Sunny Thind, 27, Marathon Runner

Sunny Thind is a 27-year-old runner who grew up in Milpitas. His parents have lived here for the past three decades.

A runner throughout high school, Thind took a break in college and then got back into running. He qualified for this year's Boston Marathon and competed it in 3:46:13. But it wasn't the time he wanted, thanks to a serious knee injury 12 weeks before.

But that doesn't mean he's giving up!

Milpitas Patch: How do you train for a marathon?

Sunny Thind: When I was training for the San Diego marathon, my sister helped me out a lot. She would follow me on her bike, and carry my water and GU packs. My usual route would be from Jacklin, and I would head up toward Evans and then down Piedmont towards San Jose. 

So with marathon running, you don't want to go out running 20 miles every day. You usually want to have one long day, which I would save for the weekend. You have different workouts throughout the week. For example, you might have your long run on Sunday, take Monday off, and then do an interval workout on the track another day. Then do a couple of eight- to 10-milers on the other days. 

Patch: You completed the 2010 Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Marathon in 3:05:07, which qualified you for Boston. Then what happened?

Thind: Well, I got married in January of this year. We took our honeymoon, and shortly after, I began my training for Boston. I had 12 weeks to train, and that was the perfect amount of time I needed. I was really anxious, because I worked so hard to get there. 

Unfortunately, I got into my training too quickly. I was doing a little bit too much too soon, and I started having knee problems 12 weeks prior to the race. It was pretty bad. I actually wasn't able to train fully for this marathon as I had planned, and, instead, I had to go through physical therapy. I also had to see a sports medicine doctor.  

If it was any other marathon in the world, I probably would have not run it. But being the , and that I had to qualify, I was, like, I'm going out there, and if I have to walk the whole thing, I'm going to walk it. 

Patch: But what about the pain your knee was giving you? Were you going to make 26.2 miles?

Thind: Come race day on Monday, my brother, who is a doctor, gave me Toradol four hours before the race. He injected me with the medicine, which is like a strong Motrin that helps to cover up pain temporarily.   

I was very fortunate for the first 14 miles that the medicine was working very well, and I wasn't feeling too much discomfort in my knee. Once the medicine wore off, it was just a battle for the last 12 miles. It was really painful. I was just telling myself "get to the finish line."

Patch: Have you always been a runner?

Thind: I started running cross county in the seventh grade at Thomas Russell. I also did track and field seventh and eighth grade. When I transitioned to high school, I was just on the cross-country team, and I didn't do track. Instead I did wrestling and tennis. After high school, I took a break from running and wasn't able to compete in college due to an injury after my senior year. I guess there was a lot of wear and tear on my knees.

Patch: So what's next?

Thind: It looks like I will have to have surgery to rebound and get back to running. It doesn't look like I'm going to have any races this year. The reason I'm going to have the surgery is because I love the sport and want to continue to run. I definitely want to continue marathon running. One of my goals is to actually break three hours in a marathon. 

I know with surgery I'm going to be out of commission for months. … Definitely in early 2012, I want to run my next marathon—and get back to Boston and run the whole thing properly.