One more hike

yeah, well sort of. I am getting disappointed by the state of 'hikes' here. We would never call such things hike. We started on a nice somewhat foresty train (think Tiger mountain), which was ok, but soon there were houses and sheep, which was cute. But then soon there was a road and cars and random people on 'top'. And from there we took a motor road down. Well, my friends, that's not what you call a 'hike'. Its a walk in park with some elevation gain. We did get to see Alps, but there was also civilization in between. Beautiful lake had 2 bridges and houses all around it. Rolling hills were all dotted with houses. You get a much better remote experience on Tiger Mountain. It did not even meet that standard (which is the lowest of any hikes in Seattle). Maybe its too early, maybe I should just appreciate the fact that I am out hiking in sun while its all cloudy and snowy in Seattle. But the scenery needs to get better else I will be packing my bags soon. I don't think I can spend many months without getting away from the civilized concrete world of houses and fences.

Speaking of sun - its way to strong here. I was completely dehydrated yesterday and its suppose to be spring! what's with that!

PS: I do have pictures from hike, I will post soon. Right now I dont' have internet at apartment.

Apartment!

Got the keys to apartment today! finally! It seemed lot less painful than what people described. I guess I did not have too many constraints. I can slowly move now in next 4 days of chutti!

funf minute!

I forgot to mention another exciting moment. When I was coming back from signing lease for new apartment (oh! I found an apartment! if it was a surprise to you, pay attention!), I stopped at the bus stop to see when was the bus to train station. There was a very old lady there, she was looking at me with interest. I saw the timetable and then looked at my no-watch wrist (yeah, I live in Switzerland and don't own a watch. (Oh! wait! did I just say I 'live' in Switzerland!!)) [back to point].
So I looked and obviously did not find the time. The lady who was looking at me with interest said - "sthg sthg auto sthg funf minute sthg sthg sthg", and guess what! I understood she is saying the bus will be here in 5 minutes. Then she also said "die post", and then I was all confused! But I got it!
It was a Dei Post bus and it came in 5 minutes! woo hoo! Of course I still have no idea what all the other things she said, but I did get 5 words!

4 & 1/2 day weekend!

The looooong weekend is here and I have no plan. I can't help compare it with the July 4th weekend when we would always take a long trip somewhere hiking / backpacking. Its kind of too early for me to plan here. I am sure there are bizzare amount of options here, I just don't know them yet. I do feel like going out somewhere and camping for a day. Snowshoeing would be just awesome! Or I might spend the days in city doing nothing (I bet there are things to do in a city also!).

Hike, train, bike and marathon weekend

Finally got started on hiking in Zurich. I think Uetliborg does not count like Tiger Mtn does not count in Seattle. But was kind of disappointed, as I had completely different expectations. I was expecting mountains, wilderness, snow covered peaks. But this was more of a urban hike, going through city and little hills. I have a feeling that when it comes to wilderness and real mountains, I will have to lower my expectations here. Seattle and its never ending views of Cascades, Olympics, Rockies, Rainier and all other ranges totally spoil you. I miss that getting out of city and being on mountain feeling here. Maybe I need to get further into real Alps.

The highlight of hike though was train back to Zurich from Brugg. We caught TGV coming from Paris. What a train! Its a bullet! luxury! carpet! I want to go to Paris just for the experience of sitting in that train. Also I have to admit, when we got back into Zurich I had this slight feeling of home!

This was also Zurich marathon weekend. I am sure I could not have run a full marathon this year with all the stuff going on. So that was a good decision. But looking at all returning marathoners in their bright yellow 'finished' shirts, I felt like I really want to run this next year. Timing is also perfect, just getting out of winter, starting summer in super form.

Finally getting around to looking for bike. This is truly a biking country, there are bikes everywhere. Weather definitely favours that, its been sunny 15 of the 17 days I have been here. Will probably end up buying a new very similar bike as I have.

1 year commitment to travel on swiss rail

Today finally I went and bought the 1 year half-price swiss rail card. As days go by it feels more and more like I am actually going to be living here. I also went and checked out some bikes and might soon buy a new Swiss (actually German) bike for every day commute. All the talk of travel is so exciting, the reason why I am here :).
Though I still feel that I am here for short time and Seattle is still home. Though actually I am thoroughly confused! Is India home? Is Seattle home? Do I live in Zurich now? Sometimes I wake up and don't know where I am. Yesterday I went to an Indian restaurant, kind of hole in wall, but awesome food. And I felt that I am still sitting in Seattle and then I hear someone speak an incomprehensible language and realize no, its Zurich!
Everything is still strange, but its getting familiar. I am able to understand some German words and my igoogle is also insisting that it should be in German.
ich: hey
Am Samstag um 17:42 gesendet.

15 days - Apartment!

hmm, I think finally found apartment. Nothing fancy, no view, not cheap, not walking distance from office, not bikable, not a gas stove, but that is Zurich! I can still get into office in under 30 min, and there are plenty trains and there are mountain views outside apartment.
apartment

Nothing more exciting after finding the salsa club.

12 days

ok, 12 days as no significance, but its just that I am finally feeling like I am indeed living here and its going to be good. (fingers crossed). In office there is an actual Indian chef who makes real Indian food. Its so awesome! So much better food than what I got in Kirkland, and of course I have already mentioned the quality of food here, no fake GM stuff.

Also went to an 'actual' authentic Indian (Sri Lankan actually) place. Of course I had samosa because I can't make them and they were not good. But the person I went with had idiappam, real good iddiappam with nice daal and what not. Totally unexpected. I had thought here you will get an even worse imitation of Indian food, but it turned quite different.

Apartment also I think mostly resolved. Whoever said getting apartment here is hard. It did turn out to be ok, just complicated by the fact that I was too scared that I am not going to find anything.

People are definitely nicer, rather more genuine. In US everyone around you was friendly. Which was good, I have met some kinda mean people here. But then folks who act friendly are genuinely friendly. Almost daily I am surprised by generosity of my teams here - genuinely interested if I found an apartment, if I need help with German, even accompany me to see apartment! Its just not the same in US. And as I learn more things, it feels its really half way between India and US, so many things are so India like here, still its so different from India.

half-day Monday

Yesterday there was interesting event in Zurich, parade and burning of the snowman. It was one of those rare 2 - 3 days in a year when Zurich actually gets crowded. It was interesting to see all the marching parades from different cantons of Switzerland, dressed in their very traditional outfits. Then there was a big "snow" man that is burnt to predict how good the summer will be, its kind of like ravan dahan. This year its support to be very good, and the snowman's head was blown away really fast.

Second weekend

Sunday night found a salsa club, thanks to friends in office. Definitely highlight of my 10 days in Zurich. It was great. I did miss Danceworks, its just different when you know all people at the party. I could see some folks doing the moves that we learnt at Danceworks and I wished it was Wednesday and I was at the party in Redmond. But oh well, at some point I might get to know more people here and dance away the night.
At the party also met someone who spoke little English, but was Spanish! Vola! Time to practice Spanish. It was interesting how I could slip into speaking broken Spanish over trying to speak mix of few German words and English. I guess its all relative :)

Apartment hunting seems to be coming to an end. Seen good places, 2, both good, both ok, it will be whatever its meant to be.

Also did some shopping over the weekend - bought salt! It is interesting how I could not find bulk rice and aata here. And of course its impossible to shop when you cannot read the labels. I spent 10 min trying to figure out what kind of oil I am looking at till my translate told me that its vinegar. Never seen so many types of vinegars.

Another interesting event on the weekend - while walking down a path by river (its more like a nala but clean), a little girl stopped by me. Probably wanted some attention. So I obliged, and told her "look at you how cute! riding that little bike! What's your name?" Yeah I was in really good mood! She looked like at age where she should be able to understand and speak basic language. So I tried again "what's your name". More blank smily stare. So I thought - what a dumb child. Till then her mother caught up and said something to her, and then I realized - I was speaking a foreign language to her! how interesting!

1 week - Feeling better

1 full week spent here. Can't say it flew by. It did not, I was counting each day and it seemed really really long. But I guess feeling somewhat better, coming to terms with living here. Everytime I can understand a word of German spoken by stranger, its like awesome! wow!

Day 7 - overwhelmed

Almost 1 week complete. Now is the time to feel overwhelmed with apartment search. I have seen 5 so far and all are ok, something wrong with each of them.

Day 5 - Its finally sinking in

yes, its finally sinking in that this is a big change, that I am by myself in this strange country. The initial shock of OMG! I am in Europe! is over, and its S***! I am Europe by myself!
What triggered this - I won't go in details as its office related and confidential and what not. But I suddenly found that I have 0 money here. With one click money transfer from US -> India, you would think it will be half-a click to Switzerland, its after all half way from India. But no, not possible. Of all the things, I did not think that finances is something I would have to worry about.
(don't worry, I am not out on street begging, I still have dear old credit card from US, it is kindda difficult to use it to pay my apartment deposit. Of course working at Google I can eat 5 days a week and fast for 2 days)

... and that was just the beginning. After being spoiled by friendly Seattle folks in office, everyone seems rude here from HR to the security guys. I miss the smiley security folks at Kirkland who always asked me if I am working late - with a smile. Not like why are you entering office so late!

... and bank people. Ok, they are not rude, they are polite in their own way, especially after they look at where you work. Its not their fault that its so complicated to get a bank account here. Don't even ask about getting a credit card when you need it the most. In Seattle, its always smiles - how can we help you today :), can we interest you in this credit card and also give you $40 to take it :). Oh well, no more happy banking.

As is clear, totally feeling home sick today. Need to remind myself why I am here - because I like complicated life and it was getting too easy and comfortable in Seattle.

Looking fwd to some swing dancing tomorrow.

