Chicago Marathon

An interesting week indeed - after a flood of weather reports and updates that predicted rain and snow flurries...we ended up with a cold, windy but thankfully dry race day.
Huddled into our bus at 5:40 am we were all carted to the Asha tent - 70+ people in the tent at 6:30 am - the energy was flowing.

I checked the temp readings along the way and it was 39F with a decent wind - it was COLD! Ran an easy relaxed race - was wearing my bike leggings, arm warmers, ear band, two layers of quickwik shirts, a long sleeve cotton shirt (which I tossed at mile 5) and my rain jacket. Finished the marathon in 4:02:07 - happy with the time considering the lack of training!

All our runners finished - but it was a hard fought race - the cold really did not agree with a lot of us Californians!

We all owe a big thanks to all the family members and friends that helped cheer us, they braved the cold weather for >6 hours! Kalyan & Vivek did a fantastic job with the camera and with ensuring everyone came in and was accounted for. The entire team showed the selfless spirit that is coming to define Team Asha...mentors and some runners went back out to help bring in other runners and helped carry/support other injured/tired runners to the bus...great team spirit - great people - great race!

Swimming - What a feeling!

Anu, Vinod and I swam for about 25 minutes at Coyote Point today - Man was it cold! Grey skies and calm cold waters...it was a lovely feeling. Anu (who is tapering for her first half Ironman) and I went for a short run after the swim.

Chicago Marathon is a week away - it is expected to be 51F! 70+ runners from Team Asha are going to be running Chicago - for most of us running in 50 degree weather will be a new experience - to say the least :-)

1998 -2000 - I remember running during the Chicago winters - seems like a lifetime ago! Ice on the streets, flurries, wind, temp in the 20-40F range! Now I find 51F cold!! That is what California does to you...