Funding research to fight blood cancers
Sagar's fund raising page: Running for a cause
Welcome to my Team In Training home page.
I am training to participate in the Maine Marathon on the 7th of October '07 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training.
All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I'm completing this event in honor of all individuals who are enduring an ongoing battle against blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team, and we need your support to cross the ultimate finish line - a cure!
Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.
I hope you'll visit my web site often. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress. Thanks for your support!
May 5th: TNT Mass chapter kick-off. The most I've ever run is 4 miles...
May 8th: 4 days and Ive already broken my personal record. I can run 6 miles.
May 12th: The training sessions began today. Met the team, the coach Kevin and the team mentor Shawn. Shawn dedicated today's run to a friend who was recently diagnosed.
May 20th: Ran the UMass Med School 5K race today in 23:40 finished 30th.
June 2nd: Was scheduled to run the Jackson 10 K race in NH. Had to cancel that due to a bad muscle spasm after a 10 mile run on the 31st.
June 7th: Ran 10 miles in 90 minutes. I think I can do better... next Thursday!
June 14th: Couldn't finish 10 miles... my right hamstring refused to cooperate. Will make amends on the 21st.
June 15th: Fund raising is a very humiliating experience... went from from one business to the next, with very little positive feedback. Will have to broaden my network.
Started a blog http://tntmetrowest.blogspot.com
July 4th: Been very irregular with my updates. Madhavi was away for a conference in Barbados, and I took a week off from running to prepare for my department chalk talk. Back with a vengeance... Ive run 20 miles in the past 3 days, and am going to try to complete 45 by the end of the week.
5K freedom run today at 8:00 AM - 24:21.
July 5th: 2 months since the kick-off. Progress is not bad. My best run - 10 miles in 87 mins. I can definitely do better.
Finally started swimming, I think its going help a lot with breathing right. Lets see how my half marathon goes tomorrow.
July 9th: Total for last week was 39 miles, averaged approximately 10 min per mile. This weeks goal is 46 miles @ 9 mins average.
July 14th: Milestones crossed this week:
I've run more than 200 miles since the beginning of the training session.
Finally after three attempts I have crossed the half way mark... ran 14 miles (10 min average) today... Every bit of my anatomy cried for mercy, practically crawled the last mile (14 minutes)
A third of the fund raising target reached... A big THANK YOU to all. Your generosity touches many lives.
August 28th: Its been very long since I updated the website. Ive run a few half marathons and my longest run so far was 16 miles. Best time for the half - 2:10:00. Another six weeks to the Maine event. I think 4 hours is a hard but reasonable target.
Ive also crossed the 2/3 mark on my fund raising. Thanks a ton to all the contributors.
Another $700 to go.
Tomorrow I will try to run 20 miles. (A little over 2/3 the distance... Lets see what "hitting the wall" feels like.
September 11th: Moses and I ran 9+11 relay today. (We ended up running together as we started late...) He did 9, I did 11. First long run in under 9 minutes/mile.
September 15th: Finally passed the 20 mile mark (not by much). 3:40:00.
October 13th: We did it. 4:05:31. 5 minutes short of my target. I had a great time. A beautiful course and ideal running weather.
The first 3 miles were very difficult for me. My calf muscles had cramped. I stopped after the first mile and stretched for a few minutes, and ran the next 2 miles very slowly. It was 34 minutes by the time I passed mile 3.
From then on I started speeding up and reached the 6 mile mark just as the timer touched 1 hour, and by the 2nd hour I was passing the half way mark. From mile 13 to mile 20 was my best time. I did it in 56 minutes.
The 21st mile was uphill and the worst time of all. Wasn't really sure I could do it, fortunately there was a water stop at the end of it and I felt a lot better after that, though I couldn't get back to the same speed. (It would have helped if I could find the toilets at this time:)).
By the 23rd mile I thought my foot arches had collapsed. This is where they had strategically placed the "team in training" water stop and seeing all the members and volunteers was a morale booster.
25 miles and I still had 12 minutes to make it in time. Natures call... couldn't hold on any more, I had to hit the bushes. Lost a few minutes, but felt so much better after that. The last 0.2 miles were great, people cheering me on, the finish line within sight, the beat of the drums... my legs had a mind of their own, they just kept to the rhythm of the drums and carried me across the finish line. 4:05:31. The first big milestone in my athletic career.
More importantly I have reached my target of $2100. I am greatly indebted to you all for your generosity and your support. And I'm honored to have trained and run with the team. GO TEAM.