Day 4 in Zurich

Day 4, Monday, new week, back at work. Still trying to decide if I like it here or not. Its strange, its like I have no feelings about this move. Or that I have strong positive and negative feelings and they have mixed to form a no-feeling zone. Still super excited to be in Europe, to start a new life in country with new language, culture and what not. Of course looking forward to traveling all over Europe. Its exciting, its adventure. At the same time, leave all my friends behind, getting started from scratch in this new place where I don't even speak the language is super scary. Yesterday while walking back from office, I had a strange feeling of loneliness and vulnerability! Its like there was a safety net in Seattle, if something happened to me, there were people there. Here its like there is nobody.

The weekend came and went, and there was no party to plan, no one to talk to. Still hard to justify why I took the big step, but of course deep down I know, I wanted to do this. I needed this change, the sense of adventure, knowing and learning something new to feel alive. I am really going to miss salsa, the weekend parties, the mountains that were always there (just behind the clouds).

Day 12 - Bangalore

Finally reached Bangalore. We had enough time and space to put the bikes together in tran itself. That was good. We got off at the main station and from there had a long ride back home. It was peak traffic time on weekday. But Rahul showed great navigation skill and we were able to do the whole ride by inner roads, away from bad traffic. I did have a fall on the way though, not bad, but just some combination of downhill and breaks. I was just so glad to finally reach his apartment and have the ride over with!

Day 11: Alappuzha - Ernakulam: 70km

The houseboat ride had still refreshed me enough that I could so the final stretch to Ernakulum. It was all on NH and we knew that there is going to be lot of traffic and pollution. No surprises there. Going was slow, but ok, we were covering the distance. We reached a place called Aarur, from there we were able to take a Kochi bypass in Ernakulum. That was good, my cold was bad, whole respiratory system was fried and I had to get this over with. Ernakulum city was worse than expected, really had traffic and it took us really long time to navigate the last 9 km to railway station. Someone I got there, still alive. Then it was long wait for the train. We spent the time at a restaurant, having lunch and then coffee etc.
On train, we decided to take the bikes with us. After bus's terrible experience, I did not want to leave the bikes anywhere else. So we paied Rs1000 and took the bikes with us. Vaibhav helped us take them apart and we could adjust them under the seats. Here again I saw another reason for this country's backwardness. People are just mean and greedy. There was an empty cupboard in train where bikes would had fitted. But the person managing it probably wanted money, so he won't let us put bike in there. He locked it and just would not listen. We also decided, whatever happens, we are not giving him money. Luckily folks on other seats were nice and adjusted with the bikes. Train ride was overnight and turned out to be ok. Away from pollution, my cold was little better.

Day 10: Amritapuri - Alappuzha: 60km

I got up feeling much better. The medicine had worked to hide the symptoms. So we decided to ride. We started early, but we had to again go on highway which I know was not good for my respiratory system. Early morning helped, though not much. We reached Allepey in afternoon and had to find houseboat. I was not really into it, because taking a boat would also mean that we will again be starting Ernakulum ride in the afternoon. But it was not an option. So we took the boat and loaded all our stuff in it, including bikes. Boat was ok, at least it took us out in waters away from traffic. I wish it was away from pollution also, but there was lot of pollution of all diesel engines of the boats. It was still enjoyable, somewhat relaxing. The backwaters were definitely very beautiful.
I had a really bad night on the boat. It was A/C, and that's usually worst thing for my cold. I could not sleep much at night, and got up with headache and bad throat. I could not wait to get this over with.

Day 9: Varkala - Kollam - Amritapuri: 40km biking

We started really early, before dawn. The plan was to reach Kollam, and then from there take ferry to Amma ashram at Amritapuri. I had never seen ashram and wanted to see what its all about. The ride would have been great, but we did most of it in dark, at least the fun parts. We could feel that road is lined with ocean and backwaters, but could not see much. Still terrine was so much flatter now, it made for a good ride. Soon we had to join NH 47 though, and it was back to traffic. Good thing is that at least we were getting narial pani now. We also enjoyed some other fruit on the way.
There were some nice bridges over backwaters on the way. Ride to Kollam was ok, not as great of east coast ones due to traffic, but better than previous 2 rides because we started early. We reached Kollam well before time, around 8:00. We took a stop at Railway station to book some tickets and then headed off to take the ferry. I had proper cold by now, and could feel a fever coming. Due to whole NH traffic and pollution condition, I did not have much interesting in riding anymore. We had the option to go all the way to Alleppey in ferry. That will almost end our ride there. But I wanted to see Ashram, and I thought I will be ok if I can get away from pollution. So we stopped at Ashram.
Amma ashram was quite disappointing. It was nothing like what I had expected. It was small and crowded, and my cold did not help either. I got a dorm room, we could not get a place together. The room was terrible. Overall, the experience was not at all what I expected. I had a fever by now and it felt like I won't be able to ride to Alleppey tomorrow. If the ashram was nice, I might have wanted to stay there and take boat later. But it was not. So I took medicine and slept.

Day 8 - in varkala

Finally reached here after two days of really hard biking on rolling hills on kerala coast. It was totally unexpected. By end of yesterday I was completely exhausted and not enjoying it anymore. So we took a day break here. This place reminds me of Mindo in Ecuador. The place is very touristy. Not my type of place. The beach was beautiful though and we desperately needed the break. Thanks to Vaibhav's friends, we got a decent room, not over-priced, at a quiet place. Rahul took a Kerala massage here.

Day 7: Kovalam - Varkala: 60km

I got up early as usual. Some of the tiredness was gone. Rahul and I decided to check out the beach. So we went to the beach and played in water for some time. Today we had to go up to Varkala, which was another 60km north. I did not really want to ride, especially since we were gong to leave in the afternoon in lot of sun. But I guess we had to. So we again started after 11:00, under full heat of sun. On top of that we were not going to take the beach road, but fact NH 47 traffic. I knew its not going to be good, but after yesterday, beach road option was also not looking great. I just hoped that we reach Varkala fast, and then able to start early in morning from there. At least that will take out the heat element from the ride. It was clear here that the fun riding part is over, it was only on the east coast.
As expected, we joined NH 47 and its traffic. The road was still up and down, though a bit less than yesterday. We were still going slow due to accumulated tiredness. At some point we left NH and went into side road to Varkala. On this road, traffic was less, still it was really hot, and I had going slow. I had to walk some of the hills as I had no energy. Finally we reached Varkala beach. We met Vaibhav's friend there and they suggested a really good quiet place to stay. I liked the place, and I wanted to take a day's break here. If we have to ride on NH at least we can make it a bit pleasant by started early morning.
The beach here was very good. Today I had no energy to do anything. So I just went to beach, sat there, then had a huge dinner and then slept. Saw a really good sunset on the beach where suns becomes smaller and smaller. We don't see that in Seattle ever due to all the mountains (and also its cloudy 277+ days)

Day 6: Kanyakumari - Kovalam: 120km+

We got up early to see the sunrise. It was a cloudy day, still we saw some sunrise. Then we went and saw other memorials in Kanyakumari. We could not go to the main attraction Vivekanand smarak as it took 3hrs to get there. I enjoyed the beach in morning and then later at the meeting of 3 seas. I am sure water of Indian ocean was bit colder than Bay of Bengal.
It was almost 11 by the time we started out for Kovalam. According to the plan we had 80+km to go. In the beginning, I saw first road-side nariyal pani. The road was still good.
It was hot, but I was expecting we take the beach road which will be flat. Little did I know what was in store. We somehow ended up on NH-47. There was moderate traffic, but it got worse as we got close to city. Nagercoil city was just terrible, traffic jam, not sure where what road is going. I thought if we took the beach road, we will be away from traffic. So we asked around and got up to the beach road. The road was much longer, but I expected us to make faster progress as we won't have to deal with traffic. Starting out it was good. It was along the oceam with glimses of backwaters. But soon that road just turned nasty. The road was completely potholed, and on top of that it was long rolling hills. This road was not flat at all. Add to that the heat of day and fatigue from dealing with all the traffic before. It made for a very unpleasant ride. It was clear that we were not going to make into Kovalam before dark. So we aimed at getting into Kerala at least. We had a very short bad lunch, and then just kept riding on. I was just really getting tired of the hills. Uphills were bad, but downhills were worse because the road was so bad, we could not go fast. It was scary at places. We just had to keep riding on. At one place, finally too tired, I asked where we were, and it turned out to be last town in Tamil Nadu. That was a bit heartening. We will be in Kerala soon. And we were, and it was quite clear. Its one long village, and constant noise of loud speakers playing bhajans never leaves you. The road was better now, but still all ups and downs which were really tiring. We reached the first town in Kerala - Poovar. Rahul and I wanted to stop here, I was clearly tired beyond fun. But Vaibhav wanted to push on to Kovalam which was another 20+ km. So we decided to push on. It was soon dark, and I had really slowed down. Somehow we managed to get into Kovalam. The beach is a long downhill and I had to walk it because I was just too tired to ride carefully. This ride was no fun.
Vaibhav found us a hotel on the beach and we stayed there. I was too tired to even eat, so I just had some bars and slept.

