My First Half Marathon Story..

My wife had been thinking of running a marathon for a long time but due to work, baby and other commitments she could not get herself in a position to participate in one. She thought of running the Silicon Valley marathon but then she could not prepare herself and did not register.

All along I had been telling her, she should just register and make an attempt, after all its the mindset that matters.

Just a day before the marathon (i,e on Saturday 24th, 2009) I drove her to San Jose Hilton where the last minute registrations for the race were taking place. While she was filling up the form.. its dawned upon me. If I can convince her to run..why can’t I run myself?

Right there and then I registered. Got the chip and the bib.

There after it was all chaos, I had no idea on how to pull such a huge undertaking(or it sounded like one at that time). I made a few calls to my sister and brother-in-law both of whom have run marathons in the past successfully.

No one in my family has ever run a marathon until my sister attempted it first last year. To this day she has already run a couple of half marathons. In fact she ran the Silicon Valley full marathon( 26 miles) last year. My brother in law is a tremendous athlete who has many athletic accomplishments to his credit. He is an encyclopedia on health & fitness. So both of them were a tremendous inspiration.

At about 11:30PM I sent out an email to all the readers of this blog asking them for some last minutes tips. I received many well wishes from people far away from Thailand, Indonesia & Nepal. Some of the tips I received were amazing, I have summarized those tips below this post, just in case you decide to run a marathon yourself.

The Race

Got up early in the morning around 5:30AM, took a heavy breakfast( 4 bread pieces with butter). Soon after our friends picked us up and dropped us in San Jose down time next to the Adobe building at the starting point. It was a great feeling to be amongst so many runners. To hear and see Dean Karnazes speak was the only last thing I need to pull this off.

With a strained knee I knew it will be difficult to undertake this, but based on all the email tips I received I made up my mind to listen to my body.

It was all well till the 8th mile. 9th mile was like climbing a mountain. 10th mile was again good and this I believe was due to a favorable strip on the trail. I have no idea when I covered the 11th mile as by that time I was almost hallucinating. 12th mile was when I practically stopped running and got my first cramp in the left leg. Suddenly my stride patten changed no matter how hard I tried there after I just could not run. 13th mile was painful as I had to climb up some slopes in Los Gatos High School.

Here is a video of me entering the final quarter mile..

In the last quarter mile

Here is the video showing my entire family at the finish line, in fact the last 100 meters were even more exciting as my 5 year old daughter ran with me to the completion

Overall this was a rewarding experience. Given the kind of “glued to the computer” lifestyle I have, it was important that I pushed myself to this level of extreme. I completed the race in about 03:16:48 and was placed 859. My wife ranked 792 and she did so in 2:58:07. Yes no records were broken here, the completion time is not worth talking about, yet this is just a good start, given we had no training or practice.

Sometimes its important that we jump right into action without waiting for the perfect situation to arrive. A major part of life is all about attitude. With right attitude one can overcome all kinds of challenges.

Once you explode yourself into success, you become unstoppable. We are already planning on running the Stinson Beach Marathon next month. If I do, I promise, I will have a better timing to report.

We could not have done with this with out the support of our family, close friends & well wishers like you. I hope you will draw some inspiration from our small marathon story.

Now go explode yourself into success!

Srini Saripalli

P.S: Tips I received from my friends and family to run a half marathon which I never prepared for..

Srini: By the time you read this e-mail, you and your wife finished a half marathon. But as I write this, I am sending my best wishes to both to complete it safely. There was a Japanese program (fiction) some time ago that a father decided to do a marathon that he could not finish in high school. His son also decided to run with him. His son learned an important lesson about completing no matter how long it takes. Thank you for reminding me about this lesson. Hope your run went smoothly.

Mami

Srini!
What a crazy guy! LOL I certainly don’t know much about running a marathon,
but I’ve read to start slow, keep a steady pace. My biggest suggestion is to
listen to your body. Slow down and walk when you need to and be safe.
There’s no shame in walking to finish, if it means keeping your body safe
and healthy.

Go Srini! Go Srini! Go Srini!

Blessings,
Cassie

Dear Sr;ini,

I have run two half marathons but only after quite a bit of preparation.

Suggestion go slow and walk when necessary. Best wishes.

Stuart

Hi Srini,

As someone who trained for and ran a marathon at the age of 43 (see
photo), I can offer some tips from my experience…
You’re right, mindset does matter, a lot. But you also need some
minimum level of conditioning. And a smart strategy!

