Marathon number 10 was special. This race marks end of season 2017 for team asha that I coach so I got the privilege of accompanying runners for their first ever marathon. There is a certain charm in seeing someone train half the year, missing friday parties, showing up for saturday morning runs, for tuesday tracks week after week and all of that culminates with the marathon week. All the runners had butterflies in their stomach, and phantom pains from all over were popping up and so were the million of questions about pacing, course, what to do with this and what to do with that -- all fun stuff! The course has two half marathons, one through beautiful trails of clovis and the other half within Fresno. City shows up to cheer runners and race was overall well managed. It's their 10th anniversary and I expect them to increase runners as they go along (especially with Clovis 1/2 marathon which is very scenic and lets runners go through some tunnels in the first 8 miles)
Supporting Lotus Petal Foundation, Gurgaon, via a vibrant community of donors. Doing my bit by attempting challenges beyond me, along the way. Details at lotuspetalfoundation.org. Every dollar you donate, goes towards providing free education, daily meals during school hours, health checks to the under privileged.