Day 5: Rameswaram - Kanyakumari: 62km biking

e woke up to a very heavy rain, in fact it rained all night and our bikes were completely drenched. Rahul and I were not prepared for rains at all, our bags were not waterproof.
We had decided to cut short the bike ride and take the bus from Rameswaram to about 60km before Kanyakumari. Since KK is southermost tip, I wanted to ride there and not arrive in bus. We were also fighting against time. So we took early morning local bus to take us out of Rameswaram. Ride from hotel to bus stand was only about a km, but in the rain we were completely drenched, head to toe, not to mention the bags were covered in mud as bikes did not have a mud guard. Getting bikes on the bus was interesting. I missed that fun because Rahul and Vaibhav took care of it while I watched the bags. We were not sure how much we wanted to ride given that we were running against time, rain and tiredness. But I really wanted to ride to KK. Vaibhav nicely agreed to stay with us till we are ~60km from Kanyakumari.
The road was not great and very bunpy. With every bump I wondered if something broke on the bike! Finally bus stopped at a place for lunch where it said 62km from Kanyakumari. So we decided to stop there and start biking. We got the bikes down and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was intact on all 3 bikes. We fixed the bikes back, had a lunch and then headed out. This road was not completely flat, but had rolling hills. Still road condition was good and hills were not so bad. The road also hugged ocean and we could see glimpses of it on the way. Thankfully it did not rain, and remained cloudy preventing us from heat. The scenery was beautiful and we were able to ride fast. As Kanyakumari came closer, we also started seed windmills. Near Kanyakumari, we also had a short section on golden triangle road. That road is just great, smooth, it was like gliding! The section was short lived though :(. We reached Kanyakumari before dark, and it was definitely the best ride of the trip.
In Kanyakumari, we found a hotel with very good view from balcony. It was facing east and we could see sunrise. Like Rameswaram, here also there was no lack of good north Indian food. We again ate a lot. I had aalu parathas. At night we saw great full moon from balcony. It had been a tiring day, so we slept early.

Day 4: Thondi - Rameswaram: 110km

We started really early, before day break around 5:30. We had a total of 110km to cover today. Starting early was a great decision. Morning ride was great. The road almost hugs the coast, though we could not see any ocean. It was a very good road and completely flat and in morning devoid of any traffic. We had lot of fun riding on that road. We saw good bridges and good birds. As we neared Ramnathpuram, traffic also increased. Getting in to the city was bad, but we had to since we were meeting Vaibhav here. We reached really fast, and then took a break in Ramnathpuram. Rameswaram was another 50+km from here. Heading out to Rameswaram, we met some traffic and it was also hot afternoon. Still nice flat road made ride good. As we neared our destination, we could feel the ocean coming closer. Rameswaram is a island, so to get into it, there is a long beautiful bridge. I loved riding on that bridge with water all around. From bridge its another 10km into the city, and that was very long 10km. I was quite happy to finally reach Rameswaram. It was smaller and dirtier than I thought. The temples was also not as impressive as some others in Tamil Nadu. After parking our bikes we roamed around a bit. One great thing was good north Indian food. Its a big pilgrimage place. so they had loads of great north Indian food. I ate so much, especially after the 110km ride. We checked out the 'beach', got a bit wet in rain and then ate some more. Next day we planned to leave early again in order to gain a day in our trip.

Day 3: Sivagange - Thondi: 67km

We started really early in the morning. The day was still cloudy and we were expecting some drizzle. Getting out of Sivagange, we met some really bad road, completely potholed. Thankfully, the road was flat and there was no traffic. It still made a pleasant ride. On the way we were coordinating with Vaibhav to see where we can meet him. Bad road was followed by really good road, and then some more bad road. We also saw a temple in between, it was flooded, so could not go in. Today was also a very pleasant ride, road lined with fields, some snake and bird sightings. Thondi was a very small fishing village. We found a small place to stay, cleaned our bikes, washed clothes, has good lunch. After some sleep, in evening we decided to go out and explore the village. Finally saw waterfront. Went to bed early and next day was a 100+ day.

Day 2: Madurai - Sivagange: 57km

Next day morning, we checked out early and waited for the luggage place to open. They opened and surprise, the bikes were still not there. One more talk about they will arrive in an hour! I had had it by now, and I said tell us where the bikes are and we will go get them. No more relying on those idiots. So they told us the place and we got out to the godown to finally get our bikes. Good they were there and intact. We loaded the bikes and started our trip.
First destination was Sivagange. Getting out of Madurai was not nice, had to deal with all traffic and route finding. It was also middle of day, but thankfully cloudy. Somehow we managed to get out of the city and on small state highway to Sivagange. Biking was pleasant from the beginning. Road was almost empty and quite good, and we were making good time. Road was lined with water filled fields. We reached Sivagange soon, not much tired, found a small place there to stay. We wanted to leave early next day to avoid any traffic and sun. So there was not much to do, but eat and sleep and wash clothes. So that's what we did.

Trip Day 1 - Madurai

We started our biking trip in Madurai. Getting to Madurai was interesting. We had booked Volvo bus tickets and its truck is suppose to be bog enough to fit in the bikes. At the last moment though, the bus operator caused problems and asked us to send the bikes in 'luggage' separately. We went to luggage place and things appeared very dicy. I don't know why they cause so much problem, probably just wanted some more money. It did not look right from the beginning. But we sent the bikes in luggage. They promised that it will arrive right in the morning with us. ok. As I will learn multiple times, Indians have no sense of time, or of meeting any expectation. Tomorrow never really means tomorrow.
We arrived Madurai very early morning, and then roamed around to find a hotel. Found a not so cheap place. Then we headed out at promised time to check out the bikes. No surprise, the bikes were not there. The guys at counter had 20 different stories - it will come at a different place, it will come in afternoon, it will come in evening and then finally it will arrive tomorrow! I can't help wonder if this type of non-commitment is the reason why this country is still so backward even though there is no shortage of talent. Honesty and sincerity are missing big time.
There was not much to do in Madurai. We saw the main temple, which is great. And then some other temples.

70 mile ride - last weekend practice ride

Today was last weekend of practice ride. We had decided to go to Hosur, then some other small place and then return by Benarghatta road. It was a good almost 100km loop. Once on hosur road, I started cribbing about traffic and pollution. At that time I really thought it was bad, I was not enjoying the ride at all. So we decided to take a detour to Jigni, expecting to follow the scenic route we took last time. It was not the way, we ended up in Jigni industrial area. The road was nice and paved, not much traffic. It was also mostly downhill. We were able to go quite fast there. Reaching Jigni, we had breakfast - dosa and idli at the same place. (I can never get tired of Idli and dosa and looking fwd to 8 days of that!).
From there we asked for directions to Ankele. Finally we were able to reach this nice 12km stretch, low traffic and beautiful. I had a feeling that we had been there before. Reaching there we asked for directions to Benarghatta. People pointed us back towards Jigni! The way to benarghatta was through Jigni!. So we retraced our steps. I did not mind because that 12km was the most beautiful stretch so far. From Jigni we almost recognized the way, taking the detour from benarghatta road to a less traffic better road.
In all we did only 70km, but it was good that we were not tired. I guess we will reach the 100 km mark only during the trip.

Weekday practice

We have been biking the same 2 hour route, and did the same today. But today I was just not in mood to bike, and today I was trying a new shorts and they were somewhat uncomfortable. Today traffic was less, and that was good, but we had to return few meters short of usual turn around point.

Biking 80km with hill

After 2 weeks of practice, it was time to bump up our weekend ride. We wanted to do 100km, but the 100km loop had 3 long hills. So we decided to go for the route which was ~80km with a long hill. Starting out it was mostly downhill. This road was not so good, pot-holed etc. The route was such that we go downhill, and then come back up the hill. This was part of the 100km circuit. While going downhill, I could see it was so steep that it was almost scary. Steep down and windy road. I could see how going uphill would be killing. Little bit down the road we turned back to go up the hill. Gear had to be 1:1, even at that I was not able to pedal and move the bike up. I was so wishing for the time when all I had to do was run up, far better than the effort I was putting with that bike. I had to stop 2 - 3 times to catch my breath, re-engergize and start again. I don't know how, somehow I reached top of that really long hill. From there on also it was a bit flat, bit also quite a bit gradual uphill. After that gargantuan hill, even the small uphills were feeling too much.
Good thing, on the way we found a coconut walla and had some fresh coconut water. This was so good, so much better than what we had in the city. This was also with malai, sweet!
After that point I was tired and just wanted to get home. On the way we had seen quite a few trucks, and so much pollution. My nose and eyes were all hurting. I would need to find something to cover my face on the trip.

Bike day 2 - 30km

Today we decided to do a shorter ride on our own. The plan was to ride for 2 hrs. We decided to take the same road as last time. Traffic was usual now, not much on the way out, and since we were coming back earlier, not too much on the way back also. Once we entered the city, we decided to take inner road instead of the higway we took last time. This was good. Inner road was nicer, much less traffic and we got few extra miles also.

Bike day 1 - 40km

Today was first long ride on the bike. We had to leave at 5:00am in order to avoid traffic. It was dark, but nice as there was no traffic on road. We met with Kiran on highway and then started to go out of the city towards Benarghatta. After a bit we reached close to Nilgiris. The smell of mountains was over powering, and it felt good to be back near nature. Then we reached a forest road that will take us into real forest, A forest where there are elephants. Kiran was quite excited about elephants and had taken many trips there to spot one. Thankfully we did not spot any, I am still not fan of wild wildlife. Forest road was good, narrow but no traffic. We could ride much faster here, and also try out the hills. The turn around point on top of the hill was interesting. I could not place the semi-dense forest I was seeing anywhere. Usually when we see natural beauty, we are able to relate it to other exotic place we have seen before. This was just different, and I was of course not impressed, being spoiled by beauty of Seattle.

Still, it was cool to be able to get out of the city and breath real fresh air. We stayed there for about 30 min, then started back. The way back was different, it was light and there was lot more traffic than before. Kiran asked me to not get off the road, and keep my ground. I did not know if I could trust that truck driving down at me to brake at right time. Mostly they did, I was driven off the road only couple of times. Still I cannot call it good experience in any way, only the crazies would venture out like that. I don't know how we reached at turnout of apartment safely. To celebrate that we had idli breakfast outside and then took the final easy road back to the apartment.

Getting the bike

As soon as I landed in Bangalore, we did not waste any time and got my bike. I had already decided on Shwinn Sporterra sport, had seen and tried it at Performance bikes in Redmond. The bike guy Kiran put together the bike in front of us, it was interesting to watch. We rode the bikes home through Bangalore traffic at peak time. That was a life threatening experience. Of all the adventures I have been into, cycling in Bangalore is going to turn out to be most life threatening, on occassions I felt, this is it, I am going to be the next road kill. But somehow half walking, half riding we got back to the apartment.

