Some bad news, but thank you for your support!

It is with profound sadness and extreme disappointment that I write to you about my necessary withdrawal from the Boston Marathon. During the 20-mile run last week, I experienced an injury that will prevent me from running on April 20th. After multiple doctor's visits, it has been confirmed that I have a stress fracture in my left shin area.

As many of you know, I have been training for the past five months for this race. The Boston Marathon has been practically the only topic I could talk about as it was constantly on my mind. For those of you that were subjected to this, thank you for listening! I especially want to thank my husband Kishore who bore the brunt of my training and who has been a huge pillar of strength and support during this endeavor.

I am proud of my commitment and dedication to completing this race. I did finish the 20-mile training run that day and am proud to know that I would have been able to complete the marathon had I been able to run.

Most of all, I am so touched with all of your support. From the words of encouragement to the sharing of stories of loved ones, I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such amazingly generous and compassionate people.

Thank you all for you very generous donations. Even though I will not be running the marathon, your donation will go a long way in finding a cure for cancer. 100% of your donation has already been received by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and will be put to good use. If you have any questions, please let me know.

As you can imagine, this past week has been a very difficult one for me. But it is knowing that I have had your support throughout this training period that will enable me to one day complete this life-long goal of mine.

With best wishes and many, many thanks,
Sucharita

Some disappointing news

This past weekend, I ran 20 miles. I am very proud of myself for having run that distance, as it's the furthest I have ever run in my entire life!

Unfortunately, I hurt my left shin/ankle very badly running these 20 miles. I started feeling the pain in my left leg at about mile 8. As I continued running, there were times it was hurting and other times where it was fine. So I continued. Hindsight is 20/20 and my friends at work were telling me that it was bound to happen soon anyway, but I can't shake the feeling that I should have stopped then. Anyway, as you know by now, I didn't stop and I continued. Going uphill was fine, and my leg was not really hurting. Especially where we hit Commonwealth Avenue and the hills in our run (at about mile 16-17), I felt like I could finish. But it was the downhills that were really hurting. I slowed down my pace considerably and I think people could tell that I was hurting. I chalked it up to minor aches and pains from the grueling route and of course, trying to complete 20 miles.

As I hit the top of Heartbreak Hill and proceeded down the final downhill, my legs really started to throb with pain. With the end in sight, I decided to start walking. Probably too little too late. I limped my way back to the start with the help of a very generous woman, Marcy. I was in pain. I spent the rest of the day drugged up on ibuprofen and icing down my injury. I spent Sunday the same way.

This afternoon, I finally went to the doctor to have an x-ray and to make sure I didn't fracture anything. I didn't fracture anything that she could see (she didn't do a bone scan) but her news was very bleak. She said she would advise me not to run. Words can't explain the amount of disappointment I felt in that one moment. Of course, I started to cry after thinking about how hard I have worked to finish this race, how I've been saying all along that I just want to complete the marathon, how I've been fundraising and trying to meet my goal, and how much I had been looking forward to celebrating this huge accomplishment after it was all said and done. The doctor was extremely sympathetic but of course, this did not change her opinion.

I am seeing an orthopedic doctor on Thursday and am hopeful he will have better news for me. I am praying that ibuprofen, lots of rest and a postive attitude will help me complete this goal of mine.

I sincerely apologize to my supporters that I do not have better news to share. I am hoping that Thursday will be a better day and that I will have hope of completing the Boston Marathon. In the mean time, I am going to post this picture of me, in an awesome t-shirt that one of my best friends, Denise, gave me. This gift arrived on Saturday and I took it as a sign ;)

PS- I know I look exhausted in this picture but that's what 20 miles does to your body!

Introducing my new kicks!

Asics GEL-Kayano 15. I have no idea how they are made, what they are made of, and whether they have made the cut by elite runners. All I know is that when I put these puppies on, they feel so comfortable, slick and like I am running on air! I love them. I took them for a test run on Tuesday and my legs and feet felt great. I was worried to switch shoes so close to the marathon from my beloved Brooks to the Asics but Brian from Marathon Sports gave a resounding endorsement for these shoes. He said that because I have very low arches but walk as if I have a high arch (I have no idea what he means by that), that these shoes would be a great fit. He was right! I am going to run 6 miles today and 20 this weekend, so I will keep you updated on how these gliders work out.

4 weeks and counting...

