Veni Vidi Vici - Part 2

My wife had said that should would be there at the halfway point (along with my daughter and my in-laws who are visiting) - so, I looked forward to seeing them at the High School. We entered the high school track and I scanned the audience looking for them, but could not find them (I later found out that they just missed us by a few minutes as they had a hard time finding parking). This was a bit of a bummer, but I soldiered on. We were at about 2 hrs 13 minutes at this point, and things looked pretty good. They split the half-marathoners and full-marathoners at this point, and we made sure, we went in the right direction. As we got out of the school, and onto the streets, Kumar seemed to be tiring or aching - we checked in with him, and he told us to go ahead as he would be taking a walk break. Coach Martina and I decided to carry on running. Miles 14-18 were pretty good and we were keeping to about a 10 minute pace on average. On our way, we were glad to bump into the 'Terrific Trio' - Karthik, Kiran, and Gurpreet - they seemed to be high and on spirits (oops I mean in high spirits) as always :-) We waved to them as Gurpreet gave us his best coach Raman impression - 'Looking Good!' We reached the ASHA Water stop (back on the trail again on the way back) and there were even more folks there now - Navneet and others shouted words of encouragement, and this helped lift my slightly sagging spirits!

This is the point where the real race began for me :-) Having breezed through mile 18, I noticed that I was suddenly beginning to tire a bit and the legs did not have as much. I had started Gu at Mile 13 (as I normally do) and had been taking it per my regular schedule. Could this be the dreaded 'Wall' I wondered? Mile 19 was slow (11:40 pace or so) - coach Martina saw this, and kept talking to me and encouraging me. I took some more Gu and told myself - Wall or no Wall, I was finishing this race (either on 2 legs or otherwise :-) and that was that :-) Miles 20-22 were at between 11 and 11:15 pace as we got out fom the trail and onto the streets of San Jose. There was a marked change in conditions as by then it was around 11 am and the it was getting hotter plus there were no trees to provide shade (the trail was fairly comfortable in that respect). We ran into and passed Sanjay around here somewhere and found Kamal slightly ahead of us. Coach Martina started running a little ahead with Kamal and kept egging me to push on. The sight of them running in front somehow helped me press forward and eke more out of the somewhat tired legs.


Nearing Mile 23, I finally had had enough - I told Martina that I needed to walk for a bit (I don't normally take walk breaks). She asked me to push till the Mile marker and then take the break. I walked for about a minute or so, and then decided to resume running - this was way harder than I thought and I had a tough time getting the rhythm back. So, I told Martina, come what may, I was going to continue running (albeit at a slow almost walking pace) . Miles 24 and 25 can be summarized thus(12:40 and 12:10 pace respectively):

Martina - 'Bharath! You can do it! Only x miles to go (2,1.5,1.2 etc.). Think of the finish line and what awaits. Think of the jalebis coming up' etc.
Me - 'Ok Coach' (not wanting to be my usual loquacious self in order to conserve precious energy!)

As we neared mile 25, Kamal stopped and was bent over. We stopped by to make sure he was ok (he wanted to walk for a bit) and continued on. Suddenly, out of the blue, Coach Raman appeared running in the other direction with jalebis in his hand. I decided to pass on the jalebis but his words of encouragement definitely provided some additional momentum. Coach Raman also mentioned that we were doing great ,and only 3-4 ASHA runners were ahead of us. We got to the ASHA water stop at mile 25 where Sathya and others checked to make sure I was ok, and told me to finish strong. The combined boost (Amino-Vital, ASHA folks, Coaches etc.) served to somehow jump start me and fueled by adrenaline, I told Martina - let's go for it! We passed the 1 mile marker (in the other direction) and I went for broke (well, at least I thought so relative to my flagging pace the past few miles).

We passed a few enthusiastic supporters (few and far between I must say) with cow-bells shouting encouragement - Looking strong! Only 1 mile to go! Awesome job! etc. Even the cops blocking the streets were cheering, as we neared Discovery Meadow and the finish. The crowd noise grew louder and Martina kept talking to me and cheering me on. Passed the 280 exit and knew I was almost there! We burst (!!) into Discovery Meadow and finally, I got a glimpse of the promised land! Picked up my pace (finish strong the coaches had said) and had Coach Martina right there along side me. We neared the finish line as the announcer said 'Put your hands together folks - here come no. 444 Martina Koldeway and no.682 Bharath Prabhakaran. The final push, and Martina picked my right arm up with her left and raised our arms aloft as we crossed the finish - 4:39:13 - 'Mission Accomplished!'

