RonDoesBoston

A 26.2 Mile Emotional Roller Coaster

2010-04-29T23:39:00.005-04:00

I wish I had a good enough memory to clearly remember all the thoughts that ran through my head over the course of those eventful 4 hours, but, of course, I don't, however there were four thoughts that I clearly remember and these four thoughts defined my Boston Marathon experience. These thoughts at different points along the run gave me an idea of my mindset at the time and today allow me to write about them and describe my experience of running the 2010 Boston Marathon.

You can do this (Mile -1 to Mile 10)

Lining up at the start (Although it wouldn't be wrong to say 'End' of the pack, since I was clearly one of the last hundred or so starters of the day), I felt surprisingly underwhelmed by the occasion. I clearly remember telling my running partner, Davis, "It still hasn't sunk in that THIS IS IT". The long walk from the back of the pack to the start line didn't help matters either. It took me 16 minutes to get to the start line... 16 minutes!!!!! I would've finished nearly 2 miles at my regular pace in 16 minutes! Anyway, as I went past the start line, the legs started to warm up, the blood started pumping and the feeling of nervousness quickly transformed into a sense of familiarity, as my body and mind realized that they were being asked to do something that isn't too much more or too far from what they were used to doing over the course of my training program. Keeping my mind occupied over the first 10 miles or so was hardly a problem, as I started soaking in the crowd support, planning my water/gatorade stop schedule and getting myself into a rhythm which is absolutely necessary for long runs.

As is the case with any challenge in life, the enormous challenge presented by a marathon can be surmounted by simply breaking it down it into small, manageable chunks. For me the goal was to just make it to the next water/gatorade station - regardless of whether I was planning on stopping at it or not. Big marathons around the world are popular among runners because they have the luxury of providing frequent water stops thanks to a large population of volunteers who volunteer at these stops and Boston is no different. Having a hydration stations at nearly every mile along the route allowed me to effectively break down my race into 26.2 one mile runs and with that, all I cared about was getting to the next checkpoint. As my legs got used to the workload and I started knocking off one checkpoint after another, a very crucial thought entered my mind as I started telling myself.... You can do this!

Pain is inevitable; Suffering is optional (Mile 11 to Mile 20)
This quote comes from Haruki Murakami's book - What I talk about, when I talk about running, which happens to be one of my favorite books. And, here's why...
I don't consider myself an accomplished runner or, for that matter, even a novice runner. I think of myself as nothing more than a recreational runner (who aspires to run marathons around the world, for no reason other than the fact that I enjoy the challenge of training for and running a marathon)... Someone who does it more as a hobby than anything else, not only because I enjoy it immensely, but also because it allows me to spend my time productively (at least compared to watching television or idly surfing the web). The mental challenge of pushing my legs to keep going the distance that my mind chooses excites me, but the fact that the distance I cover allows me to experience scenic urban landscapes (Boston, New York, London, Düsseldorf, Mumbai, Montreal to name a few) or remote mountains of New Hampshire (as part of my Reach The Beach Relay experiences) excites me even more. For a recreational runner, I've read quite a few books, most of which talk about the art of running, the process of training, what to eat, etc basically a professional's view on what a not-so-accomplished runner should do to make running easier than it is. However, Mr Murakami's book is the first book that I've read that talks about running as a form of recreation. It is a memoir that allows me to identify with the author's thoughts more than any other work of non-fiction that I've read, simply because the author describes running in the same way that I would have, if I had penned down my thoughts during a run or a training season. Even though Mr Murakami is a far more accomplished runner than I will ever be, I can still identify with majority of the stuff that he 'talks about' and enjoy running in the same way that he does... at least that is my interpretation. And more than anything the book is written in such a simple style and is such an easy read that I've already read it 3 times and still keep reading it.

Anyway, getting back to the marathon.... Mile 10 to Mile 20 was quite a challenging stretch of the race, because of the gradual decline up till Mile 16 followed by the four tough hills of Newton. My running buddy Davis (who is also a fan of the aforementioned book) and I had decided that the 'Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional' mantra would be the unofficial motto of our marathon. We kept reminding ourselves to not allow our tiring, hurting bodies to ruin our race experience. Running the hills of Newton with a smile on my face was the best way to forget my internal struggles and it seemed to have an even more uplifting effect on the crowds who started reaching out to me for hi-fives (thinking about it now, it seems obvious that most of them at that point in the race were tipsy Boston College students, but either way it helped me). Despite the hills, we were able to log even splits from 0 to 15k and 15 to 30k and ensured that we set ourselves up for a strong finish through the last 6 miles.