Hello all! I have exactly 4 weeks until the marathon! How exciting is that? I must say that lately, I've been having a harder time sleeping, because I am anxious for the race.

This past weekend, I traveled to Waltham with my fellow DFMC runner Miranda. We drove out to meet the DFMC team to run 15 miles. We started out at the Boston Sports Club. Immediately as we began running, I was not feeling it. It was extremely cold outside (even though weather.com said it was supposed to be 49 degrees outside). The air hit my lungs making breathing very difficult. The first mile and a half were ridiculously hard and I wanted to quit right there.

The run did not seem to get much better. Thank god Miranda was running next to me because there were many times that I just wanted to stop and walk. In addition to the cold, the course was very hilly and my legs, especially my knees, were really starting to feel the strain.

I took the last week off because Kishore and I went to Costa Rica, and was only able to run 5 miles on Wednesday. I suppose my body forgot how to run. I know that sounds crazy but running has a lot to do with muscle memory. Since I am not a natural runner, my body immediately forgot the motion of running that I had been developing since November! Let me tell you, I was freaked out. I was lamenting on how I was going to finish the marathon if I felt that horribly running only 15 miles. I finally finished, running the slowest I have ever run and feeling like an absolute mess. I spent all day on Saturday recuperating with the help of my very loving husband. He nursed be back to life and was extremely understanding with my constant complaints. He's a gem!

Also, thank god for Brian at Marathon Sports. I went there yesterday to purchase a new pair of running shoes. Even though we are very close to race day, I need to get new shoes because my old ones are really run down (no pun intended). As I started recounting my 15 mile run to Brian, he sat there nodding in agreement as if he's gone through my experience before. And then he said the magic words, "You had a shi*** day. It's one day out of 5 months of training. You just have to put it behind you and know that you will have those bad days occasionally. You are doing almost everything that you can to train properly. Chalk it up to a bad day and move on."

Move on is what I am going to do. I have my biggest and longest run coming up this Saturday. My first 20-miler. I am going to do everything this week to prepare mentally and physically. Wish me luck and thanks for providing me with all of this support!

Driving the Boston Marathon took us more than an hour

So how is it that today we have a wintery mix, and on Saturday, I was able to get a pretty weird, iPod tan (I have one of those iPod bands that you put around your arm- which is a huge mistake when it is sunny outside!)? The only answer is that I happen to live in Boston!

On Saturday, I was feeling pretty unmotivated to run. We didn't have a planned DFMC run so I was on my own. After about an hour of procrastinating, I finally decided to head out to Memorial Drive. And boy was I glad that I did! It was fantastic. I couldn’t have asked for better weather! The sun was beating down pretty hard (remember where I live again) as I headed toward Harvard University and the boathouse on Route 2. I usually feel great in the beginning, but this time, I was really having a hard time getting through the first mile. I would constantly check my iPod (with a Nike tracking component) and stare at it in disbelief when it told me I had only reached 1.3 miles. I knew I was going to have a hard time. Reaching 5 miles was a feat for me this time, but after that, I felt much better. I made my way around Memorial Drive onto the side closest to BU. I headed to the Hat Shell and kept on running until I got to the Museum of Science. During this time, I ate my GU which I can say was a huge pick-me-up. At that point, I had reached about 7.3 miles.

I then proceeded to turn around and head back on the route that I had come on. As I got to mile 10, I was feeling pretty good. I had been taking smaller walking breaks throughout my run which I have learned really helps with the pain in my IT band and shins. I have been trying to walk about a minute for every 30 minutes that I run. This seems to be the method that I will following come marathon day. I finally made it back home after about 14.75 miles. I was proud at what I had accomplished but definitely found it much harder than last week!

On Sunday, Kishore and I drove out to see our dear friends Lauren and Brian (and their new baby August!). By shear happenstance, they live in Hopkinton, about a half mile from the start line of the Boston Marathon! We then decided to drive back the route of the Boston Marathon. As the odometer slowly indicated the miles, I started to get really nervous. We seemed to be going a really far distance and through various towns- Hopkinton, Ashland (passing the Hindu temple- I will definitely be praying as I pass the temple come race day!), Framingham, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and finally Boston. There were so many hills that I didn’t expect (obviously I knew about Heartbreak Hill but there are SO many more!). Driving the distance of the Boston Marathon took us over an hour (we did stop at the temple, managed to get lost, hit a lot of traffic signals and were behind some very slow-moving cars), but you can imagine the state I was in when I got home. I am just hoping that I can keep it together come marathon day and think about it in smaller segments than the 26.2 miles that it is. What did I get myself into…

Less than 7 weeks to go...

