Friday, February 22, 2008

Marathon #2 Done!




Marathon #2 - The ATT Marathon happened this past Sunday. I don't plan to write a full recap similar to what I did after completing Marathon #1 last October. But I do want to mention some things.

This marathon was a very tough one for me. I had all sorts of stitches-cramping issue. The weather became really hot and I kept getting dehydrated easily which resulted in me consuming a lot of liquids which resulted in more than planned potty breaks - and each time I stopped, it was a pain getting back started!! I was shooting to better my DC time by 20 mins and finishing in 5.5 hours, but I actually ended up taking 10 mins more than DC to finish!

BUT despite all of this, I had a GREAT race - and this was mainly due to the wonderful folks from Team Asha and my own friends!! I've been more involved with Asha this year than I was last year, and have gotten to know the core members a little better. And I have to say that I have never met a group of people more dedicated, enthusiastic and committed to a cause as much as these folks! They were there for us through the training months - and there for us throughout the race - all the way to the finish line - and there for us after the race as well! It was very exciting to see the Asha cheer squads along the race course - and served as an instant energy boost! Asha also provided pacers for all the marathoners - and I had 2 very wonderful pacers who accompanied me at different points during the 2nd half of the race! One of the pacers was from Dallas and I really have to give him a big big gold star for not only pacing me, but also entertaining me all the way to the finish line! :)

Besides the Asha runners, Areille, who will always be my favourite running buddy, accompanied me on the last 5K of the race, and when she is around, even the toughest run feels like a piece of cake! Areille also made the whole day tension-free for me by waking up early in the morning to give me a ride to the race and then driving me back home!! I cannot thank her enough for all her support through these last few months!!! She's just awesome!! I also have to thank Prax and Aparna who showed at the finish line to cheer me on!! That was a really pleasant surprise!!
Thanks to all of you who wrote to me with your words of encouragement as well!! It really did mean a lot to me!!

So overall, I really did have a fabulous Marathon #2! I plan to hang up my laces for a while to focus on some other stuff, but do have some Tri plans for this fall - so I'm sure they won't stay hung up for too long! :)

6 comments:

Ankit said...

Second Marathon done!!!! Congrats....Wow...

Hey so how many potty breaks did you take:) Actually I was surprised with the potty break think bcos I thought you shuldn't take a break bcos then it is hard to start again. But I have never done a marathon.....only read about it.

Unknown said...

Good job Charanya !!! I am off marathons for a while and will focus on half marathons or even shorter runs. I want to keep training hard but on overall fitness rather than just running.

Best of luck with the tri!!! But take a nice long break for a month atleast before you start doing anything hard-core.

peace,
Shumit

Charanya said...

Shumit - that's gonna be my main focus as well for the next few months! Improving my overall fitness and focusing on doing some speed training! Cos as you can see, I run like a snail now! :)

Amit Bhutani said...

Congrats on your second full marathon sis!! Great job finishing what you started in spite of adversities like weather and cramps. It was brutal with the hills and the hot weather...I know since I was there ;-)

Anonymous said...

Charanya: Congrats on a well-deserved completion of marathon #2! I guess the first time, the raw excitement, everyone's encouragement and that u wanna successfully complete it helps u get through; but to me, the second time is kinda difficult since now u know how hard the effort is and what it takes, and u got to do it all over again. I am certain u feel much more confident and fit already!! Keep it up :D

The pics say a lot! All smiles :) Great that u uploaded them. (If only there were no red-eyes, but oh well.. they are still nice..)

Anonymous said...

Charanya, chech this BBC news out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news
/england/london/7275861.stm

A 101-year-old man has his sights on the London Marathon in a bid to become the world's oldest competitive runner..