FINISH... this is it! No Regrets (Mile 20 to Miles 26.2)

Aah... the final 6 miles! The part of the journey that was very familiar, yet totally unknown. It was the part that was practiced but not rehearsed. I say this because the most I had run on my training runs was 20 miles and hence, I had no clue what to expect of my body for the last 6 miles (after hitting the proverbial 'Wall'), even though the last 6 miles of the race route (from heartbreak hill to close to the finish line) had been run numerous times over the course of my long training runs. The last 4-6 miles, according to me, make the marathon a challenge. Most runners over the course of their training will not go more than 20-22 miles on any given training run, which means that the first time they will run the final 4-6 miles will be on race day and what a difference one's preparation (both mental and physiological) makes on those last few miles. I, for one, felt my body slowly going limp on those final few miles on Beacon Street leading up to the finish. I have very little recollection of the race along this stretch, because I was primarily looking down at the asphalt, maybe because I was trying to push my legs to not give up and keep going. Among the few memories that I have of the final few miles, is the thought where I was pushing myself to get to Mile 25 (my apartment, where I was expecting to see my cheering squad waiting for me) and, more importantly, to finish because if I didn't I would regret it for the rest of my life. I was so darn close to finishing that it struck me that the last 3 months of training, waking up early in the morning on weekends, running in freezing temperatures, giving up on Friday outings, all boils down to these last few miles and I wanted to finish strong and finish with 'No Regrets'. This final thought enabled me to push past the very very strong urge to quit and with some help from everyone cheering for me at Mile 25 (and my friend, Pari, who ran with me from there till the finish), I was able to get past the finish line with a poorly managed smile on my face.

It's over! (Mile 27)

In the wake of the marathon, I got a lot of complements for finishing the race... A lot of people went as far as calling this an achievement. While I am humbled by the complements, I must say that I don't consider this an achievement. An achievement is when someone accomplishes something against the odds. What odds did I have stacked against me? NONE! It's an achievement for a blind person to run a marathon such as the person I saw along the route running alongside thousands of able-bodied and fully healthy individuals. It's an achievement when someone who can't even walk wins the marathon for the 9th time as was the case of the men's Boston Marathon wheelchair category winner, Mr Ernst Van Dyk. They are life's real achievers.

As for me, it was easy preparing for and running the race, simply because I enjoyed doing it and I savored it. And I am glad I did, because after close to14 weeks of training and 3 hours, 55 minutes and 22 seconds of the race I realized that... If you enjoy doing something, it'll always be over before you want it to be!

The day after the marathon

2010-04-22T09:39:00.006-04:00

2010-04-21T17:46:00.004-04:00

Success!!!!!!

3:55:22

March Madness - The Super Post

2010-04-10T21:49:00.109-04:00

Apologies to all the followers of this blog for not having posted anything in close to a month. Life has gotten quite hectic over the last month, both in and out of work and with my running. In a way this was a good thing, because I felt life had become quite routine with regular runs in the week and long runs on Saturday morning. Friday nights were spent sharpening up my pasta sauce skills and the rest of the weekend following the long runs involved rest, short recovery runs and stretching. Besides the running (over 150 miles in total through the month of March), there were quite a few highlights over the course of March which I would like to blog about, but obviously don't have the time to write them out in separate posts, so I'm going to combine all of these into one 'Super Post' appropriately named - March Madness.

Typically, for most people preparing for the Boston Marathon, March is the most crucial month. Not only does March bring with it a build up in running mileage towards the defining end-of-the-month long runs (one-two 20+ milers), but it is also a time when runners start testing out different options for a race day attire, race day nutrition (Gels, Energy drinks), a post race recovery routine and a pre race pasta dinner, among other things and it was no different for me. I was able to test out 2 new pairs of shorts, try out sports jelly beans and gels, get advice about stretches and exercises for muscle recovery and strengthening and last, but not least, improve my Italian cooking skills and cook some pretty mean pasta dinners. In addition, March also brought in a lot of very generous donations which meant I could focus all my energy towards training knowing full well that I was very close to reaching my fund raising goal (In fact, once the corporate matching donations come in, I should be well past my target amount).

Weekday Training

My weekdays consisted of 3 runs ranging from 4-8 miles and most of the times these runs were on routes around where I work and at a time when all my work buddies are out eating lunch (which meant chomping down on my lunch by myself in my cube - like a loner. Oh, the sacrifices one has to make.....!). Nevertheless, there are three big advantages of running at noon
1. The weather at the time is most likely the best it's going to get during the day. It was the best way to avoid running in the chilly March morning or the dark winter evening.
2. Even though I would miss out on company for lunch, it did ensure that I never had to run by myself, since at least one of my work running buddies would be willing to go out for a run, any given day in the week.
3. Completing my run during the day meant that I could do more important stuff in the evening, like live a life!

Weekend Long Runs
The impending Saturday morning long run is something that excites me like nothing else. The thought of waking up early (especially when it's dark outside) is something I dread in any other situation, except when I'm doing it for these long training runs. I haven't quite been able to figure out why, maybe it's the fact that I'm running with a fun running group or maybe it's because my sub-conscious mind considers each Saturday morning run as a mini race, either way, I enjoy the adrenaline rush that I get as I get my rear in gear for the high point of my week.

