On Running.....and running a Marathon

" If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon."
-Emil Zatopek, Czech athlete, Marathon Gold Medalist, 1952 Summer Olympics

Three months down the line, this past Saturday I ran 15 miles (24 kms)!!

Back in April I came across this quote and am repeating it here, not only because it aptly sums up a great athlete's personal triumph, but also because the quote has slowly and steadily begun to resonate ever more strongly with my own effort to run a marathon this fall. Blessed (at least that is how I like to think of it!) with a short, slender frame and standing tall at precisely 4'-11-1/2", I was never the sports champ- I was fast though, and being able to sprint through 100m races was something I managed to do pretty well until about middle school when the inextricable web of studies and other activities that I enjoyed, supplanted my interest in sports altogether. (The fact that I fainted twice while running 400m races in school further convinced me that I was not cut out for endurance sports! :)). And so life went on and I managed to preserve my short, slender frame without any formal exercise or sport (unless you want to count hostel table tennis in the list) throughout college.

Coming to the US was a turning point--the relative availability of time and easy access to a wonderful college gym managed to rouse me up from lethargy. Yet running was never my thing -- I would jog a comfortable couple of laps around the gym track (i.e. barely half a mile) and secretly marvel at the individuals who ran round and round for what seemed like an eternity. Our first year in Boston, Abhi & I 'experienced' the Boston Marathon - 'experienced' as opposed to saw or watched..cause I remember it being a truly moving experience...I had tears in my eyes as people young and old, physically fit and unfit, made it to the finish line with agony, joy, determination and pride writ large across their faces. 26.2 miles was an incomprehensible distance for me at the time -- it seemed impossible how anybody could run all of it at one go (how anybody can do in a little over 2 hrs is still a mystery though!). Pumped up with awe and inspiration, Abhi remarked that he would love to run the marathon one day. I told him I would cheer for him along the way if he did - running a marathon myself still seemed a completely insane idea.

And so another year passed - it was almost time for the 2009 Boston Marathon when Abhi chanced upon a website of a program run by two India-centric charities, AID and Asha, wherein volunteers train together to run a marathon and raise funds in the process. Reading accounts of first-time marathon runners was indeed inspiring; the fact that it was coupled with a cause we could connect to, made it even more appealing. So, on we went for the orientation session in late April - a fairly well-attended gathering where presentations were made by the charity administrators, the coach and previous runners. While nobody said it in quite the words of Emil Zatopek, most runners attested to the fact that training for the marathon would be a HUGE commitment and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Abhi and I decided to give it a shot - we thought maybe we could try the half marathon option if the full 26.2 miles seemed really long. Anyways, so the following Saturday, around 30-40 people met by the Charles river (on what has to be the worst spring day with freezing temperatures and rain) for the first run. The coach outlined 3 loops - 3, 4 and 5 miles..I obviously chose 3 - but wait 3 miles!!!! The most I had ever run was a mile - so completely unsure of what I was getting into, I herded along with the '3 mile' group and off we went. Five-ten minutes in, with cold winds and sleet slapping across my face, I was completely out of breath and energy. I really wanted to complete the whole distance running though, and resolved to keep my legs moving - tempting as it was to walk for sometime and pick up the run again. A couple of bridges, steps and ramps on the way didn’t help the situation—and when I gazed up along the river to the finish line, it seemed just too awfully distant. Nonetheless, I kept my legs moving, even if my running was more like a slow jog at times. Twenty minutes in, I was utterly exhausted, yet it seemed like I was more than halfway through…this realization acted like a shot of adrenaline – it would have been a waste to stop now…I just had to hang in there for a few more minutes. The last quarter mile was the best part of the run – the prospect of finishing was so desirable that I could actually run faster. Dashing to the finish and meeting Abhi there was even better..I was so glad it was over that exhaustion took a back seat! THAT was the beginning…

Three months down the line, this past Saturday I ran consistently for a little over 3 hours to complete a 15 mile run. The journey from 3 to 15 has been an exciting one—it has had its share of pain, disappointments, injuries and triumphs. From getting up early every Saturday for the group long runs, to running (or not) during the week after office hours, to giving in to the urge to stop mid-run and decide its not my day, to nursing my bruised ego by running over-ambitiously and injuring my knees—all have been illuminating experiences.

More on them in subsequent posts and hopefully the journey from here to 26.2 in real time!

Backpacking in the Adirondacks..