Biking in India

If someone told me a month ago that I will be thinking about doing a multi-day cycling trip, and that too in India, I would have said no way! clearly no way! I am not into biking. But as it happened, I did end up signing for one. After unsuccessful Rainier, this year end was looking glum. I was going to spend my birthday, december and new year in India quietly. Somehow that is not want I wanted to do. But just as I was getting used to the idea of spending quiet time (after a highly adventurous year), I saw Vaibhav's status message talking about biking southern coast of India. hmm, I will be in India! So that is how it started. I seriously started thinking about doing part of the trip with him, it was new, exciting, uncertain, fun! I did not know if I am going to make it more than 1 day, and the logistics seemed huge, but I wanted to try it.

Mt Rainier story

Sometime in March 2010, I started training to climb Mt Rainier, a 14000+ highly glaciated peak. I hiked on the trails covered with snow where I would never have gone before, I hiked in rainy weather, and with 30lb packs.
Finally after lots of canceled plans, we started for Mt Rainier on 4th September. Weather predictions were not good, it was going to be cloudy and windy. It was already late in the season, so we just had to make the attempt.

Day 1:
Starting from Paradise, it was already cold and cloudy, but they assured us that clouds go away once you get up to Camp Muir @10,000 ft. So we packed our bags and started. Beginning was nice and easy, it was very different landscape from our previous hike to camp Muir when everything was covered in snow. We encountered some snow just before pebble creek, but nothing difficult to navigate. We refueled at Pebble Creek and got ready to get on snow. It was softer by now, so we did not need crampons. Grade got a bit steeper and going little slow here. As promised, we got glimpses of the peak among clouds and it got clearer and clearer as we got closer to Muir. Finally Muir hut was in view, though we knew its a long way away.

At Camp Muir, we took a short break and got ready to travel on the glacier beyond to Ingraham flats. We put on all the gear, crampons, harness and roped up. The first part to Ingraham flat is flat :). Soon we got to a rocky section on Cathedral rock. This was harder to climb with crampons as there were loose rocks and steeper grade. After the rocky sections comes a bit more trickier part, steeper and icier section to get up to glacier. I was quite tired by now and was having some problems in the couple of steep icy parts. Finally, we reached Ingraham flat, a flat area where we could camp.

It was really cold by now, and my hands and everything was freezing. I was almost out of energy and had to get inside a tent to warm up a bit. I could not help much with tent setup. Once the tents were setup, I just wanted to get in my sleeping bag and sleep. So that is what I did, after some food.

Day 2:
Today was sort of rest day here. We were going to do some self-arrest etc. training and then start the climb at mid-night. But the day started late and with bad news. Weather was not getting any better and it was expected to be very high winds and low temperatures at night. It was looking like we were not going to start our climb. So around 10:30am, it was decided that 2 rope teams should attempt the summit. Some of us were going to get left behind, and being slowest member, I volunteered. So 3 of us got ready to prepare food and water of rest of the 8 who were making an attempt. We knew it was late, wind was strong and they would have to go really fast. Rest of us were going to do some training, in the hope that we can start next day. But I knew from beginning that it was not going to happen.

We spent most of the day melting water for drinking, and preparing food. We did some training, but it was just cold and windy. Finally one of the teams returned from mid-way, it was too windy to go further. They headed down to Camp Muir and we waited in tents for the second team. The finally arrived around 9:00 after a successful summit and we all went to sleep.

Day 3:
As expected, we woke up to a proper winter storm. Snow was flying everywhere and it was a whiteout. Inches of snow had fallen overnight and everything left outside was buried. It was clear that we were not going to make summit attempt and top priority was to packup and get everyone back to Muir safely. So that's what we did, geared up again, wearing everything we brought, roped up and started back. It was interesting going down with so much fresh snow. Fortunately route was still marked and we could stay on trail. I think fresh snow made it easier to get down, especially in the rocky part where snow made for a bit more traction space for crampons. Finally other side of Cathedral rock it was completely different story, clear blue skies, calm winds. We reached Camp Muir with no problems. On the way I got to see crevasses up close.

At Camp Muir, we regrouped. We had no water and everyone was just dehydrated. So we boiled some water, drank a little. It was also time to get out of snow gear, crampons, ropes and everything. Mood was good, and somewhat excited to finally go back. I was of course disappointed to not be able to make summit attempt. But there will be other mountains! Going down from Camp Muir was interesting. Snow was fresh with a ice underneath. So it was skidding and slipping. We tried to glissade many times, some successful and some just too much effort. We saw the famous Muir whiteout were it was impossible to see anything. We stuck together to not get lost. Finally Pebble Creek, were we filled water and drank our fill, finally. From there on it was easy going down to Paradise.

Mailbox Peak

Elevation gain - 4000ft
Distance - 5.0 miles
Pack weight - 10 lbs
Time: 3hrs up, 2hrs down

Finally a check on Mailbox! I decided to do this hike today as it was warm, clear and dry. I decided to not take the pack as I was going with meetup and needed to maintain my speed. The hike starts out ok, but then wastes no time in becoming outright steep. Its literally cable line times 2. But I soon realized that I was lot more scared than I needed to be. It was steep, which is usually ok going up and I kept thinking about way down. First 1/3rd is dirt trail. After that it becomes full of roots and becomes a little confusing. Just follow the white diamonds. Roots help as they make it more of a stair master. After a long time you get out of the trees and reach a rocky section that can be scrambled, but I decided to take the trail. There is still about 30 - 40 min of hiking left after that. Towards the end its Bandera Mtn style scramble, a little less steep. This is where I found some tricky spots, especially going down.
In this last section there were great display of wild flowers, tiger lillies were just everywhere! And so were paint brushes. Finally reach the false peak and from there can see the mailbox which was awesome!
Coming down was easier than I had imagined. Couple of tricky spots in the beginning and then towards the end, rest was just slow careful stepping to not trip on roots!

Squire Creek Pass

Elevation gain - 2400ft
Distance - 6.5 miles
Pack weight - 10 lbs

The hike starts at Eight Mile trailhead. It used to be one-way hike with car shuttle, but part of the trail after Pass got washed out. It starts out quite steep, almost too steep for 2400ft hike. Mid-way we saw the 3'o clock rock and saw some climbers. After 3/4th of the way you get into meadows where the grade eases out. There were couple of interesting creek crossings and muddy patches. There are no real clear views on the way, its all in the forest. Only when you get to the pass you see 4-fingers and other mountains. In all I was not very impressed, too much work for such little reward.

Bandera Mountain

Elevation gain - 3300ft
Distance - 8 - 9 miles
Pack weight - 35 lbs

Gorgeous day to hike Bandera. Beargrass was in almost full bloom, and so were lot of other wild flowers. I carried ~30lbs for conditioning. The trail is easy, so that was not a problem. First glimpses of Rainier were great, but main attraction was definitely beargrass filled slopes. We first went to the lake which is about a mile from junction. It was not really impressive, probably good to sit and eat lunch but nothing else. Then we headed up the scramble section to the top of Bandera. Its much longer than it looks, there is bit of climbing even after the scramble section ends. But the scramble was definitely the best, wild flowers and bear grass everywhere. I saw so many tiger-lillies, it was just delightful!

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/BanderaMtn2010#

Mt Si and Tiger West 3

5200 ft elevation gain and 14 miles, that was the hike for today, and just 40 min away from Kirkland. I took Saturday off because I thought my leg needed rest. It was rested today so decided to go for Si and was prepared to turn back in case it started hurting or anything. Started the hike with 30lb pack. Around 2 mile mark, it felt that I should get rid of some of the water and lighten my pack. So I did, and down to 25lbs.
Made it to top in about 2hrs with a light pack. I did not want to run down this time as that puts too much pressure on legs. Walked down slowly. I started at 8:48 and was back before 1:00.
While going up Si, I was thinking, not yet challenged enough, especially with light pack, so how about Tiger. I remember from days of training for full marathon, how I really needed to push myself beyond what I could do. A hike up Si was not going to do that. So next I went up Tiger West 3. No pack this time, but it was still tough. Last 1/2 mile was really hard. Luckily I saw some tiger lillies. That totally made my day. Tiger lillies on top of tiger mountain :) I did the last 1/2 mile from one flower to other.
The way back was fast as I just wanted to get in the car, go home and relax.

Adams Day 2

We headed out @8:00 am. First task was to gear up in the cold, put on crampons, helmet, ice axe etc. etc. That itself felt tiring. The day was perfectly clear and we could see all the way up to the false summit, straight way up. The slop is steep at places where we were learning to traverse by making our own switch backs. At the false summit it was very windy and cold. The real summit was looking like in a full all white-out. It was also very cold at this point and I needed to put on second layer which was impossible to do in the cold and wind and with cramponed shoes. I had chosen a full pants as extra layer instead of proper rain / wind breaker pants that have side chain. Now I know why they make those special pants with side chains so that they are easy to put on and off. Not surprising I tore part of the leg of the pants with crampons, I did not care. Finally were on and provided little relief from the cold. I almost did not want to go any further. We did not take much break, just headed straight up. The way from false summit to real was much better, longer traverses, but I was able to follow. It also felt less cold, less exposed.

Finally a summit, one quick summit photo and then heading back. It was all ok to false summit but from here the way to go down the steep slope is glisade! There were a couple of glisading tracks made, you are support to just sit in one of them and slide down. Me, terrified of sliding of any kind, even never went down the phisal-patti in school, did not know how to do it. The alternative of walking down the steep slope was also worse. Somehow skidding sliding, sometimes making my own path, I made it down. Phew.

