted myself to freaking out only Coach with my "What the F*#k am I going to do?" and " I am going to DIE" etcetera, etcetera. But that's the price you pay to be my mentor, it's not my fault.
Since I have been the biggest cheater with my training since my trip to London a week after our Half Marathon, I knew for sure my marathon, if finished, would be the biggest fluke. And it was. [God bless himself for blessing me]
Six to 8 of us started for the start line from the Asha tent together. We reached the start line and decided to not go too far behind [where we really should have been according to our coral numbers, which are given to us according to our running speed]. So according to Jayshree and my speed we would have had to stand with the 90yr old people at the end of the crowd. And since we did not even want to waste our energy walking half a mile to the back of the crowd just to come back to the front, we stayed in the front…with the 3.40 groups… we were flexing and stretching just like them. There was no difference between them and us.
The gunshot goes off, Sheela my friend says, " Oh My god, I have to pee". I took her behind a parked truck next to where we were standing and told her to just go ahead and do it. I swear on my mother, just 5 mins ago I had seen [not in detail] another woman do the same thing… I for once thought – Yes! There is something the west emulates about the east. But Sheela just wouldn't listen to me… I wonder Y?
The first couple of miles J [Jayashree], Nidhi, Abhi and I stuck together. After 6-7 miles, Abhi and I had waved out to all the Asha Team as they zoomed right ahead of us. No problem, we knew that would happen. Till mile 10 it was all good. I saw Coach there…I had to stop for a big hug. I almost squished her breathless. Then I saw all my other Asha friends with atleast 25 posters to cheer us. U guys are the best. Running wise we were a bit faster than our normal pace. We were doing approx 13.3 min per mile.
Mile 10-11 Monica joins me and states "Vishnu just crossed mile 16". She had promised she would run half of the marathon with me. I have to say guys, she is the BEST-EST. I have no words to express how grateful I am to her. Monica, you should know that you are the only person in the whole wide world I would give my Favorite pair of shoes to if you asked for them. [That's the biggest sacrifice in my books ppl. U have to understand the intensity of these emotions. This is big pour moi!]
So 11mile onwards I was getting really tired. More frequent walk breaks. Almost one every 7-8 mins. I may be the only person in the history of mankind who has trained for a full 5 months [yeah yeah, I know I cheated a bit…but so what, u all did, LIARS!] for a marathon program and hit their "WALL" at mile 13. I know I should have waited atleast till mile 19 or 20, but just like puberty the wall hit me much sooner ;-) [it's a joke! …just fyi]. I was beat. I was exhausted and mentally had scared myself to death. I kept telling myself, " you should have run in London and U should have done ur second 20 mile and u shud have……!" I did not know till this point that scaring myself could ever happen to me. I have scared a LOT of people in my short life, but never myself, and I wasn't even looking at myself in the mirror!
And to my bad luck, Monica had disappeared into one of the museum looking buildings at that time to go pee. Now I know Peeing comes up too often in my marathon reports, but hello, what to do. Have you ever heard me talk about me wanting to GO-GO? ..No right? It's the people around me, I promise. At this point, I told Abhi, pls go ahead and I would catch up with him along the way. He refused. He knew from the look on my face that I would probably have given up and only walked the rest of the way. Damn it, I can never lie properly. And so he walked with me till Monica re-appeared.
As soon as Monica re-appeared I started running again. I don't really know why? I think I was just scared she would throw something at me [anything] if she saw me walking when she had given us strict instructions not to walk till after 13.5 mile. So I ran. At mile 16 a thought passes me by, " Vishnu must have finished his Marathon by now."
Our goal was to make it to the bridge [19m] before 4hr 45 mins. Or else we would not be allowed to complete our race according to the Marine Corps Marathon people. So all the way Monica kept Abhi and I on our toes. 5 min run 1or 2 min walk. We had to keep our 15 min per mile pace to make it in time to the bridge. So we did. It was tough but my bribe was, once I am on the bridge I can walk the rest of the way to the finish line. Monica promised.
Such a Liar! As soon as we got on to the bridge she lets me walk for like 5 mins and then started pointed out imaginary down hills. And very non imposingly she would tell me, " If you can, try to run the down hill atleast. Its really easy, you know that!" Can you believe how stupid I was to fall for it for almost 2-3 miles. Then it struck me that she was really just making it up.
Me: Monica, stop making up downhills. I have my own eyes you know. I see no downhill.
Monica: No, no. I am not lying I swear. See U can see the down hill. [She points almost half a mile into the distance and yes there was a very miniscule downward inclination of maybe 0.05 degrees]
Me: Ok I will run when we get there.
Monica: But we are already there. I CAN FEEL IT! [She meant under her foot…brilliant I tell you. Next time I am taking her along to one of my architectural sites to find out slopes of my construction site. Monico-meter, we shall call her]
She made me run on the flat land, FEELING it was downhill and then on the downhill, KNOWING it was really a downhill! Hey Bhagvan! [Translation: Oh God!]