Weekend Long runs in March were in the sequence 18.5 miles, 13.3 miles, 18 miles and 20.5 miles, which added up to nearly half my mileage for the entire month. Almost all of these long runs were done along the race route, which made me realize how much of an advantage it is to be living in Boston while training for the marathon, because of how familiar one can get with all the nuances of the course. For me familiarity & experience give me strength and confidence to accomplish something simply because I've done it before and it's no different when I'm running. I've run the last 8-10 miles of the route often enough to mark specific mental checkpoints that will act as mini finish-lines on race day. Here is a list of some of the mental checkpoints that I can think of...
- Halfway Wellesley: Hearing the screaming girls of Wellesley means that the race is half done.
- The Sweet Sixteen: The turn by the firestation on Commonwealth Ave in Newton means I've now completed over 16 miles meaning only single-digit miles left to reach the finish.
- Newton Mile Markers: Chestnut, Walnut, Center and the Boston Cemetery represent miles 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the 5 mile stretch on Commonwealth Ave. (Center street is also the start of Heartbreak hill)
- Homestretch: Cleveland Circle beckons the start of Beacon Street (4 miles from the finish line) , which I call HOMESTRETCH... why homestretch?... because not only is it 4 miles from the finish, but also because I live on Beacon Street.
- Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston: The left on Boylston will be the first sign of the finish line! In fact in all of my training, I've never run on Boylston and I hope to keep it that way up till the fateful day.

Paparazzi
One of the more memorable experiences of the training for me (and a few of my friends from the Fitcorp running group) was the sight of the friendly neighborhood paparazzi popping up along race route as I/we were on our Saturday morning long runs. Paparazzi, you wonder???? Let me explain... Two of my closest buddies, GauravT and GauravM picked up photography as a hobby last year and figured that capturing runners training for the Boston Marathon might be a good way to hone their picture-taking skills as well as getting some great images of the Boston Area. So here they were following us around taking pictures and videos and motivating us to keep going strong and looking good for the camera... and all this regardless of whether it was raining, snowing, windy or hot. So, GM and GT, a big shout out to you two for providing us with something (other than water/gatorade stops and finishing the run) to look forward to on our runs and in the process creating great memories to fill our scrapbooks.

Italian Chefs Beware!
At the start of my marathon training I had told myself that I would cook my pre-Saturday training run dinner instead of eating out. Even though it might seem to most as a pretty reasonable goal which is easy to achieve, it was a tough plan for me to follow, considering how lazy I am! So as expected, things started out badly with a few Friday night meals at local restaurants, but all of a sudden, March comes around and I was able to come up with a way to force myself to cook... I started inviting people over for dinner, promising a home cooked pasta meal. This started a great 5 week stretch, where I cooked a pasta or Italian entrée every Friday (one of it was actually a leftover homemade pasta from Thursday... but who's keeping tab of the days) and hosted an early dinner at my apartment. My guests would not rate my dishes too highly (even though they claim to have "loved" everything that I cooked), but I do give myself a high rating for effort and creativity. Everything (except the pasta) was prepared from scratch and creative modifications were made (both in preparation as well as ingredients) to stray a little bit from the recipes (most of which were obtained online). Here's the list of entrées to give Italian Chefs worldwide, something to worry about...

1. Black Bean Pasta Salad

This one is one of my favorites because it's very flavorful and easy to make... it's obviously a little mexican tasting because of the mix of avocado, jalapeños and black beans, but nevertheless, it contains Rotini pasta and makes for a great high-carb pre-run meal.

Special Ingredient: Cumin powder

2. Mushroom, Asparagus and Brown Rice Risotto

This one was an absolute pain to cook, only because of how long it takes for the brown-rice to cook and how much stirring is required, but it was completely worth the effort. One of my best creations!

Special Ingredients: Asparagus and 3 different types of mushrooms (porcini, portabello and button)

3. Rotini in Alfredo Sauce

The creamy Alfredo sauce based pasta dish is probably not a good idea for a pre-run dinner meal, but I made sure to use low-fat versions of whipping cream and cream cheese. I also made sure I served more than I ate to avoid having to run on a full stomach

Special Ingredient: Sun-dried tomatoes (Simmering the sun-dried tomatoes in the sauce gave it a slightly different, but unexpectedly good taste)

4. Spaghetti in Veggie Marinara Sauce

The sauce was loaded with healthy veggies, something runners would appreciate. Cooking the tomatoes and blended veggies to form a thick sauce surely added to the cooking time, but no one other than me cared, since they didn't have to wake up the next morning.

Special Ingredient: Usually basic Marinara sauce only has onions and garlic, but the blended veggies definitely added a unique and healthy twist to the sauce.

5. Spaghetti in Arrabiata Sauce

No pictures for this one, just a quick and simple sauce made in a hurry.

Special Ingredient: Indian Red-Chili powder instead of red pepper flakes. The Indian chili powder has a lot more flavor than the bland chili flakes (Yeah... I'm biased!).

