Running with the Abnormals

December 1, 2007 - Redmond 2828 Toastmasters

There is an ever-growing community of abnormal human beings called runners.

For them 401K has nothing to do with retirement, it only means 250 miles. They go outdoors on chilly mornings wearing shorts and half sleeves. For them "dirt" is heaven, a bath with icy water is the way of cooling down and they eat breakfast twice before their family wakes up. Their friends and family consider them crazy.

You can see them running on freezing mornings with ice on their faces and small colored water bottles lining their waists. You see them crowded at coffee joints at unearthly hours in their strange attires. They belong to all age groups.

This summer, I decided to check out this community of abnormals. I committed to running the Seattle Half marathon for Asha, a charity organization and joined the training program.

As the first step, on a pleasantly sunny Saturday in July, I was asked by the coach to run 2 miles. I was happy. I have been doing 2 miles on treadmill. So this should be easy. I started running fast without warming up.

After couple of hundred metres, I started huffing and puffing. My legs told me that I was running too fast and my head finally understood.. I slowed down. One mile done… one more to go… but it was not easy as I thought. I somehow slowly made it back to the starting point - all sweating and puffing. That showed me where I was and made me respect what I was going to do.

Slowly I started increasing the miles over the next weeks. 3, 4 , 5 and so on. I started scouring the neighborhood for good running trails and hills. I saw more of Redmond and Bellevue in this time than I had done over the last couple of years, living here. The runners do really get to see a lot. No wonder, an ad for Pearl Izumi shoes says that it is always the runners who find bodies of victims.

My knowledge of Anatomy also improved. I started getting to know more and more muscles in my body. One day there is pain in the knees, the next day it is in the calf muscles and so on. Good thing is that there is a standard prescription for all pains if you ask any runner - ice. Any pain ? "Ice it up and it will disappear". The best prescription – the ice bath... It is as simple as that.

As weeks progressed, the distance increased and the pains started disappearing. The coach told me that my muscles have got "adjusted" - whatever that means. By mid October I was running 10 miles at a fairly steady pace. I started watching movies with running themes and reading running magazines to keep myself acquainted with the ways of this world. I started looking forward to the race day.

The race day came - I was excited. It was strangely a non-rainy day. Everyone seemed to be happy with it. They kept saying that this was the best weather in three years. I was however trying hard to keep myself warm, waiting for the race to start.

Finally the race started. I had to wait for 5 minutes to cross the start line. I started feeling the thrill of being part of this giant sea of humanity winding its way through the streets of downtown. There were crowds waiting on the road sides to cheer us all through the way. Sea gulls serenaded the runners through the downtown.

I ran fairly comfortably at a steady pace till mile 7. After that was the notorious Galer-Madison-Interlaken hills section. They proved their worth as far as I was concerned. I slowed down and walked a part of the hills.

After the 10th mile, it was down hill most of the way. I felt excited as the finish line drew near. It was a great feeling running into the Key Arena finish line. I did it in about 2 hours 30 minutes. Based on my time trials I should have completed in 2 hours and 15 mins. I did not feel disappointed. I was feeling great having run the longest in my life and having completed a half marathon. May be this is after all, the “Runners' High”.

All in all it feels good to be part of this strange set of people. I found something that I love to do. They may be abnormal, but they have captured my heart and I look forward to becoming a better and long lasting member of this society.