Oh btw, u should know that by now I have an entire entourage of friends running with me. From mile 20 onwards, I had Siddhartha on one side of me, Sean on the other, Archana behind me, sometimes with Jitu, sometimes without Jitu and Monica, Amit and Abhi somewhere in the radius of one meter from me all the time. Every time I walked [that was most of the time in the last 6 miles] I would hold onto Sean and Siddartha and they would make me walk a little faster. By this time I was not worried at all. I was sure I would finish. I just wanted to finish it. And get my medal. Around mile 25 [6hr3omins] Mr. Vishnu enters my mind again. " The dude must be half way to NYC already. Damn it Vishnu!"
Mile 26 I see Coach again – I was sooo happyyyy to see her…awweeee. By now I had already seen J and Advait at mile 25, and Lok trying to buddy run with Nidhi at mile 24 [BTW just FYI, Lok a Last yr Asha marathoner, could not catch up with Nidhi at mile 24…that was soo funny coz he was trying to buddy run with her.] when we saw Nidhi at one of those loops we sent out one of our loud war-cries " Go Asha!" and then almost a whole min after that we see Lok running with all his might. We asked him, " what r u doing?" Lok, " Trying to buddy run with Nidhi, But I just cannot seem to keep up. Have you seen her? Is she too far ahead?". Poor thing.
Now at this point I see it. I see the light on the other side of the tunnel. I see the finish line. Abhi right next to me. He never left me even when he could have. He stuck by me…I love him… Thanks man I owe u big time.. I did my happy dance for the cameras; the same one u guys have seen me do everything at the tree after I finish my run. I think I used to practice my happy dance more than my runs…lol…. Anyway, It's done. I went and got my Marine.. uhh…I mean Medal…
I crossed the finish line, CELEBRATIONS! I love my life…Its done! I have a medal to prove it. We went back home, showered and then on our way back to NYC. I lay in my pjs in the back seat of Archana's car. Head in one of my friend's lap and feet stretched out against the backseat window/ Roof on the other side. People from other cars peep in wondering if I am in labor and need to have my feet in that position in the backseat of my car till I reach the Hospital. I give a damn… I was hurting…..but was all worth it … Good nite people… It was a Great day!
PS: I never saw Vishnu in the whole day.
Since I have been the biggest cheater with my training since my trip to London a week after our Half Marathon, I knew for sure my marathon, if finished, would be the biggest fluke. And it was. [God bless himself for blessing me]
Six to 8 of us started for the start line from the Asha tent together. We reached the start line and decided to not go too far behind [where we really should have been according to our coral numbers, which are given to us according to our running speed]. So according to Jayshree and my speed we would have had to stand with the 90yr old people at the end of the crowd. And since we did not even want to waste our energy walking half a mile to the back of the crowd just to come back to the front, we stayed in the front…with the 3.40 groups… we were flexing and stretching just like them. There was no difference between them and us.
The gunshot goes off, Sheela my friend says, " Oh My god, I have to pee". I took her behind a parked truck next to where we were standing and told her to just go ahead and do it. I swear on my mother, just 5 mins ago I had seen [not in detail] another woman do the same thing… I for once thought – Yes! There is something the west emulates about the east. But Sheela just wouldn't listen to me… I wonder Y?
The first couple of miles J [Jayashree], Nidhi, Abhi and I stuck together. After 6-7 miles, Abhi and I had waved out to all the Asha Team as they zoomed right ahead of us. No problem, we knew that would happen. Till mile 10 it was all good. I saw Coach there…I had to stop for a big hug. I almost squished her breathless. Then I saw all my other Asha friends with atleast 25 posters to cheer us. U guys are the best. Running wise we were a bit faster than our normal pace. We were doing approx 13.3 min per mile.
Mile 10-11 Monica joins me and states "Vishnu just crossed mile 16". She had promised she would run half of the marathon with me. I have to say guys, she is the BEST-EST. I have no words to express how grateful I am to her. Monica, you should know that you are the only person in the whole wide world I would give my Favorite pair of shoes to if you asked for them. [That's the biggest sacrifice in my books ppl. U have to understand the intensity of these emotions. This is big pour moi!]
So 11mile onwards I was getting really tired. More frequent walk breaks. Almost one every 7-8 mins. I may be the only person in the history of mankind who has trained for a full 5 months [yeah yeah, I know I cheated a bit…but so what, u all did, LIARS!] for a marathon program and hit their "WALL" at mile 13. I know I should have waited atleast till mile 19 or 20, but just like puberty the wall hit me much sooner ;-) [it's a joke! …just fyi]. I was beat. I was exhausted and mentally had scared myself to death. I kept telling myself, " you should have run in London and U should have done ur second 20 mile and u shud have……!" I did not know till this point that scaring myself could ever happen to me. I have scared a LOT of people in my short life, but never myself, and I wasn't even looking at myself in the mirror!
And to my bad luck, Monica had disappeared into one of the museum looking buildings at that time to go pee. Now I know Peeing comes up too often in my marathon reports, but hello, what to do. Have you ever heard me talk about me wanting to GO-GO? ..No right? It's the people around me, I promise. At this point, I told Abhi, pls go ahead and I would catch up with him along the way. He refused. He knew from the look on my face that I would probably have given up and only walked the rest of the way. Damn it, I can never lie properly. And so he walked with me till Monica re-appeared.
As soon as Monica re-appeared I started running again. I don't really know why? I think I was just scared she would throw something at me [anything] if she saw me walking when she had given us strict instructions not to walk till after 13.5 mile. So I ran. At mile 16 a thought passes me by, " Vishnu must have finished his Marathon by now."
