In Conclusion....

I have been looking forward to writing this email for the past 5 months. I finished the Nike Half Marathon in San Francisco this past weekend - october 22nd. 2006. What a wonderful experience this has been - the 5 months leading up to the event and the event itself.

Most of us really could'nt sleep through the night because of the anticipation, excitement, and anxiety. The race started with great fanfare - a huge party with music, lights and so many people cheering the participants. My group started the run cautiously, and by mile 2 we had a nice rhythmn. I felt good, strong and was looking forward to the next 3 hours or so. This changed once we hit the Presidio area of the city. The hilly terrain prooved to be quite a challenge. I generally never cramp, but my legs felt like cement around this time. Thanks to some amazing teammates who helped me to keep at it and get through. After mile 11 things were ok and I finished strong. My husband and son were waiting in the finish line along with so many others!

This was the third time I have run 13 miles or more so was not expecting any major challenges. But was quite surprised during the run when things did become difficult. The lesson learned is never to be too confident and prepare really well during the week leading to the race. Team in Training is a wonderful organization.

My coach sumarized the way we should approach running really well -

Run with your mind - This is a mind game. My best runs were the ones in which I knew I would do well in.

Run with your body - The 5 months of track workouts, drills, weekend runs did prepare me to take up this challenge. I still have much to learn here, but what a smashing beginning.

Run with your heart - When things got tough, looking for motivation inside really helped. I have met amazing people who are fighting this dreaded disease - their struggles are inspirational.

Ofcourse your support in the form of donations to the leaukemia society and words of encouragement throughout made this experience possible and even more special. I can't thank you enough for this.
Until next time ...
Richa
San Francisco Nike Half Marathon Finisher:)http://www.active.com/donate/tntsvmb/RichaDubey
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a little better;
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is the meaning of success." - TNT words of wisdom

Sweet 16

My 16 mile run wasnt really sweet. It was a tough terrain in Woodside. I honestly didnt like the horse trail we ran on at all. It was tough mentally, physically - but I completed.

I had decided to treat this as a benchmark run, if I recoved quickly I would try the full marathon. But I did not recover quickly, infact really took me a good week and a half to feel normal again.

So I will be running the Nike Half, and very happily.

Beautiful feet need beautiful shoes

Ok, so I have been thinking of writing this entry for a while. My feet are hardly beautiful. In the past year everytime I have had a running specialist, a physical therapist or an ortho have a look at them, they have pretty much all unanimously said the same words - Your arch has collapsed. This is not an exaggeration - it really has. Because of the anatomy of my flat feet some things are inevitable. I severely overpronate which means that my foot really really roles inward everytime it strikes the ground. This makes having good motion control shoes with insoles an absolute necessity.

I have been able to find two pairs that are fairly comfortable.

This new balance shoe looks and feels like a brick, its huge. But for the issues I have it works. The one problem I have had with this pair is that my left heel does not feel very snug. To rectify this, I use an extra insole along with superfeet.

This is the Brooks Ariel - a really good shoe. I have run my longest run wearing these and they provide unbelievable support.

Both of these run around $100. Who says running is a cheap sport!?!:) I am still not sure which one I'll be wearing for my event. I will decide after my second 14+ mile run.

Pushing the envelop....*

The phrase 'pushing the envelop'* is such a cliche isn't it? But I will shamelessly use it for this blog entry because it is so appropriate. Although my experience this weekend does not compare at all to what pilots and astronauts go through while in space, I really did go past all of my limits and thresholds. Thinking about this run two days later is exhausting. Here is why:

Distance, Distance, Distance!!! - all 14 miles of it

After the hilly stanford dish run, I felt like I had conquered the world. But this was something else. We ran on the Bay Trail that starts from the Oracle campus, goes under the San Mateo bridge and more. I ran with Jamie and we were both very comfortable on our way in. I thought I would only increase 2 miles, but felt good at the 12 mile turnaround, so sort of convinced Jamie to go the whole way, which he did. We turned around and had a nice stop at around 9 miles. From here on things got really difficult! Gu, food, stretching - all were comforting for a few minutes only.

We finally made it to the 12 mile rest station where Captain Randy reminded us that it was all really a mental game and that we were only a good treadmill workout away from the finish line. At 13 miles, Ed met us and ran all the way to the end - 14 miles. We had been running for almost 3.5 hours at this point.

So a recap:

* I have completed my half marathon distance as part of this training. The question is whether I can do more. I would love to improve my time instead.

* This is really hard - my muscles ached all weekend, although right now I feel fine.

-----------------------------------------------
* http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pus1.htm

Double Digits

Before we proceed to the details of this week's happenings, here is a cool quote:

"Why aren't you signed up for the 401K?
I'd never be able to run that far." Scott Adams, Dilbert (4/2/01)

hah! gave me a good chuckle. Scott Adams and Dilbert are awesome. The former is a Haas alum. Go Bears!:)

I was very, very nervous Friday night and early saturday about this week's run. Reasons:

1. We are talking double digits - yes thats 10 miles. Remember, in June I could not even run 2 miles.

2. Stanford Dish - Those familiar with this terrain know thats its a hard hike. And I am supposed to run it?!? I got a preview of it the previous saturday on my 'On Your Own' run. I had decided then that if the weather remained hot, I would most likely skip this one.