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While I'm on the subject of marathon training meals, a big thanks goes out to my roommate Anuj for providing great home-cooked meals most days of the week. He's an exceptionally talented cook and his enthusiasm for cooking is an inspiration... check out his recipes here http://www.dumdarrecipes.blogspot.com/

It's unfortunate that he's unwilling to keep cooking as often once my marathon is over. Guess, I'm just going to have to keep training to keep eating his excellent fare.

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A Goal Reached
The Boston Marathon for me involved two goals, one to obviously cross the finish line (alive) and two, to raise a certain amount of money to help a very noble cause. The month of March saw a boost in donations way beyond my expectations and enabled me to surpass my fund raising goal. Meeting the goal was a huge relief and it meant that I could concentrate solely on my training in the last few weeks before the big day. Although, most of my donations came from friends and family and I'm very appreciative of everyone's generosity and indebted to them for donating to help me raise money for Mass Eye and Ear, I did have a couple of creative fund raiser ideas that I was able to implement to get some sizable donations....

1. Fund Raiser on Wheels: In an effort to be green and avoid driving (because I'm lazy!) I joined a carpool with a couple of colleagues from work last year. Obviously, we shared the driving duties and kept a tab of how much everyone had driven and used a geeky fairness algorithm to determine who's turn it was to drive next (yes, it was quite complicated... but that's how engineers operate, duh!). So one day while carpooling to work and thinking of ways to boost donations for my fund raising, I pitched this idea of driving my colleagues to work everyday and in return having them donate to my fund raising effort. After doing some research on how much it would save them in gas and miles on their car, we settled on a $10 donation for the ~50 miles of chauffeuring service that I was providing them. Thus was born the 'Fund Raiser on Wheels'. Through the month of March, I drove them to and from work about 14 times each to make $270 and coupled with the matching donation from our company, this amount swelled up to $405, which is around 8% of my final goal. Thanks to Noah and Chris for accepting my offer for a successful month of fund raising on wheels.

2. Candy Fund Raiser: This was the simplest and most effortless fund raiser ever. All I did was leave a couple of boxes of candy in the common area at work (the candy was set-up really close to the wending machine in our cafeteria, where coworkers are always lurking for a quick cheap snack), attach a price for each piece of candy and make it apparent that the money raised from selling the candy was going to a charitable cost. The candy fund raiser was a huge success... Close to 100 pieces of candy sold in a week for a total of $120. This fund raiser typified the mantra, 'Come hungry, leave happy'

April and onwards
As April's come around, I've moved to the business end of the training. The tapering runs are quite frustrating, because I feel like they end even before I feel like I've gotten into my rhythm. I feel like I'm loosing my powers of long-distance running, but experts reckon that uncomfortable low-mileage is the way to go in these last few weeks, so who am I to argue. To be honest, a part of me does not want the marathon training to end. Aside from enjoying the food, I have gotten used to the regular and disciplined lifestyle and thoroughly enjoy the camaraderie that come from running with a team. As apparent from this post, it's the small stuff in addition to the running that carries a lot of meaning... how else would someone as inexpressive as me be able to write a blog that would interest over 300 people? :-P

POSTSCRIPT: This might seem like my last post before race day, but I still have a few more things to post, so stay tuned.

Fund Raising Update: Week 6

2010-03-09T09:15:00.002-05:00

Thanks to very generous donations from my parents and everyone in the list below, I'm well over 50% of my target. Thank you all!

GirishM & BhavnaM (Dad & Mom)
DanielleM
BobB
SumeetG
LindseyT
BatulM
SharanyaC
SarahL & JohnL

Fund Raising Update: Week 5

2010-03-04T01:21:00.001-05:00

It's time for the Thank Yous again....

Big thanks to the following folks for pushing me above the 40% mark.

MukundG
PaulV
RiddhiS

Chat with a legend

2010-03-03T23:56:00.001-05:00

Race History

234 Triathlons (6 Ironman distances, 7 Half Ironman)

21 Duathlons

67 Marathons (27 Boston Marathons)

1009 Total Events (as of September 2009)

Running Records
Biked and ran across the USA in 1992: 3,735 miles in 45 consecutive days.

Best End Times

2:40:47 Marathon

1:21:12 Half Marathon

13:43:37 Ironman Triathlon

You look at the stats above and you wonder if these are owned by a star athlete or triathlete... well, guess what, they're not! In fact these are the stats owned by the most unique running team in the history of endurance sports.... TEAM HOYT! Team Hoyt, is the inspirational story of a father, Dick Hoyt, and his son, Rick Hoyt, who compete together in marathons and triathlons across the country. Their unique story is an example of triumph of spirit over adversity and together Dick and Rick provide inspiration to millions of people around the world.

