Revenge of SP

Yes, after walking last three miles of SF Half in excruciating pain, changing from run to run/walk strategy and being cautious for past three months about the ongoing pain, I took my revenge and ENJOYED the 6 hours and 54 minutes of my marathon run. Even the unknown last five miles! And here is how it happened. It may be a long read but it was a long training ending in a long run!

On November 4^th, at 6 am , I was at the place that had inspired me four year ago: “Start” point for a marathon. When Durgam took off for his marathon along with hundreds others on sunny southern California morning in highly charged environment, I thought “I want to do this!” Ironically, I took off quietly with 4-5 dozens more “early starters” a.k.a. “slow runners/walkers” in pre-dawn darkness. But the 1^st mile sign was fully lighted and 1^st hour was a nice warm up. It was made more special by Durgam driving around on the course following me, like a bike Romeo in a car! That was boosting!

After saying goodbye to him, I entered the familiar Los Gatos Creek Trail and started running 5:1. 5 minutes run 1 minute walk with Team Asha running buddies. At seventh mile, we got see the elite runners ,who had started at regular 7am start, just cruising by us effortlessly. Was inspiring to see such athletics. And finally thanks to the steady stream of runners that followed, the marathon seemed like a marathon rather than just a regular training run. At half point, many of the half marathoners finished and initial fanfare ended. Entering the quiet trail after the half point detour, for a second I thought “Still 13 miles to go!” At 16 miles the Asha water stop just cleared any guessing by pumping us up with both mental and nutritive boost: GU, water, energy drink, bells, cheers, hugs and all. At 19, got another boost by meeting the family. Durgam running with me for a while, Sachin-Seema eagerly inquiring about my well being and Nirva not being bothered about it.

Leaving trail around 21 miles, I got ready for unknown. I put on my iPod with music that was like Glucon-D for mind. I had started feeling new pain in my toes in addition to usual feet and knee pain, and unnecessary shoulder pain from Saturday morning. Neelima and Shetal were playing movie name Antakshari and Shetal could not respond to “Th” for 2^nd time. So I filled in for her. “Thodi si Bewafai” I said and added “My mind is at least working!” Around 23, it was a pleasant surprise to see the family again by the roadside. I was happy and told them “Go. Be there at the finish line before I come.” The pain was trying to overtake my mind. But finally at last three miles, I thought “que sera sera” and without giving into pain, I just went for it. I wasn’t in severe pain and wasn’t sprinting either but I was actually enjoying the run and looking forward to finish it within seven hours. One of the traffic cops was curiously smiling at Shetal and I, when he heard us singing Mariah Carey’s “Hero” out loud. Then came, Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” asking “Don't you bring me down today.” Then “The Battle ” from “Gladiator” came right at last mile sign. It made me feel just like Maximus, trying to beat the 26.2 miles long beast named “ Marathon .”

And right around the corner came the left turn to enter the Discovery Meadows and I spotted the balloon arch. Last few yards, Shetal held my hand and made me sprint, and I did. I heard the announcer saying “And here we have Shetal Desai and Shachi Patel from Team Asha holding hands to the finish.” The girl handed me the medal and Durgam ran over to greet me. He looked like a relieved parent whose child had just passed a though exam J Sachin-Seema-Kush all gave me big hugs with pride. Nirva still thought that Ansh was a better company than Mummy!

That is how my 1^st marathon had happened after six months of training. I enjoyed it enough to naively think, “If one school can be built by running one marathon like this, I could run forever!” And even though I had very demanding training program, I will miss more things about it than not. I will miss seeing the sunrises, chatting with running buddies about everything under the sun, and saying “Oh today, I ran ONLY seven miles” J One thing, I will NOT miss is, Saturday 5am alarms! And yes, the cautiously maintained slow pace.