But I ran. All the way. What a feeling! I started with Jen, Gina, Alan and gang around 7:45, quite late actually. The hills were hard, my legs were screaming and by the 4th mile, my stomach was grumbling. I had my first ever 'Gu' shot with water. Coming downhill was not as bad on my knees as I thought it would be - or perhaps I was just so happy that I wouldnt have to climb anymore steep inclines.

We had decided that we would go 8, but at the 8 mile turnaround, I decided I could go on a little longer. Plus I figured if I didnt keep going, I would obsess about it all week. The 10 mile turnaround came, I had my gummy bears and started on my way back to the finish. Captain Laura joined me for the last 1 mile - thanks to her I had a very strong finish. The 'Gu' works - espresso for me. I am going to take these around 4-5 miles on all the long runs.

Thats me - still smiling after the run. The hardest one so far, and yes the most memorable.

Thank you!!

Fundraising is a very important aspect of this experience. I'll be the first to admit that raising all this money seemed quite intimidating at the beginning. But as I started writing those emails, I realized that this was a great way to say hi to friends and family whom I havent talked to in a while. So that was an added incentive. I was able to get in touch with so many folks that I have come to know in the past 10 years. I have been amazed how supportive everyone has been of my effort. I truly appreciate all the encouragement everyone has given me. A very big thanks to the following individuals for bringing me so much closer to my fundraising goal. Your generosity is inspirational and very much appreciated by me and everyone at the leaukemia society.

Saurabh Agnihotri, Unnati Amin, Viva and Roger Bakshi, Tim Ball, Avijeet Banerjee, Rashmi Chandra, Kevin Cluggage, Vikas Desai, Nidheesh Dubey, Lily Fetterer, Andy Lee, Angela Makalintal, Jayashree Nagaraj, Vivek Pandey, Umesh Pillai, Abhijit Rele, Neha Shah, Ramesh Shankar, Heena Sharma, Deepak Sitaraman, Bhupi Sondhi, Rhonda Stieber, Piyush Tiwari, Nandini Upadhyay, Natalia Vainshtein, Tony Wang, Jennifer Wesenberg


Thanks again!!

8 Miles.....

Update for the week of July 15th

I was looking forward to this regional run for a couple of reasons:

Venue: Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay: http://www.smharbor.com/pillarpoint/

Distance: After sawyer's 6 mile, this was to be my longer run, 8 miles. For some reason I have had a big hangup about this number. I knew I would somehow manage 6, but 8 ?!? Beyond my imagination.


Recap:

I had had a knee pain all day friday due to a 5 mile thursday morning run. I almost decided not to go in today, but Pillar Point was too tempting to resist. Plus after hitting snooze three times, I was up and figured that even if couldnt run, the views and a couple of miles of walking would be worth it.

So I went and finished. The run started around 8:00 am and I was back by 9:40 or so. I started with Jocelyn's gang again and ran with them until the 3 mile point. I was mostly on my own from the aide station at 3 mile until the 4 mile turnaround and then back.

The good thing about this - I mostly ran as opposed to run-walk. The bad thing - its much harder mentally to run on your own, although the views were gorgeous and kept me going. Donna, my mentor, a lady in amazing shape met me on my way back and ran upto the finish line.

I felt really tired around 4 miles so decided to eat a bit of the bar I was carrying and drink lots of water. I have to be careful about this next time and will mostly carry some 'GU'.

Its Sunday evening and a couple of noteworthy things:
***I dont have any knee pain, due to some major icing action on saturday
***No headache - all that water that I am gulping down is working)

8 miles..done and gone, unbelievable, atleast to me. 10 miles...here I come.

What, When, Water

Yesterday I attended a nutrition clinic after my track workout. The clinic was hosted by Dr. Clyde Wilson of SMI. Quite an informative session, way too much info, I am still processing it. But the basic mantra to follow during any kind of training accoring to the doctor is: What, When and Water. What to eat, when to eat it and how to keep hydrated.

I liked the fact that he was very sure about his recommendations..very few ifs and buts. Everytime I read an article related to nutrition, there is a lot of open room for interpretation. Because of that I never know what the 'right' answer is. A few techniques that he recommended, which I have been kind of following were:

- Split your dinner: Have a small meal around six and then a huge salad 2 hours before bed. Drink lots of water to make sure the salad digests.

- Also split your breakfast: a pre and post workout split is good. I dont usually workout tin the morning, but nevertheless split my break fast. If I eat it all at once, I feel very full and sleepy. If I split it, it satisfies my cravings better.


Lots of other things as well, that I have to read before I can establish a good routine. But one thing is for sure, no holding back on salads at dinner. I bought a very tasty balsamic dressing yesterday that I plan to use with spinach, mushrooms, red onions and pepper for dinner tonite.

Dr. Wilson has a great website: http://www.drclydewilson.com/