Adams Day 1

Gear check, permits etc.
Drive to trail head
Lunch Counter, no crampons, not icy, grade was ok, feeling good.
Dug to create platform for tents
Too windy, melting snow, not feeling great, too cold I suppose even with all gear. Did not eat too much.

Adams Day 0

Drove to Beacon State Park, camped

Ecuador!

Can't believe that I am visiting Ecuador trip advisor forum, less than a year after I was exploring Kenya and Tanzania. This seems to be turning into year of foreign travel. If I can make New Zealand happen at end of the year, I would have visited all 6 continents in same year! (yes, Antarctica does not count!) Just booked my tickets, but there are still so many unknowns in the trip. Though if I did end up going and doing something even of not much hiking, it will not be a waste of $1000.

4th-of-july-creek

Today was a beautiful sunny day in Leavenworth. I headed for 4th-of-july-creek with meetup group. Its a not so easy hike, so I decided to not take heavy pack. I needed to keep pace with rest of the group. This hike starts out steep, gaining lot of elevation in first 3.5 miles. After that you enter the ghost forest and its quite flat from here. After a mile or so of ghost forest, you climb up to Icicle Ridge with lots of switchbacks. There is some snow towards the very end, but its melting fast and was not a problem at all. I did not need to use my stabilizers also.

I do not know why, but I was quite exhausted in the beginning. I just could not make my legs move any fast on the steep uphills. Had to dump some of the water in the middle to keep up with the group.

The views were just amazing. Clear blue skies. First we saw the Cashmere range, then Enchantments. The hill sides were full of wild-flowers rigth from start. At places we were literally switch-backing through fields of flowers, mostly purple lupines. We also spotted a few tiger littles and bunch of unknown purple, while and yellow flowers. There were also some pink wild roses. After 4 miles, you enter the ghost forst, its a bunch of tress burnt down in a forest fire a while ago, it looks creept and ghostly. When you reach the Icicle Ridge, there were views of North Cascades behind, enchantments and cashmere ranges in front.

Elevation gain - 4800ft
Distance - 11.5 miles
Time - 4:00 hrs up, 3hrs down
Pack weight - 20 lbs

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/4thOfJulyCreek#

Rock'n'Roll Volunteer

A day of volunteering at Rock'n'Roll marathon expo! This is second year of Rock'n'Roll marathon in Seattle and they had 28000 runners. I chose not to run this year as I wanted to concentrate on hiking, plus I am not keen on running same course again. So I decided to volunteer this year. The Expo was less grand than last year's. There were more and more things for sale, than for give away. There was also an increasing number of energy bars and gels, things I have never heard of or seen at REI. They all tasted almost the same, the world as just become even more confusing!

Seeing the runners from other side of desk was interesting. Some were seasoned runners, just give me my packet and I will get out of here. Some were OMG, my first marathon, I have no idea what's happening. There were couple of people who (or their significant others) wanted to record every moment, even packet pickup. I think it was rude to take my picture handing the packet without asking me - bcoz I would have said no! Overall it was quite fun!

Mt Si - 32lb

Today was quite a sunny day and I decided its better to not waste it sitting in office. So I put the idea on meetup group to start the hike @2 and 3 other people joined. I am loving meetup! We started the hike @2:10. This must have been my first sunny Mt Si hike this year and I was glad for all the shade along the trail. View of Rainier and surrounding mountains was gorgeous! Temp up at peak was nice and warm and it was hard to leave and come down.

Pack weight - 32lb

Time up - 2hr 15min

Time down - 1hr 15min.

Tiger West #3

This weekend was totally miserable. Wanted to go to Bandera yesterday with meetup group, but just could not get out of rajai, tired and gloomy weather. Then got paged just when thinking of leaving, so good excuse to not go. Spent rest of the day sleeping. Today packed the backpack and lunch to do a Mt Si and then Tiger hike. It was raining on the way, lost interest and ended up just doing Tiger West. The trail is not as easy as I thought, or I was just struggling because of yesterday's comatose state. Hopefully sun will come out and will have better rest of the week.

Elevation gain - 2000ft
Distance - 6 miles
Time - 2:30 hrs
Pack weight - 30 lbs

Cable line

A quick hike up cable line today. Decided not to carry pack, the weekend and rest of week had been very tiring. Did not seem to have made any difference to timing!
Pack wt - 20lb

Lake 22

This was a easy hike, wanted to chillout before the weekly madness starts. Did not even carry a pack. The views were just great.

Data:
Elevation gain - 1200ft
Distance - 5.4 miles
Time - 4:00 hrs
Pack weight - 15 lbs

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/Lake22#

Mt Washington - 3

ya, fine, call me crazy, stupid, why, what or whatever. I decided to go back to Mt Washington again this weekend. Last weekend was cloudy and I did not take heavy enough pack. This time I took 32 - 35lb pack. The view was as awesome as I had remembered on this clear day. This time went up the shorter 4 mile trail and came down the great wall trail.

Data:
Elevation gain - ~3400ft
Distance - ~10 miles
Time - 6:00 hrs
Pack weight - 32 - 35lb

http://picasaweb.google.com/tulika.agrawal/MtWashington#

Mt Washington - 2

Second trip to Mt Washington. The first one was a snowshoe, so this was different. I was carrying only about 25lb this time. We took the great wall trail up and regular trail down.

Data:
Elevation gain - ~3400ft
Distance - ~10 miles
Time - 6:30 hrs (a 40 min detour also)
Pack weight - 25lbs

At the first junction, we were suppose to make right, but we thought that we needed to go straight to go on the great wall trail. This trail led us to some sketchy trails which were clearly meant for climbers and not hikers. So we came back to the juction and followed the one on right. Soon we were at owl lookout point. Little bit ahead of that is second junction, the real one for Great Wall trail. So we took that one to summit. Its long and mostly flat. But there is a nice ridge walk with much better views that the shorter trail. Way back the shorter new trail. It was partly cloudy, some view of Rainier and surrounding, nothing as dramatic as what we saw last time.

Tiger Mtn Cable line

Yesterday we did the "short" after work hike to Tiger Mtn. Cable line to go up - 1 hr 13 min. I had a pack of about 20lbs. The trail is relentless climb of ~2000ft in 1.5 mile. I am beginning to find flat section on the trail now :). Back using the regular 3 mile trail - 50min.

Mt Si with 35lbs

or probably 40lbs. This was a long weekend, but weather had squashed all the plans. So I headed back to Mt Si. This time I opted to be brave and stuffed almost 35 lbs in my pack. I don't think I have ever carried more than 30lbs in any of my backpacking trips. And it totally showed. Even at the first mile, I was already tired and celebrating the quarter of way done. By mile 2, I was starting to doubt if I will make it, and I was playing with the idea of emptying half of the 5 gallon water. Then I told myself, the only difficult stretch is mile 2 - 2.5, rest is easy. So I went upto 2.5. I was doing 18 min per half-mile. After 2.5, there was no way I was going to give up. It actually became better after 3 mile, though the last section was getting really hard. I reached the peak in little under 2 & 1/2 hrs, what a disaster! I gave up at bottom of the rocky section, sat there and had my snack bar. It was strange that I did not see too many hikers with pack this time.
To make up for the shameful extra 20 min I took, I decided to hike down with same full pack. I really had to pace myself so as not to hurt my knees. Just one stop at the flat mid-way point and was down in well under 2hrs.

Mt Si with 30 lbs

When it is rainy and cloudy and alone, I hike Mt Si for timepass :) This time I carried a 30lb pack. There were about 200 people at the trailhead and a group of high school boy scout something. I usually don't mind crowded trails, and definitely not when I am hiking alone. Though this time it was a nuisance. I started just about the time the scout group started. First they wanted to run, and overtake me, then like usually teenagers, lost all energy and I had to pass them all one by one. It was rainy, and still there were all lot of annoying young people on the trail, who have no idea that they are suppose to give way to folks going up.
After 3 mile, I started seeing snow. It was actually snowing there. A couple of slushy patches slowed my down a little. I made it safely to the top, and it was great, I was not tired at all, the pack seemed fine and I made it in 2hr 10min. It was a proper snowfall at the top, nothing to see. The rocks were covered in snow, so I decided to not scramble with my pack. My hands were getting numb and I could not find the stupid gloves. Somehow found the cap when I was almost about the cry and warmed my hands one at a time, while almost running down to get to lower elevation.

Camp Muir

On this perfect and sunny day, we headed for Camp Muir. Some of us started at 4:00 in the morning to make it a day hike. I was somewhat apprehensive if I would be at my best given before 4:00 wake up and 2 & 1/2 hr drive. But I was fine, driving was ok and I was in good spirits when we started. I took the bold decision to not carry my snowshoes, and see how that goes. Since we had a early morning start, 7:00am snow was still packed ice. The first section was easy, I soon got comfortable walking on the snow and there were quite a few boot tracks to follow. Then came a very steep section. Luckily folks before us had already dug steps and I could follow it like stairs. I got a little stuck at the second tiny steep section, but managed to scale it. Rest of the way was not that hard. Soon we saw the Muir hut and that made it easier.

At the top, it was cold and windy. Temp was def below 0. It was hard to find a spot away from wind, but we found a rock and settled there to make hot chocolate. Spent close to 30 min at Muir before starting down. The plan was to glissade as much as we can, ahem! I started first couple of glissades apprehensively. It was ok on less steep slopes, but definitely glissading down steep slopes is not my thing. Snow was much softer now and we were postholing like anything. Somehow managed to slide, glissade, walk down to Paradise. Total time close to 8hrs.

Whidbey half-marathon 2010

Another half-marathon down, this time 2:28:49, could have easily shaved off 5 more min from it, but the course was just way too beautiful to run though. I had to stop every few miles to take in the view and enjoy it. This was the first marathon, I really totally enjoyed. The course is all full of rolling hills. The hills did not bother me at all since I trained for the worst in Kirkland. I stopped took photos, maintained a steady pace, never really strained, it was a easy glide through!