And may be it was that slow speed that let me ponder over life during my runs J and find many parallels between life and marathon. For one, there are no short cuts. For two, if you take one step at a time and push yourself for the next one, you can achieve wonders. For three, it is always desired to have pain-free journey but the pain makes it more personal and significant. Finally, the information age life may be about numbers but you choose which numbers to focus on. Here are the numbers for my marathon:

• 421.2 miles that I ran in last six months during my training and marathon.
• 6:54:09 time it took me to finish marathon, 1^st female runner took 2:55:28 !
• 2 creative writing prizes I won while participating in Team Asha contests J
• 1 is my rank among Team Asha runners for raising the funds.
• $8022.60 is the amount that I raised for the school building project.
• 90 is the number of children who are going have a school with roof over head.

Still I don’t have the number to show my appreciation towards you, my donors. I thank you from bottom of my heart for supporting the noble cause. I assure you that on average 2+ miles/day for past six months, I have worked my “legs” off for every penny of it! Your moral support kept my spirits high and your financial support kept my accountability high J Asha for Education has approved the project which means that the rest of the money will be funded through Asha. I will keep you updated on the project progress.

What a wonderful experience it has been for me! I can’t help but say, thanks to my hubby for cold baths, hot lunches and everything in between. And thanks to my bubbly, for choosing me over Dora and Diego J and accompanying me in garage during my solo 5 milers on treadmill rather than watching TV! I wish you a very happy holiday season and I also wish you a journey ,not the destination, where you will surprise yourself.

And I leave you with a little nugget of humor: (Hint: read the answer out loud)

“Why do you run so much?” You ask.

“I run because if I ever stop and became “I ran,” I may end up being bombed.” says I

SF Half Marathon Experience

Having witnessed my husband Durgam’s marathon experience, I thought I knew what to expect from whole experience – trainings and races. I knew there will be moments of aches and injuries, of triumph and self pride, of self-doubt and self-assurance but I was so happy to experience that special moment , during the SF Half Marathon journey, that I had not anticipated.

I started the run with full enthusiasm but still the way coaches had wanted – at my regular slow pace. I soaked myself into wonderful SF experience – the familiar yet wonderful tour route – Emarcadero, Pier 39, Coit Tower, the hills and of course, THE BRIDGE. I was so much in high spirits running on the bridge that I just let myself loose in thoughts. I remembered how exactly 10 years ago – in July 1997 – I had visited GGB for the first time ever with my husband (my fiancé then) in little red car and was awed by the sheer splendor of engineering triumph. And of course, it reminded me of many subsequent trips to the bridge with scores of different loved ones. Even before the run was finished, I was already proud of myself for running on GGB.

But coming back, I felt like I was fighting the elements – the rain, the fog, the wind, the cold. All of sudden, my knees, ankles, shins all started complaining. After the bridge and 10 miles marker, remembering coaches’ advise and keeping the eye on the bigger prize (the full marathon), I convinced myself to not get hurt and started walking instead or running. With determination from within and cheering from beloved mentors, I finished my personal high of 13.1 miles and was given a big hug by a dear friend who also happens to be a fellow runner.

Medal, accomplishment, self-pride, still the most memorable moment of my experience wasn’t brought by any of them. The most memorable moment ,for me, happened before the run. When 3 o’clock in the morning, my carpool buddies and I took off for Sunnyvale, I showed them the full moon and said “It’s Guru Purnima - full moon. No wonder we are acting like bunch of lunatics who wake up 2 o’clock in the morning only to travel 2 hours to run 13 miles!!!” And of course, we were joined by some more lunatics like us in the bus J When the 3.30am bus headed to SF, I badly wanted to catch up on sleep but instead I was bemused by the lively environment of the bus. 20 somethings and 30 somethings, competent managers and complex programmers, toddler tackling moms and high performance athletes, all indulge into early morning Antakshari in a dark bus, just like school going children on the way to group picnic. I doubt I will ever forget running on GGB or the pain at the finish or the first medal hanging around my neck but even if I ever do, I am sure I will never ever forget one of the sweetest moment of my life – the moment that brought inner children out of bunch of accomplished grownups embarked upon a journey to yet another challenge.