Just doing it..

Came back from a hectic day at work, and got myself to the Gym - inspired by EH's comment that she forces herself to go the Gym as soon as she get back home from work.

Had a 30 minute work-out on the tread-mill with 5 minutes of warming up to begin with and 5 minutes of cooling down to end it, along with the stretching routines. Covered 2.10 miles in 30 minutes on the tread-mill.

Doesn't look all that bright for a better performance at the NYRR Grid-iron Classic 4M this Sunday, but am glad I am motivated to run and train in this context!

Monday evening - 25 minutes walk

Couldn't go to the Gym in the morning as I had intended to yesterday; got to sleep very late, and had to run to the office in the morning.

Went to the Gym in the evening and walked most of the 25 minutes on the treadmill. Good Job! Shoot for consistency!

Creating the ATHLETIC me

For the best part of my life, I have been sedentiary / physically inactive. I did take part in some games and sports while at school, but that was very infrequent and with no specific goal. For the past two-plus years, I have been making an effort to run regularly and have had mixed results. I have completed 5K, 5M races but the running has been very irregular.

I want to create the ATHLETIC ME. I want to qualify and run in the NYC Marathon in 2009. I want to improve my physical structure, strength and stamina over the next two years by training consistently.

Taking small steps toward the bigger goal, here is the plan for the week ahead:
Monday Morning : Run 20 minutes
Tuesday Evening : Run 2 miles
Thursday Morning : Run 20 Minutes
Friday Morning : Run 2 miles
Sunday Morning : NYRR 4 mile run + longest football throw competition

20 minutes on the treadmill - after a week

After a week of excuses / sore-neck / busy schedule at work / etc., I finally hauled my ass to the Gym and ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill yesterday evening. Covered 1.60+ mile running at a leisurely pace, with only one break of 2 minutes walking.

2 Mile run in the Gym

As per the 10K training plan, I ran/walked 2 mile in the Gym yesterday evening. Took 27 minutes to complete the distance.

It may be a good idea for me to repeat this week's plan next week as well to try and run two mile in less than 23 minutes.

20 minutes running in the Gym

Made plans yesterday for the next 9 weeks to follow the last 9 weeks' plan for the 10K training on the Marathon Rookie web-site. Consequently I woke up at 5:45 AM with high-motivation to run the 20 minutes planned for today.

Got to the Gym and ran 20 minutes with speed varying between 4 mile per hour and 5 mile per hour. Felt good to be doing so early in the morning!

Fred Lebow Classic 5M in Central Park

Ran 5 miles for the first time today! Completed the distance in little less than an hour - walking around 40% of the distance. One thing I can be proud of is that I beat Larry-the-light-house, Wendy-the-wind-mill and another person who were running in interesting costumes.

Aaron from work, his wife Elodie, Teresa and Freddie accompanied me in this race. Aaron mentioned about meeting Charles at the beginning of the race; I did not get to meet him.

Good to have company! Motivation in loads :-)

This race is the first in a series of races which I will run to qualify to the NYC Marathon in 2008. Next up is the NYRR Gridiron Classic 4M on Feb 3rd. A personal goal for this 4 mile race is to be able to run the whole distance without stopping or walking.

Elodie mentioned she is self-training based on the training schedules on Marathon Rookie Web-site; will follow the training plan for 5K to prepare for the 4 Mile race - with suitable adjustments, of course.

Results from the Race:
Overall Place : 4128
Gender Place : 2266
Age Place : 784
Finish Time : 58:39
Pace / Mile : 11:43
AG Time : 57:24
AG Gender Place : 2308
AG % : 37.1 %

Interesting set of Age group statistics; I should be able to improve it over the next two races in Feb '08.

3.25 miles in 40 minutes at the Gym

Ran for 40 minutes on the treadmill today; my first visit to the Gym next door!

Good start to the year.

Ringing in 2008 in Style

Participated in the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run yesterday evening along with friends from Landmark. Had fun at the run!

The run was well-organized; Music, Costume Party, Fireworks, huge turn-out for the event, people running with the costumes on, non-alcoholic champagne at the half-way point, enthusiastic by-standers cheering the runners all the way - all of this made the 4-mile run at midnight an amazing experience.

What better way to start 2008 which is going to be a spectacular year!!

People in the Photo:
John (Patricia's friend), Teresa (my SELP batch mate), Freddy (Teresa's husband), Patricia (my SELP course leader) & Cat Woman - A friendly stranger who posed with us while her companion took the photo



For the record, I finished the 4 mile in 51 minutes, walking more than half the way.