Last week before my big race.

May 24-May 29 2009

I am so excited. Towards the beginning of the week, I was scared and feeling skeptical cause I didnt really know if I could run with my knee. I started worrying cause I felt that I trained so hard for my race for 4 months and now I wonder if I will be able to run with my bad knee.

So I decided to run on Tuesday. It was going to be an easy 2 mile run and I had rested my knee for a good 10 days. I wasnt feeling any pain. I had a lovely 2 mile run and I didnt feel much pain while I was running. I was very very happy about that. I can finally run again. NOW, I am super excited and feel confident about my big race.

Rebecca, who is our web captain was hosting a T-shirt decoration party on Tuesday night in Berkeley. I was very excited to decorate my T-shirt before the race. So I went to Berkeley after buddy run and was surprised that I was the only San Diego runner who showed up to decorate their T-shirt. But there were other mentors and teammates out there: Lizzie, Kim, Tori and Michelle. It was so sweet of them to provide puff paint and help me decorate my T-shirt. WE had dinner and then I decorated my T-shirt some more. I am very happy with how it turned out.

By Thursday, I was feeling super excited about my race day and was feeling very confident about being able to do 13.1 miles. I got some energy gels and got a Pro-tec It-Band wrap, which my teammate Kent recommended. He has been having issues with his IT band and using the wrap has helped him a lot. Hopefully it will prevent any further injuries to my knee on race day. I also started carbo-loading and hydrating more than before. I want to be well hydrated and energetic on Sunday.

I am so excited now. My husband and brother will be there to cheer me on. I wish my sister-in-law could make it as well. But hopefully she can see the live webcast and spot me. There will be more than 20,000 runners in San Diego for the event and more than 3000 among them are Team in Training members. My first half marathon!!!! I hope to take lots of pictures during my time in San Diego. Thanks for all your wishes and cheer. Keep cheering for me on Sunday. My race starts at 6:30am PST on Sunday morning

Water stop volunteering at Berkeley Marina

May 23 2009

Since my knee was hurting since my last run at Lake Chabot, I rested my knee the entire week and iced it all well. Every time I felt like running, my knee started twitching and I decided to do the smart thing and rest my knee for a whole week atleast.

But I wanted to meet the team on Saturday and since it was my mentor Jen's turn to take care of water stops etc, I volunteered to be at one of the water stops. What has happened to me? I am volunteering to wake up at 6:00 am on a Saturday morning and be with the team?? I love my team. A water stop is basically put up every 2-3 miles on the run route during a coached run, so that people can have some water or energy drink or pretzel, etc.

Our water stop was great. It was right in front of a dog park in Richmond. My other water stop mates were Tori (I hope I got her name right) who is a TNT alumni from last summer, her son Aidan, Tony (my teammate) and Alan (mentor Katie's boyfriend). Tori had parked her car right behind the water stop and we were listening to Britney Spears. It was really cold and inspite of wearing a jacket and a blanket I was cold. Tony got us all some coffee and we tried to keep warm by dancing from time to time.

Aidan is a sweet kid. He was having a fun time providing personal service to every one who came to our station. He would be ready with a cup of water when some one came, race with them around a small loop, win the race and then let them go with a 'Go Team'. We had fun with him and his green dog.

We also got to see a small dog chase in the dog park where a bunch of big dogs were chasing around a tiny dog and the tiny dog seemed to be running for his life. A few dog owners ran behind them to save the dog. He went and hid under some car and his owner came and picked him up from there, but it was fun to watch the dogs running around freely and being a little wild and playing games and having fun.

Overall, I had a nice day.

Lake Chabot = Knee pain

May 16th 2009

It was the longest run for San Diego Half marathoners. We were supposed to run 10-12 miles at LAKE CHABOT. Although I love the scenic location I do not like the hills as much cause they end up hurting my knees. Nonetheless, I was up bright and early and was there by the start of the race. I had another issue with the arch of my left foot, so Mama Lisa taped it before the start of the race and off I went.

It was a beautiful day to run, nice and pleasant, not too windy, not too hot not too cold. Just perfect. I ran very well the first 6 miles or so and was enjoying beautiful Lake Chabot. Then sometime after mile 6.5 or so, the terrain got really hilly. At first I tried to run through the hill, but it was just too steep to run (for me), so I was run walking.

It was around this time that my knee pain came back to me after weeks of giving me the illusion that my knee pain was gone forever. I somehow did my run/walk till mile 8. Then I met Mama Lisa and told her about my knee pain. She told me to immediately stop running and just walk the rest of the time. So, like a good girl I listened to her and walked the remaining 2 miles back. This was a difficult walk cause my knee was really in pain and I was alone. While walking back I was repenting doing the Lake Chabot run 2 weeks before my run especially since it is so hilly and since I know my knees dont take hills well. I came back and iced my knee well.