Our goal was to make it to the bridge [19m] before 4hr 45 mins. Or else we would not be allowed to complete our race according to the Marine Corps Marathon people. So all the way Monica kept Abhi and I on our toes. 5 min run 1or 2 min walk. We had to keep our 15 min per mile pace to make it in time to the bridge. So we did. It was tough but my bribe was, once I am on the bridge I can walk the rest of the way to the finish line. Monica promised.
Such a Liar! As soon as we got on to the bridge she lets me walk for like 5 mins and then started pointed out imaginary down hills. And very non imposingly she would tell me, " If you can, try to run the down hill atleast. Its really easy, you know that!" Can you believe how stupid I was to fall for it for almost 2-3 miles. Then it struck me that she was really just making it up.
Me: Monica, stop making up downhills. I have my own eyes you know. I see no downhill.
Monica: No, no. I am not lying I swear. See U can see the down hill. [She points almost half a mile into the distance and yes there was a very miniscule downward inclination of maybe 0.05 degrees]
Me: Ok I will run when we get there.
Monica: But we are already there. I CAN FEEL IT! [She meant under her foot…brilliant I tell you. Next time I am taking her along to one of my architectural sites to find out slopes of my construction site. Monico-meter, we shall call her]
She made me run on the flat land, FEELING it was downhill and then on the downhill, KNOWING it was really a downhill! Hey Bhagvan! [Translation: Oh God!]
Oh btw, u should know that by now I have an entire entourage of friends running with me. From mile 20 onwards, I had Siddhartha on one side of me, Sean on the other, Archana behind me, sometimes with Jitu, sometimes without Jitu and Monica, Amit and Abhi somewhere in the radius of one meter from me all the time. Every time I walked [that was most of the time in the last 6 miles] I would hold onto Sean and Siddartha and they would make me walk a little faster. By this time I was not worried at all. I was sure I would finish. I just wanted to finish it. And get my medal. Around mile 25 [6hr3omins] Mr. Vishnu enters my mind again. " The dude must be half way to NYC already. Damn it Vishnu!"
Mile 26 I see Coach again – I was sooo happyyyy to see her…awweeee. By now I had already seen J and Advait at mile 25, and Lok trying to buddy run with Nidhi at mile 24 [BTW just FYI, Lok a Last yr Asha marathoner, could not catch up with Nidhi at mile 24…that was soo funny coz he was trying to buddy run with her.] when we saw Nidhi at one of those loops we sent out one of our loud war-cries " Go Asha!" and then almost a whole min after that we see Lok running with all his might. We asked him, " what r u doing?" Lok, " Trying to buddy run with Nidhi, But I just cannot seem to keep up. Have you seen her? Is she too far ahead?". Poor thing.
Now at this point I see it. I see the light on the other side of the tunnel. I see the finish line. Abhi right next to me. He never left me even when he could have. He stuck by me…I love him… Thanks man I owe u big time.. I did my happy dance for the cameras; the same one u guys have seen me do everything at the tree after I finish my run. I think I used to practice my happy dance more than my runs…lol…. Anyway, It's done. I went and got my Marine.. uhh…I mean Medal…
I crossed the finish line, CELEBRATIONS! I love my life…Its done! I have a medal to prove it. We went back home, showered and then on our way back to NYC. I lay in my pjs in the back seat of Archana's car. Head in one of my friend's lap and feet stretched out against the backseat window/ Roof on the other side. People from other cars peep in wondering if I am in labor and need to have my feet in that position in the backseat of my car till I reach the Hospital. I give a damn… I was hurting…..but was all worth it … Good nite people… It was a Great day!
PS: I never saw Vishnu in the whole day.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Very Long Half Marathon Report!
ATTENTION ATTENTION !
Miss. Prutha Raithatha just finished running her first ever race more than 5 kilometers… a full HALF MARATHON. I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run half marathon on Sept 16, 2007 in 2hr : 55 min: 57 secs ! [My personal best so far, time wise]. BRAVO! BRAVO!
So let me give you a little insight on my great strategies of how to cope with your first major race tension.
Two full days before my race, it dawned upon me that I had to go to Philly on Saturday [the day b4 my race] to pick up my bib and chip and do my registration etc. and ofcourse that's when my municipality bulb of a head switched on and I realized that I need to find a place to stay. Now I did have Sumit who had warned me on some run 3 weeks ago that all hotels were getting full and that I should act it soon. But 2 days in advance I thought was enough notice.Trust me. So I gathered my race info and the time I need to get there etc and I called the one person I can always count on to make everything right. My sister a.k.a Surrogate MOM! She is the best I tell you. So after yelling at me for 15 mins fo doing this to her again at the last min, she got into action. She called all the hotels possible in philly and yelled at a few of them for being full already and not having place for her Little Sister on her first race ever…yes as you may have already figured out by now, I am a bit spoilt… and I love it! But she found a place and booked it and everything was taken care of.
