uphill running

I was looking at the Seafair marathon course and after the bridge its all uphill, no kidding! That is scary. So I decided to devote my tuesdays to practice uphill running, on the treadmill as there are no hills in New York. This tuesday was a total disaster. I happily set my treadmill at elevation of 10 and speed of 4, that sounds easy. But 1 min into it, I was huffing and puffing as if I had run 10 miles. I could not do it! So then I reduced the speed to 3.7, that too was a challenge. So then I reduced the elevation to 8. Ok, that's better, I was able to run for 2 -3 min without stopping (my expectations were quite down by now).
So, that is where I am today, elecvation 8, speed 3.7, minutes 3. Lets see if this practice makes it any better.

Walking on the streets of New York

As anyone who knows me or has been following this blog would have guessed, this post is not about the dreamy narative of walking on streets of New York, mesmarized by huge building blah blah. No. This post is about a real experience of walking on the streets of New York, experience of a common person who is not getting paid by any magazine to write this.

I always wondered, when I used to live in San Francisco, I just used to love walking in downtown. I used to go out during lunch time, just walk around, or take the bus to downtown on weekends, walking places. But here in New York, I just hate it, I cannot wait to get back inside. The reason was kind of obvious, right in front of my eyes, or rather under my nose and feet.

New York is shady and dirty!! I have a short walk, 2 block, about 0.4 mile from train station to office and it is a pain, wrinkling your nose at the smell of garbage everywhere, keeping your eyes fixed on the ground to avoid canine excretes, its very very far from pleasant. And the weather, its either too hot or too cold. San Francisco of course has the advantage of mild climate, along with that its also a place of beauty. Even among the huge skyscrapers, concrete jungle, you can always glimpse the ocean, the bridges or the greenry. Being west coast it also has the advantage of being new, clean and shiny. New York on the other hand is a total concrete jungle, old, smelly, dirty. So now I know why I love San Francisco and have a totally opposite reaction to New York.

oh, well, hopefully its just a few more months!

7 mile in liberty state park

First long run in long time. It was a cloudy, misty day, temperature in lower 10s, a perfect day for long run. We started towards liberty state park, went almost behind the statue of liberty. On the way back I was confused about the miles covered as it had been only 1 hr of running, so I decided to go to the waterfront. In all covered almost 7 miles, last one running, walking and dragging myself through it.

40min run 20 min walk

Ran by NY waterfront again. A solid 40 min run and then some walk. Need to do better next time. Must have covered at least 3.5 miles. Almost same course as last wednesday.

Prepare for the next half-marathon - Seafair

I really wanted to run Jersey marathon because its course is flat, flattest. But winter practice and no running partner drowned all my enthu. Now again, I want to run. This time Seafair half-marathon, first time crossing 520 on foot. Half seems doable, I have already been running at least 3 regularly and 5 sometimes. I only need to decide, stick to my plan and do it. Starting training today, almost 2 & 1/2 months, lets see how it goes.

all is not lost - corporate green initiatives

www.nikereuseashow.com - They take your old atheletic shoes and reuse them to make sports surfaces like basketball, tennis courts, running track etc. Few drop off locations in major cities. You can always mail them the shoe. Its agreat start, given that how quickly people discard their athletic shoes. Go Nike!

3.5 mile run

summer is at our door steps and with that running outside has started. Today was a really good day, bright and sunny, temp in upper 10s. So I went out for a run. Started at 14th st and went down to Murray street, a 3.5 mile round trip. I have done 5+ miles on the treadmill, but this was first long run outside. I used to think that treadmill is hard, but now outside seems much harder. Time to get back in shape.

आत्मनिर्भरता और आजादी

आत्मनिर्भरता और आजादी दो अलग अलग चीज़ें हैं। आत्मनिर्भरता हमेशा आज़ादी नहीं लाती। आज़ादी दिल में होती है। अगर तुम यह महसूस नहीं कर सकते की तुम आजाद हो, कुछ नहीं है जो तुम्हे आगे बढ़ कर कुछ भी हासिल करने से रोक रहा है, तो आत्मनिर्भरता कुछ नहीं है। अक्सर ऐसा होता है कि हम बहूत मेहनत करते हैं। दसवीं क्लास से ले कर कॉलेज तक दिन रात पढ़ाई करते हैं। नई नौकरी में जी जान से काम करते हैं। और फिर हम उस जगह पर पहुँच जाते हैं जहाँ वो सपना सामने होता है। बस हाथ बढ़ा कर उसको पकड़ने कि देर होती है। पर उस समय क्या हम सबमे हिम्मत होती है उस सपने को पकड़ने कि? क्या उस समय हम आगे जाने के लिए आजाद होते हैं? वो एक आखरी कदम उठाने के लिए हिम्मत लगती है।

नहीं, ऐसा नहीं होता है। हम में नहीं होती है वह हिम्मत। एक डर होता है। किस बात का, मुझे नहीं पता। शायद खुश होने का डर। मानो या ना मानो, लोगों में अक्सर खुश होने का डर होता है। और सच में खुश होने के किए आजाद होना ज़रूरी है। और आजाद होने के लिए मन से खुश होना ज़रूरी है।