Week 3 – From here to there

So this update is already a day late and all for a good reason – the first Half Marathon of the year! But, before we get there let’s get an update on how the rest of the week went.

Monday – Jan 13: Travelled BLR BOM and struggled with 4 kms run on the hotel treadmill

Tuesday – Jan 14: Headache, earache and more from 5 am to 7 pm

Wednesday – Jan 15 – travelled back to Bangalore and did nothing as dull headache persisted. ENT Doctor #1 visit #3

Thursday – Jan 16^th – 6 Kms run-walk-run

Friday – Jan 17^th – 8 kms run walk. Headache again and finally went to ENT Doctor #2  

Saturday – had all the good intentions but did nothing. Travelled BLR BOM and good pasta carb loading dinner with my cousin who was also running (and clocked his first sub 2 hours on this race).

With Shashi who clocked a sub 2 hr HM

Sunday – ran the Mumbai Half in 2.58.58 – nothing remotely close to my PB of 2:22 but my goal was a sub 3 hours AND I really wanted to focus on bringing the joy back into running – something that has gone missing since I started shifted my focus on timing.

at the start line with Narayani Dixit

So, first let's discuss this head-ache, ear ache business as it is incredible how the littlest of things can impact your running plans. The ear-ache has been around for 2 months and I had been going to this quack of an ENT who couldn’t quite diaganose the cause for the pain but continued to treat me with pain killers and such stuff anyway. His guess was 'water blockage' and went on to making me do random things including a hearing test!!! Finally fed up after 3 visits, continuos ear-ache and head-aches now, I went to a new guy only to find out that root cause is my jaw (TMJ Syndrome) caused by something as stupid as not chewing food with equal pressure on both sides of the mouth.. and so runners please focus on not just stretches and strengthening, but also how you chew your damn food.

The Sunday Run - 21.1 km – was my longest since I got on this journey. Frankly, even though I have run many half marathons I had some doubt on whether I would be able to run this distance on Jan 19. My last Half marathon, a pretty sad one,  was in Hyderabad – more than 4 months ago. Between then and now I have not done anything over 14 km (that was in fact done on my birthday, on 4th Jan) and I have generally not been running due to various reasons (that I may refer to on another post).

with my pacemaker group - coach next to me

My idea was to not run the Mumbai Marathon as I had not trained and it would be lousy timing - I was sure that my coach would be disappointed. The Pacemakers are mostly a group of ultra achiever runners who keep breaking records, achieving PB (personal bests) and finishing on podiums and in that sense, I am quite the anomaly in the group, as you may notice. Despite that, they are extremely supportive and my training group of Pacemakers chided me to chug along and take the challenge. 

with my loves - BB and BD

Yet, I continued to sit on the fence. That was when I wrote to Venky (please refer to Support Team) who put things in perspective by saying the following (I am posting verbatim as MORE people need to read this):

You have two choices: run a bad race (possible...probablity %age 50-70%) or abandon the race (confirm in your own mind 100% that you have had a bad race). Perception is reality.. and in the second instance you have confirmed the reality in your own mind by your own self admission. In the fight or flee response..you have chosen to flee in the second choice. While the more honourable way to acquit yourself would be to show the fight you have in you...

He was stating the obvious – I was quitting without a fight and he reminded me that I was not a quitter. So, I moved my ass to Mumbai and got to the start line of the Mumbai Half marathon.

I treated the Mumbai Marathon as a part of my training run for the 42@42in42 and also to test what fitness level my body is at right now. The first 5 km was tough and I did think for a moment that I may not complete but decided that I would quit only when I was at a point when I couldn't go any further. But once you cross the sealink and the sea of people – of mumbaikars cheering you become part of the scenery – YOU CAN’T QUIT!! This is why I run and LOVE the SCMM.

In action

En-route, I stopped to change a band-aid, to shake hands with a very very cute little girl, to chat up some random runners I had never met before including someone who very graciously caught up with me to tell me about how much my book Wise Enough tobe Foolish had inspired her, I stopped to stretch, to cheer my city’s running warriors (so proud to see so many PBs and podium finishes from Bangalore), to enjoy the music (way to go Navy Band), to thank the crowds for coming out to push us and even a two mins break at 17Km mark to help a runner from the Thomas Cook corporate team to stretch and overcome his ITB pain. Maybe I lost 10 minutes (if not more) in the bargain, but I don’t care (I really don’t) because I had the most amazing time and a very fun run.

I want to add here – last year my timing was much better but I was UNHAPPY as I had not hit my timing goal. This time I say I AM HAPPY even though I know I could have done a much better timing. I think I just found the way to put joy back in my running! And oh yes my certificate reads I’M A FINISHER and not I’M A QUITTER!

My favourite BLR girls - 2 are podium finishers

My voice is hoarse after all the cheering and shouting out but my heart is light and like Brijesh said, we now have a HM basis to move forward with rest of the training for 42@42in42

This week, I was good with my eating, a little better with my stretching and clocked up some decent mileage as a base for the FM and still have a few aches and pains including Achilles. Enjoy the rest of the week fellas… till next week!