We got to philly on sat at I think about 2.00pm…again my sister, brother-in-law [BIL] and my 6 month old niece SAANJ [I call her "Sexy" © … pls do take the copyright seriously, I am very possessive about my nick names ;-)] drove me to Philly. Yeah right, like if I had a boy friend I would have given my Sister a break…but I don't…so till then she is my Surrogate Boy friend/ Mom/ Driver/ Chaperon/ Everything. We went straight to the Convention center and picked up all my race accessories. By the time I was out of the convention center my heart was throbbing already …and for the first time it wasn't becoz of a not-so-cute-fedex guy [yeah… I have a thing for fedex guys..not UPS.. Strictly Fedex… needless to say "don't ask y?"] .. But the excitement just inside the big hall was quite overwhelming. Everyone seemed soo relaxed and fit and ready to take on the world… and my knees were shaking so bad that I could have used them to massage someone's aching back… trust me they were really vibrating... I have always been scared with this one thought that when I run the race and I finally reach the finish line, there is nobody there.. the red cones have been picked up, the speakers have been moved, there is not even a finish line and no one even sees me finish. SCARY… I KNOW!!...
So by then I was a bundle of nerves. Btw, I do not get nervous that often, but when I do, the direct effect of it is felt on my stomach and the worst affected are the guys running next to me the next day. God bless their souls and noses.
I had to get ride of my nervousness right. so I decided it was time for some major psychological revamping. I had to relax. So I did it… 3 blocks away from the restaurant I found this really nice Nail Salon called " Colors Nail Salon" [how innovative, my god!… utter genius]. So I went in, took 15 mins to decide which color of nail polish would go with my Black running tights and my orange Team Asha T-shirt and got myself pampered to an awesome manicure…. And I finished the entire look by even getting my hair colored. I just thought I needed to look pretty in my pictures [Yeah I know…I still don't and its quite wishful thinking…but so what… I had to try! U never know what could work?... but apparently the Deep Burgundy brown does not work. Just FYI]….
The next day at 7.45am the race started. All was great so far. I had Abhishek and Jayshree with me at the start line. Jayshree is my running partner on most Asha Saturday long runs. So I was so glad to see her that I grabbed her hand in public and did not let go of it till we actually started running. I did not care if ppl around us thought we were gay and that she was too pretty for me and what the hell was she doing with someone like me and she deserved wayyy better! I was just happy to have her right next to me. Awweee honey…. will you marry me!
Ohhhhh I forgot to tell you about the highlight of my race. So since Jayashree and I in the past have averaged 17-18min per mile, which is slower than walking at a slow speed for a normal 2 legged –being, we knew we were slow…. But we needed to get over that insecurity and move on right? Like really feel great about actually being slow, right? So I had a brilliant idea on the Friday before the race. [yeah, my one eyebrow went up so high, it almost touched the back of my head ;-) ].. So the idea was that we should wear a picture of a tortoise on our t-shirts. We were the team Asha's "Slow and Steady, wins the race" TORTOISES, INC. It was cool. I even put a dialogue bubble next to my tortoise's face saying " SO WHAT!" it was an awesome idea… I swear… lots of ppl complimented on our turtles and we heard a lot of other comments just behind our backs… all in all a huge success.
Through out the race we had Abhishek entertain us. I mean, like we needed more entertainment? Helloo… you should know one secret that most of the times J [Jayashree] and I take soo long for our runs because we enjoy ourselves too much on our run. Yes we are a very happy couple ;-) .The last 18 mil run we did on saturday sept8, 2007, we actually took a little 1 min nap too…right in the middle of our 13 th mile… we were too tired and also we wanted to wait for a cute guy we saw at the reservoir to come by again J)))).. …
So back to Abhishek. This dude is the best. He has immense amount of energy. He spoke non-stop for 3 hrs. Just for the heck of it. We didn't have a chance to feel our aching jism (body), just cause our heads were full of his nonsensical non-stop commentary. The told me everything about himself. Things I did not want to know about him and the things I REALLY did not want to know about him. He started to tell us that he wanted to go pee at mile 2. and till 11m he did not go. Can you imagine what all we heard on our run? Ram Ram !!!! I was verbally polluted I tell you.
But on a very serious note, He is one of my closest friends I have here and I couldn't have done it without him. He could have run at a 8-9 min per mile speed but he didn't. Just to keep me company. I love you too abhi.. [J, I don't really mean it honey…don't worry..ur still my No. 1]
And then I had Jitu [Sunil Shetty look alike…OMG…Sumit that was the best man… God will bless you for feeding me something to tease him with for the rest of his life… its just too precious..]and monel. They came all the way to PHILLY TO CHEER ME!.. I have the best friends ever…seriously. They buddy ran with me for like 3 miles sporadically. And especially at the end when I need them the most. Plus they clicked like a zillion pics of us. Btw, every time you want Abhi to stop talking, you should show him a camera. He will stop running, stop talking and strategically place himself against the sun to get him a good picture… He's worst than me. I only colored my hair and nails, I didn't stop running during my race for a pic..hello! But Monel, Jitu and my family were pampering us like we were running a marathon or something ;-)…. WARNING! Corny line coming up…. I do not know what I would have done with out you guys. U are the best and I cannot thank you enough.