10.8 miles in Kirkland

Running in Kirkland is pure torture and only for the insane! But then so is Whidbey and I signed up for that insanity months ago. So here is a 10 miler in Kirkland which will train you for Whidbey.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3565044

But after the short hike yesterday (I don't want to talk about it!), I thought I would give myself a treat and go for a quick 10 mile on Sammamish River flats. Managed 7 bcoz was not prepared for the rain, but it was good in the end.

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3500116

--
tuls

8 miles

My first 8 mile long run after the full marathon. Now that I live in Kirkland, I ran this in Kirkland and running in Kirkland is always a mistake. The killing hills were just too much for the first run.

Walking on streets

walked from dinner place to apartment, 10:00pm at night, -4C temp.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3439478

I think hiking 2009 is over

and I have no complains, and its sort of high time! This has been a amazing season. I checked off more things from my list than I could put up there. We did the big Enchantments which was definitely the best backpacking. I finally finished St Helens too. Also checked off Half-Dome which was a nice surprise. There were some surprisingly nice hikes like Navaho Peak and berries at Shriner Peak. We managed to go everywhere this season starting from Columbia River Gorge, St Helens, Mt Rainier, Olympic, Baker, Wenatchee. Now its time to give legs some rest and concentrate on dancing before running begins. (ok, none of these is actually giving any rest to the legs!). Things left on list for next seaon will be - Lake Chelan, Glacier once more, Ingalls, a pretty short list :)

Weekly running route

So I am hoping to do a 7.5 - 8 mile run on weekly basis till I start training for next marathon. Here is the weekly route -URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3217262 through beautiful Kirkland waterfront.

A summer of hiking

This had been a beautiful summer in Seattle. We broke the record of highest temperature and if anyone was counting, we must have also broken the record for highest number of sunny days. If it was not for yesterday, I was almost forgetting what a cloudy day looks like. Needless to mention, with warm sunny summer days, comes the opportunities for hiking. It has been full on this season, going away almost every weekend. I already have 4 backpacking trips, including Enchantments and 3 day hikes under my belt, not to mention Rock'n'Roll full marathon which though has nothing to do with summer, I would have ran it even if it was raining. Hopefully there are more to come and we will be hiking well into October, don't we just love global warming!!

Fundraising

So, why indeed am I running. It all started with a goal to raise some money for Asha for Education. The achievement of raising $1000+ was even bigger than actually finishing the marathon. So this year when I decided to run the full 26.2 miles, I also decided that I am going to put 100% effort in fundraising. This is especially important because of the way economy is going, most non-profits are in a cash crunch.

This year I was torn between 2 causes. Recently I got a chance to attend some International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) programs and also got to meet with couple of people visiting from Bhopal, including a 14 year old girl who is heading the Children for Bhopal campaign in India. This got me really thinking about the cause and I wanted to get involved and help.

I am sure most of us know that nearly 25 years ago, a Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) pesticide factory in Bhopal sent a cloud of poisonous gas over a sleeping city and killed thousands in one night. It is one of the biggest industrial disaster to date. What is harder to imagine is that, after all of these years, second and third generations of Bhopali children are still being poisoned by toxins left at the factory that have been steadily seeping into their water supply.

* International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is a organization working in US, India and several other countries to spread the awareness, build pressure on Indian government and Dow Chemicals to fulfill the basic demands of the victims.
* Sambhavana clinic is a free medicial clinic working to treat the victims.

I have set a goal to raise $2620 for the cause. Help me reach my fund raising goal by donating for my marathon. The donations can be made by:

* Check made to "Pesticide Action Network North America" with ICJB in memo. Check is preferred as it saves the organization 3% credit card fee. They can be mailed to me.
* Online credit card donation from PANNA's secure site - https://www.panna.org/system/give/onlineDonationICJB.php. Please add "Tulika Agrawal" to comments in Section 2.

Finished!

Done! Finished! Over! The marathon is finally over! And I completed it in a respectable time of 5:24:07. All the 6 month of training definitely paid off. I did not find the course that hilly, heat was also not that big a problem. Biggest problem was definitely the distance!

The part of course till mile 9 was quite good. We ran from Tukwila to Seward park. There was only one hill which I did not even feel until someone said you are almost at the top, and I was like top of what!! Having run the course once helped. From Seward park it was Lake Washington Blvd. Nice cool and in shade. I have run that multiple times and I was overtaking people left and right. It was great!

Then we went on I90 about which I was really excited. That bags both 520 and I90 bridges for me. I was exciting to see Rainier and other mountains around. The excitement was short lived though as I soon realized the full blast of sun on the bridge. It was getting really hot by now. Returning from the bridge we get into a tunnel which was nice and cool. Still looking good. From there we soon reach Qwest Field for the first time. It was around mile 14 and feeling great to be more than half way there.

From Qwest field, we go upto Aurora bridge. This is where I hit a rock and fell and grazed my knee on pavement. Luckily it was not bad and I could get up and keep running the same. By this time there were other aches and pains that knee did not even feel anything. Ran couple of miles till a medical station and got it cleaned. Tried to get a bandaid on, but it won't stay. Now was the really looong rolling hill stretch on Aurora Ave. This stretch was full of rolling hills and there was almost no shade. Definitely the worst park of the course. It was suppose to be beautiful, with views of Puget sound and view from high Aurora bridge. But there was no time to enjoy any of that. By the time we come back to Qwest field, I was really tired. It was already 22+ mile by then so its understandable.

Once back near Qwest field, there was another to and fro stretch. But before starting it, I could see the 26 mile marker, and it was all downhill. This felt great! But there were still 4+ more miles to go. The trip to was difficult but managable as it was mostly downhill. I managed to run it, though much slower. By now everything was hurting and I had decided this is the last full marathon. Then reached the final turn around point and it was about 2 more miles to go. This was definitely a stretch. I could feel that I am really pushing myself. I was focusing on somehow getting to the beginning of the downhill and then it will be done. It was mostly flat to 25 mile marker and I managed to run it. Just after 25, there was a hill. Well, we ran downhill before, so! But it was totally crazy, what sane organizers put hill at 25 mile! I ran walked this one. There was no way I could muster the courage to run it. By this time, definitely close to my edge. If I stopped, I could feel everything revolving. I have no idea what and who was around it. It was pretty much like, keep running, one foot in front of other and you will reach! After runwalking the hill, took my last sip of water and then decided to run the last one mile and finish it off. This was easier as it was mostly flat or downhill and 26 mile marker was visible.

Finally, 26 mile! And then around the block to finish line!

Splits: 5 Km 10 Km 9 mi Half Way 30 Km 24 Mile Finish
Times: 35:14 1:12:43 1:47:03 2:35:29 3:45:35 5:05:05 5:24:04
Pace: 11:21 11:43 11:54 11:52 12:07 12:43 12:22

Saturday - 70 F chance rain

The temperature was Sunny 80F couple of days ago. Then it was 70F and 20% chance of rain. Now its 68F and 20% chance of rain. At this rate after practicing in perfectly sunny weather, we will be running in cold. Thankfully I have done practice runs in 3 different outfits, one for each weather.
4 day to go.....

the hills of Kikland

So today was last practice long run. It was not really long, probably ran close to 6 miles, but it was tough, tiring. I decided to run in Seattle, finally see the neighborhood. Since I am suppose to avoid running on hard surface, I decided to go and run at Bridle Trails State Park. ya, there is a state park smack in the middle of Redmond/Kirkland/Bellevue. Running up the the park was mostly uphill, not very bad. There is a footbrdige to cross 405. The view of Lake and Seattle was awesome from the bridge. I also saw a glimpse of Space Needle. If it was a clear day, view of Olympics would have been great too.

The State Park is really a jungle! As soon as I entered the park, it felt like I am in a jungle, no sign of city anywhere and any momemt a wild animal will jump on my path! Once I reached the proper trail, it was better. The rain from yesterday had made everything very wet. Soon I figured out the different between trail running and street running. Trail, though softer, but still is no level and there are stones, things on the trail which needed to be avoided. Few minutes of running lead to the main entrance and a map. Now I was a bit confused where I was. So I ran in one direction, it did not seem right, the trail was narrow and feeling overgrown. So then I started in the other direction, this also did not feel good. So I gave up, its better to just go out and run on the pavement. While going out, I changed my mind and decided to finish at least one loop. It was looking nice wide trail. That was a mistake. Few minutes on the trail, it climbed steeply. That must have been the hill between 116th and 120th Ave. After the climb, it leveled off and surprisingly I reached the junction of couger and some other trail. First I thought I would take Couger trail as originally planned, its 3.5 mile into the park. But I was feeling claustrophobic by now, surrounded by too many trees. So I decided to just get out of there. That's when panic began! I am lost! Its a labyrinth of trails and with so many trees just cannot figure out where u r. I started in one direction and it did not look right. So I thought lets just retrace your steps.  But then there was a junction and I did not at all remember from which direction I came, everything was looking the same. Finally I chose one way and it looked about right. I was so happy to finally get out of the park!

