Team Motiv8 athlete Sanjay Jawadekar fulfilled his dream of completing a marathon in his 50th year by running the Chicago Marathon 2022. He clocked 4:03, a new personal best after his previous time of 4:15.

A resident of New Jersey, USA, Sanjay showed a consistent work ethic and a no-nonsense approach to training, hardly missing 2-3 workouts in 6 months.

Speaking about his training, Sanjay said:

“I have been a recreational runner for many years. However, I never focused on form, pacing. I used to listen to music. I changed these habits, and focused more in executing the workouts properly, monitoring my breathing and enjoying the surroundings.”

Commenting on motivation during training, Sanjay said:

“Doing something at age 50 was a big motivation. I celebrated weekend long runs with a glass of wine. Since training invoked different types of run workouts, it avoid boredom as there was a purpose behind each workout. I selected 3-4 routes for long runs to avoid monotony.”

About race day, he said:

“Waking up 3 hours early at 4am to fuel was challenging. The anticipation and wait before flag off was too much. Once the race started, I had to use lots of mental power at being patient with pacing, in the midst of all the race day excitement, with crowds,  music, cheering, etc. Fellow runners were running at different paces resulting in jams in the first 5K. I had to muster all my mental toughness after 35K, and used the various mental tips shared by coach, and managed to eventually get a strong finish.”

After the finish, Sanjay said he felt an extreme sense of accomplishment. All the hard work over the last few months had paid off. he bonus was the PB of 12 minutes.