Monday I went shopping in Godrej Nature Basket. Picked up Sofit – Soymilk the plain version ( not adulterated with sugar – which is hard to get ), Tofu and Gooseberry.

Went for runs according to plan on Wednesday,Thursday and Saturday and did the knee exercises.

Sunday morning I was delayed – partly because of the rain and partly because I was lazy. I started the run at 8am.

Set 29kms as target.

My legs felt tired right from the go. I checked out the park but it was fully soggy and unrunnable. Came back to the concrete parking lot + the inside asphalt road. It is going to be a boring 29 loop run. Was debating whether next time I will go to Aarey colony road – but the slopes will kill my confidence.

Crossed 10.5k and took a recharge break. I now switched on the audio book – Wizard of Earthsea. The headphone’s right side had stopped working. This keeps getting better.

Ged gets good advise from his master. He starts chasing the shadow. The hunted becomes the hunter. They meet one more time and this time Ged tries to clutch the shadow with his hands but the shadow escapes. However now the shadow has taken the shape of Ged ( but there is no shadow when it walks ) – and is on the run. Ged follows it till he comes to a town where his old friend Welch stays. Welch joins him in the quest to put an end to the shadow.

I continue to run gently and after 17kms, I start doing my run-walk-run routine. Run till the nike App says – you have x kms to go, your current pace is y.. then I will walk for sometime  – will keep telling – ok I will walk to the lamppost and then run – and I will cross the lamppost and then will tell myself – ok the next lamppost but no cheating alright – and so on.

During my research during the week I read something very interesting.

“Learn to differentiate between pain and discomfort”

I could feel some pain come on the foot or ankle or my knees – but I told myself – this is just discomfort and it will go away after sometime. I was getting more and more tired.

Around 20.5kms I took a recharge break. Still 8.5kms to go.

Around 24km – suddenly my senses became super alert. The last time I felt something close to this was during my 4 day Art of Silence course. I could see the road very clearly – each and every micro pot hole was visible. This stayed with me throughout the day.

Reached 29km finally. Was hungry as hell. Have run 4 Hours 18 minutes. Longest ever.

Both my hands were hurting near the joint. Will have to research and increase my upper body workouts a bit. Currently I do 10 push ups and 10 dumbbell lifts. My legs were aching but thankfully none of the fancy pains were there.

Now – the doubt of completing marathon has reduced, but a new one has started increasing – you are one greedy mind – Will I be able to complete within 6 hours – else I will not get a medal. Also the aid stations will all be shut down by then – what if I badly need water or something to eat – I will be damn hungry.

If this was the D-Day I would still have to go 13 more kms. The last km I did in 8.50 minutes. This will only get worse towards the end. If I assumed 9 minute pace  – I will need another 2 hours to complete the marathon.

That will make it 6 hours and 18 minutes. Gotto shave off 30 minutes – so I will have some buffer.

Next Week Torture plan – same as this week, but with 32Kms target for long run.

Week 9 

And Monday we had a team outing at Thungareshwar. It was a 4km climb on a gently rolling hill – for a temple and a waterfall near Vasai. I went up and back without any fuss. Patted myself on the back – couple of months back I could not have pulled this feat. The body adapts itself really well.

The next 3 runs I kept myself to less than half an hour – so I could spend more time doing the knee strengthening exercises.

Sunday morning it was raining heavily. I was worried about the park.

As expected I found the track very muddy and un-runnable. I left the park and came to my parking lot. However this time I did only 25% of a run in it. Rest I did it on the tar road.

As expected after 5 kms, behind my knee I started feeling the pain. Don’t know it was the mind playing tricks on me, or it was really hurting.

Choose to ignore and continued listening to the book – which was quite engrossing. Our hero puts a spell – in a duel with the Malfoy character – which brings out a nameless creature from the unlife.

It starts tearing him apart, and is rescued by the Dumbledore like Head Principal – who dies in the process.

I run 10kms without a break and recharge with a banana and a liter of water.

Sparrow Hawk graduates as a wizard and goes to protect a village from Dragons. He successfully does it and tries to return to his School. However the creature has become his shadow and he is not able to get near his school – since the school is protected by spells which prevents such creatures from coming near. He has to fight the creature all by himself. Oh btw – this nameless creature – is the Voldemort in HP. Oh JK – what a rip off you did?

My legs start showing signs of pain. I run 1 km, walk a bit and run again. I continue doing this – guess this is my rhythm.

At 21kms I again eat a banana and half a litre of water.

Still 5 kms to go.

Around 23kms a gentleman – who was cycling earlier – but later had given the cycle to his wife and he started running – called out to me. Way to go man – and gave a thumbs up and an expression of admiration. I said Thank you and continued.

Typically my ego is in check – always humbled by the distance and pain. But now it erupted to its fullest glory and was very pleased. However I did not do anything foolish – but kept my run a km, walk a bit routine.

I reached 26 and stopped. Wow. I think the marathon is on.

I think for next week I will continue the same plan.

Monday,Tuesday : Rest
Wednesday,Thursday : 5km with a good dose of knee exercise.
Friday : Rest
Saturday : 5kms with knee exercise
Sunday : 29kms.

Week 8

Monday,Tuesday I took rest.

On Wednesday it was raining heavily. I thought I will do skipping. Did a 100. Found I was not sweating, and did a 100 more.

Then a pain came up on my left ankle. Not good.

The next 2 days I was mentally kicking myself whenever I thought about this.

Then on Friday went for a run, and thankfully there was no pain. Saturday went for a short run in preparation for Sunday long run.

Again started my run after setting 26kms as the target.

Around 18kms I felt pain somewhere behind my right knee. Thankfully the left ankle did not hurt.  I walked for a few minutes, and again ran – and again the pain was there.

I somehow managed 23kms and quit. My mind was furiously working on Plan B. Just do a half marathon it said. You don’t have it in you – need more training. Again do you want to face the ignominy of coming last in the full marathon?

However I felt that I still had some energy in me. I was not spent like the earlier runs on Aarey Colony – where I had to run on slopes.

Afternoon I had to take P to a chess tournament. I had 4 hours to kill and I was researching all about running and the pain I was having.

Found the name : ITBS – Illotibial Band Syndrome. And found one of the remedies is not to run on concrete surface.

A light bulb went up. At 10AM they close the park and at that point I would have completed 16kms. Then I come back to the parking lot – and after running a couple of kms – around 18kms – that is when this pain starts.

Also I found a good site on knee exercises. Decided to incorporate them after every run.

This one : http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/knee-exercises.aspx

Oh – and I started a new book : A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K.Le Guin. Harry Potter is a straight copy  of this book. HP is all about the boy who will do no wrong etc. In this story – our hero who goes by the nickname – Sparrow Hawk – has skills, but also has the follies of a normal human being. It is way darker and our hero keeps making one wrong decision to another falling deeper and deeper into trouble.

And similarities – walking through walls, a school where they teach wizardry, illusion tricks, a Malfoy like character. JK Rowling.. disappointed with you.