Tuesday Buddy run and Thursday run

I was really exhausted since the beginning of this week. I overexerted myself last weekend and am still suffering now. I need to take it a little slow on the weekend and recover well and be ready for the week.

This Tuesday I went to for a buddy run in Fremont. It was dark and cold but thankfully it wasn’t raining. Did I tell you that I hate running in the dark. I can run when it is bright and sunny outside when it is cold but in the dark…naah. I don’t enjoy it that much, but it wasn’t that bad because we were a group of people and that is something that works for me. I enjoy working out in a group. We ran 2 miles and it was the longest 2 miles I ran. It was as if I ran 5 miles. Probably cause I hadn’t loaded on my carbs well on Sunday. I had potatoes on Sunday night while I should have had a better carb like brown rice. Neways lesson learnt. I am saying this because last Thursday I was able to run 1.25 miles without much problem, but on Tuesday I had to start walking mid way.

Thursday evening run was also in the dark. Argh!! Coach Rudy did give us some headlamps and I was running with one on my cap, but I soon started hating the weight of the headlamp and the cap obstructing my vision. I was much more comfortable running without the cap and the headlamp. Again I was tired after just 2 laps. I had trouble breathing. I was breathing heavily. Need to work on that. I will just have to start doing the Monday and Wednesday strength training exercises and rest well on the days I am supposed to rest and not overexert and load up on good carbs before the run.

Yesterday night I also watched Coach Al’s documentary called ‘Runner’s High’ which was aired on KQET 9. It was really motivating to see this bunch of kids from Oakland train for and complete the full marathon in LA. I was especially inspired to see this guy from El Salvador (forgot his name) who was so motivated and determined and soooo positive. He regularly trained for the marathon, did not complain and had a steel rod in his knee the whole time. He really motivated me. If he can do it with a steel rod in this knee I can do it too. I am so proud to be coached by Coach Al. It was funny to hear him say the same things that he says to our team like “Mind over matter….If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter” and “Let’s do the damn thing”.

By the way if someone is reading this, I would love to hear some motivating words and positive reinforcement once in a while.

First Coached Training!!

My Saturday began at 6:30 am. (I have probably woken up at this time only a few times in my life on a weekend). Though initially I was reluctant to get up I was also excited to meet my team and my mentors, Coach Al and Mama Lisa. I reached the san Leandro Marina at about 8 am.It was a little windy but atleast it was not raining. Most of our East Bay team was already there. Everyone was pumped up and ready to go. Coach Al started us with a few words of inspiration and rubbed off some of his energy onto us. We did some streches and then started our run. I was surprisingly energetic and could run 2 miles non stop. I thought of doing 3 miles but then I wanted to slowly increase my endurance and not overdo my running, so I decided to run 2 miles. I was surprised that I could run 2 miles without stopping or switching to walking. In fact I thought that I could easily run another mile. Maybe on Tuesday I will increase my mileage. One rule with TNT is that you dont run with your IPod or any other distractions and my mind was blank for about one mile. I didnt have any thought. I was trying to think something but my only thought was that I had no thought :) Very nice clean feeling.

Some sweet souls had gotten up early in the morning to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for everyone. There were lot of munchies to eat. I tried to limit myself to a few sandwiches. I also made a few friends in the team and also realized that one of my teammates is Baltazar from Movin 99.7 (Local Radio channel). I have set my morning alarm to this guy. He is the voice we wake up to every morning. He is a nice friendly guy.Today when I was listening to his show, he gave a shout out to our team. Go Team!! Neways the rest of Saturday I was super energetic. I felt like I had the energy of a kid. I was giving my poor hubby a hard time cause he isnt used to me having this much energy. I was talking a lot and just had this amazing amount of energy. I wasnt even feeling sleepy till about 11:30 at night. I was loving myself for this energy and for doing the training. Its a great feeling!! I am totally enjoying myself. Didnt think I would enjoy running this much. Next training is our buddy run on Tuesday. I can hardy wait!!!

First training!!