Blogging for me took a rather long hiatus this past few weeks, which stretched into months...well, I'm making an attempt right this moment to save it from being years ! I have been grappling to understand why it was so...although the answer is fairly simple...it just takes a sizable amount of time and commitment to blog, to document your thoughts and experiences and not just live through them and move on to new ones. Also the whole logic behind blogging is still not fully resolved in my mind..the activity still seems to me a little self-indulgent--I mean why in the heck would you want to tell people what you think, what you do etc etc...I do like the fact that somewhere down the line I will be able to look back, read these entries and live through the details of my experiences better than my mind can ever remember them..and that's a good incentive...so anyways, since I have a few minutes to kill in the office, and I recently got back from an adequately 'bloggable' long-weekend trip...why not! :)

View Full Album

It was Independence day weekend and since we had experienced the Boston version last year with all the fireworks et al. Abhi & I decided to spend the vacation elsewhere -- and backpacking in the Adirondacks/ ADK (took me a while to get the pronunciation right !) with the Goyals was the chosen adventure. We felt it would be a good extension to our camping/hiking trip in the White Mts sometime back and also last year. Very soon, we realized though, that a backpacking trip can very quickly snowball into an extensive gear-shopping extravaganza -when you want to haul all the stuff you are carrying on your back, spending money on some ultra-light gear surely seems like a very good idea! So thats how the week preceding the trip was spent..both Abhi & me got new backpacks, and I also got a super-small sleeping bag, pad and trekking poles (amazing knee savers, though they do slow one down a bit)...

Anyways, so we were all packed and ready to leave on Friday morning at 7.30..My pack weighed almost 29 lbs. while Abhi's was 35 lbs. First time I picked it up at home, I wasn't really sure how the whole thing was going to pan out - it seemed so heavy!! but a couple of minutes into it one begins to feel more accustomed. Weather was cloudy and glum as usual (hmpf!!) but after picking up the Goyals we were on the road by 8.30-9..We stopped at Chillis in a town called ‘Halfmoon’ for lunch- spent a generous amount of time eating and chatting and restrooming -- which in retrospect wasn't the best of ideas cause it pushed forward our arrival time at ADK. We got in at the ADK Loj (ranger Station) from where the Mt. Marcy trail begins, at approx. 3-4 p.m...after quick rearranging of the packs, renting of an additional bear canister (quite an apparatus they are-- Vigo will vouch for their sturdiness after the one hanging from Abhi's pack banged against his head causing a huge bump!!) we were off in another 1/2 hr..the rain was coming down quite hard when we started....we ran into a ranger right at the beginning of the trail who informed us of about 15 other backpackers at the campsites ahead...

Spirits high despite the weight of the backpacks, gloomy skies and pouring rain, we set out on the 3 mile trek to the campsite...we should have ran into the first group of ‘lean-to’s’ after two miles….but there was no trace of anything…infact all the hikers who we met in the opposite direction did not recall seeing any signs for campsites. This was not good news…getting lost in the woods at night and looking for a place to camp in the rain, didn’t seem like the most exciting prospect. Nonetheless, with no other option than to trust our map and trek further till the 3 mile point to find the second campsite, we continued hiking further. We crossed Marcy Dam on the way – a rather rudimentary dam built of wooden logs, but very rustic and scenic - it was pity the weather was so depressing…

Anyways, further on we went..And then there was the brook—since I have never blogged about my hiking trips before, I should make it clear that I HATE crossing brooks and streams and any of those things with cold running water and slippery rocks! It is one of those little quirks that I guess everyone has & for me it is the fear of getting my shoes wet (haha they got so absolutely wet the next day that it seems such a joke I was trying to save them on the first day!!) Anyways so ‘Phelps Brook’ it was called. To get to the campsite we had to cross a wooden bridge—yet apparently it was closed due to some hazardous trail conditions and after wandering off on a false trail in vain search of it, we got back to where the brook could be crossed on foot. It was uncertain whether we would hit the campsites this way as we were not being able to follow our map directions to them. Almost all of us were in two minds—to trek further (and for how long?) or turn back and head to the base.

It was getting dark and the rain was coming down ever harder. We gave ourselves half an hour more and continued forth. It was almost nearing the verge of our time limit when Abhi noticed a solitary teeny-weeny backcountry camping sign stapled to a tree trunk – nothing could have been better! We took a short herd trail inside the woods and came upon the first clearing where tents could be pitched..the signs urged us to go in deeper where we came across another pitching area. Elated at having found a place to sleep, exhausted from the trek and weight of the packs, slightly scared by the idea of encountering black bears and anxious to pitch tents and cook food before dark, we quickly set about our tasks. There were no other campers at this site – we had clearly missed the area with the 15 other campers :( Having some company around would certainly have been reassuring, though in retrospect, it was quite cool to have all that space to ourselves!! We made the higher area our ‘dining space’-- it is not recommended to cook and sleep in the same area in bear country -- and the lower space we used for pitching tents.

