My First Ever Marathon !!!

True Commitment, Hardwork and Will power to do things always pays off. I like to share one of my very own life story as a proof.

Its a coincidence so happened, I get to post this blog on the day marking the 5th anniversary of my first Marathon run. A Run which took 3 hours 41 mins to taste the essence of 6 months hardwork by touching the finishline. I would never ever forget this moment.

Exactly, 5 years ago I ran my first ever Marathon (world famous Boston Marathon) and completed it. I never imagined in my lifetime that I would ever run a marathon which is of 26.2 miles and able to complete it one short without stopping anywhere for a walk.

I am really proud to say that because I was neither a pro-runner nor an athelete in my school days. With great effort and help, I was able to achieve this milestone and I still cherish those wonderful moments.

I am not sure how many of you know that Marathon runs are not an easy one. It was never in my list of dreams until 2001. Sometimes you just go where the life takes you, this is one of those moments in my life. Its a great journey.

Like any bachelor desi(indian) I had more time to kill after office hours and also have lot of fat to shred. Its usually becomes an habit to hit the Gym to do short run in the thread mill. (I know some people go to Gym for other reasons)

I usually run around 1 to 1 1/2 mile every day without trouble. My American friend (a good runner) provoked my interest to try out a 5k(3miles) run. I was just a neophyte when it came to running races. He gave me some pointers to get started. I trained enough in the treadmill ameliorating my running skill to get ready to run a 3miler on the street.

I just want to complete this race, nothing much. It was a nice Spring day in Boston during April 2001. Race started off easy. I struggled a bit when I hit with some tough uphills but I managed to maul them. In my first 5km race, I grabbed the 3rd place under age category finishing it in 23 mins(8mins per mile) and winning a bronze medal. That moment sparkled my interest to run more and more.

I gradually increased my speed and distance. I also joined a runners club. I met some born athletes who run every races in and around that area. I continue to run some more 5km races and set my eye towards running a 5mile race. In July of that year, I ran my 5 mile race and finished in around 36mins (apx 7.20 mins per mile).

I then aimed to run a 10Km(apx 7miles) in August. I revisited my training plan and changed it around to increase distance. I tried well enough to finish in 45 mins or so.. It was one of hot days in Boston and a tough route. Around that time, I got the bad news from home. My grandpa just expired. I couldn't able to go back home because of work obligations. So I decided to dedicate this run for him. I kept thinking about the days with him and it really kept me going. I was able to complete in 50mins or so.

My friend was so happy to see me running hard and dedicated. He said, you should run a half marathon (13miles). I said, "I don't know whether I can do it". He was so confident about me and said you will do it.. He also trained with me and kept me energized all the time. I trained hard for 2 months to get to the phase I wanted to run. Another big race day, it started out good and I had to go looping around a lake 2 times to finish a half marathon. I managed to run first loop good but second loop was little tough but maintained my phase and enjoyed the run. I completed in 1hr 41 mins(7.30mins per mile), a great timing to complete a half marathon for a novice runner.

My gym coordinator who used to see me running long hours in the treadmill and hearing about my racesjust asked "why can't you run the marathon". I said, " Its 26.2 miles and I don't think I would ever will be able to run one". She said, just give it a try as you did for other races.

Sometimes we always underestimate ourselves and try to stay inside the box and never come out of the comfort zone until you try out new things. After reinventing myself, I decided get out and go to an extent. Why not I run?! Its going to be a uphill task but its doable. That set my dream to run a marathon. I aimed and set the goal to run the Boston Marathon.

Boston Marathon happens every year in Apr 2nd week. I set my target to run next year 2002 marathon. Boston Marathon is special because you either need to be qualified running a marathon(to run a marathon, you should have already ran one) or run thru sponsors. I can only try to run thru sponsors because I never ran one. Since my company had 20 free tickets, they draw it every year to give out to runners. You have to be well qualified runner to enter ther drawing. I requested my company sports organization to enter the lotto with an exception for me this year.

Rosalynn Carter once said, You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.” Without your confidence throughout the run, it’s tough to run a marathon.

As I said its not easy to run a marathon without proper training. I get to work on building my endurance, stamina, phase, speed variation, agilation on top of my will power to do. I also had my fingers crossed to win the lotto to get to the official marathon race to get bib number and chip.

From Nov 2001 - Mar 2002, lot of things changed in my life. I trained hard to increase my miles gradually from 7-8 miles to do 20 miles and also changed my eating habits. Sometimes I used to run in treadmile for 3 hours. Its winter time in Boston and I used to practice outside in the freezing cold sometimes. I used to ran back and forth from my work place to complete 22 miles. I logged my run and tracked the timings. I did whatever I can. I got the news that I won the lottery to get the marathon number in March which gave me a boost. I was all set to run a marathon.