Yesterday was our first coached training. I had followed Mama Lisa’s instructions on food and fluid intake and was prepared with all my gear- a coolmax headband, quick wick  gloves and polypropylene apparel to protect myself against the cold and the rain (just in case). I was excited but also a bit scared. I wasn’t sure I could run more than a ¼ mile. I haven’t exercised in more than 2 months now.  I was praying the whole day that it should not rain while we were working out on the track today- atleast not on our first track workout. I went to the track and sure enough it was cold but it wasn’t raining. Our team was all pumped up. We gave shout outs to our honorees. Coach Van showed us some stretching exercises and told us about proper form and made us run one lap (1/4 mile) for warm up. I could easily run that one lap. Then he made us run the laps for 13 minutes. At first I thought I would run one lap and then maybe walk if I feel tired or if my diaphragm hurts, but I was able to run 4 laps non-stop in 13 minutes and moreover I wasn’t tired at the end of it. I felt like I could run another lap or two easily. I was so proud of myself. I passed the first test.  My gear did help me a lot; since I wasn’t cold I could concentrate on my running.  And trust me, yesterday I actually loved the run.  I thought I hated running but yesterday I loved running.  I am looking forward to the Saturday morning run.

So 3 things I learnt today are:

1. You need proper gear if you are running in the cold; even otherwise I guess.

2. Load up on your carbs and fluids before running and

3. Running in a group is more fun.

Amazing weekend!!!!!!

I do not know where to start. Three very amazing things happened this weekend!! This weekend has just been amazing.

First on Saturday, Team in training had their kickoff in Berkeley, so I woke up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. (sign of things to come) and went off for the kickoff. (To those of you who don’t know me well, I don’t get out of bed before 10 on a weekend.) I was very excited to meet my team members and my mentors and coaches. During the kickoff, one of the East Bay honorees “Hart” shared his story with us. He has chronic leukemia (pardon me if I don’t know the correct names here, I am writing this blog out of memory) and he has been with Team and Training participating in events, doing fundraising and fighting leukemia at the same time. In the East Bay walk/run team meeting, we also met 3 other honorees who shared their stories with us. When I saw them, I thought: “These guys look so normal…like any other person walking down the street.” For some reason, I thought they would look a little different. Note to self: If you see a stranger in a bad mood or being rude, try to be nice to them. You don’t know what they are going through. Anyway, kickoff was fun. I was a bit worried about raising money in this economy and my mentor told me that I would be surprised about how giving people are. Was she right!!

Second cool thing happened to me today. I was thinking of ideas on how to go about fundraising and thought that I should check out if someone is selling or giving away used books on craigslist and then sell them or ebay or Amazon. So when I saw an ad on craigslist which showed a ton of books for sale, I emailed asking about them. The person selling them said that she would sell it for $150-$200. I told her that I was running this marathon and was buying these for fundraising. I thought I will atleast check out those books and see if I will get something for them, so I went to the public storage where she had called me and looked at the books. All these books looked like they were in great shape and they were all great books on leadership, self help etc. I was about ready to bargain and buy them for $100(cause I was fundraising) and asked her how much she wanted for it. She sold me about 100 books atleast for (get this) $10. Yipeee!!!!!! And this was a complete stranger. What a steal!! I thought to myself. Wow, if you are truly doing something for a great cause the universe is aligned somehow to help you.

The third and most amazing thing that happened this weekend (and this is making me cry) is that someone (Anonymous donated $500 to my cause and I don’t even know who. Today afternoon before I went out to check out the books I composed my first fundraising email and sent it out to everyone on my address book and I came back and checked out my fundraising page and saw that I had raised $550. I thought to myself: “Wow so many people have donated already” and then I saw that this one person had donated $500. The suspense is just too much. I would love to thank this person from the bottom of my heart. I am soooooo grateful to you. You are amazing!!! I am jumping up and down right now. Thanks for the awesome encouragement. I am even more excited to train for the marathon and do even more fundraising. Ever since I signed up for the marathon, I was constantly wondering if I had set my goals too high: first for a full marathon and secondly the fundraising event. This is the first time I am doing fundraising of any sort. I had talks about fundraising with Jere (who herself does a lot of fundraising for the Life Strong foundation) and she had told me that she got donations from strangers and I thought to myself: “Well, she is Jere. She is a sweetheart and her energy and enthusiasm is so amazing that anyone would donate to her.” But people truly are amazing!!

What an amazing weekend!!!