So my race was great. I ran at 11 – 12 mpm for the first 6 miles. Then I had a nasty cramp in my stomach and for the next 7.1 miles it did not leave me. So I ran the rest at 13-14 mpm. Don't know y that happened. I wish it hadn't coz I was running well and I could have kept that pace if it wasn't for that stitch in my stomach. Coach will email separately. After the race I was walking around like a Robo doing BREAK-DANCE [AAhh-UOO…Michael Jackson-style]. Every joint in my body was hurting and every movement was interrupted.
After the race we clicked more picture and went to shower at the hotel. Then we left for NJ. Met more asha gang there for dinner. Got home by 11.00pm.. did a whole patch-work of Benge on my legs. 4 patches per leg …and I got ready for bed, wore my medal around my neck again and went to sleep…Sweet Dreams!!!
Coach, your face flashed in front of my eyes all throughout the race… Wish you were there. Missed you and thank you for everything.
I told you it was a long email. Who asked you to read it hun!
Miss. Prutha Raithatha just finished running her first ever race more than 5 kilometers… a full HALF MARATHON. I ran the Philadelphia Distance Run half marathon on Sept 16, 2007 in 2hr : 55 min: 57 secs ! [My personal best so far, time wise]. BRAVO! BRAVO!
So let me give you a little insight on my great strategies of how to cope with your first major race tension.
Two full days before my race, it dawned upon me that I had to go to Philly on Saturday [the day b4 my race] to pick up my bib and chip and do my registration etc. and ofcourse that's when my municipality bulb of a head switched on and I realized that I need to find a place to stay. Now I did have Sumit who had warned me on some run 3 weeks ago that all hotels were getting full and that I should act it soon. But 2 days in advance I thought was enough notice.Trust me. So I gathered my race info and the time I need to get there etc and I called the one person I can always count on to make everything right. My sister a.k.a Surrogate MOM! She is the best I tell you. So after yelling at me for 15 mins fo doing this to her again at the last min, she got into action. She called all the hotels possible in philly and yelled at a few of them for being full already and not having place for her Little Sister on her first race ever…yes as you may have already figured out by now, I am a bit spoilt… and I love it! But she found a place and booked it and everything was taken care of.
We got to philly on sat at I think about 2.00pm…again my sister, brother-in-law [BIL] and my 6 month old niece SAANJ [I call her "Sexy" © … pls do take the copyright seriously, I am very possessive about my nick names ;-)] drove me to Philly. Yeah right, like if I had a boy friend I would have given my Sister a break…but I don't…so till then she is my Surrogate Boy friend/ Mom/ Driver/ Chaperon/ Everything. We went straight to the Convention center and picked up all my race accessories. By the time I was out of the convention center my heart was throbbing already …and for the first time it wasn't becoz of a not-so-cute-fedex guy [yeah… I have a thing for fedex guys..not UPS.. Strictly Fedex… needless to say "don't ask y?"] .. But the excitement just inside the big hall was quite overwhelming. Everyone seemed soo relaxed and fit and ready to take on the world… and my knees were shaking so bad that I could have used them to massage someone's aching back… trust me they were really vibrating... I have always been scared with this one thought that when I run the race and I finally reach the finish line, there is nobody there.. the red cones have been picked up, the speakers have been moved, there is not even a finish line and no one even sees me finish. SCARY… I KNOW!!...
So by then I was a bundle of nerves. Btw, I do not get nervous that often, but when I do, the direct effect of it is felt on my stomach and the worst affected are the guys running next to me the next day. God bless their souls and noses.
I had to get ride of my nervousness right. so I decided it was time for some major psychological revamping. I had to relax. So I did it… 3 blocks away from the restaurant I found this really nice Nail Salon called " Colors Nail Salon" [how innovative, my god!… utter genius]. So I went in, took 15 mins to decide which color of nail polish would go with my Black running tights and my orange Team Asha T-shirt and got myself pampered to an awesome manicure…. And I finished the entire look by even getting my hair colored. I just thought I needed to look pretty in my pictures [Yeah I know…I still don't and its quite wishful thinking…but so what… I had to try! U never know what could work?... but apparently the Deep Burgundy brown does not work. Just FYI]….
The next day at 7.45am the race started. All was great so far. I had Abhishek and Jayshree with me at the start line. Jayshree is my running partner on most Asha Saturday long runs. So I was so glad to see her that I grabbed her hand in public and did not let go of it till we actually started running. I did not care if ppl around us thought we were gay and that she was too pretty for me and what the hell was she doing with someone like me and she deserved wayyy better! I was just happy to have her right next to me. Awweee honey…. will you marry me!
Ohhhhh I forgot to tell you about the highlight of my race. So since Jayashree and I in the past have averaged 17-18min per mile, which is slower than walking at a slow speed for a normal 2 legged –being, we knew we were slow…. But we needed to get over that insecurity and move on right? Like really feel great about actually being slow, right? So I had a brilliant idea on the Friday before the race. [yeah, my one eyebrow went up so high, it almost touched the back of my head ;-) ].. So the idea was that we should wear a picture of a tortoise on our t-shirts. We were the team Asha's "Slow and Steady, wins the race" TORTOISES, INC. It was cool. I even put a dialogue bubble next to my tortoise's face saying " SO WHAT!" it was an awesome idea… I swear… lots of ppl complimented on our turtles and we heard a lot of other comments just behind our backs… all in all a huge success.