Before Race Day: Race was just around the corner. I was so nervous before the marathon until I went to Runners expo that weekend. I was so tensed about what people are going to think if i couldn't finish because most of co-workers know about it. I learnt from other runners that just have fun without worrying about anything. Just do your own race. I told myself that I am going to run tomorrow rain or shine and whatever my health is going to be. I am going to finish it.

On Race day: As usual, got ready and had usual breakfast. My friend came and picked me up and dropped me off at the Hopkinton Athletic village. I took it easy, prepared myself and my body for the big long day. Had enough water, hit bathroom(I can't do it for another 3 hours) and ready to go.

Boston Marathon Race Day - Morning 11:00am. Around 16,000 official runners assembled to run this race. Every batch of thousand runners stayed in group. There are around 13000 runners ahead of me.

Ready, Set, GO.. Race started exactly at 12pm. It took me 9mins to just cross the start line.

I slowly increased my pace to what I used to trained for and try not to run faster to save up my energy. On the way, I enjoyed with people cheering, did High fives to the onlookers, waving them. Since I had put my name in my singlet(tees), so lot of people called out my name and cheered me up. I had a blast.

I slowly completed the Half marathon(1:30min). I worked harder when I hit the heart break hills(steep hill). I did pretty good on it and I also talked me out to not to walk, so I had to slow down and ran slowly. I kept running and running.

One time, I just want this all over little frustrated. But lot of people along the way cheered me up and kept me moving. A real good weather(50+ F) helped a lot. Finally I reached the finish line with little bit of cramp but healthy enough to enjoy waving to everybody. It was a great feeling to finally complete. I collected my medal and came to find out I did well to complete in 3hrs 41mins.

My friends were there to greet me with great happiness when crossed the finish line. It was a total blast. The experience will stay with me until I die.

I want to share this lifetime experience as a example that "Nothing is impossible in this world". Everything is possible with proper commitment and hard work. My Marathon run also provoked interest among other desi friends who set out to train and ran marathons to beat my timing. I am happy that I was able to complete and more than happy to set out a path for others.

Tough Sport - Limca Record by 4year old !!!

This is the sequel Part II of my previous post about the "Tough Sport". For the benefit of all, I am just going to recap some thoughts from my previous post.

Running Marathon is a one of the Toughest sport. One needs to have commitment and will power to take up the challenge and give unprecedented amount of effort in order to run 26.2 miles in one stretch. It might be a tough sport but its not an impossible sport. If you want to read the previous post fully, Jump to Tough Sport - Unrevealed to check it out.

Believe it or not, this tough sport is being mastered by a 4 year old. Yeah, that's right! I can't even believe my eyes when I saw the news in the web. It got more interesting when I read the news more to find that the boy is from India.

Actually, Budhia Singh — 4-year-old from India as a slum resident from the eastern state of Orissa dubbed “Marathon Boy” and “India’s Forrest Gump” — did not run just a marathon. He ran farther… much farther. In fact, perhaps enough to set a world record for a kid: 40 miles! Just as impressive was his time: 7 hours and 2 minutes.

Officials of Limca Book of Records, India's best-known record book, witnessed the run and said it would be included in its 2007 edition, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Budhia Singh completed the distance in seven hours and two minutes which is an Indian record. This is perhaps a world record too. No other kid at his age has completed a distance of 65 kilometers (40 miles) at one go," said his coach, Biranchi Das.

Despite just being 4 years old, the kid already has some interesting stories. When his father died his mother could not afford to raise him so she sold him off for $20. He then was put under the watch of (or possibly “rescued”by) a judo master who “discovered” the boy’s incredible stamina when, for punishment, he told the boy to run and 5 hours later — when the judo master returned — the boy was still running. The judo master then started him on a training regimen including running in the morning, having a siesta in the early afternoon, and then running again in the evening. He also switched him over to a diet of eggs, milk, soybean, and meat.

In place of a few lumps of rice that he used to get at his mother's place, he now has a diet of eggs, milk, soybean and meat. He starts running at 5am each day and does not stop till noon. After a few stretching exercises, he has lunch and goes for a siesta. At 4pm it is time to run again. Budhia is enjoying his stay at the judo hostel. "I can run and eat to my heart's content here," he says.

Budhia's coach has now set his eyes on a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
That, he says, will be possible when he can run for 90km at a stretch."I have no doubt whatsoever that he will achieve it soon", Mr Das says.

What this 4year old accomplished was an unthinkable achievement. I couldn't even imagine my son(8months) doing it when he is at 4 years. For some, sports come naturally but it doesn't mean that others doesn't have chance or can't try to excel it.

For my part, I did try one or 2 half marathons and 1 marathon. I am proud to say that I was able to complete them successfully with some good timings. Because completing a marathon itself is a great accomplishment. I am also happy to invoke interest among some of my coworkers to try out this tough sport. There is so much to talk about this Tough sport and I am not done yet. Please look out for my final post of this sequel with some How to's and What to's.