Next I decided to run down to Kirkland waterfront. Open lake would be a good change. The way from 108th ave down to water is all steep downhill. I cannot believe that we actually live on a hill. Whole of kirkland is a hill! If this city was not there, this would have been a beautiful forest area which we would have been hiking to get to lake washington :). alas! its all been destroyed now. Once reaching the waterfront, I was nice. I ran along the water for a bit. Took a 10 min break near the lake, just relaxing. After that ran all uphill back to the apartment.

better better

As you can see from frequency of blog post that my training has reduced so I suddenly have a LOT of free time at hand. Today finally got back on the treadmill. It felt apprehensively good. Leg was fine mostly. Ran / walked for 30 min. It was good to feel that I can still run! Took extra precaution to warm up for 10 min, then stretch the calf muscles. Then ran for 20 min @5, the normal speed. That did not even come close in intensity to regular workout, but it gave me some more confidence that I can go out and do my 8 mile run tomorrow.
After that to complete the cardio, decided to bike for 20 min. uff! its hard! Whatever doubts I had in my mind about trying STP are totally cleared now.
Hopefully off to 8 miler tomorrow!

getting better

Maybe I am speaking too early, but at least today morning there was almost no pain while walking down to office. Maybe its the shoes, I switched back to my Nike walkers for whole day walking, they are in really old shape now, but I have total trust on Nike now. Maybe its the mustard oil which I have been applying religiously to the foot now. Or its just time and rest, or its fake! Anyhow, I decided not to run again today, so that's 5 days in a row without running. Instead worked out on eliptical, no where close to the usual workout I was getting. The big decision now is what to do with Saturday. I am support to run 8 miles, and I want to run 8 miles but where. Is treadmill any better than road? Where am I going to find non-paved road trail to run on.

Shin Splint!

The thing that most runners dread happened, and I don't want to talk about it.

Its called shin splint, though doctors give it fancier name to scare you even more. Mine is in on the upper part of the leg, mid-way between foot and knee. So I kind of know its weaker and stressed calf muscles, plus wrong footing, I don't know. Its the kind that gets better after you have run a couple of miles as the muscles warm up, and also the kind which comes back once the intense activity is over. I have been running through it for a few weeks now because it always got better in the Sunday. But not this time, less than 2 weeks for marathon, this is the last thing I need. Morale and confidence is at a all time low, even lower than what it was before my first 15 miler. For the first time I can see myself collapsing mid way with a broken leg / muscles / shin or whatever. There is also the doubt that what being out of action for almost 2 weeks will do to my fitness. Tried biking today as its non-weight-bearing thing that you can do, and man! it sucks! I just could not get my heart rate up to normal running aerobic level without killing my legs. I don't think I can do it 2 days in a row. I was sitting there on that stupid bike, watching this other person running away on the treadmill! Oh hell, I even miss the treadmill now. Will give running another shot tomorrow, and then Friday break and then hopefully a 7 - 8 miler on Saturday. Running outside is out of question, so its probably going to be on the treadmill.

13 miler

This week was 13 mile day as part of taper down. I decided to run in Seattle again, close to lake Union. This time the plan was to run it the other way, starting from Lake Wash Blvd to UW. Happy to note that I found the run easy. There were hills and flats, the usual of Seattle. After a 2 mile warm up, hills were not so hard. So I can run 13 miles easily, the real question is if I can still complete the full 26.2 miles!


Here is my route - URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2917188

the hills i hate

or like. I have had this hate - like relationship with hills since I started running. First I obviously hated them. Till I actually started running on absolutely flat grounds of New Jersey. That is when I missed them, and started liking them (note, its not possible to love hills, however hard you try). Hills are "good" change, they suddenly wake you up, you need to start putting more effort and concentration on running, as oppose to running on flat, where after a while its just mindless robotic action of putting one foot in front of other. And there is almost always a nice downhill to look forward to. Not to mention when you are on top of the hill, its a good sense of achievement.
But today the story was different. For whatever reason, it was not a day to run. I started half heartedly, though there was no reason for that. I finally had 8 hours of sleep. I should be up awake and refreshed. Still with every step, I just wanted to go back, call it quits. My left leg had started bothering again. I am sure more than half of the pain was imaginary! At one point, I started walking back, giving myself reasons that I need the rest, I can do this tomorrow, this Saturday is only 13 miles, I can do this on Sunday. Still somehow I managed to reach the start of hill. Good thing is that you start going downhill and then turn back to run uphill. So I managed to go down. Made the first uphill trip. It felt like a mile and I had to stop in between. Made a second trip too. At this point, all doubts were back and I wanted to call it quits. 3 is a good number. Still somehow managed to convince myself that if I did 2 more, I will actually be done with hill training for the week! So somehow I managed the 5 trips up and down the stupid hill.

I hope its better tomorrow.

15 miles

When running downhill becomes harder and more painful than running uphill, then you know you have had it! That was the experience in my last 3 runs of 18, 21 and 20 miles. No so today. Today was an "easy" 15. I wanted to make sure that I find it easy, so that I am not demoralized. So I chose to run the familiar Sammamish River Trail. Its flat, I have been there many times, its familiar ground. The strategy worked. For the first time I ran at a pace faster than 12, I finished my run in 2 hr 50 min as oppose to 3 hrs. I would not say it was easy. Nothing is easy beyond 13 miles. But it was not grueling or painful. I remember my first 15 mile run. After that I was almost dead, I had come home and slept whole day helucinating. This was nothing like that. I was in pretty good shape after the run, and spent rest of the day cleaning the apartment. The only nuisance throughout the run was waterbottle. I hate carrying it in my hand, and it keeps bouncing on the back.

Donation number 1

Now that I have some confidence and feel like I would actually finish the marathon, 50% of the work is done. The next 50% of work to achieve my goal is the actual fund raising. Started sending out e-mails today, and very encouragingly got my first donation within an hour! Googlers just rock when it comes to turn around time :) Still long way to go both in donation and for actual run. Lets just hope and wish that I can make it from start line to finish line!

4 more weeks to go

a 13 mile route for next to next week.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2879890

A weekend of perfection

This weekend was a weekend of never ending fun and activity. I still cannot believe that so much can be compressed in 2 & 1/2 days. Summer has arrived and days are getting longer!
It started with awesome sunny Friday. When its sunny outside Seatlites cannot think of anything but going out and enjoying the sun. So that's what we did Friday evening getting off from work early. We went on a short hike to Cedar Butte, 3 miles 900ft. The hike was good, nothing remarkable, but definitely refreshing.

Saturday is running day. It was warm and cloudy, best weather to run. We decided to go to Seward Park and do some running on the actual trail. It was just 2 of us, me and a walker. So I did my run by myself, the way I like it. Most of the run was on Seward Park Ave with its awesome peak-a-boo views of the lake and trees and houses beyond. As expected, the street is also lined with beautiful houses with immaculate lawns and gardens. It was just a very relaxing run. When I reached Seward Park, I was totally blown away by the surrounding beauty. It seemed to good to be true that I was there in that beautiful place, on my own, free and running! So I ran some more.
10:30am - was back at home and had my usual big bowl of milk and cereal.
12:50pm - Saturday is also Salsa day. Though I was a little tired, but I decided to go for the class anyway.
2:15pm - was back from dance class. Activities of the weekend over. So I did some housekeeping work. Finally tried to take a nap and then heard that Harry Potter is on TV @8.
7:50pm - Harry Potter

Sunday - another beautiful sunny day. Took my time to get up.
10:00am - Started doing some cooking for the week etc.
12:00noon - BITSian lunch. Met a bunch of BITSians in Seattle. For the first time in gathering, I was actually the oldest one. But its always fun to meet folks from BITS.
3:00pm - Ended the long lunch. It was at a Italian place afterall. Then we headed over to to get together to decide where to go, how to make the best use of this sunny Sunday.
5:00 - Finally decided to head to Seward Park again. I was anyway totally blown away by its beauty yesterday.
8:00pm - Back to eastside for a home cooked dinner. Perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Final 20 mile

.... before the final 26.2.
This Saturday I ran my last 20 mile of the training. It was a very heartening 20 mile because I ran it with little difficulty. To be modest I would say, its mainly because the last 10 mile was almost flat, running around lake Union.
I started heading towards UW from Montlake bridge. Soon I was on the old Burke-Gilman trail, running the same route I ran for training in 2005. I ran upto Revenna Park, and then Greenlake. At Greenlake, met chuck and other folks from his group. From Greenlake, I was heading towards Golden Garden Beach, via 80th St. If you have ever been on that street, you know its made up of grueling hills after hills. While still in my first 8 mile, I ran those hills with the same zeal as I run the flats of West Lake Sammamish. After every hill, I had a peak-a-boo view of the Olympic mountains. It was just a perfect cloudless day, and I was happy that I started early.
At the end of 80th, I reach a short road that leads me to the windy hill road down to Golden Garden beach. I ran down that nicely, not at all envying the people running up the road. I was over my only hilly stretch and its all a easy cruise from here. After some time, the road becomes narrow with no side walk. So I ran down fast, faster than I have run any downhill and soon realized that its not a good idea, its more taxing on knees and legs than running uphill. So I slowed down and took a set of stairs down till it was safe to run on the road again. I reached the beach easily, very little tiredness till now. The beach was really refreshing. Beautiful view of all sailboats in water, Olympic mountains in horizon. I just wished, I could sit there and spend the afternoon.
But no can do. After lingering enough to get some rest, I started running Seaside Ave towards Lake union. This was the route we took when running the first 10 mile. It seemed so easy now :). Once I reached Ballard, all my excitment of running by the lake vanished. Lake Union must be one of the most.

20 mile route UW - Green Lake - Lake Union

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2861706

Easy 5 miler

I cannot believe how easy 5 mile running is now. Ran a easy 5 mile, though still at a place of 12. Don't know how to improve that speed. This will drop down to 4 mile an hour when getting into mile 20 and 6 hr target would be a problem. My leg is bothering me too, so will have to do something about that, its really disheartening.

An easy 10 mile

This was a easy weekend. I decided to run 10 miles on East Lake Sammamish trail. This was a perfect day for that since most of the trail is in shade. I started off lazily around 7:30. Ran through Marymoor Park and only East Lake Sammamish trail. It a nice gravel trail, I am guessing better for the feet than the hard tar road. 10 mile was quite easy. My right leg and knee has been troubling me though. I probably should put an end to hiking for now, cannot let the knee trouble go into June. The next 2 months are going to be all about running and nothing else.