And today, I got the opportunity to meet with and speak to one half of Team Hoyt - Dick Hoyt, a real-life hero and a person that I have idolized ever since I heard about him and his son. As he spoke intimately about Team Hoyt's passion for running and, specifically for the Boston Marathon (they're running their 28th Boston Marathon this year), there were 2 things that struck me about Dick.

One, his shy demeanor and his modesty. As I kept gushing over how inspiring their story is and how it has time and again motivated me, he kept expressing that, by doing what they do, Team Hoyt was only inspiring people to believe that anything is possible.

Two, how fit he is for someone who is pushing 70 years. Looking at him, it's not surprising that he is able to participate in 50 events a year, comprising of road races, duathlons and triathlons, all the while, pushing, peddling or hoisting (in a raft) his 48 year old son, Rick.

Thank you FirstGiving for organizing this event, where I got to meet with this inspirational person and thank you Dick for sparing some time to chat with me. You just gave me another reason to remember this day and the upcoming marathon for the rest of my life. Looking forward to seeing you at the starting line on D-day.

14 reasons for running a marathon

2010-03-02T13:38:00.011-05:00

As more and more people find out about what I've gotten myself into in the upcoming months, I get more and more questions of the type 'why the heck would you want to run a marathon?', quickly followed by something along the lines of 'how do you do it?' and the queries usually end with a confession like 'I could never get myself to run more than a 5K!!!!'. I do realize that these questions are more out of the awe that people hold for a marathon, than anything else, since majority of people consider training for a marathon to be a huge undertaking and running one to be a lifetime achievement and something that they would never 'be able to' do. My response to this usually along the lines of 'If I can do it, anyone can!'. And I mean this, because I've come to realize that training for and running a marathon is the easier part of the process. The tough part is convincing yourself that you CAN run one and setting aside a lot of your time to prepare for one!!!!!! Once that's done, it's all about registering for a convenient race and starting a regimented training process (an 16-18 week program is pretty much a norm for beginner and intermediate level runners). And frankly, that is all I did when I decided to run my first marathon (NYC in 2006) and having run one, made it easier to register for Boston this year.
Now, as much as I love talking to people about my decision (as crazy as it is) to put my body through 3 months of constant exertion, I felt that this blog would be the best way to give people an insight in to my thought process and some fun things about the training and running. So with that, I would like to present to everyone out there, my '14 reasons for running a marathon'. 'Why 14?', you ask... well that's cause those are the only 14 I could think of for now, so if you have any additions, feel free to add them as comments.

1. You're a superstar for a day - How else can you be the center of attraction for over 2 million people, who're all shouting themselves hoarse trying to cheer you for 26.2 miles? Obviously, not all of them are out there cheering for you, but the whole euphoria surrounding the event would certainly make you feel like you're the only one on the race route!

2. You get to eat what you want - Professional marathoners and running coaches may disagree with this assertion, but I firmly believe that as long as you are diligently following your training program, a scoop of ice cream every day of the week is hardly going to add inches to your waistline. In fact, I feel that to indulge in your cravings when you are running 35+ miles a week is the best way to restrict your overall intake of unwanted calories, since you are killing your cravings before they can harm you.

3. You are your own GPS - Who needs a GPS when the 400 miles of marathon training have allowed you to run and remember pretty much every street in the neighborhood. Even a forgetful fool like me has been able to remember and can provide directions to most landmarks along the Boston Marathon route and the Charles River :-)

4. You can smell bad - ..... and always give the excuse that 'I just finished my 5 mile run and haven't had the chance to shower', before explaining that 'I'm training for a marathon, so I run all the time!' and divert the topic of discussion from your personal hygiene to your favorite activity

5. You can run behind pretty women - .... without them knowing that the real reason for you not having over taken them is not because you're slow, but because you enjoy the view from where you are. And this is true for both training runs as well as the actual race.

6. You can sleep as much as you want - I have started enjoying a lot of mid-afternoon naps on weekends (wish I could do that during the weekdays at work), something that I always thought was a waste of time.

7. You can work as little as you want - This one is my favorite. My manager knows that I am training for the marathon and he understands that I'm usually unavailable during lunch time (because that is when I go on my runs during the week) and on the days that I am, I leave early so I can run in the evenings before it gets too dark.

8. Saturday Night-outs are a lot more fun - As surprising as it sounds, the Saturday morning long runs produce enough adrenaline to last all through the day, which means late nights plans on Saturday are not affected too much.

9. You get to compete against the best athletes in the world - Running is the only sport where you line up against elite athletes from around the world. Granted, majority of the starters are not really at the same level as the elites, but hey, everyone starts at the same start line, runs the same course, faces the same weather conditions and finishes at the same finish line, so everyone is competing!

10. You would have a life event to share with your grand kids - Considering that in 2009, 0.02% of the world's population ran a marathon (1,310,000 out of 6,800,000,000), running one should be considered a life event, (at least for recreational runners like me) worth cherishing and sharing with one's grand children.