I waited till the end to meet everyone and cheer them on. Coach Raji, our walk coach was very nice and gave me some great run/walk tips. She is a cancer survivor herself btw. I love my team. :)

Thank you!! Met my fundraising goal!!

May 14, 2009

Today was the fundraising deadline for RNR San Diego, which means that we should meet our fundraising minimum by this date. Though I am still waiting for a few company matches to show up, I was short by a few hundred dollars. So on the last day, my brother-in-law donated $200. Thanks Amol dada. After his donation, I was short by just $35.

Today was also track workout. It was my friend Sam, Coach Rudy and me. Since, there were some track events going on at the high school track, we decided to run around the neighborhood. It was a good 2.5 mile run. I happened to tell Sam about my fundraising and how I was so close. I told him this cause it is so easy to talk to Sam. He is a very sweet guy. I come back home only to find out that he had donated $50 to my fundraising and helped me beat my minimum. I feel so blessed to have met such awesome, generous people.

Thanks to all who have donated to me. I would like to thank Anonymous again for starting me off. I guess this person's energy is what pushed the whole fundraising ahead. Thanks to my brother and his wife for all their excitement and encouragement and support throughout these 3 months. Thanks to my cousin and brother-in-laws. Thank you Arun Uncle. I know you have always supported me. Thanks to my friends, my dentist, my professors, my colleagues - past and present, my husband's friends and colleagues, my brother's friends and colleagues, my neighbors who came to my book sale and participated in the raffle and others who just donated to support me and the cause, some who knew me and others I got acquainted with as a result of fundraising. A special thanks again to Sam for making the contribution that helped me reach my minimum.

I also want to thank my mom for supporting me. She is as excited about my training and fundraising and progress as me. I know my cousins and so many friends read my blog and by doing so encourage me. I want to say thank you to my TNT team. Go team heart. My mentors Devina and Jennifer, my coaches: Coach Rudy, Coach Al and Mama Lisa have been so wonderful and its because of them that I look forward to getting up early every Saturday and running.

And my biggest thanks to my biggest supporter: my husband. He has been very excited and proud of me throughout this whole time and helped me whichever way he could. He sat with me in the sun selling books. He took care of me when I came back tired every Saturday. He is just the best :) Thanks Neel.

Hehe...now I know how the Oscar winners feel. There are so many people to thank. The list just goes on. :) Sorry if I missed someone.

Rock and Roll San Diego Send off!!

May 13 2009
TNT has a special send off party for every team a few weeks before the big run. Bay to Breakers had their last Saturday and RNR San Diego had ours yesterday in Alameda. Devina, Coach Rudy and I carpooled to Alameda. It was great that 21 people came to the event to send off 8 of us. We got our packets with our purple tshirts that we will be wearing for the run along with other important information.

Coach Al, Coach Rudy, Mama Lisa, Coach Raji, honorees Matt and Louis, team manager Jen all spoke some very encouraging words and gave us some last minute tips on how to prepare. I also learnt that Coach Al, Coach Rudy, Mama Lisa and Jen were all going to be at RNR San Diego to encourage us along the way. How very exciting!!

Bay to breakers also had their T-shirt decorating party. They were decorating with sparkles and ribbons and buttons and all sorts of stuff. One of the captains, Priscilla had made special buttons for everyone with Team Heart written on it and the names of all our honorees. That was so sweet. She put in so much effort into it.

I was all excited after the party. It feels great to be part of this team. I am so glad that I joined TNT East Bay. It's a wonderful organization.

Mill Valley run and Bay to Breakers Send Off!!

May 9 2009

We had our coached run this Saturday at Mill Valley. That's like the other side of Bay Area. It was supposedly a central location for SF, East Bay - Bay Side, East Bay - Diablo Valley and Marin folks. Jen Conlu (one of my mentors), Tony and I decided to carpool till Mill Valley and I was glad Jen was driving. It took us about 45 mins from Hayward to reach there and I was sitting in the back of her car and almost dozing off. But the ride was fun cause I was teasing Tony cause it was only his second coached runs today (His first was the one right after kickoff), so he wasnt very familiar about the difference between coached runs and regular runs. Well, we stopped at a gas station on our way and Tony bought a big bottle of Gatorade out there. Well, if he was a regular at the Saturday runs he would have known that all this stuff is already provided. The mentors take turns to get this stuff for everyone. Mentors are awesome and I am fortunate that our team has 2 awesome mentors. Both Devina and Jennifer are the kindest and most considerate people.