So I have less than 7 weeks until the marathon. I can't believe that I will be running this race so soon! It seems that this is all I can really think or talk about.

Yesterday, I returned to the treadmill after spending Tuesday on the elliptical machine. My legs were really sore on Tuesday so I decided to change up my training a little bit. Yesterday I managed to complete 7.5 miles on the treadmill. In many ways, I felt like it was much harder than running the 16 miles I completed last Saturday! How weird is that? This morning, I am definitely feeling the impact on my system, and my legs are really sore again.

I am hoping that if I can stretch all day, that I will be in good shape to run a long distance tomorrow. I am still debating on whether to run 16 miles again or to amp it up to 18 miles. Kishore and I are going on a mini-vacation next week to Costa Rica and I won't have an opportunity to really train there. I am sure we will be tired with all of the hiking and activities that we plan to do, which will be good that I will be active, but I have to factor that into my marathon training at this point. I will be missing a group run on the 15th but hope to resume training that next week.

Anyway, I will keep you all updated as to how far I run tomorrow! Have a great weekend.

The most I've ever run- 16 MILES!

This past Saturday, I decided to suck it up and wake up early to run with the DFMC team at 8am from the Mount Auburn Club. If I had known that the group runs were going to be so well organized and well attended, I would have been doing them a lot sooner! The Mount Auburn Club has graciously donated space in their facility for the DFMC runners. We are given a pretty large room in which we can stretch and have our initial meeting. I must say that not having met many people yet (in large part a fault of my own-making), it was quite intimidating to see all of these athletes gathered in one room, discussing their strategy for their respective runs and the times they were aiming for. I had decided that I was not going to do the scheduled 20-mile run but was going to aim for 14-16 miles.

As we began, I met up with another woman who I had met back in December, Lauren. Lauren and I fell into a natural rhythm, though I think the energy of those around us increased our pace and we were running 9-minute miles for the first 5 miles or so (I usually run a 9.5-minute/mile pace). We started in Watertown and headed to Commonwealth Avenue. I honestly don't know how we got there, which is important for my story...

We proceeded to head up a pretty big hill which was great because I had not been training to run the hills. It's hard to find hills when you train on Memorial Drive and I was starting to get worried that I was not incorporating enough hills into my practice routine. I felt like it was forever before we reached the first water station at mile 3. The water stations though are strategically placed and are a great motivation when running. En route to the first water station, Lauren and I met another runner Matt. He told us he was running for a patient in the In-Patient Running program through Dana-Farber. Matt is running for a three and half year old boy who has Leukemia and is going through his last round of chemotherapy this week. At the first water station, we saw this little boy and his very energetic and inspiring mother.

The route between the first water station and the second water station was pretty much all down hill, which had me very worried for my run back. I learned then that I had just run down Heartbreak Hill. We hit the second water station and I was feeling pretty good. I felt like I could really reach my goal of 15 miles. I proceeded to run another mile and a half, bid adieu to my friend Lauren, and then turned around to make the journey up Heartbreak Hill (and all the other hills) by myself. I saw the little boy again with his mother at the water station and I must say it was seeing him and hearing all that he has been going through that provided me with the inspiration to run up the hills without stopping to walk.

I made it to the first water station again and was feeling really good. I then started heading back to the Mount Auburn Club and was pretty confident that I knew my way back. They had done a pretty good job of lining the route with yellow cones. I hit 3 sets of these cones and then got lost. I had NO idea where I was and freaked out a bit. I ended up at a random Days Inn Hotel on Soldier's Field Parkway :( and had to call Kishore to get me some directions back. I had gone an extra mile out of my way, which made my 15-mile goal, an inadvertent 16-mile triumph! At least I like to think of it that way...

I must say that afterwards, I was hurting big time! I made it back home, soaked in the tub which helped my legs, but was definitely hurting. I think my body was reacting poorly to all the stress and even ran a fever for a better part of the afternoon. But after some rest, ibuprofen (which has become my best friend lately), and a lot of stretching, I felt better.

This coming weekend I hope to either mimic this past weekend, or add a couple of more miles, depending on how I am feeling.

Wish me luck!