11. You become part of a very exclusive club - As per stats from #10 above, only 2 out of every 10,000 people on the planet last year ran a marathon, so you're joining a pretty select club of people as you embark on and complete this journey.

12. When else can broken toenails, bleeding nipples and blistered feet be less like irritants and more like badges of honor - As I go through 400 miles (70 hours) of running in just under 3 months, certain body parts retaliate by breaking, bleeding or blistering and ultimately forming scars that I am proud of and wear as badges of honor.

13. Your brain becomes a calculator - For anyone that has a timing goal, it's important to have an idea of what pace you're running at and be able to change your intensity to maximize your chances of meeting your goal. However, cheap fools like me would never invest in expensive GPS watches and would rather calculate pace in my head based on distance run and time elapsed. Having done this over and over, my brain has become quite a adept at distance, time and pace calculations. Plus it provides a fun mental activity to divert your mind once in a while.

14. What other activity rewards you with a medal for not winning anything - Every finisher gets a medal... who cares if it's neither gold nor silver nor bronze.

Fund Raising Update: Week 4

2010-02-22T19:45:00.000-05:00

As with the prior weeks, week 4 generated a lot of donations for my fund raising effort.

A big thank you to the following donors for their generous donations

Manushi and Anand B
RachanaV
KateW
MaryW
Rohit and ReshM
GregA
BhavinS

Year Up Boston Vision Clinic | Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

2010-02-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

A great initiative by Mass Eye and Ear.

Year Up Boston Vision Clinic | Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

Last Minute Marathon Tips

2010-02-18T19:28:00.005-05:00

Thanks for the link Gau... I love it!

Fund Raising Update: Week 3

2010-02-18T16:44:00.001-05:00

The end of the third week of fund raising saw the total go up and over the 37% mark.

Thanks to all donors for having donated their hard earned money to support a very worthy cause.

PeterR

JavinO

TanujaS

SwapnilL

NishD

Ashish and Lisa D

ArpithaS

RafaG

AnkurP

TarunaR

RodneyA

Hello Heartbreak!

2010-02-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

As has been the case for the last couple of weeks, weather conditions were not ideal for a long run today with temps in the early 20s, winds of 20 miles/hr and a cloudy sky. However after last week's experience, it felt good knowing that the temperature was double of what it was then and I was now armed with better suited thermal running gloves and hat. I bought these heavy Nike thermal running gloves which are more protective than the light weight running gloves which I was earlier using and boy... did they make a difference! The hands felt a lot better by the end of the run, but as is the nature of this activity, something unanticipated has to happen. This time the freezing temperatures adversely affected the supplies of nutrition that I was carrying with me, making it extremely hard to sip out of the bottle (the nozzle was iced over) or chew the normally chewy jelly beans.

Despite these adversities, there was one thing that really kept me going and that was the thought of conquering the legendary Heartbreak Hill. This was the first time I was to ever encounter this historic patch of road either on foot or behind the wheel and there was a sense of awe knowing the amount of print and media coverage it receives every year and the pain it has caused to so many over the years. It's a place people dream of reaching during that 3rd Monday of April, knowing that at it's peak, they've conquered the biggest challenge that the marathon can throw at them. I had envisioned that running on the hill would draw the same emotion as one would feel while taking guard on the hallowed center at Lords (cricket fans would understand) or serving on the pristine lawns of SW19 Center Court(for the tennis fans out there). This might seem like an exaggeration to some, but does it matter? I know that I will never, in my life, be able to touch a blade of grass at either Lords or Wimbledon, so what's the harm in comparing emotions? :-)

So anyway, I must admit that as I ran up Heartbreak (in the reverse direction as the race route), I did not even know I was on it. That's not to say it was an easy climb... far from it, but you have to realize that there are no markers indicating that you are on Heartbreak Hill. It's just like any other busy residential road in the Boston area lined up with large homes on both sides, albeit, it takes on a life of it's own for one day every year. So as it turned out, my introduction to Heartbreak was a very mellow, anticlimactic one and not at all as I had expected it to be. The climb down the hill was quite speedy and fun, till I realized that I would have to actually run up it again on my way back during this run and more scarily after having run 20 miles on race day. The rest of the run going towards Route 16 basically comprised of another 3 hills, which along with HeartBreak form the famous 'Hills of Newton'.

There were 2 things that I realized as I ran today...
1. The sheer number of runners running on these hills, just gives an indication of how many people seem to be training for the Boston Marathon and how many of them, like me, are taking advantage of their proximity to Newton to train on the course and get used to the hills. The sight of other runners on the route is not only helpful because it pushes me to run faster, but is also heartening because it makes me realize that I'm not the only fool out there training on these cold gloomy Saturdays, when instead I could be at home enjoying my warm blanket in bed.
2. The curvy nature of the route (Commonwealth Ave) along the hills in Newton can be quite unsettling, since you can't look up and see the peak that you're trying to reach, but maybe it's a good thing as experts quote that... your best bet is to just look down on the road and keep running till you're at the top and this is the tactic I plan to use to get up and over these Newton Hills. Even while on Heartbreak going back home, I remember looking up and not being able to see the top (or at least not being able to perceive where it is) felt quite disheartening and made me realize another reason for the aura surrounding it.

