Amazing Race
Just an abbreviated version of my experience at the NYC Marathon 2005.
First and foremost, I need to congratulate my husband Partha, (a 4 time marathon finisher himself) the world's best coach and the world's best husband. He took a couch potato out of the couch and made her run and finish a marathon. No mean task if you knew me! I'm the most indisciplined, disorganized person I have ever come across. I have a lot of interests - as long as they don't involve physical activity and exerting my body...
One of my favorite quotes used to be "Never stand when you can sit, and never sit when you can lie down." I also have a list of health problems, the length of the course itself! So you can imagine the "marathon" effort on Partha's part.
My girls - I'm very very blessed to have such awesome children! They inspire me, they motivate me, they cajole me, they comfort me, they congratulate my every small effort, they scold me if I hit the lazy button, they fix their own breakfast on our weekend long runs, they help me a lot around the house just so I can concentrate on my run; I could go on and on about them...
I've been suffering from labrynthitis for a long time now. It causes severe dizziness and nausea and imbalance and extreme fatigue. Added to that, I have arthritis in my left leg and exercise induced asthma. Training with all that was very difficult and Partha used to go with me on my long runs just in case I got dizzy and fell somewhere on a lonely road. I wasn't able to look to the left and right for oncoming traffic because of my positional vertigo. He would go ahead of me and give the green signal to cross every road. It was like I was having peripheral blindness! A week or two before the marathon, I developed severe pain in my left leg. I rested it as much as I could, but two days before the marathon, on my way to the city to pick up my race number, I made a desperate plea to a sports doctor to see me because the pain seemed unbearable. He made time for me and immediately recommended an Xray and told me that I had a stress fracture and that if I ran, I should be prepared for extreme pain. My threshold for pain is pretty high. So I thought I would be ok and went ahead anyway.
Race day - Partha dropped me off along with his brother who also ran with me. He is the CFO of a software company in Bombay and works long hours. He is another "crazy guy" who came all the way from Bombay just to run the marathon and that too with just 2 months of training in the "wonderful" roads of Bombay. You really need to be very highly motivated to train in Bombay, especially during the rainy season! He also had some problem in his legs. To add to the confusion, his mother fell down in the kitchen and hurt herself so badly that she needed a surgery to her leg. This happened just a week before the race. So he had his own list of problems which he can describe better himself.
I started slowly because the slower I run, the later the pain would set in. I asked my brother-in-law to go ahead at his own pace while I went at my own. At the 8th mile, I got the expected pain. Struggled till the 11th mile when I finally found some Tylenol at a medical aid station. Although it didn't help me much, psychologically, I felt better. At around mile 16, I started developing dizziness. At mile 17, I met Partha and the kids, recharged my battery with their words of comfort and cheer. Held on for another mile or so when the whole world started spinning around me. At the water station, had to stop and throw up. Had no idea where I was. The volunteers wanted to know if they had to call my family, but that would mean giving up. And I wasn't ready to do that. So I said I was fine, and went on. Adrenalin really started kicking in at that point and it was all mental from that time onwards. I actually picked up speed after the 20th mile. Met Partha and the kids again at the 24th mile. Felt very reassured that they would be there to pick up whatever was left of me after mile 26! Finished in 6 hrs 3 mins finally!! When a volunteer came to put the medal around my neck, I asked her, " Are you sure I'm done? are you really sure?" She laughed and said, "Yes you are! and here is your finisher's medal." I cannot describe the high I felt at that moment. Everything seemed so surreal.
This is a very tough course and I'm very proud I finished it inspite of all my problems. I'm sure every single person of the 37000 odd people who ran, have a story behind their run. I do hope my account inspires atleast one of you to take up the challenge and run a marathon, or a half-marathon or take up running. If a couch potato with health problems can do it, anybody can! Running is one sport where you don't need company, you can go at your own pace, you don't need to compete with anyone, you don't need too many expensive paraphernalia except a decent pair of running shoes, is a wonderful way to keep yourself fit and happy. It releases the "happy hormones" and gives you a feeling of joy every time you complete a run, be it a mile or a 2 mile or a 20 mile. But one piece of warning though - It can be very addictive and don't blame me if you get hooked onto it. It's also a lonely sport, but a lot of people run while listening to music.
The NYC marathon is such an incredible experience that no amount of flowery words and adjectives would do justice to it. It's the Wimbledon of running. And to think I got a chance to run there, I'm indeed lucky! Next time, I'm hoping to run for a cause close to my heart. I didn't want to commit to anything this year, because I wasn't confident of running until the last day. But now that I've done it once, I want to do it all over again and for a good cause which will motivate me to give it my best shot.
I hope my parents don't get to read this blog because they have no idea what I went through. They would certainly hit the roof and send me a "howler". (Harry Potter fans ahem...)
