Did I say the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon? I meant 2010.

Did I say i was training for the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon? I meant 2010 :-) This year I am running in the Baltimore Half-Marathon on Saturday, October 10.

It is strange how not listening to your coaches is so much like not listening to your parents! I did not do enough cross-training and now I had to give up my dream of completing the Marathon this year. I have a lot of trouble getting past the 10 mile mark. Last week I did 12 miles in about 3 1/2 hours. Even though this time I paced myself with walks and stretching in between, I knew it was time to confront reality. I spoke with my coaches and decided to take part in the national Marathon in the spring of 2010 and maybe the MCM next year too. I needed to put in a lot more hours of training and cross-training to get my knees to the point of taking the pounding of running 26.2 miles and the training before that.

I am not too bummed out about this since I am more realistic about my 'advancing age' :-) haah! says my 'inner child' - the forever teenager. Double haah! Say I. I will run the marathon next year. I have got beyond the 3 mile mark this year after such a long time. I need to take time getting myself fit for the challenge.

BooHoo! Now my next goal of a triathlon has to wait a bit longer. I got time. It is not like I plan on popping off anytime soon. I may very well be the guy who completes a marathon on replacement knees -- naah! Too much pain involved and I run from planned pain.

Bye for now. Will keep you updated on my progress.

Stuck at the 10 mile mark!

Man! I am finding it hard to get beyond the 10 mile mark. After a few miles I keep going by focusing on the people that will be helped by the money I raise. Then, around the 10 mile mark, I am not able to go any more. My knees just don't budge. I need to do more cross-training and more often. I joined the pool and it shut down for 'annual maintenance' There went my cross-training.

DC is a nice place to walk

I just had a wonderful walk through the parks and streets of DC. I had been at work since 6 AM starting the day with a server being down and some tools not being able to complete the nightly backup. I had just been dumped upon without so much as a courtesy question if I had the band-width. I had even dropped my cup of second cup coffee. I decided it was time for break and went outside.

I walked and walked enjoying looking at the beautiful buildings and beautiful people (women). There were YMCA youth getting out of a bus all excited in anticipation of whatever sights they were going to see. There were more on the other side of the street trying to cross before the light turned. They did not make it! I walkd thru the courtyard of the Ronald Reagan building. There was a concert going on, a part of a series that will be here till Labor Day. I must remember to come over and see as often as I can.

I continued on and came up to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. There were children with their beautiful mothers. In my eyes there is no more beautiful woman than the mother of a happy playful child. I walked around the Monument, Organization of American States building, the DAR Constitution Hall. I turned. Ahead of me were 3 young women with their shoes in their hands. Two were completely barefoot one had flip-flops skipping along giggling and chatting happily. I felt like following suit, taking off my shoes and walking barefoot myself. I walked behind them for a while just enjoying their freedom. I was jealous of their innocence and youth.

It was a very relaxing walk. I came back refreshed though my feet hurt. Walking in 'business casual' shoes is not such a good idea, but it sure is better than staying in the office thru lunch.

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7 miles in the bright sun, NOT!

Yesterday I sold my car! No I have not given up driving, I just got a deal in advance of getting my other car back from my son when he leaves for college in a couple of weeks. I had intended to sell it after I got his car, but had a deal that did not require me to advertise, answer the phone as different interested buyers asked the same questions repeatedly.

I had also thought that I may rent a car for a couple of weeks. I decided against it when my friend offered to give me a rides to the metro train station. So when I had a doctor's appointment, I decided to walk it. It was bright and sunny though some dark clouds seemed to threaten a few showers. I started then returned home to pick up my sun glasses and an umbrella. It was an interesting walk. I probably looked like one of those salesmen walking through the neighborhoods with a bag over my shoulder (containing the umbrella, cell phone, wallet and some papers).

I was wearing shorts and a thin t-shirt, so I decided to try to run some of the distance. I did not want to be completely soaked in sweat when I reached the doctor's office so I did only short stretches. I reached the office by 3:45 and estimated I had walked about 7 miles and was feeling pretty good since my shins and knees hurt like I had run a marathon. I plotted it on mapmyrun.com and it was only 4.65 miles :-( . I felt better after adding my morning walk/jog of 1.85 miles I did get closer to my estimated 7 miles.

When I got there I was told they were running a little late! In fact, I had the wrong time and was over an hour early for my 5:15 appointment!! I sat down in the waiting room. There in front of me was young mother with her 2yr old. The little girl had so much energy, and was still well behaved. She kept walking around in a small space around her mother or climbing all over her saying 'aunty!' 'aunty' in a tiny voice, handing her mother all the items in the room her tiny hands could pick up. I asked the lady why she was calling her aunty. She replied "She knows I am mommy when she needs something. Other times I am aunty because my nieces and nephews at home call me aunty." That was the cutest explanation since it brought back childhood memories of an aunt we kids called 'jija aunty'. We had no idea that in her language (Rajasthani) jija meant 'elder sister'. Her kids called her jija, hence we called her jija aunty. Pleasant childhood memories.


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