So we reach there at around 7:45 and the coach for the Marin team (I think) told us about the route and where the stops were, etc. But there was no shouting "GO TEAM, NO WIMPS, EAST BAY ROCKS...." like Coach Al does. I realized for the first time how much I love doing that with the team before a run. A bunch of us half marathoners took off. The route was nice and went through some residential places and had some great views of the bay. It was different that east bay. The course had a few hills, but it wasnt bad at all. After Redwoods, no hill seems that bad. I felt like I did pretty good time wise. I did spend more time at the water stop than I should have.



Coming back, I caught up with Jen at about 5.5 miles and started running with her. As I said before, it is much more fun running with someone. Until mile 6, I didnt even realize that I hadnt put my knee strap on. My knee has recovered very well. But then I could feel that if I didnt do something my pain could come back, so I wore a strap around my knee and ran the remaining 2 miles. I did it in 1:40, so about 2 minutes faster than my earlier runs and this was with a almost 5 minute water and potty stop. So I am doing pretty good with my training. This was my 3rd time doing 8 miles and now 8 miles doesnt seem like a lot.

My race pace has improved from about 12:05 to 11:10 per mile for a 4 mile run. So I have improved by about 1 minute per mile. I am pretty happy about that. My personal goal is to have a 10 min per mile pace. I should get there pretty soon. Of course when I run longer miles, my pace is about 12:30 or so, cause of the stops and the run/walks.


After the run, the Bay to Breakers got their sendoff packets with their TNT shirts and other stuff. I am so excited for them. We have a bunch of people from our team doing B2B: Medina, Rod, Danielle, Eliza, Todd, Jennifer W, Tony, Priscilla. These are the ones I remember. Their race is this Sunday, May 17th. I will probably DVR the race cause my husband is planning to run the "India Literacy Project 5K race" the same morning. So, I will go support him. But I will be supporting my teammates too. GO TEAM!!!

O and I also wanted to put up one more pic of a group hugs, we have groups hugs at the start of most coached runs. Aww..just one of Coach Al's traditions. :)

Alameda Creek Run

May 2 2009

This Saturday, we did the Alameda Creek run. I was glad that for a change our coached run was in Fremont, so I got to sleep for another 15 minutes in the morning. The recommendation for 1/2 marathoners was 5-7 miles but I had decided to go for 8. I was also glad that my mentor Devina was running with me. It is nice to have someone run with you when you are running longer distances.

The last time I ran 8 miles at Inspiration Point, I was basically walking for most of the last 2 miles and I took 1 hour and 48 minutes. I was hoping that this time with my run/walk strategy I will be able to run for most of the run and cover it in a shorter time period. The terrain of the 2 courses is pretty different. Inspiration Point is a rolling hill while Alameda Creek is a fairly flat course. But still.

I could run without a break for the 1st 2 miles and then took a 30 sec break at the water stop, had some electrolytes and then started running again. I tried to run till the mile markers before taking a walk break, but on an average I ran for 10-12 minutes before taking a 1 min walking break. I find this technique to be very helpful in recovery. It is also a great mental recovery.

O ya and the Fuel belt is working out great. I had filled up all 4 bottles. i.e. about 32oz of water. I did not feel like I was carrying a lot of weight as the weight was well distributed around the belt. I also tried the Mango Cliff shot and though it is an improvement over GU, it still isnt awesome. Hopefully the Chocolate Cliff shot tastes better.

Overall, this run was fun. It started drizzling during the last 2 miles of the run, but that didnt bother me at all. I was happy to run in the rain especially since I know how hard it is to run in the heat. I was able to do 8 miles in 1 hour 42 minutes, so a 6 minute improvement overall. Hopefully next time I am able to cover 8 miles in 1 hour 36 mins. My goal is to cover 10 miles in 2 hours.

This week I also started taking my cross training and strength training more seriously. So I did cross training and strength training on Monday and Wednesday, running and track workout on Tuesday and Thursday and cardio on Friday. I was not sure whether my legs would be able to carry me after the intense 1 hour cardio I did on Friday, but they did not fail me. I feel so strong. BTW, I havent lost much weight :( though I think I have gained muscles, cause I do notice that I have toned a little.

As far as my fundraising goes, I am almost done with my fundraising. So I am happy that I dont have to worry about that. Less than a month left for my marathon. I am excited!!!!!

April 19-26 week

April 21 2009
Temperatures were in the 90's this week. I thought I would be able to do the 4 miles buddy run on Tuesday but it was soo very hot that 2 miles was an effort. So instead of dehydrating, we decided to do just 2 miles. My hubby joined us for the buddy run on Tuesday and he was running pretty effortlessly.