All in all the run went quite well, even though I remember talking to myself for motivation (which I never do... I'm quite a quiet runner) at one point on my way back. I'm not sure if it was delirium or just the fact that I'm not used to running alone too much anymore, but instead distract myself by making conversation. And, while I'm discussing the topic of running with people, I want to once again thank my running buddies from work (Paul, Rodney, Pete, Bob, Javin or Steve), who routinely accompany me during the weekday runs and good friend Pari who runs with me on my short Sunday runs.

Signing off for now with a little shout out to HBK Hill...

Nice to meet you, Heartbreak, see you again next week!

Long Run: 14.44 miles in 2.20.20
Week Summary: 28.5 miles
Sun -, Mon: -, Tue: 5, Wed: 6, Thu: 1, Fri: 2, Sat: 14.5

Fund Raising Update: Week 2

2010-02-08T19:42:00.004-05:00

The end of the second week of fund raising saw my total get up close to the 30% mark. If you still haven't donated, please do so @ www.firstgiving.com/ronakmehta

A big thanks goes out to the following people for their generous donations over the past week.
ParikshitS
RisheenR
LindsayT
MarkW
RimaM
AnujS
HakanA
KaushalS
HeidiD
GauravM
YatinC
JakeT
JudyP
JulieS

A plastic-bottle-free training and race

2010-02-04T20:00:00.002-05:00

I read an interesting article in The Onion few days ago. The article is about how individuals let off their moral/environmental guard from time to time and toss a plastic-bottle into regular trash or buy a bottle of water instead of waiting it out to find a water fountain or drinking water from a tap at home. And 'the thought' going through this individual's mind is "What's one little bottle in the grand scheme of things, you know?". Granted, that the article was posted in 'The Onion', which has a reputation for satirical articles, it still reminded me on how often I, myself, face this quandary and as soon as my feeble mind accepts that one bottle won't hurt anyone (especially since I hardly drink bottled water the majority of the time), I give in to the urge and purchase a bottle and comfort myself by making sure that the bottle, once used, goes into the recycle bin instead of the waste basket.
This wretched cycle usually plays itself out when I'm either training for or running races and as I look back now, I've come to realize that it all does add up. Over the years, I've probably used up hundreds of bottles of water and gatorade to quench my thirst after my training runs or races, but after having thought this through a little bit, I believe I can put a stop to this wastage for my Boston Marathon training and the race itself simply by means of better planning.

So, with this blog posting, I declare that I will run and train for the 2010 Boston Marathon without using a single bottle of water or gatorade. For my weekend long runs, I will be carrying my fuel belt containers, filled with either tap water or gatorade made from the powder (http://www.gatorade.com/default.aspx#product?s=g-powder). I will restrain myself from buying any bottled water to keep in my apartment or my cube at work and will only drink Gatorade made from the powder. The setup at the Gatorade stations during the race helps my effort, since they serve Gatorade in paper cups and the Gatorade is made using the concentrate instead of being poured out of individual bottles.
All in all, this might not seem like too big a deal, but I'm just trying to do my bit to ensure that the only footprints I leave on my quest to conquer Boston are the one from my running shoes :-)

Fund Raising Update: Week 1

2010-02-01T16:23:00.006-05:00

It's been 5 days since I sent out the initial email to request donations from friends and family for my fund raising effort and I'm overwhelmed by the number of people who have donated so far and very grateful for their generous donations.
Here's a big thanks to my first set of donors.

Thank You for your generosity!
Your love and support is appreciated by MEEI and me:

DhavalD
KomalS
RushaS
TanujM
LizC
RaviK
DianeK
NehaA
KaviS
GauravT
MeghnaS
DhruvK
DaveA

If you would like to donate, please go to http://www.firstgiving.com/ronakmehta

Mind over (the small) Matter of freezing fingers!