A Tough Sport - Unrevealed

It may be easy to be a cricketer as you are one among 11 players in the game. You either contribute as batsmen or bowler and very rarely an all-rounder. You are only the part of the team success. Similarly, any team sport is not too difficult to be part of as every individual is just the part of the success.

Let’s take some individual sports like swimming, weight lifting, boxing or tennis. It may be little tough as you are playing in the play field alone by yourself, putting everything you have to win the competition or game. It is tough at times depending on the opponent and field you are playing. I am not under-estimating any sport so don't go defensive on me. I know every sport has its own tough times. But speaking from my experience, out of all these sports there is one sport which takes a toll out of a person both physically and mentally.

It takes one extraordinary person to run a marathon (Triathlons are extreme) which is the one of the toughest sport in the earth today. Every marathoner has to battle blisters and blistering heat or freezing cold, extreme altitudes and draining humidity. This sport needs every bit of a person to be fully dedicated and committed in order your to accomplish success.
If you are still not convinced, let’s analyze some facts and do a comparison.

Sport - Time Played - Breaks -Effort

Cricket -3hrs -One session every 17overs(1 1/2 hrs) - Team Effort

Soccer- 45mins -one session every(45 mins) - Team Effort

Tennis- 2to3 hrs max - every 5 games(15-30mins)- Full Effort

Swimming- 10to30mins max - no break - Full Effort

200 meters Run - 4-5mins -no break - Full Effort

Marathon - 2to3hrs - no break- Full Effort

Above all Marathon stands out as the sole sport which doesn't have any break and need your full effort for minimum 2-3 hrs if you are an average runner. If you take a break, you can't win. You can take a break but you won't be there on the finish line on time.

Rosalynn Carter once said, You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.”This quotes suits well for this sport. Without your confidence throughout the run, it’s tough to run a marathon. You have to battle against your mind and heart. Mind will say "why are you running too long and hard, your legs are already hurting so just stop it". You heart will say, "You are going to achieve something good so just keep running. Only think about the finish line". It’s a constant struggle and the person has to divert the mind all the way to the finish line since you are on your own. It’s not a game to be entertained; it’s a lonely sport to be conquered.

To Run a marathon which is a distance of 26.2 miles = 34.5 km with a clean and steady phase, it needs total commitment, vigorous practice, Persistence and Perseverance. Without all to these, it’s hard to imagine running one. Because this sport needs total unprecedented amount of effort from a person, not many people seems to be interested and not very popular among ordinary people in India.

When I searched Google or any search engine for "Marathons India", I can easily count them in figures. First, it all seems to have started only few years (5-7 years) ago. Secondly it only happens in metro cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata & Delhi for more advertisement and sponsorships to make money. Finally, only 20% of them finish them. Let’s look at the Mumbai marathon which just completed last Jan 21st, 2007. If you look closely at Indian finishers, they are either from Indian Army or Navy or national Olympic runners.

If you search "Marathon USA", you will see every other city hosts the Marathons as per their weather conditions. Also the finishers are way more than 75% out of more than 15,000 participants. Among them a very good percentage 60-70% are ordinary individuals.

Our people are immediately ready to defend us saying that we don't have proper coaches, no good training facilities like USA and try to cover-up the actual fact that there are no volunteers strong enough to take up the challenge offered by this tough sport.

I like to tell a naked truth. Atleast 1 out of 3 top finishers in all marathons taking place all over the world are either from Kenya or Ethiopia. These people are from real poor countries which doesn't even have enough everyday food and shelter. I don’t think they have facilities to train and actually most of the people are under poverty line. How come they can do it? Because of their poverty level, they don't have transportation facilities and have to run or walk at least 7-10 miles every day to go to their schools from the child age. Since they been running barefoot every day under hot sun, their body is tuned to take on tough sport. Once they get sponsorships, they train well and participate in big marathons and take away big prizes like $15,000 to their home.

It’s good that marathons are slowly getting popular in India but the fact is not many finishers and they are giving up in the middle. There are committing themselves to run full one. If there is not many finishers, then the marathon is a total failure. There are many reasons to it. The important reason being awareness among people about marathons. They just run for the sake of it. Also people have wrong perception that Marathons can't be run easily and it’s tough to do it. That may be true but if a person train him properly either from the teen age or from 20's it’s really possible to win. If you don't have to run to win, you can at least complete reasonably which is a great accomplishment. It’s also doesn't need special facilities or special equipment. It only needs you and your commitment and will power with some good pair of shoes. That all it needs.

I believe that nothing is impossible under the sun and above the earth. The word impossible itself says I'M POSSIBLE.

I am not just a critic like some newspaper Journalist who can just write about anything. I am just a optimistic and practical person. I also want to do justice to my readers. For my part I have done couple of half marathons and a marathon. I am going to talk more about how to run marathons and also revealing a most astonishing story about a 4year who ran long runs and marathons. If he can do it, you can do it too :-)