Amit Jina runs London Marathon 2009

“The difference between the mile and the marathon is the difference between burning your fingers with a match and being slowly roasted over hot coals”

I am not really sure how and why this got triggered.

But less than a year back my fitness level was nothing much to talk about with me even struggling to jog for 10 min. To add to that the months leading upto Apr'09 were by far the most demanding at work with a juggernaut of a project coming straight for me. I had better odds at winning a game of poker with Chris Moneymaker than to plan for anything in Apr. Too early for mid life crisis and too late for chasing the opposite sex anymore and there I was somehow having managed to secure a Gold Bond(guranteed) entry in July'08 to the London Marathon 2009. (some people end up waiting for 5 years to get a slot)

Though I ran a half marathon in Oct'08 and had already got customised orthothotics fitted, the real campaign (for the marathon) actually started in Dec'08 mid when I was vacationing in India. Looking at you run on the vehicle-packed roads jossling for space in the winter sun of 22-25 degree celsius in India, people around you either think of you as nuts or look at this as a creative way of 'relaxing' while on vacation.

In the end I managed to find a nice stretch of road to do steeplechase runs in Delhi(north India), ran alongside trucks on the Bhilai(steel city in central India ) expressway & stayed out of the way of langurs (and dogs) while in Hampi(overnight ride from Bangalore & also famous for being the birth place of Lord Hanuman) to savour the colourful scenary around.The run in Bangalore was a bit let down from the jog around the Ulsoor lake I had planned so I won't even talk about it

Once in London, it was back the the lonely, wet and cold night(s) (runs) around Regent Park and the same old boring routine 4 days a week.....back from work at 9 pm, running on the streets between 9.30-10.30 pm followed by a quick dinner and the reward of a 6.5 hr nap. The weekend long runs in the park were a respite for my feet who for once could see where they were landing. And did I mention that part of the conditioning involved cold water showers all throughout the winter;)

It was a fairy tale with me sliding+jogging( a different kind of 'slogging') on a couple of snowy winter nights and I was beginning to think that I was too over cautious having built in 2 weeks buffer in my training plan.

And then it happened suddenly....a Mohammed-Ali-stings-like-a bee punch catching you off guard when you are not even in the boxing ring with him.....
The miles on my legs were steadily increasing but the 76 miles over 2 weeks were like the last straw on the camel's back.......like the last drink which makes all the difference between an enjoyable evening and a 'memorable' night out(for the wrong reasons).....my legs and knees just gave way around the end of Feb.
(the below chart provides an overview of my training sessions over the 1st 10 weeks)

It was back to the sessions with the Physio and to the gym for some strength training. Professional athlethes always perform a fine balancing act, pushing their body to the limit while increasing their threshold to pain or discomfort and resting their bodies at the right times. Thank goodness that I am in the profession that I am currently in...

The Silverstone Half Marathon in the middle of March looked under threat and I was continously doing the Should-I ( run the half marathon with injury to gain another race experience and spoil my chances for the full marathon) or Should-I-Not(run now and rest my legs) debate in my head.

The real reason I went to Silverstone was not as much that I had already paid for the race and the charter bus but that I really wanted to be on the Formula 1 track( 2009 is the last year for Silverstone to be on the Formula 1 circuit). I had been to the Indianapolis race in 2004 while it was still on the F1 circuit but had not walked the track........that my friend made all the difference.
So there I was limping to catch the charter bus with a 8 min headstart over my wife who quickly caught up with me over the 10 min walk ...walking leisurely all the while.

Once on the track, like with everything else you realize that what you see if not what you get. That it's Bernie (Ecclestone), the flashy F1 cars, the even more flashier Grid girls and the pulse racing finishes which make any circuit come alive otherwise the circuit by itself it is just another road.

30 min before the race start, I gingerly start warming up and make a very akward sight. The adrenaline starts pumping and before I know I am off the starting line. One man's power is clearly no match for the 800-1000 horse power under the F1 hood and I clock 22 min to run around the circuit which the F1 babies would have easily done it in a min and a half.
1 hr 41 min later I have finished the 13.1 mile at a very brisk pace.

' Successfully turned around a hopeless situation into something which benefits...' is how it would have shown up in my performance feedback at work only this time I didn't care what someone else rated me as...I knew I had done exceedingly well given where I was.

I decide to rest the next week and modify my training plan but recovery was painfully slow and patience was a virtue I was increasing lacking.With 4 more weeks to go I had only one last shot at my longest run of 20 miles before I started tapering off. It ended up being 2 miles less than what I had planned and it took me 20 more min.
A needless non-running injury 12 days before the D day, saw me bed ridden for a good week.
(the below chart provides an overview of my training sessions over the last 9 weeks)
Not the kind of fitness, endurance, confidence and momentum you would want to approach your marathon with. It was like the Midas touch gone all wrong, anything I did, only agrravated matter.
As Crisis Managers would have called it I was now clearly in Disaster Containment Mode.

The only thing I could do was carb-loading( eat a lot of carbs) and fluid loading(drink lots of fluids) over the last week to ensure my body energy reserves were topped up.....
A Subway footlong never dissapeared faster.

For once the weather gods did not want to spoil the party and the forecast was a bright 16 degress celsius.(and I was caught bluffing having conditioned my body for a 10 degress celsius wet early spring run).

26th Apr(Marathon day) morning turned out to be more sunnier than forecasted. My legs were feeling better though I was still carrying some niggles. Getting to the starting line was victory in itself and I felt lucky and delighted to be there.As I waited for the race to start, the last 4.5 months flashed in front of me and I knew there was unfinished business to take care of.

The race was finally on and I gingerly started wading my way through the sea of humanity. Like a NASA supercomputer at take off, my brain started quering all the nerve cells, muscles in my body....

'Are you feeling ok?.... Yes......Great'
'Are you feeling ok?.... No......Sorry I didn't hear ya clearly..'

The adrenaline in the atmosphere made my body go faster but my parental brain was feeding my body on ' slow and steady wins the race' and was winning.

One great thing about the weather was that the spectators lined up all around made for the biggest street party and their constant cheering was lifting all the runners.
The 1st half was almost effortless with the 2nd half relying heavily on my second wind to carry me through. At the final home stretch I looked up the Buckingham Palace to see if the Queen was waving. But alas she was not there and the urban legend appeared true...that the Queen hates the smell of sweat in the air and stays away from the area on the day of the marathon.

4.5 months, 413 training miles*, 3 trainers, countless aches & pains and 4 hr 11 min later I had finally crossed the Finish line...... (* for perspective London-Paris is only 308 miles)

My efforts over the last few months were for a worthy cause to help raise funds for YMCA to help secure a better future for the youth.

With the record donation of $ 31 billion by Warren Buffet to the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation in 2007 expected to eradicate the top 20 life threatening diseases from the planet, I wanted to make my contribution to securing a better future for the youth...and hence the choice of my charity--YMCA.

You can support my cause by donating online at http://www.justgiving.com/amitjina_runs_londonmarathon2009

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: YMCA gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
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"There will be days when you know you can't run a marathon but there will be a lifetime knowing that you can"

Many thanks for your encouragement and support !

Amit Jina