Picked up the finisher's medal from the girl handing them out and put it on. My daughter had seen me and came running to me and I managed to bend and pick her up (wish I had seen her earlier so I could have finished while holding her in my hands ala Praveen did later).

Coach Martina told me to keep walking and so I walked down and met my wife and family. Then went to the ASHA tent, where Coach Tony gave me a high five and Raghav, Anand etc. congratulated me! As always, the co-ords and volunteers had made sure we were well fed and nourished and I had a banana and some cold water - felt really good! The Samosas looked really tempting, but I decided to wait a while. I went over to Coach Martina and gave her a big thank-you hug for all that she had done. She was a huge reason that I finished the race and finished well! Then went over and chatted with the family and accepted their congratulations and hugs etc. Walked back to the ASHA tent and decided to partake in the festivities. Had a Samosa, and by then, the real food had arrived (courtesy Tirupathi Bhimas restaurant) - Pongal, and a Sweet Dish. Had some hot pongal and washed it down with some Gatorade (quite the combo don't you think!) and felt quite rejuvenated all of a sudden! Chatted with the folks, and then walked over to the finish line to cheer the other ASHA folks as they came in. Took up a position next to Raghu (who was taking pictures of the finishers and did a superb job - much better than the official race photographer!) and watched Sanjay, Kamal, Vivek, Praveen, and a host of others come in. Was relieved to see Kamal come in ok, and even more so when Kumar crossed the line. It was getting quite hot and my daughter came running towards me and was getting quite cranky. So, decided to take a quick look at the official race results, and then stopped by the ASHA tent to let Martina know that I had to leave (even though I would have loved to stay). We decided to take a quick sub-group picture (with the finishers (look at those happy faces!) up to that point) and then I said Good-byes to everyone (and once again thanked Martina, the coaches, Raman and the co-ord team etc.) and left.

I would like to take a second to dedicate this race to the memory of my late mother, and also to my daughter and wife!

So, how did it really feel?

'In Pain, one can find pleasure' - ok, this is not a slogan for masochists or self-flagellators! On the drive back home, I could certainly feel the pain - knees aching, hamstrings sore, calves, quads - you name it, it was probably sore! There was also some sadness (I wish my mother were alive to see this) and joy (having my family and especially my daughter at the finish). There was also the sense of pleasure, of accomplishment, of having conquered my fears and doubts (both worthy adversaries I must add), of having set a lofty goal, and achieving it in such a short span of time! I felt elated, jubilant (and all related synonyms) - ala Leo Di Caprio in Titanic - 'I'm king of the world!'.

But, amid the confluence of feelings, there was one overwhelming emotion - 'Gratitude' - to the family that we call Team ASHA. The path to our glory had been laid one brick at a time, and there were many architects who helped sculpt our success! I was thankful for the wonderful coaches who got us prepared (Tony, Raman, Rajiv, 'Bonus-Coach' Harry, and above all, Martina), the excellent co-ord team (Raman, CK, G3 etc.) and volunteers who organized and supported us through all the runs the entire season, the ASHA cheering squad (and their wonderful costumes - glad to note that we won the 'Team-Spirit' award once again this year), fellow runners (esp the Mountain View crew), and the entire Team ASHA family for what had been an extraordinary experience leading up to an unimaginable accomplishment! The fact that I helped raise money towards the education of underpriviliged kids made it even sweeter (thank you for the support Donors!)

I also feel lighter, fitter, more energetic than I have ever been - this has truly been a life-changing experience for me. As Martina likes to say, it is a lifestyle change, and I am glad that my friend Rajeev convinced me to do this. I am actually looking forward to visiting Dr.Evil (ok Dr.Chan, just kidding!) and getting my blood work done again! And for this, I am really thankful!

I know, I know - this is beginning to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech where I am thanking all and sundry. But, this is about feelings right? It's never easy talking about feelings - but Hey Ladies - who says men can't talk about their feelings :-) :-)

It was such a blast that in the words of our famous Governator - 'I'll be BACK!!' (for the 2008 season that is).

For now, Veni! Vidi! Vici! - over and out!