Tuesday 2 December 2008

I did what I shouldn't have

I cracked my big toe when I slipped at home on 3rd Oct - a very unglamorous thing I must add. My right foot was in plaster to immobilize my toe and I got many sympathetic looks from all around. Meanwhile, I felt a bit foolish as I was driving my kids to their activities and going to the hospital where my wife, was down with some weird allergy. I felt helpless not being able to run, so I went to the gym thrice a week in the mornings for a token 20 mins - with 10 minutes of cycling and 10 minutes of a circuit schedule of some light weights. You can tell, I'm not much of a gym guy.
31st Oct my cast was off and we had organised a few runs on the 2nd - my toe was still swollen to at least 50% larger than its counter part on the other foot. With a sigh, I decided not to run on the 2nd - there's always another time and another event - after all life is not just about running, but about running and living. :-)
8th Nov - I said to myself - I will take a few snaps, run a couple of km in the half marathon in Delhi the next day. And meet up with lots of runner friends and make a few more, since I had not run a step over the last 5 weeks, and my orthopedic neighbour had told me - "nothing is going to get upset now, your bone has healed, but the aches will just take far longer to disappear and your toe size to get back to normal. "
So on the 9th of November I did meet up with various folks in the holding area, as I walked with them towards the start. And then we were off, felt great, the weather was fine and 2km down I felt fine so I said to myself I'll do another 2km and then take an auto back to the start and catch my 2 girls who were running the 6km. 4 km down I felt fine and I said I will review the situation at India Gate. I passed India Gate and felt absolutely fine - cheering folks on - Sunita Godara and Subhinder. Rajesh and Gopi from Hyderabad, Mahesh from Pune, several other friends from Delhi and Gurgaon, Dr Ashish Roy who is now a pal, and more.
At the Meridien hotel turn around I felt on top of the world and seemed on pace to finish in 2hrs - at which point I told myself "slow down, you'll ache like crazy for the next few days not having run 5 weeks" and so, grudgingly, I did slow down. More photographs and many more chats with friends as they crossed me or I them.
I found myself at the finish line in 2:10 - one of the most relaxed half marathons I had ever run - and I celebrated. I had done all the things I tell others not to.
I had not run in 5 weeks, I was not fully recovered from my injury, no rest in the last week and had not slept well the night before.......
But I did one thing that I always tell others to do, while they run- I had fun! And I ached like crazy for a few days thereafter, much much more than I've ached post any marathon.
Read http://www.runningandliving.com/Keen_Runner.html for how you should go about your training for a run of any distance from a 5k to a marathon.

1 comment:

Bhavna Mehra said...

Dear Mr Rahul.

I read about u n the incident of doing what u shouldn't have. U have a very interesting life I must say. I could never belive that there can b someone who has the dedication to involve himself so much in MARATHONS!!!! But then, I must admit that u have not only a v interesting life but also a very interesting personality. It was a pleasure to meet u today at Mumbai Marathon. In fact I didn't appreciate d peculiar name of ur organisation....Running and Living.... when u first told me about it but after reading about it here,I feel nothing could've been more apt than this name.

I forgot to take ur e mail id or phone number so thought may b I can get in touch with u through this post. May I request u to mail me my photograph that u had taken during d run. I forgot about it but.....my BOSS didn't. Moment I reported back at my Stn, first thing he asked me was if I had got any pictures of the marathon. My e mailid is bhavna9697@rediffmail.com

Thanks n Regards

Sqn Ldr Bhavna Mehra