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.