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Tomorrow…

Less than 18 hours until the race! I am excited and a little scared too.  I know what I am up against: some injuries, some asthma, and 26 miles. That being said, I am planning accordingly. I have trained over the past four months to run the race at 10 min/mile pace; however, I am going to err on the side of safety and try to keep a consistent 11 min/mile pace. I am hoping that the stars align and that I feel amazing tomorrow.  My main goal is to run the whole race; however, I am preparing myself mentally if things don’t work out as planned.

I am doing my last minute preparations: pinning my bib on, getting my playlist ready, and packing my pockets with some essentials (2 tablets of Tylenol, 2 packets of salt, and 2 bags of Cliff Shot Bloks).

If you happen to be in NYC tomorrow or will be joining in the mayhem, I would LOVE to see you out there and will NEED your support. Here is the run down of where I will be based on a 10 min/mile, 11 min/mile, and 12 min/mile. If you are interested in receiving splits of my times throughout the race, please sign-up at Fan Alert (my bib#: 49299), I may also have the times posted at www.krishanvpatel.com.  Please let me know what side of the street you will be on, so I can run on that side of the street.

I will be wearing a yellow “Livestrong” shirt (with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath), gray shorts, and a black bandanna. If I happen to look very very angry, it means I am running well. If I look anything but angry, say a prayer or two for me…things may get ugly.

Lastly, with the support of all of you, I raised $3,500! Thank you to everyone for all your donations and kind words!

Thanks again!!!

Krishan

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Monster Month

Monster Month — the month before the marathon when all sh*t hits the fan — lived up to its infamy. Work, life, training everything has been a little crazier than usual.

I ended September with the inability to walk…my left knee had given in: I was devastated…I had that empty feeling in my stomach. I thought my three months of training had gone to waste. I had to take nearly three weeks off, during which time I was supposed to run at least 18 miles once or twice. I spared no expense to get myself together: acupuncture, massage therapy (by the Yankees massage therapist), and new shoes.

***

The weekend before last I ran a strong 13 miles in 2 hours (9 min/mile) and so I felt as though I had gotten myself together. However, just last week, I was having trouble running 2 miles because my knees were killing. I am just praying my knees feel strong.

My other minor issue: asthma. Unfortunately, over the past couple weeks, my long dormant asthma which has been mainly tamed by running…is flaring up.  I am not too sure why; however, I am doing whatever I can to ameliorate it.

For the next couple days, I am sleeping early (as is possible), eating pasta for nearly every meal, and resting my body. Also, I will be trying to figure out what my plan is for the run (pace, what ifs, etc). I am thinking the following: For the first 13 miles I will hold back to 11 minutes per mile; for the next 7 miles I will increase to 10:30 per mile; and, hopefully finish strong at 10 minutes per mile. Honestly, I have no idea whether I can do this — the most I have run is 16 miles and I was about to collapse by the end of it.

Thanks for all your support and donations. I still need to raise $1,000 by this weekend (or else it comes out of my credit card!), so any donations would be sincerely appreciated. All the money goes for cancer research through the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Donate here!!!

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Halfway Mark + 1

A quick update…last night I passed the halfway mark with my training: 14 miles! After going nearly halfway around Manhattan, my legs were searing and would not stop shaking – I could not have been happier…

The past two months of training has been intense. Looking back, I do not think I realized the commitment that running the marathon would entail. The experience has been an emotional rollercoaster, some weeks I have felt extremely motivated and other weeks not so much. However, I can definitively say two things: (1) I am always happier after taking a nice long run, there is something peaceful about it, and (2) Maintaining the focus to run the marathon is very empowering — I can look back on each week and say I have moved forward: I am able to do something this week, that I was unable to do the prior week.

The training has also been filled with its fair share of sacrifice: an extra half-hour of sleep seems like an eternity, late nights on Friday or Saturday will kill my long-runs on Saturday or Sunday, I am continually physically tired, and none of my clothes fit me properly (I have lost around 10 – 15 pounds). I have also had my fair share of injuries over the past two months that have required me to take three weeks off from running. First, I got a stiff neck on two separate weeks because my shoulder muscles would tighten up and put too much strain on neck. Second, I tied my shoe laces too tightly and thus had a bruises across the top of my foot.

My schedule has entailed running 3 to 5 times per week, and yoga 2 to 3 times per week. I usually run weekday mornings at around 6:30AM, and I do yoga on the non-running days. On Saturday morning I prefer to go for my long-runs and on Sunday’s I will go for a shorter-run and try to squeeze in yoga if I have the time.

I realized the main thing that is keeping me going is imagining myself running the race with several thousand other people. This gets me pretty pumped up: http://www.nycmarathon.com/about/video_inspiration.php . I cannot wait to run it!

I have eight weeks left before the big day on November 2nd. After a summer that was far busier than I could have ever imagined, I hope the fall may be more amenable to more timely updates.

Thanks you so much to everyone who has donated! I really appreciate it. I still have a long-way to go with the fundraising so if anyone else could offer a donation, it would be greatly appreciated.  https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=259771&supid=225873705