Every once in a while we need to stop and listen to this inner voice within us. As one of my friends says, there are 2 voices for every person – the one in the heart and the outsider. Most of our lives, we diligently follow what the outsider says. More often than not, the outsider is not us…that is not what we truly want. That is what the people around us have instilled in us to believe we want. Therefore, I come back to my point – Every once in a while we need to stop and listen to this inner voice within us.

The inner voice asks me to dream. It also asks me to set my goals – realistically. It tells me exactly what I am and what I am capable of. The outside voice tries to deceive me into thinking it is not good to dream.

Today, I had a battle – the outsider vs the insider. The insider won. The goal remains personal but I can share the end result – I am happy. This is what truly matters – inside happiness. Nothing else.

Summer is here…I am thinking this is the best time to lose those last couple of pounds…
My Plan:

4 Muay Thai Session /Week
2 Long runs
1 Core training

Mix it up with tennis or biking.

My target? 30 days y’all!

I have started running again. I can’t tell if it’s fortunate or unfortunate but I do NOT feel the pain in the foot that I felt during the half marathon and the weeks before that. This is fortunate for obvious reasons that I can run without taking a long break. It is also unfortunate since I wanted to test my foot out, to see what exactly was causing the pain, and at what mileage did it occur etc. I do not want this affecting my performance again and again. Today, I will just turn it up a notch and go for a 7 miler. Well, let’s see if the pain returns.

Here’s the scoop for the day – I have come across an interesting form of running. It is termed “Chi Running“. I am surprised why no one mentioned this to me in my training or during group runs. Maybe it is not that popular yet. Basically, what ChiRunning does is, it teaches you to attain a proper “running form”. The body and the core are used to propel the body forward rather than just the feet and the calves. The principles come from “tai Chi”. I do not know anything more than that I have to attend some training session to know more about this. Let me know if someone out there tried this form of running – It is supposed to teach you to run injury free. That reminds me – Here is another good link to run injury free.

Pictures from my marathon will be up here soon….

I am back. I never thought I would say this but…I think I actually am addicted to running now. I never considered running a sport – always had agreed with people who would say running is boring. Then I signed up to run a marathon (half). Slowly, I realised, running is like self discovery. It takes time to like it, but it’s a passion. You get to know your inner limits. It’s a mental game mile after mile.I now consider it to be one of the toughest and most mentally challenging sports I have ever paricipated in.

I challenged myself last Sunday (June 1st) to my first ever half marathon. My finish time was 2:55:45. I had to overcome an unbearable tendon pull on the side of my foot, which had plagued me for months when I had started running. My target was to just complete the run and not give up in between. The run was very energetic, emotional and most of all, very satisfying.

From the moment we stepped in at San Diego, we were treated like heroes. I felt very embarassed to hear myself being called that, when all I did was do some fundraising. I went to the pasta party and there we met some of the actual patients, their families and came to know what we were doing this for and why. I had goosebumps. My foot was bothering me but my mind was made. I was ready.

Here we are at the start of the race…You can see my teammate covering half my face in that one! The run started around 6.35 AM – it was my first run and I was just amazed looking at 24,000 plus people start running all at once…I met so many people on the course of the run that were doing it for family, for friends and many, who were doing it for the good cause. Everyone out there had a story and the run was going on good. Then came mile 8. Hwy 163, with all its curves and slopes – was one hell of a upward slope, 3 miles long.

My foot started really hurting and I was running on tippy toes now. Mile 9 and Mile 10 were the toughest – I had to slow down and literally walk. I tried to focus on talking and cheering other runners around me. Mile 12, my amazing coach Melissa came back for me. She encouraged me and got me through the last mile and saw me get across the finish line. I cannot thank her and Glenn (Coach) enough for being there for me and doing that last mile with me. When I finally saw the mile marker 13.1, it was just heaven

I met some amazing people, saw some great running and overcame my physical pain. I will be running the Philadelphia Half marathon in September ’08. Hopefully, with some luck and good training, I might be even doing the MarineCorps Full Marathon later this same year.

Thanks everyone!