Through out the race we had Abhishek entertain us. I mean, like we needed more entertainment? Helloo… you should know one secret that most of the times J [Jayashree] and I take soo long for our runs because we enjoy ourselves too much on our run. Yes we are a very happy couple ;-) .The last 18 mil run we did on saturday sept8, 2007, we actually took a little 1 min nap too…right in the middle of our 13 th mile… we were too tired and also we wanted to wait for a cute guy we saw at the reservoir to come by again J)))).. …
So back to Abhishek. This dude is the best. He has immense amount of energy. He spoke non-stop for 3 hrs. Just for the heck of it. We didn't have a chance to feel our aching jism (body), just cause our heads were full of his nonsensical non-stop commentary. The told me everything about himself. Things I did not want to know about him and the things I REALLY did not want to know about him. He started to tell us that he wanted to go pee at mile 2. and till 11m he did not go. Can you imagine what all we heard on our run? Ram Ram !!!! I was verbally polluted I tell you.
But on a very serious note, He is one of my closest friends I have here and I couldn't have done it without him. He could have run at a 8-9 min per mile speed but he didn't. Just to keep me company. I love you too abhi.. [J, I don't really mean it honey…don't worry..ur still my No. 1]
And then I had Jitu [Sunil Shetty look alike…OMG…Sumit that was the best man… God will bless you for feeding me something to tease him with for the rest of his life… its just too precious..]and monel. They came all the way to PHILLY TO CHEER ME!.. I have the best friends ever…seriously. They buddy ran with me for like 3 miles sporadically. And especially at the end when I need them the most. Plus they clicked like a zillion pics of us. Btw, every time you want Abhi to stop talking, you should show him a camera. He will stop running, stop talking and strategically place himself against the sun to get him a good picture… He's worst than me. I only colored my hair and nails, I didn't stop running during my race for a pic..hello! But Monel, Jitu and my family were pampering us like we were running a marathon or something ;-)…. WARNING! Corny line coming up…. I do not know what I would have done with out you guys. U are the best and I cannot thank you enough.
So my race was great. I ran at 11 – 12 mpm for the first 6 miles. Then I had a nasty cramp in my stomach and for the next 7.1 miles it did not leave me. So I ran the rest at 13-14 mpm. Don't know y that happened. I wish it hadn't coz I was running well and I could have kept that pace if it wasn't for that stitch in my stomach. Coach will email separately. After the race I was walking around like a Robo doing BREAK-DANCE [AAhh-UOO…Michael Jackson-style]. Every joint in my body was hurting and every movement was interrupted.
After the race we clicked more picture and went to shower at the hotel. Then we left for NJ. Met more asha gang there for dinner. Got home by 11.00pm.. did a whole patch-work of Benge on my legs. 4 patches per leg …and I got ready for bed, wore my medal around my neck again and went to sleep…Sweet Dreams!!!
Coach, your face flashed in front of my eyes all throughout the race… Wish you were there. Missed you and thank you for everything.
I told you it was a long email. Who asked you to read it hun!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Why " Runnnn Forestttt!!!"
First obvious reason is because it is a marathon blog for me.. thus the Runnnnn part is justified.. and thus I stay away from posting non-marathon related things on it…becoz if I do not restrict myself I can write and talk a lot about anything…like the color of underwear people should not wear, the saga for finding an apartment in NYC, my so called Sex and the City girl talk, the zillion FedEx boys I have a crush on, how do you spell CRP, etc… So to save you guys from the trouble of reaching dementia from just reading I have restricted myself…what a noble thought right? I know… I always try to do the right thing.
For all who dont understand the Forestttttt part, let me explain.... last sat, Amit Sinha [one of our Marathon program mentors] ran with me for a bit. In less than 30 secs he started walking while I ran because he just couldn’t do it [i.e, run that slow]…and he saw me struggle while I ran with all my might [I always run with all my might… I am a very mighty runner u see…] so he bought me to the idea of learning every word of the music on my ipod while i was running...just to kill time and to distract myself from the pain.... [Brilliant, i know...like my head wasn’t already filled with enough useless info]... and also coz I have the same music on my ipod since the last 8 months now, I didn’t have many songs un-learnt...so I switched to movies instead...and on Tuesday, I ran with one movie in my head – Forest Gump.... and I kept repeating it to myself " I AM FOREST GUMP!" and in the last 1 mile which is always a torture my mind was screaming “RUNNNNN FORESTTTTTTTT!”…....and then the obvious dialogue followed.." Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what ur gonna get!" .... of course I went back home to a big box of ferro rochers... so even though I cheated and knew what I was gonna get from my box of chocolates, i was still living the life ;-).... pls ok, i had finished my run...so i am allowed my treat...
SO THERE YOU GO. That’s how I got my Blog name: Runnnn Forestttttttt….
