For my first real post, I am going to republish one of my race reports from 2009 (Twin Cities Marathon). I like it in that it is one of those reports that I wrote in one sitting (aboard a trip to Phoenix from San Jose), with a aid of couple of glasses of wine.
Here is the back story: I run (and raise funds) for an organization called Asha for Education. If you have Indian friends (especially older friends), you know that most of us don't like to drink very cold liquids (water, soda, etc.). May be you have heard them ask for "water, no ice" seated next to you at a restaurant. Well, here is my tribute to that ;)
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My Marathon run (Twin Cities Marathon, 2009)
Chariots of Fire music playing.
12th Mile
“Water”? The green-eyed, pig-tailed teenage girl asked with a hopeful look on her eyes. She was way behind the line among the throng of other cheery teenagers so she wasn’t getting too many takers. “No ice”? I instinctively asked, remembering the barbs from previous night’s carb loading dinner with a number of No-Icer’s. She looked at me as I was from another planet – the white salt streaks against my darkened face must given away my Martian lineage. I chuckled along.
3rd Mile
Leaving the downtown area and entering the wavy-groovy trail that was the start of the 34th named lake, I remembered the words of wisdom posted by a previous runner to save one’s energy by taking tight turns and saving a few steps. A few glares later, I stop.
7th Mile.
Never, I mean never, ever, try something you haven’t tried before while running a marathon. I cursed myself as I tried to suck gu gel out of the brittle 4 oz gu mother-of-all-plastic canister I bought from the expo the previous day. Nothing came through. Nada, zip, zilch. No good. No good.
0’th Mile
“Pretend that you are looking for someone”. Coach Raman taught me the trick as we elbowed the crowd to try and get to the front of the start line at the Metro dome. Lesson learned and transferred into long-term memory.
10th Mile
As rounded the corner of some now-forgotten named street lined with the sepia-colored leaves (no New England fall colors here), she appeared and asked “I’ve been running behind you for a while. May I run with you”?”. She looked part Mediterranean and part Indian. No sweat beads yet, so must be a runner. A flash of pearly white teeth and a quick sparkle in the eye betrayed the semi-serious look. “You talking to me”? Shouted my inner taxi-driver De Nero. “Sure”, I replied. Are you a first-time runner”? “Yes”, she said, “So I can’t talk or I will lose my Breath. I Just want to run with you”. Damn!. “Of Course”. Moveon.org.
4th Mile
Life is Beautiful! I am floating!
14th Mile
Anoop, Vineeta and Mahesh pass me.Damn!
7th Mile
Life is a Cereal and then you to run to burn.
16th Mile
In a surreal moment, I pass myself. “Hello There”.
16.5 Mile
Mahesh passes me
17th Mile
I pass Mahesh.
17.2th Mile
Mahesh passes me
17.3 Mile
I pass Mahesh.
17.35 Mile
Mahesh passes me.
17.355 Mile
I can’t find Mahesh to Pass. I curse the mother-of-gu-canister. I pass the girl.
17.4 Mile
The girl passes me
17.45 Miles
Mahesh and the girl running together with Vineetha
17.41 Miles
Vineeta punches the girl.
17.42 Miles
The girl files for divorce.
18th or 19th Mile. Who Knows?
I lay my eyes on the wall. Literally and figuratively.
15th Mile
I lose the girl. She runs ahead.
20th Mile
Mahesh Ahoy!! I waltz up to him. “Do you have any gu”, he asks. Evil thoughts of offering him the gu canister and running away so fast so he won’t catch me and beat me up and in the process I break my PR! “Don’t $&*) with it”, says my calf muscle. “I am screwed”, says Mahesh - “I have hit the wall”. I reached into the inner sanctum of my the waist carrier that adorned my nice rotund, grad-school-shaped-beer-belly and pulled out the espresso gu that I didn’t dare take lest my heart with it’s mitral-valve-prolapse-valves go into overdrive. “Here, take, this”, Anthony Robbins said. “You will hit the wall, you will break through it or your will climb over it”. The onlookers break out into a line dance.
9th Mile
I don’t have much to say here. I inserted this here for comic relief. Time to pause and go get a glass of water. No Ice.
21st Mile
I feel the effect of listening to ill-timed advice and not taking salt tablets as I have always done. All the salt in me is out as silver streak on my face. Cramps. Walk a few steps, run a few millimeters.
24th Mile
The bridge. I pause to look at the scenery. Lovely. I feel like throwing up.
22nd Mile
I find the girl.
22.5 Mile
I lose the girl
23rd Mile
Girl running with another guy! “How dare you”? “You cheating, no-good two-timer?”. She glances back and says “C’mon, You can do it”. I feel the dagger through my pear-shaped heart . I turn on the after burner and now I am up to 12 minutes a mile.
26.2 mile
I cross the finish line.
+ 30 seconds
The girl crosses the finish line.
+60 seconds
Chicken soup for the soul. Except it is vegetable-chemicable.
+300 seconds
At the massage table. All cramped up. The massage girl massages with a duck feather. Drop the feather and get into it, girl!
+600 seconds
“I’m on the top of the world, looking down on creation …”. Except, I can't bend my neck.
+1812 seconds
On the bus. Chatting with the 82 year old who just finished his 265th marathon.
Some time later
Earth to Menon. Earth to Menon, please pick up the blue phone. Your baggage is on Carousel 3.
So my friends, so long and thanks for the sip of water. No Ice.
