Marathon 2006. We did it!!!

Yay! My mom and I brought in Diwali running the 26.2 mile Chicago Marathon! Getting to watch my mom pass that finish line was worth all the training.

Beautiful, so freakin beautiful.

Final times:

Rups

Finish Time: 5:11:31

Placement: 27884

Pace: 11:52

Punita

Finish Time: 7:23:31

Placement: 33577

Pace: 16:54

October 22- call for help!

Yesterday, I ran my last pre-race long run: 22 miles. Holy God.

After mile 15, I stopped and almost started crying. Running hurts, as does the fear of not finishing the race.

Here's what I realized: as much as running is a mental test, i.e. how far can you push your mind over your body, external forces account for a lot. Translation: I run better w/ other people running, and I push myself harder when I am reminded that people care if I finish.

So, if you are free on October 22, please, please, please come and support and yell for me and my mom to finish this mofo. Miles 18 through finish will be the toughest. If there's even a chance you can come, email me and I can send you the bib info. Apparently, there's a system where you can get text msgs of where we are on the course.

Eeesh. I haven't been this nervous in a looooooong time.

A great end to a great day!

Shashi just sent this to me and it made me sooo happy! This guy's my soulmate. Me, in boy form. :)

In other news, I'm employed! Last week, I had no job. Now, I have TWO! I'm the new Program Director of a literary arts organization in Chicago (by default, I'm also the Associate Editor of the journal they publish). And, the schedule is flexible enough so that I can keep teaching performance with After School Matters at Senn. Yay!