I have my next long run tomorrow …16 miles ppl…. And I have to get this movie Forest Gump out of my head… I have to find a new one to enact while I run… I am leaning towards Sholay actually ..." Bhaag Dhaanooo...aaj teri basanti ki ijjat ka sawal hai!" .... with all the dramatic background music...whah wah… will be a lot of fun… and when my legs are dying of pain I can maro the dialogue “Yeah pair [legs] mujhe dede Thakur…yeah Pair mujhe dede”…. Sahi hai baap… way to go…
Now I am done typing… me leaving…
Going…Going…Gone…zzzzzzzzzzz [to sleep…what did I think, I went running again…. ? pls…. I have a life beyond running you know]
Subh Ratri [Good Night]
For all who dont understand the Forestttttt part, let me explain.... last sat, Amit Sinha [one of our Marathon program mentors] ran with me for a bit. In less than 30 secs he started walking while I ran because he just couldn’t do it [i.e, run that slow]…and he saw me struggle while I ran with all my might [I always run with all my might… I am a very mighty runner u see…] so he bought me to the idea of learning every word of the music on my ipod while i was running...just to kill time and to distract myself from the pain.... [Brilliant, i know...like my head wasn’t already filled with enough useless info]... and also coz I have the same music on my ipod since the last 8 months now, I didn’t have many songs un-learnt...so I switched to movies instead...and on Tuesday, I ran with one movie in my head – Forest Gump.... and I kept repeating it to myself " I AM FOREST GUMP!" and in the last 1 mile which is always a torture my mind was screaming “RUNNNNN FORESTTTTTTTT!”…....and then the obvious dialogue followed.." Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what ur gonna get!" .... of course I went back home to a big box of ferro rochers... so even though I cheated and knew what I was gonna get from my box of chocolates, i was still living the life ;-).... pls ok, i had finished my run...so i am allowed my treat...
SO THERE YOU GO. That’s how I got my Blog name: Runnnn Forestttttttt….
I have my next long run tomorrow …16 miles ppl…. And I have to get this movie Forest Gump out of my head… I have to find a new one to enact while I run… I am leaning towards Sholay actually ..." Bhaag Dhaanooo...aaj teri basanti ki ijjat ka sawal hai!" .... with all the dramatic background music...whah wah… will be a lot of fun… and when my legs are dying of pain I can maro the dialogue “Yeah pair [legs] mujhe dede Thakur…yeah Pair mujhe dede”…. Sahi hai baap… way to go…
Now I am done typing… me leaving…
Going…Going…Gone…zzzzzzzzzzz [to sleep…what did I think, I went running again…. ? pls…. I have a life beyond running you know]
Subh Ratri [Good Night]
God Bless the Unknown!
So I told you guys earlier that people would pay to see me run. You wanna know some more good news, [No I am not pregnant.. I am not even married… I know that’s not relevant these days, but still]… but here is the deal, people who don’t know me at all will also pay to see me run. Can you believe it? I mean I now have almost $200 from people who I have never seen or heard of in my entire life. Just coz they like my emails or my blog… whah whah! I have been doing my happy dance ever since I saw some activity on my fundraising. I am so proud of myself and truly humbled by the stranger friends’ confidence in me. They are actually encouraging me to go on at a time when I really do need the motivation [Goddd..... Ekta Kapoor could use me as the script writer for her next “K” serial’s dialogues… man I’m cheesy] but if by change something goes wrong and I cannot do my marathon or finish it, Solid Popat is going to happen [Translation: these very nice people, who donated toward my cause, r going to kill me!]
But not to worry my fellow boosters I shall fight the wind, rain and food to finish what I started. I have some support financially for my fund raising, but I need a lot more. I hope all those pockets full of money friends that I have will shell out some. But if they do not its ok. I understand that it is their very strong indianess to save all they can for an unknown future and so I am proud of them non-the less. [So like u though I wouldn’t drop in a stinker? Helloooo!!!!…go donate u KANJUS…It is for a great cause…do something nice for once in your life!].
But to all whom I know and I don’t and have given a contribution, I have to say Thank You.
And God Bless [Aum-style … (only Aum will understand this)]
good nite....
But not to worry my fellow boosters I shall fight the wind, rain and food to finish what I started. I have some support financially for my fund raising, but I need a lot more. I hope all those pockets full of money friends that I have will shell out some. But if they do not its ok. I understand that it is their very strong indianess to save all they can for an unknown future and so I am proud of them non-the less. [So like u though I wouldn’t drop in a stinker? Helloooo!!!!…go donate u KANJUS…It is for a great cause…do something nice for once in your life!].
But to all whom I know and I don’t and have given a contribution, I have to say Thank You.
And God Bless [Aum-style … (only Aum will understand this)]
good nite....
Oh well...
There is an entire stretch of nothingness that goes thru my head, for the longest time when I am running long runs [3 hrs or more]. And I think its not funny coz it’s a waste of my wasteful time. I could be watching TV or sleeping or be out with friends having dinner/ movie or something non constructive or calling my sister and arguing with her for no reason. I love doing nothing. But it doesn’t happen, as I am dedicated to my sore knees. I can’t explain y I do it and that’s what is corny to me. I don’t know what I mean by that, but I really mean it. I do.
Sometimes I cannot believe that this whole experience is happening to me. I would have never in my wildest of dreams thought of running or doing any exercise at all. I always thought that the sexy looking women and men working out at the gym all the time were only there cause their profession demanded them to do it [forcefully]. You cannot be an actor/ actress and be completely out of shape. So they exercised against their will.