2010-01-30T16:32:00.154-05:00

So, the day started out with the sun shining in the clear blue sky and looking pretty serene as I woke up early today. Looking out the window, it sure did seem like I would enjoy decent running conditions despite the forecast from the days leading up to today... but boy, was I wrong! The thermometer still showed single digit temperatures (in Fahrenheit, not Celcius) and made me realize that I was in for a fight as I readied myself to walk out into the cold and complete my scheduled 10+ mile 'Long' run.
I chose a route that would cover 5 out of the last 6 miles of the actual marathon route and back. The idea was to get familiar with the surroundings and topography of the last 5-6 miles of the race and use it to finish strong after climbing over what runners call 'The Mile-20 Wall' on April 19th. Check out my training route in the following link: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3444942
My apartment lines up on Mile 24.6 of the race and this allows me to plan my training runs to end along the final miles of the race route and I am going to take advantage of this over the course of my training program.
The weather conditions during my run today made me realize what the Boston Marathon is all about! The race itself is obviously quite the challenge, but the timing of the race adds to it's aura and prestige. The April schedule means that one has to train through the cold harsh winter months and I got a taste of this challenge today. Although I was pretty much covered from head to toe, my running gloves (Any other pair of gloves would not have sufficed either) did not prevent my hands and fingers from feeling the effects of an hour and a half in the frigid sub-10°F temperatures.
At various points during the run, I had to remove my gloves to check if my fingers were bent out of shape, because that's exactly how they felt. No amount of finger exercises or any other attempts to get some blood pumping to my extremities lessened the pain and at some point they were so numb that I could hardly bend them.
This whole experience made me realize that the idea of the training program is to not only get your body accustomed to prolonged period of exertion, but, more importantly, to also prepare your mind to will your body to keep going despite the pain and discomfort. In the end, I'm quite proud that I was able to forget about the pain and distract myself enough to finish the run even though my fingers were screaming at me to stop and dip my hands into hot charcoal or boiling water.

Long Run: 10.33 miles in 1.33.20
Week Summary: 22+ miles
Sun: 3, Mon: - , Tue 4, Wed: 4, Thu: -, Fri:1

Steve Carrell runs Boston?

2010-01-29T20:30:00.003-05:00

Here's a video of two of my favorite TV personalities (Steve Carrell and Jon Stewart) doing what they do best on The Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Boston Marathon

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Political Humor

Health Care Crisis

A special day

2010-01-26T13:47:00.001-05:00

Today was a special day on multiple counts.

1. I got to meet the rest of the MEEI team at the kick-off party. The highlight of the evening was the 20 minute video of the entire Boston Marathon route which included quotes by Boston Marathon finishers and runners, history of the race and an almost town by town description of the course, it's challenges and tips on how to conquer it.

2. At the meeting, I got the opportunity to meet the legendary running coach Fred Treseler, who has gained a strong reputation for successfully coaching and developing athletes to high performance at the high school, collegiate, national and Olympic levels, including elite American distance runners.

3. I also got the chance to meet other runners with unique stories about why they're running the marathon and why they've chosen MEEI as they charity of choice. Their stories have given me a reason to believe that I've chosen a very noble cause and encourages me to raise more money for MEEI as soon as possible. I would encourage you to go to www.firstgiving.com/ronakmehta to make your donation ASAP.

4. And finally, I did a nice fast 4.3 miles run through the inner streets of Boxborough and Acton with some of my running buddies at work. Run time: 4.3 miles in 35min & 51sec. On this run with me were Paul Vella, Rodney Andre, Peter Runstadler and Steve Bakke. Thanks guys, for making sure that I hauled my fat ass along the rolling hills close to work and pushing me to keep up with you.

Boston on foot

2010-01-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

This has been a terrible training week. With snow coming down on Monday and Tuesday, I lost important momentum right at the start of the week and couldn't get any motivation going into today's long run. I only ran a total of 5 miles (3 on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday) this week, but as I woke up this morning to a clear sky and the beautiful sun shining through my bedroom windows, I knew that a 'long run' through Boston should not be too difficult. Running along the historic streets of Boston is a charm in itself and it explains why this city is considered the running capital of the United States and why it's marathon is a premier road race in the word. Any motivation that I needed was right outside my door step and this drove me to complete my 8+ mile 'long run' at a respectable 8.35 minute/mile pace.

I started from my apartment and ran on Beacon Street toward Kenmore Square, after which I continued on Commonwealth Ave all the way to the historic Boston Commons. Commonwealth Ave leading up to Boston Commons is beautiful at this time of the year, with a thin sheet of white fluffy snow all along the leafless tree lined Comm Ave Mall. As I approached the Boston Commons, I turned left to head toward the Charles River, as my plan was to circle around the river starting from the Esplanade heading Northeast toward the Museum of Science. I then turnedleft at the Museum and ran all the way along the Cambridge Parkway and Memorial Drive till I reached the Boston University Bridge. After running over the Bridge back to the Boston side of the Charles, I turned right on Comm Ave (near BU), then turned left on Pleasant Street to hit Beacon at Coolidge Corner and then ran the home stretch on Beacon toward home.

All-in-all a solid, confident 8+ mile run, made all the more memorable by the route I chose. A long run like this is my idea of a fun foot tour of scenic and historic parts of Boston and Cambridge and even though I've run parts of this route many many times in the past, every time I run through this city, it adds to my treasure chest of memories of my funnest years of living in the US.

Snow outside, Sweat inside

2010-01-19T17:16:00.001-05:00

Today was a short 3 miler on the treadmill at work. With the snow coming down outside, I was forced to sweat on the treadmill inside. It's quite a surreal feeling experiencing snowfall in Boston and more so when you're viewing it, while on a run, through a 30ft x 10ft viewing window.