I had an amazing time during recent trip to Chicago for my long-awaited marathon on Oct. 22nd, 2006. Thought I shall share some of it with you guys.
I was preparing for this marathon from last 5 months and during last two months I got knee injury. I never completely understood what was causing it and how to fix it. Regardless I continued training with knee pain, slowing down the pace, walking and stopping in between long runs, though I skipped very few runs. The injury decreased lot of my confidence, regardless I flew to Chicago.
We reached Chicago on Friday night, well in advance for Marathon on Sunday, however we didn't realize weather is going to be that cold. Temperature was in mid 30s and wind was strong thanks to Michigan lake. I got slight fever by Saturday noon after visiting marathon expo, which got even worse after the carbo dinner with ASHA team. I wonder if that was because of nervousness or weather. Luckily I had Tylenol, took few tablets before sleeping but couldn't sleep whole night. I had to ice my feet 3-4 times as they were really hot. Had quick breakfast at 05:30am and prepared for the adverse weather conditions with fleece, gloves, cap and plastic wrap for wind and took few tablets of Tylenol again to control the fever.
Marathon started off with lots of excitement. It was jam-packed (more than 40k runners) and almost impossible to pass any runner. I ran with crowd for first 2 miles and started feeling really warm and committed horrible mistake by throwing all my warm clothes including gloves. In later miles I had to run with freezing hands.
As I was injured I started slow (~ 11 minutes/mile) but soon I realized my knee was almost ok. I started speeding up and ran with 9 minute/mile for next 4-5 miles. At that point I got pain in my non-injured knee! I was pretty nervous but then kept on following the crowd. Pain disappeared in 2 miles. I was feeling fresh so started going even faster. Next 7-8 miles I ran with 08:30 pace. Everything went really smooth until mile 22nd when I start getting tightness in quads and hamstring. It was very strong and if I tried to walk, it keep on growing.
My body almost gave up. It was all a mental game at this point. For next 4.2 miles I kept on meditating. I was trying to blank out the mind as I knew most of the incoming thoughts would be negative. I slowed down quite a bit but didn't have to stop. I finished marathon with a
big smile in 03:56.
I still don't believe its all over. I am looking forward to future runs with ASHA team.
We spent next day going around Chicago downtown. Here are some photos from trip : Photos of Chicago
I was preparing for this marathon from last 5 months and during last two months I got knee injury. I never completely understood what was causing it and how to fix it. Regardless I continued training with knee pain, slowing down the pace, walking and stopping in between long runs, though I skipped very few runs. The injury decreased lot of my confidence, regardless I flew to Chicago.
We reached Chicago on Friday night, well in advance for Marathon on Sunday, however we didn't realize weather is going to be that cold. Temperature was in mid 30s and wind was strong thanks to Michigan lake. I got slight fever by Saturday noon after visiting marathon expo, which got even worse after the carbo dinner with ASHA team. I wonder if that was because of nervousness or weather. Luckily I had Tylenol, took few tablets before sleeping but couldn't sleep whole night. I had to ice my feet 3-4 times as they were really hot. Had quick breakfast at 05:30am and prepared for the adverse weather conditions with fleece, gloves, cap and plastic wrap for wind and took few tablets of Tylenol again to control the fever.
Marathon started off with lots of excitement. It was jam-packed (more than 40k runners) and almost impossible to pass any runner. I ran with crowd for first 2 miles and started feeling really warm and committed horrible mistake by throwing all my warm clothes including gloves. In later miles I had to run with freezing hands.
As I was injured I started slow (~ 11 minutes/mile) but soon I realized my knee was almost ok. I started speeding up and ran with 9 minute/mile for next 4-5 miles. At that point I got pain in my non-injured knee! I was pretty nervous but then kept on following the crowd. Pain disappeared in 2 miles. I was feeling fresh so started going even faster. Next 7-8 miles I ran with 08:30 pace. Everything went really smooth until mile 22nd when I start getting tightness in quads and hamstring. It was very strong and if I tried to walk, it keep on growing.
My body almost gave up. It was all a mental game at this point. For next 4.2 miles I kept on meditating. I was trying to blank out the mind as I knew most of the incoming thoughts would be negative. I slowed down quite a bit but didn't have to stop. I finished marathon with a
big smile in 03:56.
I still don't believe its all over. I am looking forward to future runs with ASHA team.
We spent next day going around Chicago downtown. Here are some photos from trip : Photos of Chicago
