2003 marathon training lead to regular weekly runs and long runs, running turned out to be more of a sport and a change in lifestyle listing my experiences of marathons since 2004
3: Big Sur marathon April 2004
Hilly marathon, great organization, Awesome views, best marathon experience so far.
Rajeev Patel had mentioned about this marathon during one of the long runs in september 2003, since then wanted to run on the scenic highway 1 from Big sur to Carmel. Ran most of the course with kiran, tried Jeff Galloway's walk/runapproach for the first time and it did work.
- Felt lot less fatigued in the 20+ miles.
- Did not cramp till the last mile
Post-race fanfares was great, had lot of goodies for the tired runners. Best organized marathon.
4: Nisene Marks June 2004
Treated it as a Training run for 50k in the following 2 weeks, good uphill course 1st and totally downhill 2nd half.
This marathon is quite special to me as did my first 5k race ever with Kaveesh in 2002 Jun.
Ran at a easy pace, last couple miles were tough, felt lot fatigued. Probably didnt recover from myfirst 50k 6 weeks prior to this race and wasnt able to train much due to RV trip and East coast Trip with Kasturi Maami
6: Portland marathon Oct 2004
Decided to run with rashmi was very good experience. did a easy training run. not easy to run with a spouse :)
7: SV marathon Oct 2004
Ran for a time goal of 4:20, did make it in 4:17, perfectly paced marathon. Totally satisfied with the training of 2 months for this race.
Lessons learnt:
For extra Salt intake, used Succeed tablets.
Walk breaks does help to deal with fatigue and achieved PR. Splits, 2:09 and 2:07
8: Nisene marks Jun 2005
Training run with Kiran , good easy course. Felt lot better than 2004.
9: SF marathon 2005 July
Wasnt sure if I would be able to run this marathon, as I had run 50k 2 weeks before but surprizing recovered quite well and was all set for the scenic course.
Very good race, great course, good expo with lot of freebies and lot bigger than past year.
main objective:
- Treat this as a training run
- Enjoy the 1st half of the course (running on golden gate bridge is special moment)
- Finish strong.
Didnt get good sleep 2 days prior to marathon, so was little concerned about the race. but due to stay at Srini's friend's place in SF managed to get a extra sleep and got a convenient drive to start line. the race started at 5:20, weather was little chilly, foggy perfect running temprature. As usual me and kiran decided run together and try to hit 4:30 goal without pushing too hard. As recovery was one of the concerns.
We ran the initial part with 4:30 pace group they did 6:1(galloway walk break technique) we conveniently followed that, soon we were joined by Pankaj gupta, ran along fine at a easy 10:30 pace, at the first uphill we took potty break and missed pankaj out there, was little concerned about lack of cytomax at the first 3 aid stations i.e abt 7 miles into race, but was hopeful wud have plenty ahead..
At mile 7 GG bridge stretch started, this was my 2nd time on the scenic bridge, though it was misty was enjoying the run on the bridge, traffic on the bridge was blocked for runners. next 3 miles went pretty smoothly with hoards of runners alongside. by this time we had already missed the 4:30 group.
Mile 10 had a good downhill section followed by a long easy uphill, at this point Tom(Padma's ex-boss) joined us, he seemed to be very strong. at mile 11.
2nd half of the course is not that scenic as it passes through industrial areas, but me and kiran decided to push a bit and try to run the race within 4:30.. we did end up doing in 4:29:55 felt good attaining the goal considering we had lot of gas in the end.
2005 was lot fun run than 2004 as lot TeamAsha runners were doing the half-marathon.
One dissapointing aspect of this race was the post-race treament, we hardly had any nutritional stuff, had 1 banana and cytomax.. for all the effort spent in past 26.2 miles. I remember kiran asking for 1 more banana and the lady told him runners are allowed for only 1.. kiran couldnt beleive that he spent 3000+ calories and
being give a 100 calorie banana to replenish!!!
Guess race folks spent all money on the expo, they need to balance it out next time.
10. Chicago Marathon 2005 with Ajith
This was ajith's first marathon, Ajith ran a very well paced race, he was pretty strong till mile 21 and we started incrasing walks breaks but he decided to push and run most of the miles between mile 23-26.2. At finish we celebrated with Michlebob ultra beer and waited for rush, who seeemed to suffer from quad and calf fatigue and walked the last 7 miles with Heeral. Great camaraderie from heeral..
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