Blog: Hey dude, what's up? Don't tell me you participated in that Marathon that took place in Seattle last weekend!
Atul: Yes sir. I did! But I just did half, not full.
Blog: Wow! I can't believe it. You were such a chair potato.
Atul: chair potato?
Blog: You know, couch potato ~ TV and chair potato ~ computer. Never mind my stupid jokes. What's up with Time Travel?
Atul: For last few months, two things that have occupied me are preparing for the marathon, and two of my favorite TV shows LOST and Doctor Who. And both these shows have a underlying theme of time travel. So I am gonna borrow the TARDIS for a while, and do some time travel to share with you how I prepared for the event.
Blog: That's so coooool.
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Atul: Allright, here we are. circa Nov 2008
I already run on treadmill in my Apartment's Gym. Some time back I managed to do 3 miles for the first time. And last week I read an email on a Microsoft employee alias on behalf of a NGO called 'Asha for Education'. So people volunteer and run for this NGO and raise funds as donations from their friends and family. These funds are used for many of Asha's programs across India.
Blog: What? You are the one who is running, and people give money to support your run? Why would they do that? Sounds so scoofy.
Atul: Sure it sounds scoofy, that's why yesterday I went to one of the NGO's meeting to find out more about it. And I was really impressed by these guys and their dedication towards their cause i.e. Education in India. I got a chance to speak to a few past runners. I think I may eventually run with them. May be just for the fun of it, and donation can be a side effect :)
Blog: All right. Hey, don't .. don't .. please don't press that button ...
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Atul: Here we are, March 2009.
Blog: oh, come on. Couldn't we have spent more time in November 2008? The Mumbai Attack was just going to happen. I wanted to follow that news again.
Atul: I always knew you had a sadistic side too. This blog entry is for my marathon and I don't want to talk about anything gory. And guess what, a few days ago, I came back from my India trip. Before I left India, I had already run 5 miles once on a tread mill. But now I am scared, after 3 weeks of no running and some 100 still undigested aloo ka paranthas that I had on my trip, I am not fit for any marathon sharathon. I am not sure if I am going to register for it, today morning I could barely run 3 miles.
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Atul: 16th April, 2009. yeaaaaahhhhhh .... I registered for the half marathon a minute ago. I was really double minded but then I realized that there's hardly anything I have done off late to make me proud of myself so I am not letting go of this opportunity. I ran 6 miles last Saturday. I have already come a long way from a time when running a mile made me feel like Milka Singh! Just over a couple of months to go but I'll make it.
Blog: Of course you will. This whole marathon thing is kind off dumb. You run on an average pace, stop in between to take rest, drink water and even eat energy bars while running. For sure, you will run the 13.1 miles. After all there is no time limit.
Atul: Don't underestimate it bloggy. I agree, that even tomorrow, given ample time I can run 13.1 miles. But the reason why we have to train are that 1) there is little chance of any injury. Even after 5 miles, my knees are crampy and feet sore. So we need to accustom our body for longer runs in phases. 2) You don't know how your body is going to react in a long run unless you have done it before. There are chances of people getting fatigued out. In every marathon, on an average 10 - 15 % runners quit in the event. 3) I DO have a target time in my mind. I want to complete it in 131 minutes. At an exact pace of 10 minutes for a mile.
And now I am going to press this button again.
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Atul: May end., 2009. I have started sending emails to my friends asking to donate and support my run. All the donation will go for the relief for victims of Cyclone Aila that ravaged the Bay of Bengal coast. I have not received a lot of feedback but a few friends have congratulated me on taking up this and said really kind words! I am pumped up. Last Saturday I ran 10 miles for the first time. Well actually, ran 9 miles and walked 1 mile. Last 1 mile, my feet simply refused to listen to me. As if they had a life of their own and were saying to me.
"You son of a gun. Why don't you use your f**king mouth to sing songs in charity shows or use your hands to write free source code software (or a decent blog), if you want to raise money for welfare of poor Indian kids. naaaah, you choose the easy route with us being the victim"
Blog: Poor feet. Now take me to the D day.
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Atul: Nope, a couple of days before it. 25th June, 2009.
I have received mixed response for the emails that I sent to my friends and conversations I had on phone. A few of my friends were really forthcoming and donated full hearted, and then there were others :-) But I am not judging anyone here. People are different, and what ticks them is different too. But overall I am glad with the amount that I have been able to raise.
But all is not well on running side. June has been an emotionally tumultuous month due to work and other few turn of events. I ran only on Saturdays as I couldn't run on weekdays. I am not getting enough sleep and my biggest worry is how do I wake up at 4:30 AM day after tomorrow. The only aluminium lining is that I did run 13 miles last Saturday. But it was way too slow than my target time.
Blog: I like that phrase though, 'aluminum lining'. Glass half full or half empty? Go figure.
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Blog: Back to present!! So how was the actual run and over all marathon experience?
Atul: It was good. The best part was that there were 25K runners participating in the event which was really overwhelming and encouraging. The bad part was that there were 25K runners and even while I wanted to run faster, it was difficult to make way through loads and loads of runners. I completed the 13.1 miles in 02:20:49 to be precise. Not what I hoped for, but none the less the best I had ever done. The course was really nice, but last few miles I could hardly notice anything around. I was almost running like a zombie.
Blog: Congratulations dude! hey, what the hell? what are you doing? why are you pressing that button again ??
Atul: Oh, my time machine takes me to future too. So here we are: 29th November, 2009. And guess what! Today I ran a FULL marathon at the Seattle Marathon. That's 26.2 miles!! I didn't raise funds this time and ran just for the heck of it. But yeah, it feels good, I completed in 262 minutes and ....
Blog: Your time machine sucks dude! No one knows the future, you even don't know if you will be alive by that time. Some crazy drunken driver may run you over making you a handicap for entire life. Your H1 extension may get rejected and you are sent back to India. Or you are suddenly diagnosed with Breast Cancer and told that you will live only for 3 more months making you a hermit and leave for Himalayas. Ah well, make it a lung cancer :)
Atul: Shut UP Blog.
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