A Seven Continent Journey

Many will ridicule at my perception on the enormity of the decision I was faced with last week. For me it was do or die. I had lost precious time near the acme of my training following the fall at work. Some crucial runs were missed. In my effort to catch up, I was left with no choice but to go for the long runs without building an adequate base. On Saturday, 8/15/09, I attempted an 18 mile run on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive. The prior week I had been traveling through Canada by road fulfilling one of my long-term intentions of taking my parents to Niagara Falls. The run proved to be a disaster. I was able to somehow complete 18 miles. However, I felt extremely drained and fatigued like never before. I tired to blame the poor performance on the extensive driving I had been doing and also possibly to the weather. I felt desperate while on the course. It was a pity that not even well sculpted beautiful bodies, which is a regular feature on Chicago’s Lake Shore Drive, failed to inspire me. I just felt miserable. The fear of not making a successful attempt at the Sydney Marathon loomed and the dreaded"DNF" (did not finish) sign came to my mind. Once back in Green Bay, it was time to counsel. Faced with the dilemma on when to attempt my second long run, at least 20 miles, I spoke with my colleagues and mentors, Gail and Sarah, who are both seasoned runners. With the added pressure of being on call over the weekend, I would have struggled to find time. The consensus was to go ahead and do the 20 mile run last week. That would have put me at almost 45 miles for the week, which I have never attempted, so last Sunday I woke up, the weather was nice and I set out at around 6:30 a.m. with some skepticism of being able to pull off this long run off. To my surprise I felt quite good at the half way mark and was able to keep up with the time I had allocated for this run through most of the run. Fortunately, I was able to complete the 20 miles as planned. I have to say I was in bed for three to four hours following my return. However, there was a huge sense of relief. Surprisingly, I didn't get too many body aches and was back to normal within 24 hours. This week I did a short four mile run near my house, running deftly through some hills. I was able to keep a good pace and posture. My confidence is back.

Marathon training is full of hiccups. Within 24 hours of my last blog post, I regretted boasting how good I felt. While at work slipped on a wet floor in the hospital, injuring my right groin. I spent 10 agonizing days not able to keep up with my planned routine. The fear of aggravating the injury by maintaining aggressive running routine kept me away from my running shoes. Today, starting out at 4.00 am, I was able to complete a 14 mile long run. I did have some pain in the right groin, but it seems the worst is over and I’m on the mend. My father who’s in town these days showed me some yoga exercises, which seemed to help a lot. I remain cautiously optimistic, and over the next 2-3 weeks, hopefully should be able to complete a 20 mile training run. On the positive note I have been in touch with a long time college friend, Ajay Vatsayan, who now lives in Sydney, Australia. I’m looking forward to seeing him again.