Matilda. Running Angel.

89°, feels like 98°! Last mile on the 10 mile (flat) course, a course that did not offer much shade at all. I was walking, struggling. Hard. About to run out of water. How far to the finish? About a half mile?

I saw this girl take off and start running while we were waiting for the gun to go off. She had a bib which means she’s in the race. I saw her come back when I was about half a mile on the course. I guess she did a 5K? There were 5K, 10K, and 10 mile options at the race. Later, about a mile to the finish, I saw her running the opposite direction! Guess she’s running another 5k?

Oh, the struggle to finish! A lil over a half mile (ish) to go. Someone taps me on my shoulder, screaming, “come on man, you got his”, as she was passing me. It was that 5k girl.

I got his? I am not so sure young lady! 

She doesn’t quit, “come on pick it up, run with me”.

<gulp> Oh! I guess I should.

And I did. 

“Extend your strides, run faster”, she goes.

Ohhh kayy…. Guess I could give it a shot……

Whoa! I am doing it!

“Its about a quarter mile to the finish, let’s sprint”.

With my tired old legs in my severely dehydrated body?

“Come on! You can do this. We got this. See that girl wearing fuchsia? Let’s pass her”.

Looks like that girl is about to hit the finish line but what the hell, let’s try. I pushed hard, with her. Sure enough, we passed her, and that was a fucking strong finish!

We hi-fi.  We hug. We take pictures together. We follow each other on Instagram.

She’s Matilda. The angel appeared out of nowhere and help me redeem an otherwise sad race, that I was getting ready to file under “pathetic”.

What happened above, happened at Freedom 10 Miler race, at C&O Canal Tow Path, Georgetown. Another excellent race from Bishop’s Events in Washington. It was the hottest race I’ve ever done. 80° at the start and 90° at the finish. With humidity, it was ‘feels like’ 98°. Although the course was flat, it meant nothing, there were hardly any shade throughout the course. But…. it’s been broughten.

This got me thinking. How were I able to find it in me to push that hard when I thought i was done completely and that there was nothing left in me! Moments like that happen a lot, during my races. I always think about Rich Roll’s conversations with many of his guests “when you feel like you are completely empty during a race and that you have nothing left to go on, you are using only about 60% of your capability. There’s more in you to perform”. Easier said than done, usually. You have to find a way to dig deeper. That’s exactly what I did it at this race. With some serious help, that is.

The mission (if I choose to accept) is to find Matilda every race, every time, at the moments of real struggle. I am on it. I will share how I do that, when I figure it out.

I must. So I will.

I like races in Georgetown because I can take DC Circulator to the race and back. I went straight to Vida and did yoga with my fav teacher, Mario. That was the best thing I could offer my battered and bruised body at the time.

Earlier in the day this is what my bathroom scale told me. I was all set to break another PR but fucking weather had shitty plans for me.

I was chatting with Shan later and learned STUDMFFN8+ (that’s the name of my phone) knows me too well. See the word suggestion! 

As usual, I had to go workout with Katie and brag about my race the next morning. It was just the two of us, just like I like. No, there is no dry spot on my outfit. It was 80° + at 6 am!

Wait…. Do I look tired? Wut? 

See the comment from my friend on my picture!

 

And last not the least. At the finish.

Limitless

I should have titled this “weightless” or “weightloss” or something to do with “weight”. But limitless has more drama. Plus that’s how I feel lately.

I go to a group workout, bootcamp, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. Through Vida Fitness, the #1 gym in DC. Wednesdays there’s a bootcamp in the evening as well which I just started going to. Yes, 2 bootcamps, 1 day. Typically I burn over a 1000 kcal during one of those 50 minute sessions. Easily. BTW, my badass trainer Katie runs these bootcamps!

About 5 weeks back, I started on a path to eat better. Yes I am a plant based athlete but it does not automatically mean I am a healthy eater. I am one of those *junk food vegans* (JFV)! Yes, it’s a thing. Well, lemme say, I WAS, a JFV. Enter the two new beautiful human vegans. Around the same time! They started “addressing” my bad food habits. Got called out on the following:

I don't like most vegetables (I know). 
Love me all the fried stuff. Samosas, fries yumm... 
I snack all the time. 
Cupcakes and donuts - all of them! 
Potatoes: All.the.way.
Bread. Bread. Bread.

Long story short, I dropped 8 lbs in less in that 5 weeks. Probably the healthiest weight loss in history. Hit me up if you like to know the specifics.

Wait…

I drank more beer in that same 5 weeks than the entirety of last year. Honest! Then how…?  I know. 4 out of 5 of the recent weekends, I burned 6000+ calories, each (Saturday and Sunday combined). Work hard play hard, right homies? Run, bike, HIIT, yoga, and wait for it….

Zumba!

I’m a Zumba bitch now. 

I am not trying to be a role model here. Nor I am trying to tell you anything good about approaching workouts and weight loss. A lil bragging? May be. 

This morning, it was 78° – 80° during bootcamp. It was just me at the group class so Katie worked out with me.  I love working out with Kaite, my favorite sessions. Something extra in the way she pushes me as a workout partner, from a trainer!