Unless you are incredibly athletic, you don’t just go out and run 14
miles. There is a reason people train for these things. If you want to
attempt the distance, I’d say start very slow and alternate jogging with
walking. Keep moving forward, but don’t try to run the whole way or you
will burn yourself out. There is no shame in walking, and it is your
best shot for going the distance.

Let us know how it goes!

Best wishes,

-Gen

Hello Srini,

Hope small piece of advice is not too late.

I’m not a runner, but there a tip I can share with you in line with my experience in the game of tennis.

There was a time about a year ago when I played tennis for 8 hrs total in a 24 hr period
ie:

* started playing doubles and doing drills from ~8am and played ’till around noon, w/ breaks of course
* played another round doing the same thing from 4pm ’till around 8pm, w/ breaks again of course

I typically play only an hr per day on average, and sometimes 2 hrs tops.

The 8 hr total play was extraordinary, because I got so excited, as we have my niece’s Spaniard husband in town & he’s teaching us how to play tennis the right way. He’s the kind of pro that used to play at the Barcelona Open back then, & taught Junior Tennis at the Sanches Cassal Viccario Tennis Academy in Barcelona Spain & in Naples, Florida. He was also in the same team as Carlos Moya back then.

The following day after I played the 8 hr of tennis, I felt a pain on my right elbow, w/c I never had before.
It hurts so bad that everytime I hit a tennis ball w/ my racket the following days & weeks, it hurts.

I was so afraid then that I couldn’t play tennis anymore. A pro in the club I’m a member of later told me that I might have to have a surgery.
How he knows that is because he had a couple of arm surgeries himself as a result of the tennis elbow he incurred in his earlier years.
Cause was similar, he practiced & taught tennis 10 hrs in one day. His case is a bit different though, as it is his passion & profession.
My case is slightly different: ie: Tennis is my passion, but not my profession.

My moral to this incident is as follows:

* I shouldn’t have pushed myself to the limit in which my body isn’t accustomed for
* I shouldn’t have attempted to serve ~100+ mph many many times (ie: ~4x the average)

In a similar approach, I did some research & talked to some sports professionals in the club.
I then learned that professional runners train to run 1,2,4,8, miles gradually to prepare for a 10-mile marathon.
ie: the ones they do in Bay Bridge. This is so they can prep their body

* against dehydration,
* against muscle fatigue
* prevent any ankle or bone injury

Wow, had I known this, I could have prevented my tennis elbow incidence.
Well, what’s done is done.

What happened thereafter was I had to lay-low on tennis,

* like I was only able to play ~2 weeks later,
* 1 to 2 times a week instead of every other day,
* no 100+ mph serves,
* only for ~1 hr max,
* …

It took ~2 months before my tennis elbow pain subsided.
I had to wear a patch for 2 months, just for me to be able to lightly play.
I was told that I can take Ibuprofin 1-2 hrs before play so I won’t feel the pain.
I didn’t take any because I remember my Dad once told me from before to don’t take medicine, not unless it’s absolutely necessary.
I was also told that my tennis elbow is going to be here w/ me for LIFE. I was scared then.

Just to conclude, IMHO, is to take everything into moderation.
ie: anytime anything is done into the extreme, it can lead to an extreme result as well.

I learned that our body is the best judge.
ie:

* we suffer from fever because it’s telling us something is wrong internally
* our muscles get into a fatigue condition because it’s tired
* our mind gets into a stress condition, because it’s been operating long and hard
* you get the ideea, …

Good luck on your run tomorrow & enjoy the adventure,
but not the competition nor the challenge, nor the dare, not unless you’ve trained from it from before.

Just my .02 cents,

Sony

Hi Srini,

I would just make sure you eat a good breakfast like oatmeal with a banana 2-3 hours before you start. Something that will stick with you, carbs,but not something that will upset your stomach.

Drink water as soon as you wake up. Coffee sometimes gets athletes revved up but the other side to that is it is dehydrating. then continue to hydrate all day as much as you can. Even if you don’t feel hot or like you need it.

Pace yourself in the beginning. Do your first four miles slower than you would normally run it. Keep your upper body relaxed while running. It’s your hips that drive you forward not pumping your arms unnecessarily. This wastes a lot of energy.

Most importantly have fun! I am so proud of you that you would attempt this on such short notice. I did that once when my really super athletic friend who was like an olympic qualifier came to me the day before a biathalon and asked me to do it with her. I said yes even though I was only running sporadically and only 4-5 miles at a time. I ended up coming in third!

Have Fun!

Best,
Susan