So today was an interesting day. I finally got to try the run with a larger group. I thought it'd be a quick 2 miler run but it took a while longer than usual. 
First, we went for a short warm-up run, maybe 0.25 miles and I was already speculating why are we wasting precious energy on this? Turns out, it is actually quite important to get your muscles and body warmed up enough to do stretches. 
So ofcourse, next came stretches, of all kinds and shapes. I had never done stretches before any run. That was a terrible idea but I was learning a lot here already. After about 1/2 hr of various stretching and other exercises, we went for a run. 
2 miles, easy cheesy but that was not the end of it. Just as we got done, we had to stretch out again. And then do some core strengthening exercises (more on this later). I thought going to the gym was sufficient but these side planks and what not, they will get to you. 

Lessons Learnt: 

• Stretches are as critical to your training as actually running (more on this later as well)
• Core-strengthening exercises - Well, let's just say, you may have the strongest legs in the world but you still need those core muscles to carry the rest of your torso. So you need this! 

Distance: 2.08mi
Time: 0:22:08
Avg HR: 177

Had a few more days before the 2nd group run started and so  figured I'd do a quick warm up run at the gym. 

Treadmills and I just don't work well together. For some people treadmills are the best escape but then there are others like me for whom treadmill is like a punishment. It's like you are not getting anywhere, like a hamster in a wheel.

Slow warm up run! 

Distance: 1.11mi
Time: 0:13:30
Avg HR: 158

So I had to miss the first team run which was on 4/7/2018 and for a distance of 1 mile. Since the group was focused on training for the half marathon, I had to double up my efforts. 
I decided to run the next day to keep up the momentum. I had done this route before so mentally I already knew I could finish it somewhat. So 4 miles and going up/down a freeway overpass twice, I finally managed to finish the run. 
I was exhausted. I had not done any warm-ups, I just went and finished the run. Not the easiest run going from a 0.96 miler to 4 miles suddenly but I was glad I had managed to break that mental barrier. 

Distance: 4.01mi
Time: 0:45:37
Avg HR: 175 (I had to really push myself and my pace didn't work in my favor either)

Decided to start my own warm-up runs and see how I do before the actual training began. 
0.96 miles later, I was done.
I was running on a treadmill and I could not go any farther. Maybe something to do with the fact that it was on a treadmill. But still, disappointing. That too in 12 minutes. Ouch. 

Today, I found out about the Asha for Education program through an email from a colleague at work. My first instinct was to ignore it, it seemed unrealistic that some organization could help train you for a marathon. But I was curious, so I asked some additional questions. 

The response I got from that colleague was so overwhelmingly positive, that it was hard to ignore. He spoke at length about the transformation and change in lifestyle having gone through the program. I knew I wanted to run a Marathon some day, just didn't think it could happen this early.

I was still on the fence but the idea of training for a full marathon in a structured manner and getting to contribute towards an incredible cause (http://ashanet.org/) was too hard to pass up. I signed up the very next day. 

There was no turning back at this point. OK, maybe there was some opt-outs but I couldn't chicken out on those kids for whom I'll be raising funds. This was an easy win-win. The SF Marathon is on July 29th, 2018, exactly 3 months later and here I was, ground zero, having run 1 mile, about 2 weeks ago. 

Some background - I have run a couple of 10k's and half-marathon's in the past but I mostly 'winged' them. I was never a strong runner, I was just able to finish them one way or another with not-so-great timings and also not feeling super good at the end of the runs. I knew I couldn't just 'wing' a full marathon, I had to take this seriously and do it right.