OK OK, back to the story. It was so humid, the heat index must have been 85ish. Plus it was one tough workout! The old Saiju would have burned, like, 1200 kcal but I only burned about 900!  Even a minor change in body weight plays a big part in your performance! Truth. On Friday, I ran 3.5 miles with Katie at about 8:40 / mile! That’s a big deal. Yes, I am lighter on my feet, more agile, have more energy. Plus all the beer!

You know I am diabetic, right? I set an aggressive fucking goal for myself. I will reverse diabetes by the end of the year.

There.      Accountability…      created.

Thank you…

Behind every (successful???) man, there are many people…

Shantanu, Amy, Katie, George, Deepa, Rajesh G, Anil R, Aaron, Vijai, Komal, Sumit, Ellen, Stephanie, Alka

I would not have been possible without them in some form or another….

THANK YOU 

In the spirit of giving back, I ran with three first time racists (racers?), all of whom started running because of moi! 

So long…

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“Deepa – you spend a LOT of time with your coworkers. When you have someone you can call a BFF at work, it’s precious. I have no idea how she still manages to keep a smiling face and offers worthwhile responses everytime I am down. And whining.”

“In the beginning of the year, when I was freaking out about how to plan my training, my cool coworker (much appreciated, Deepa!) friend stepped in and created a spreadsheet for me that became an excellent tool to plan my training and keep my sanity in check.

---

 

Excerpts from  two posts from last year where I mentioned Deepa. She was not just a coworker but  huge part of my support system (I need a lot of support) that helped me get thru Fire & Ice last year.

Deepa and I are coworkers no mo.  OK, we are friends. But it is so easy to maintain a friendship with your coworker without putting any effort. I’m looking at having to travel to the village* to hang out with her again. I guess you have to earn the good things in life.

* Village – Because I live in downtown Washington DC, I see all places outside downtown as villages. All my coworkers live in villages.

Full disclosure, most of the people in my support system are from the village.

Never too early to say thanks….

Remember, it takes a whole city(apparently) for me to get ready for this race. I’ve mentioned a few people before, who have been part of this journey from the beginning. I wanna make sure that I give them proper credit!

Ellen – my race partner, who is to blame for this mess.  She has been inspiring me from the beginning with her performance. And how humble she is about it! And front-ending all the logistics associated with this race. And for all the whiskey and beer and deelish food during our planning sessions! And driving me to race after race after…

Cat – my fabulous dietitian. She gets to be on top of this list because she has made the biggest positive change in my lifestyle. For starters(SWIDT?) I eat vegetables now, not just potatoes. She made me check the nutrition levels in my body and I find out that I have severe D deficiency (that will explain a lot of my physical problems including my eye issues – more on the eye later). Even crazier that she is not vegan herself but now knows everything about vegan diet and a (vegan)diabetic athlete!

George – he makes me smile, throughout every (tough)core training session at VIDA. And remembers every race I do (there was a fucking lot of them – even I couldn’t keep up) and checks with me at the end of every race.

Deepa – you spend a LOT of time with your coworkers. When you have someone you can call a BFF at work, it’s precious. I have no idea how she still manages to keep a smiling face and offers worthwhile responses everytime I am down. And whining.

Shantanu – my bro from anotha mutha. Puts up with all my bullshit (it’s a lot) still welcomes me with open arms everytime I visit LA(which is alot) and picks up my call everytime(again, a LOT), regardless of what time it is. Being a neuroscientist, he dukes out some seriously solid advises that you should never question, but I always do.

Dr. Salcedo – I haven’t said a word about Dr. Salcedo until now, though we have been working together since March (and her lovely assistant Virginia). She is my physical therapist and a tremendous resource for an athlete with her wealth of knowledge. She fixed my tendinitis and my injured back, quickly, like a boss. I learned a LOT about performing like an athlete from her! You can go see her at Chirocentric. Tell her Saiju sent ya!

Lisa – I have not mentioned Lisa either! She is a Rolfer extraordinaire, who keeps my body parts from separating out (or something like that). Cat connected us and it’s been awesome! I cry everytime during the session but feel AMAZING after!

Amy – my RNP who has been on *it* to keep me running and do other crazy things in spite of my diabetes and a slew of related and unrelated shitty issues!

Michelle – I have known Michelle for over 15 years now. I have been talking to her about racing recently and we are going to run a marathon together in October. Talking to her made me pay attention to a lot of minor details that will make a major difference. There are a bunch of them, which I might write about later.

Sumit – my bro I’ve known since 1990 (that’s a whopping 26+ years)! When I was not sure of running this race in the beginning, he talked to me in such a way that made sense to me to push my limits and pursue my goals! Bonus points to him for not using the term YOLO.

Amy (from OK) – my partner in crime, lately. Huge emotional support provider (because I am emotionally weak and a big time whiner), who told me “you are not shallow, you are discerning” which was a revolting concept for me! Bonus points for being an excellent yoga instructor.

Sonali, Rajesh and Sona, Rajesh and Sreeja, Rajesh and Kavitha (haha, they make it easy for me to remember their names), Santhosh and Lekshmi, JK, Tripti, Komal, Thenna…. some way or the other were there for me.

And then there is lovely Stephanie. My kitties love her and so do I. I can go away for races peacefully without worrying about Tango and Foxtrot thanks to Steph being there for us. And she is ALWAYS smiling.

Here is to hoping I won’t let my team down.