Tulika Agrawal

In summer of 2006 if anyone asked me about running, I would have said that running is not my thing. A 10 min run on treadmill used to be a struggle. Then somehow in June 2006 I signed up to run Seattle Half Marathon. It was the year that marathon was on my birthday, and I like to do something memorable on my birthday. But that is not motivation enough to endure 6 month of brutal training and go from 1 mile to 13 miles. Here comes the miles for smiles program. The cause is exactly what I needed to keep me going.

I signed up for a 6 month training program because I knew it going to take me a really long time to build up 13 miles. Usually 3 - 4 months are enough to train for half-marathon. But I knew that running is not my thing, and I will somehow finish the half marathon, celebrate my birthday and forget that I ever ran. I had no idea how wrong I would be.

The initial days of training were hard. I remember running 8 miles for the first time and I thought I am going to die. What kept me going at that time was the thought that I am doing this for a good cause, I am going to raise over a $1000 which is going to help educate the less previledged in India. It was not a totally selfless act, to some degree I was also getting over the guilt of leaving India and being here. But that's besides the point. Every time I ran 8 mile, 10 mile, it just felt that my legs are going to crumble and I am going to fall and never get up. But none of that happened. I ran, I prepared and I almost always finished my planned run. Of course since I decided to train for 6 months, I was not on a very tight schedule.

Then came the marathon day, November 26, 2006. I was quite confident by that time that I can run the distance. What I was not prepared for though was cold, snowy and wet weather. We started the run at some sub-0C temperature, some flurries were also falling and only the insane ventured out at 7:00a.m., I being one of them. So I ran, I ran because I did not want to fail myself on my birthday, I ran because I did not want to disappoint all my friends who had donated in support of my run. I ran and ran and ran and then I crossed the finish line, and just like that it was over! I had done it. I had run a half-marathon.

From there on, I never looked back. In the course of 6 month of torture, running had become my thing. Some of it was the excitement of achieving something. I had really started to enjoy running. Just getting out there in any weather and running my heart out. It gave me lot of confidence in myself, much needed time to clear my head. From there on, I ran Seafair Half marathon in 2008. Now I am training for Whidbey Half marathon, and then finally Rock'n'Roll full marathon.

I have been blogging my training on and off here - http://tulika-run.blogspot.com/