Taper times...

I am finally getting around to blogging about the present, after an extremely hectic past few weeks, when I was completely caught up in the organizing of our earthquake relief fundraiser. The fundraiser was last saturday, and the effort was indeed very worth it.

The event was a great success - Over 400 people came together at UC Berkeley's Wheeler Auditorium - rising above national, ethnic, linguistic, religious and cultural lines - to collectively raise over $50,000 for the survivors of the earthquake in Pakistan and India. And several others who couldn't come, nevertheless donated generously, or contributed in kind. It was a truly humbling and uplifting experience - knowing that we had all come together and were making a small, but not insignificant, difference. If you are still considering making a donation, please do so by visiting http://www.ektaonline.org/events/beyondborders/donate.htm . It is not important how much you give - but it is important that you give.

Coming back to the running side of things - the last few weeks have blown by as a result of my other engagements, and all of a sudden, I have ~10 days left to go before the big day of my marathon! (Dec 4). And in marathon-training parlance, we have entered the period of training known as "Taper". After all the heavy mileage and super-long runs through Oct and early/mid Nov, we now get to wind down and rest our bodies a bit, allowing it to recover in time for the marathon. This past sunday our long run was only 10 miles. (I say "only" now, but that did feel like a lot just a couple months ago). Our training coach/captain/guide Cristy even told us "You may feel like you are not "doing enough", but don't give in to the urge to overtrain."

I think I can safely say that I feel no such "urges". I have been doing fairly well in all of my runs - and been luckily injury free so far... But this doesn't necessarily mean that I ve been coasting, or that the training has been a piece of cake. My body has certainly taken a beating from all the long running, and I can feel it... For one, my right shoulder is super-sore from all the water-bottle carrying (and all the extra typing and mousing too, lately). I have stopped carrying the bottle in my right hand for 3 weeks now - but the shoulder will take time to heal. I finally took the advice of my friend and fellow-first-time marathoner Martin and paid a visit to a massage therapist that he was undergoing treatment with. If you have visions of a massage being something "relaxing", drop those visions now - since this was a 'deep tissue' massage, and at the end of it, I was in more pain than before. But I think she figured out the source of the problem (and 90% of it is a result of computer work, not running, she said) . She also suggested a few stretches that seem to help. I also have become familiar enough with this by now to know that during the actual race, I'll probably start feeling some pain/stiffness in my right shoulder about 7-8 miles into it, but if I remember to stretch it a few times every hour, it should be quite manageable.

I ve also been having some interesting soreness in my legs lately - my right ankle, and my left leg below the knee, feel funny when I start out cold - but about 4-5 miles into my runs, these have always gone away - so I presume that it is not anything to worry about - seems like my body just needs to warm up. The key word at this point is "manageable". One thing that training does to you is that it also trains your mind on adversity (such as physical pain), and helps you develop strategies to deal with it.

Another thing that I have come to realize in marathon training is that there is a big element of luck involved. You can be as committed as can be, and have good strength, stamina, endurance, etc - but if there are any quirks in your body that come in the way of its ability to absorb shock (and this is primarily what running is all about - 26.2 miles of pounding and shock-absorption), then that can be REALLY hard to overcome. Case in point - my friend Martin, who isn't short on committment or dedication, but has spent the better part of the last 3 months chasing leg issues, as a result of things like "crooked tibia vera", and "compressed peroneal nerve" and what not. Things totally out of one's control, atleast in the short term. The way to deal with things like these is to train and strengthen other muscles to compensate for these issues - kinda like how people who are blind develop their other senses to be much sharper than normal, to compensate for their handicap. Only thing is, things like these take TIME - and Martin doesn't have too much of it right now, considering his marathon is in 3 weeks. But Im convinced that (a) he will *finish* this marathon no matter what, and that (b) he will come back in the coming years, having overcome/compensated for his issues, to run more marathons. More power to him.

Coming back to my story - seeing all the injuries around that have knocked people out, or made things harder for them, I do feel really lucky that it has been a such smooth ride for me. I guess I m glad that I m running - there are many others who want to run but are unable to do it for various reasons. I love running- makes me feel good, it is agreeable to my body, I m surrounded by people who love to run and have interesting stories and tips to share, and I live in a part of the world where I can step out and run anytime of the year without having to worry about it being too hot or too cold. If all this isn't a stroke of luck, what is it?

"Taper time" is an interesting time because the marathon finally starts to become real, and all the anticipation starts to build up. Two weeks ago we did a 24-miler (in 5hrs) - and survived. Atleast, now I feel very confident that I can actually do this thing - that I will actually finish the marathon. (whether we'll actually do it in 4-hrs as planned, that I m not sure/confident still. It will depend a great deal on how I/we feel on the day-of). I ve made my hotel reservations in Sacramento, started taking a look at the course maps, planning the trip out and back, etc. My parents will be coming to cheer me on, and that's a really nice treat on my first marathon. There are also around 15-20 people from the track-club who'll be running the thing, so we'll have quite a contingent out there. And the 5 of us in the "4-hr" marathon crowd have stuck it out so far, and we are hoping to run the better part of the race together. This is the crowd that has sustained me through my training, and Im confident that it will carry me through the race. The countdown has begun...