Headlamps and torches in tow..we set about pitching our tents, and soon thereafter cooking dinner. I have to admit it was a reasonably scary feeling – out in the middle of nowhere in the woods, no fire, inadequate light and pouring rain. Our stove was this tiny, small backpacking version and was the only source of fire we had. We discovered this really thin, though running stream of water close to the campsite and used that water for cooking. The dinner menu was exciting though—nothing less than sada very Punjabi ‘Chana Masala’!!—for those who are wondering how we managed to enjoy such an exotic Indian delicacy on a backpacking trip, look in the aisles of EMS for a packaged meal by ‘Backpackers Pantry’..they have a whole range of other cool dishes that can be cooked right in the pouch by adding hot water..we made some hot cocoa to accompany the dinner…and slowly things started looking much better..:)

God! It seems like this post is going to go on forever at this rate!! Anyways so fed and happy, we got back to our tents and were about to sleep….when a cell phone ring pierced the silence – so much for the middle of nowhere experience!! AT&T undeniably has good coverage – it was my cellphone that had signal and the concerned soul calling us was Chaubey. Disappointed that the wilderness hype was slightly shattered, yet reassured that we could atleast call the ranger station if needed, we got back to our tents and called it a day..well of course before that, there was all this shouting amongst us across the tents and su-su trips out in the woods…

I managed to catch some sleep that night – tough as it was with raindrops splattering atop the tent. We peeked out at dawn -the sky was overcast and the rain looked determined..It was important to get ready fast and begin the roundtrip trek to the mountain peak so we could be back before dark. We had a quick breakfast of oatmeal, cocoa and nuts and since we had run out of water and were hoping to use the brook to refill our bottles..that was our first stop..The backpacks felt considerably lighter than the previous day, and we were on the trail by 9.30...We saw some intermittent slivers of sunshine in the beginning, however, soon thereafter there was incessant rain all the rest of the way..the trail was sludgy and flooded..we all managed to hop on rocks and avoid our shoes from getting drenched for some time. In fact when we encountered a wide stream which could only be crossed by wading through it, we all took off our socks and shoes beforehand. After this point though, the trail only got more flooded and the rain was nothing less than a downpour. Soon, my socks, shoes and everything else was drenched and muddy—the rain was so strong that even after rain covers over our pretty waterproof backpacks, it was hard to prevent the water from getting in....4 hours into the hike.. I was feeling rather beat up…we were hungry, had still not reached the top and our shoes were wet and heavy..almost 0.8 miles were left to the summit when we started entering the alpine zone, the wind picked up considerably, trail conditions worsened further and it was quite chilly….all the hikers we met in the opposite direction said it was very windy at the top, the skies were overcast, so any spectacular views were out of the question…afraid of over-exposure from lack of proper clothing, and the desire of making it back to our campsite before dark, we decided to head back..It was not an easy decision, yet in retrospect, we believe it was a wise one…So that’s what we did and ventured downhill on the trail.

The descent seemed like an eternity of hiking in the rain, wading through pools of water and stepping precariously over slippery rocks….yet, it took only 4 hours and we were back at the site by 6.00…It was such a relief to get out of drenched clothes and put on something dry. Having not had anything substantial to eat all day other than a couple of energy bars and nuts, we were all pretty famished and ready for some ‘real’ food –packaged Mac n Cheese never sounded so good and we headed up soon to our dining space where we’d stored all the eatables inside bear canisters. Food was quick and we were soon off to bed…we also had a radio that was catching a nearby station and they were covering July 4 firework festivities ….it was quite cheering to hear some music and I would have loved to listen more, except that the radio was powered by manual charge (i.e. it had a spindle that had to be repeatedly swung manually around a pivot to build up the battery charge..and as much as I like the overall concept of such devices for outdoor use…I was dead tired to swing it any more), so once it died it was time to say goodnight…

I slept really well the second night…and the reason was the lack of any rain—Yep!! It stopped raining at night and the next morning we woke up to a clear bright sky with a promise of sunshine ahead!! Amazing as that was, it was sad that this was our last day in the woods and we couldn’t help but wondering why it couldn’t have been like this throughout…well, but as it is with weather…you just take what you get and crib about the rest! For breakfast we decided to consume all our freeze-dried food and had mashed potatoes with pasta primavera! While we were savoring the food, another activity that occupied our minds was locating spots of sunshine on the ground to dry our wet shoes. The very thought of putting on wet shoes was making me cringe but it becomes easier when you really have no other choice! A couple of hours later, tents down, and all our stuff back into the backpacks, it was time to set out on the last 3 miles down to the ranger station where we parked our car. This was by far the best time we had on the trail…it was bright and sunny, we were all in light clothes and the moderate descent made things even more relaxing and enjoyable.

We reached the base around afternoon and after a quick change of clothes we were off to nearby Lake Placid for a hearty lunch! The chosen jaunt was a lively restaurant around the lake that had a great outdoor patio and reasonably good food! Happy and fed, it was time to hit the road and begin the 5-hr trip back to Boston. The return drive was really scenic - everything looks so much better in the sun and 70 degree temps :)—and we savored every bit of it! To keep us entertained were some ‘Sheldon-isms’ and ‘Sad songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd. Rafi’ from some really really old Hindi movies! It almost 10 by the time we got back and while the prospect of sleeping on a real bed was very comforting, we were sort of sad that it was over --nonetheless, it surely was a memorable trip whose detailed memories I have now captured in my blog!!