Celebration of Life

Birthday celebration in Montessori school system is pretty unique. There is a circle representing twelve months of the year and a candle or a cut-out of the Sun in the center of that circle. The birthday kid gets to go around the sun in that circle as many times as their age. At the end of each circle, the kid gets to share with their friends what they remember from that year. At the end of every rotation around that circle, the friends cheer, sometimes even sing. We saw Raaga's friends at school celebrate her last year's birthday this way- what a unique concept!

Today marks my 10th birthday working for Intel. Today also happens to be the day I finished my first half marathon! I actually nearly missed out on doing it today. I was planning to do my third annual Reach the Beach bike riding event on May 16th and this half marathon was too close for me to sign up for both. Thankfully I found out a month ago that none of my usual riding buddies had any interest in riding to the beach and that my riding muscles would not be exercised at any events this summer. I had recently run a 15K (Shamrock Run, March 16th), had a full month to train for the half and thought- what's another 4 miles! So I signed up for the half! I did not run at all after the Shamrock run, did not run the first of my four weeks prior to the race day. I did manage to put in a couple of long runs and a few short ones in the three weeks leading up to today's run. I had a pretty sore upper back that needed chiropractor's snapping some parts back in place the day before the race. So I was both thrilled that I was able to go to the race this morning and nervous about how the run would go, given that the whole universe was hinting that I should not run.

I was very thirsty during the first 2-3 miles, promptly stopped at every water stop and had two cups of water at each station. Each water break was followed by my cramping up really bad. I just wasn't sure if it was my thirst that was causing the cramps or if it is the excess water I drank. I didn't have headphones on, nor did I have a running buddy to chat with to keep up with the motivation. I just looked down the whole way- so much that I now have the differences between my left stride and the right memorized and know exactly how each of my feet lands. To add insult to injury, I started to see the 10K runners hitting their 4th mile in the opposite direction as I just made it to my 2nd. When I made it to the 10K turn-around point at 3mile mark, for a second, I was tempted to just turn around and go back with the 10K runners. I realized I needed to focus on something that would distract me from the fatigue. Then I remembered how today was my 10th anniversary at Intel and that I could do my own celebration of life at Intel, Maria Montessori style. It worked out perfectly because I had exactly 10miles to finish. So I thought about each of my Intel years for each remaining mile.

Miles 4-6 (Intel years 1-3) went by faster than usual pace, miles 7-8 (Intel years 4-5) were very steady. Miles 9-10 (Intel years 6-7) saw me slowing down considerably, I stopped for a water break at mile #10 for the first time since mile#4 and even answered a phone call.  Miles 11-12 (Intel years 8-9) saw me stop to stretch my legs a couple of times. The tall young teenager who I was running side by side with for most of the race suddenly was over a half mile ahead of me. Mile #13 (Intel year 10) was the first time I actually stopped thinking about others around me. It also didn't matter any more if I was running, walking or crawling. I just wanted to do what worked for me. I stopped for water, high-five'd the kids on the way, thought nothing of time and pace and basically just really enjoyed that final stretch. 

Those that know me from work would agree that those ten miles went exactly the way my ten years at Intel went so far. It is really the icing on the cake that the race course is set right around Intel campus- the Sun in the middle for celebration of my life at Intel. Life is good!