April 25 2009
For the track workout, it was just Baleen, Medina and me. As per Coach Al's instructions, Coach Rudy had us do something similar to hills. What we did to simulate the effort it takes to run hills was to do intervals. As in, walk/recover at the curves of the track and either do sprints, walking lunges, or high knee running along the longer track path. This is a tough workout. I was dying. Though at the end of it, I loved my body for being able to do this, I was sore for about 3 days after that. As in my butt and my thighs were in pain, so much so that I could not move. I have never missed a Saturday workout so far, but the soreness from the Thursday workout was soo bad that I could not go for a run on Saturday. BTW, I finally bought my Fuel Belt. I tried using the fanny pack I had, to carry my water bottles and energy gels, but it is not very comfortable. Hopefully running with the fuel belt will be a great experience.

I also checked out the gels and took a couple of Cliff shots (mango and chocolate flavor). I will try them out on my next run.

April 26, 2009
We had our group fundraiser at City Beach Fremont today. It was mostly Devina's family and a few other people who showed up to support. I wanted to do rock climbing but I was still sore from Thursday so I didnt do much. Raffle drawing was fun. I won a raffle prize!! Yohoo!! Overall, the event helped us raise 260$. This will be enough for me to reach my fundraising goal hopefully.

Spirit Award and Marathon U

April 18th 2009

We were to run around Alameda Shoreline. This track is close to Oakland Airport and to be honest my impression of the Oakland airport area is not very good, but when I started running around this trail, I changed my mind. The trail is beautiful, along the bay and the houses lining the trail are even more beautiful. Most houses have floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay. How beautiful. Neways, I started the run and for the first time ever, the temperature was above 65. And I was not ready for that.

All these days when I was running in the cold, i wished for warmer weather and when the weather was warm, I wished I could take my words back. I wanted to run 8 miles again, though the recommended mileage for 1/2 marathoners was 5-7 miles this week. But after reaching the 3.25 mile mark, I simply didnt feel like I had the energy in me to go further. I didnt have a buddy and the weather was very warm. So I did about 6.5 miles, which is not bad at all. I also tried GU (which is basically an energy gel), during this run. When you are running for this amount of time, your body basically needs food after about 1/2 hour to carry on, so runners usually carry some kind of energy gel to get some instant energy. I did not quite like the taste of GU. It tasted too artificial. Like Slimfast but in gel form. I need to look for some other energy gel.

We also had Marathon University after the run which is where TNT invites local chiropractors, personal trainers etc to advice us on how to take care of our injuries etc. They had really great advice. We got great advice on taping before the race which could give support to your heels, knee etc.

I dont know if I mentioned this on my blog before. TNT (atleast our group) gives away Spirit Awards at each coached run. They select 3 team mates who are recognized for showing great spirit either motivating their teammates by showing a positive attitude or being putting in extra effort into fundraising or something unique. The Thursday of this week, during coached training, it was raining. There have been times during our training before where it has rained and most people in the team still show up and run, but this Thursday it was just coach Rudy and me at the track workout. That's how I got the Spirit Award. Though the reason was silly, I was excited to get the award :D:D:D

BTW, Maddie is back from the hospital and gave us a short visit. I did see her mom Chrissy running for a very short while. But it was nice to know that Maddie was finally back home. Jere also provides updates every 2 weeks or so and looks like she is doing good as well and hanging in there. She will get over this. She is a very very strong woman. LIVE STRONG Jere.

Fundraising update:
This weekend I finally got to selling the books that were donated to me in February. I was hoping to go to a local Farmer's market and sell my books there, since Rod said that he was able to do his fundraising that way, but none of the Farmer's market I spoke to allowed that. So I decided to sell my books in my front yard. So I basically made a flyer and invited people in my neighborhood for the sale. I also asked them to donate any spare change or buy some raffle tickets (For the Devina and Jennifer organized group fundraiser). I was able to get 4 prizes donated for the group raffle and apparantly, its just me and Rod doing this fundraising. Neways, my husband and me went to 175 houses in our neighborhood and distributed the flyers.

I had the sale on Saturday and Sunday. I tried selling the books on Craigslist for $5 each but noone showed any interest. So I reduced the price to $2 each, in the hope that people will buy cause of the reduced price. And I was right. Though I sold only 3 raffle tickets, I was able to sell most of my books. One guy who stopped over went mad looking at the collection. He was basically about to buy most of these books on Amazon. He gave me $50 for 16 books. I also had another neighbor stop by and give me a $50 check. His son passed away cause of leukemia when he was 7. He had run a full marathon through TNT a few years ago. I also learnt that another neighbor had done the Death Ride (the most difficult bike ride in the US I think). Yet another neighbor told me that he had just run the Santa Cruz full marathon that morning. It was great to meet so many of my neighbors. My husband also sat with me and gave me company. So now I am very very close to my goal.