Have fun, everyone and be good!
First and foremost, I need to congratulate my husband Partha, (a 4 time marathon finisher himself) the world's best coach and the world's best husband. He took a couch potato out of the couch and made her run and finish a marathon. No mean task if you knew me! I'm the most indisciplined, disorganized person I have ever come across. I have a lot of interests - as long as they don't involve physical activity and exerting my body...
One of my favorite quotes used to be "Never stand when you can sit, and never sit when you can lie down." I also have a list of health problems, the length of the course itself! So you can imagine the "marathon" effort on Partha's part.
My girls - I'm very very blessed to have such awesome children! They inspire me, they motivate me, they cajole me, they comfort me, they congratulate my every small effort, they scold me if I hit the lazy button, they fix their own breakfast on our weekend long runs, they help me a lot around the house just so I can concentrate on my run; I could go on and on about them...
I've been suffering from labrynthitis for a long time now. It causes severe dizziness and nausea and imbalance and extreme fatigue. Added to that, I have arthritis in my left leg and exercise induced asthma. Training with all that was very difficult and Partha used to go with me on my long runs just in case I got dizzy and fell somewhere on a lonely road. I wasn't able to look to the left and right for oncoming traffic because of my positional vertigo. He would go ahead of me and give the green signal to cross every road. It was like I was having peripheral blindness! A week or two before the marathon, I developed severe pain in my left leg. I rested it as much as I could, but two days before the marathon, on my way to the city to pick up my race number, I made a desperate plea to a sports doctor to see me because the pain seemed unbearable. He made time for me and immediately recommended an Xray and told me that I had a stress fracture and that if I ran, I should be prepared for extreme pain. My threshold for pain is pretty high. So I thought I would be ok and went ahead anyway.
Race day - Partha dropped me off along with his brother who also ran with me. He is the CFO of a software company in Bombay and works long hours. He is another "crazy guy" who came all the way from Bombay just to run the marathon and that too with just 2 months of training in the "wonderful" roads of Bombay. You really need to be very highly motivated to train in Bombay, especially during the rainy season! He also had some problem in his legs. To add to the confusion, his mother fell down in the kitchen and hurt herself so badly that she needed a surgery to her leg. This happened just a week before the race. So he had his own list of problems which he can describe better himself.
I started slowly because the slower I run, the later the pain would set in. I asked my brother-in-law to go ahead at his own pace while I went at my own. At the 8th mile, I got the expected pain. Struggled till the 11th mile when I finally found some Tylenol at a medical aid station. Although it didn't help me much, psychologically, I felt better. At around mile 16, I started developing dizziness. At mile 17, I met Partha and the kids, recharged my battery with their words of comfort and cheer. Held on for another mile or so when the whole world started spinning around me. At the water station, had to stop and throw up. Had no idea where I was. The volunteers wanted to know if they had to call my family, but that would mean giving up. And I wasn't ready to do that. So I said I was fine, and went on. Adrenalin really started kicking in at that point and it was all mental from that time onwards. I actually picked up speed after the 20th mile. Met Partha and the kids again at the 24th mile. Felt very reassured that they would be there to pick up whatever was left of me after mile 26! Finished in 6 hrs 3 mins finally!! When a volunteer came to put the medal around my neck, I asked her, " Are you sure I'm done? are you really sure?" She laughed and said, "Yes you are! and here is your finisher's medal." I cannot describe the high I felt at that moment. Everything seemed so surreal.
This is a very tough course and I'm very proud I finished it inspite of all my problems. I'm sure every single person of the 37000 odd people who ran, have a story behind their run. I do hope my account inspires atleast one of you to take up the challenge and run a marathon, or a half-marathon or take up running. If a couch potato with health problems can do it, anybody can! Running is one sport where you don't need company, you can go at your own pace, you don't need to compete with anyone, you don't need too many expensive paraphernalia except a decent pair of running shoes, is a wonderful way to keep yourself fit and happy. It releases the "happy hormones" and gives you a feeling of joy every time you complete a run, be it a mile or a 2 mile or a 20 mile. But one piece of warning though - It can be very addictive and don't blame me if you get hooked onto it. It's also a lonely sport, but a lot of people run while listening to music.
The NYC marathon is such an incredible experience that no amount of flowery words and adjectives would do justice to it. It's the Wimbledon of running. And to think I got a chance to run there, I'm indeed lucky! Next time, I'm hoping to run for a cause close to my heart. I didn't want to commit to anything this year, because I wasn't confident of running until the last day. But now that I've done it once, I want to do it all over again and for a good cause which will motivate me to give it my best shot.
I hope my parents don't get to read this blog because they have no idea what I went through. They would certainly hit the roof and send me a "howler". (Harry Potter fans ahem...)
Have fun, everyone and be good!
posted by Randomblogger at 9:12 AM