I never thought ppl would ever consider doing this out of their own will, except my Father. But then again, my father doesn’t count, coz he is my father and like me he could also do it for the kicks of it. Even running after my school bus was a pain. But non the less its happening and I am really happy about it.. its different. And I enjoy different, A LOT! Conventional things bore me. Even people. Most of the people I am attracted to are people who have a mind of their own. They may be completely different [or wrong] in their fundamentals in life and I would say well, its his/her way of thinking. I cannot judge them. So do not judge me either when I say I am doing this whole Marathon for no apparent reason.
Sometimes I cannot believe that this whole experience is happening to me. I would have never in my wildest of dreams thought of running or doing any exercise at all. I always thought that the sexy looking women and men working out at the gym all the time were only there cause their profession demanded them to do it [forcefully]. You cannot be an actor/ actress and be completely out of shape. So they exercised against their will.
I never thought ppl would ever consider doing this out of their own will, except my Father. But then again, my father doesn’t count, coz he is my father and like me he could also do it for the kicks of it. Even running after my school bus was a pain. But non the less its happening and I am really happy about it.. its different. And I enjoy different, A LOT! Conventional things bore me. Even people. Most of the people I am attracted to are people who have a mind of their own. They may be completely different [or wrong] in their fundamentals in life and I would say well, its his/her way of thinking. I cannot judge them. So do not judge me either when I say I am doing this whole Marathon for no apparent reason.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Deprived Child!
In this entire quest to help the underprivileged children in India, I am feeling a lot underprivileged myself. We first time marathoners are subject to so much alcohol deprivation I cannot tell you. Our long runs are on Saturday early mornings. 7.30 am. So we cannot go out Friday nights coz we will not wake up on sat mornings otherwise. And ofcourse we cannot drink even at dinner coz we will be dehydrated on sat morning during our run. And yes there is this non-workable option of going out sat night to party, but no one tells you when you join the training that that will not happen either. If you run 12 miles on a sat morning, what chance in hell do you think you have that you will be able to even walk in a straight line till Monday morning? We could all be arrested for DUI without a drop of alcohol in our stomachs on a Saturday till Sunday time frame. Maybe Lindsay Loan’s been training for the Marathon too.
Another down side to this entire running is that since I haven’t been partying in like 3 months now, my group of party socialites seem to be disappearing or getting out of touch… Yes, most of my close friends do not like to dance, so I normally party with not so good friends …[damn, I shouldn’t have said that out aloud].. But even so the problem still prevails that once I am done with my Half Marathon, I maybe party-friends-less… It’s a HUGE problem…. Somebody help me.
Weekdays are tiring too.. Its not like you can get away with not running during the week. So you still run like 6 miles or 5 miles or 3 miles every alternate day. In these 3 months so far, I have discovered soo many parts of my Body – The Wonderland, I cannot tell you. Seriously. Did you know that women could chafe below their boobs too? There are muscles that hurt, like my index toe muscles get pulled every Saturday night after my long run. Helloooo?.. Like that pidly little toe has a mind of its own. It has to rebel every time after a long run. What a stubborn little prick I tell you.
And then there are times when you want to go to the bathroom real bad while your running and you have finished only 1 mile and you have 5 more to go. Now here is where the real challenge is. Running under PRESSURE. But one good thing that has come out of this experience is that I have come up with an awesome business idea. I am going to spend some money and pay intelligent people to come up with an awesome product – CHAFING FREE – ADULT DIPERS that are Good to Go! [Taco bell style –Think outside the BUM!] …Brilliant, don’t you think?
And after all of the above if you are expecting that I would end this by saying “But it is all worth it and we are doing it for the children and all…” I am sorry to disappoint you. Right now I am not in the mood of being nice. It's my time to whine and I am sticking to it. Ok I am off to run now. Tata!
Another down side to this entire running is that since I haven’t been partying in like 3 months now, my group of party socialites seem to be disappearing or getting out of touch… Yes, most of my close friends do not like to dance, so I normally party with not so good friends …[damn, I shouldn’t have said that out aloud].. But even so the problem still prevails that once I am done with my Half Marathon, I maybe party-friends-less… It’s a HUGE problem…. Somebody help me.
Weekdays are tiring too.. Its not like you can get away with not running during the week. So you still run like 6 miles or 5 miles or 3 miles every alternate day. In these 3 months so far, I have discovered soo many parts of my Body – The Wonderland, I cannot tell you. Seriously. Did you know that women could chafe below their boobs too? There are muscles that hurt, like my index toe muscles get pulled every Saturday night after my long run. Helloooo?.. Like that pidly little toe has a mind of its own. It has to rebel every time after a long run. What a stubborn little prick I tell you.
And then there are times when you want to go to the bathroom real bad while your running and you have finished only 1 mile and you have 5 more to go. Now here is where the real challenge is. Running under PRESSURE. But one good thing that has come out of this experience is that I have come up with an awesome business idea. I am going to spend some money and pay intelligent people to come up with an awesome product – CHAFING FREE – ADULT DIPERS that are Good to Go! [Taco bell style –Think outside the BUM!] …Brilliant, don’t you think?
And after all of the above if you are expecting that I would end this by saying “But it is all worth it and we are doing it for the children and all…” I am sorry to disappoint you. Right now I am not in the mood of being nice. It's my time to whine and I am sticking to it. Ok I am off to run now. Tata!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
