Sunday, May 11, 2014

My first half Marathon ..

I ran a half marathon today thereby accomplishing one of my resolutions for the 2014. I have been assiduous in avoiding tobacco and if I were to get below 180lb; I am at 182 currently; I can seriously move on to my stretch goals!

I stayed last night with Ravi, Sudha, Svathi, Akshya, and Coco the dog, at their house near Philadelphia. It was Ravi that re-introduce me to running by getting me to take part in Relay Marathons. Since then I have been to at least three of them. In fact two years ago, I was supposed to run the 1/2 marathon but fell terribly sick 2 weeks prior to the run with a cough so bad, it seemed my my lungs would be expelled out of my body!

This year, I took better precautions. I ate well, I exercised regularly, I took care not to run in inclement weather, and finally I rested adequately. Despite all this, I was not fully prepared. I had 6 weeks of preparation with the longest run being 7 miles and here I was trying to run 13 miles! At least I had run 7 miles the previous two Sundays and I had been averaging 17 miles each week.

I started the run very conservatively running an average of 12 minutes 10 seconds for the first couple of miles. But very soon it was clear that the time taken for each mile crept up by 5-10 seconds till I was averaging 13MPH by the 10th mile. But I am proud that in all this time I ran steadily without a break. Even when I had a Gatorade from the stalls on the side, I ensured that I ran slowly. The eventual Marathon winner blew by me around the 9 mile mark! I had run 9 miles and he had already completely 22nd mile! I lost sight of him very soon.

Around 10 miles, my toes and knees started hurting. I stopped tightened my laces and started again but the final hill and my pride proved to be my undoing. I refused to walk up the hill which was a good half mile long. I tendons around my left knee hurt so much I had difficulty even walking. So I limped the last 1/2 mile till I saw the end point when I jogged slowly to the finish. I finished with a time of 2 hours and 50 minutes! My knees hurt but I am glad I did this.

This sets me up well for my stretch goal. I am signed up for Marine Corp Marathon this fall. Wish me luck.