21 mile weekend

Finally, I crossed the 20 mile barrier and in style with hills! Initially I had decided to drive down to Seward Park in Seattle. From there I could run down and back to Rainier Ave, taking the actual marathon course I ran last weekend, and then run up to Montlake Blvd on Lake Washington Blvd, take the bus and back. Seemed like a reasonable route for first 20 miler. But as it happens, the driving plans fell thru in the morning. It was disappointing, as I was really excited to run that beautiful trail. So I decided, ok, I will take the bus to Montlake and then run down and back to Seward Park. Its about 20 miles with the Madison Ave hill, but that is ok.

So that is what I did. I took the 7:30 545 to go to Seattle. I was on train by 7:50am starting at E Lake Wash Blvd from Montlake bridge. It starts out flat and very soon hits the Arboretum. At that place there is no way to run on Lake Wash Blvd anymore, it has not side walk as it winds down sharply. But there are trails inside Arboretum which I though should just lead me to other side and back on Lake Wash blvd. But within 10 min I was lost in that jungle. There are trails that lead to no where and trails that seem to be going noth whole actually going east. Somehow I ended up on a paved motor road. With no clue as to which direction i should be going to join Lake Wash blvd and also if I join it would there be a way to run on it! So I ask someone walking there, where the hell is LWB! They point me to a direction which looks all wrong! I should be going towards the lake, but this seems to be going away. Maybe I am totally disoriented here. I start the way they tell me and soon its not a flat road anymore, its up and down and down and up (well, not that much, but it seems like that when u r running in doubt). But I keep running and hoping its the right direction and I don't end up at the beginning of LWB again! Then I spot a water fountain and that just helps, at least there is water. I take 2 min rest, refill my bottle. Another 5 min and I see a map. Oh great! bless the soul that bothered to put it there with "You are here" marker. Its clear now that LWB is 500 ft away, what's still not clear is if it has side walk to run on. So I run upto the road, and there is a sidewalk to run on. Awesome.

Now I am at LWB, just couple of miles into my run, its looking nice. Another 10 min of running and I hit Madison Ave. Awesome! Now I know where I am. Cool.

Beyond Madison Ave, LWB starts winding down steeply and there is no sidewalk. So cannot run that way. No problem, I know I can take Madison Ave, and then McGulliver (or sthg like that) and that will take me back to LWB. So I happily head right on Madison Ave. Hmm, there is this huge hill. Oh! the Madison Ave Hill, I know all about it, we used to dread it while training for Seattle half. Still, something is not right. I am suppose to go towards 42nd St and number are decreasing here. So I did the only logical thing I could do, ran up that steep hill to see where is the lake! On top of the hill, I am pretty much dead from the steep uphill run by now, totally demoralized as I am lost in space. I see a waterbody behind me. So that should be the lake. Wait a minute, is that Puget Sound? More confusion! So finally I ask someone on the street, where the hell is that lake! And as feared, I was running in wrong direction, the lake is on the other side, so I climbed that stupid hill for no reason. No worries, its practice and from now on its all downhill. Running back towards LWB, crossing it and heading in right direction this time. And wait, one more hill, so that is the Madison Ave Hil!!!. Anyway, its fine, I know where I am, things are looking good. I am back on Seattle Marathon course and that makes me feel good.

Things are looking familiar now, so I know I am going in right direction. Soon I hit Galer, and all purani yadein aare taza. How we used to run up Galer to practice hills. This time, I am running down it, onto McGuliver blvd. From there is a easy-breezy 8 mile run down to Seward Park. There are minor hills here, but mostly flat along the lake. Running is fun again. As I hit I90, I realize the long way I have come since starting Seattle Marathon 2 years ago. I love the part after I90, its beautiful. Most of the cherry flowers are gone, still there are petals on the road, and shade of trees, its a beautiful sunny day. As I near Seward Park, I am hitting the 11th mile. Things obviously start getting tough now. I feel like turning back, still I want to get there, I have to get there, I have to complete my 20 mile today. So I get there.

At Seward Park I meet Atul. He is also still doing his run. After I stop, talk to him, eat GU, drink water, I have new energy. I am feeling good, a little fatigue, but not much. And well, at this point I only have to run 10 mile back to the bus! I run a little bit into the park as I want to make sure that I am not even 100 meter below 20 mile. I want to run upto 1/2 mile mark to give me that extra buffer, still it seems pointless after a bit and I give up and return.

Run back from Seward Park was uneventful and long. There was one person I overtook and that felt awesome. Once I reached I-90, I had new energy, its not far now another 5 miles max. So I keep running. GU and inertia has kicked in by now and stopping or walking is more painful that running. Back on McGulliver, I feel great. Not far now. I am definitely walking up the hill of Galer to Madison. Now things get fuzzy and dizzy. My legs are really tired and won't let me run anymore. On top of that its hilly, God! send a bus, do something. Nothing happens. There is still the uncertainty of finding my way back from the mess of Arboretum. I see a bench and shade. So I sit down. I am sure I am still at least 4 miles away. So I sit for few minutes, drink some water and then start again. I am at my 17th or 18th mile and things are outright nasty at this point. Even running downhill is a pain. I cannot believe I am doing this, I am still running! Somehow I reach LWB. Ah! bless that sight. There is shade and downhill run. From there Arboretum drive comes really quickly. I have new energy now. I am going to make it! Somehow I cross the road and start running on Arboretum Dr. I refill my bottle on a water fountain and keep running. Soon I find the point where I am suppose to get into the Arboretum, its marked by Japanese Maple sign. I love that sign, I want to hug it and tell it how much it means to me. From here I know that I am trust my direction sense to take me back to LWB, from where I can easily go down to bus stop. And I am right. Once on the trail, it was not hard to find my way out. I was soon running the last 1 mile on LWB headed towards 545 bus stop. It was just awesome! I managed to survive and I knew that at this point if there were 5 more miles to run, I could do it.

A 20 mile route from Seward park to 520

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2804461
This is a 20 mile route starting from Seward Park, one way up to Montlake Blvd bridge (to catch 545 back to Redmond). It covers part of Rock'n'Roll (till I90) and part of Seattle marathon (after I90) course and all of it is really beautiful. The best thing is that its one-way!

20 mile on Lake Wash Blvd

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2790804 + another round of Seward Park.
An out and back path starting from Seward Park. Covers part of Rock'n'Roll course.

18 mile!

Finished a 18 mile run today + 1 mile walk. Went all the way to mile 10 at Sammamish River Trail which is suppose to be the end of it.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/redmond/513124046910459067
Pace was slow, but hopefully it will improve as there are still 8 more weeks. Till 8 mile it was alright, easy coasting. After that it was getting a little difficult. By the time I reached the park which is at 9.5 mile mark, it was tiring. Then I took a break at the park, refill water, eat a GU. Then restarted to reach the 10 mile mark. The small rest definitely helped, and plus the scenic flat route made it easier to cover the distance. Also I noticed that I am running quite slow, close to 13.2 pace as oppose to my regular 12. The actual course has so many hills that I really need to work on speed if I want to finish this in under 6hrs.

The summer of 2009

Summer is still kind of far. But I am here sitting at this All-Hands meeting and planning for summer is best way to kill time. This summer is probably one of the last couple in Seattle, and in US, so a lot needs to be compressed in the short 3 months. And I totally live by moto - Dream big, plan for the best, hope for the best, be prepared for the worst (like breaking hand on a stupid hike).
So what's in store for summer of 2009.

* Enchantments backpack - plans to apply for permit already in place
* St Helens - its time to climb it!
* Mailbox peak
* Granite Mtn
* Half-dome
* Bryce and Zion canyons

And I hope I can finish the season with a trip to Patagonia or Killi!!

Whidbey marathon course map

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2533538
Could not run this one, but its suppose to be one of the most beautiful marathons. Maybe do the half next year!

Uphill running

So all this running and training and weight lifting seems to be paying off. I can not only call 8 mile an easy 8 miles, yesterday I managed to run the 1/2 miles uphill from my place to 148th in one go, and did not even break a sweat. Ok, so the latter part could be because it was so cold. Last summer when I was doing my hill training here, I could not even cover half that distance before stopping to catch my breath. Running all the way to 148th used to be an achievement in itself. This Wednesday it was an easy run up there, and I no more dread getting up to Grasslawns park.

--
tuls

15 miles!

I ran like 15 miles today! unbelievable! This is the first time I ran over half-marathon distance. The first 12 miles were not easy, but quite doable. The last 3 miles were really hard. I finished it in a good 3hr 15min. The fact that I already had 12 miles behind me just kept me going. I did not want to give up and I made it alive. It was near perfect day to run, temp 10C, perfectly sunny, though a little bit of clouds would have helped.

12 miles

After missing long runs because of snow and vacation, today was time to do 13 miles. The day was cold and very cloudy, suppose to rain. Still it seemed like a good day to run. I started late, 10ish. Immediately outside I could feel a light misty drizzle, a typical of Seattle day. I had to wear a light waterproof jacket, not breathable. I first ran a small 2 miler, and then another 10 miles. First time reached the 5&1/2 mile mark. It was fun, difficult, but not killing.

East lake sammamish trail mile marker

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2442016

--
tuls

Don't drive your passion, let your passion drive you --- Tulika Agrawal.

One more reason to love Seattle

So here is why I love Seattle. I get up in the morning, there is sunrisish outside my window. Can't see well bcoz of too many trees (don't love that part). Anyway I get up, get ready, head out to take the bus to office. The road seems slick and slippery, happy that I don't have to drive. And then I came upon this breathtaking view of Olympic ranges in front. I have never seen Olympics this clearly, different ranges were visible. And in front of that a glimpse of lake washington. The only glitch in this scenery was the hill of Seattle homes between lake and mountains. Else this was a perfect painting if nature. Made my day.

8 mile

ah, what a perfect day to run. Decided to run 8 miles today to get back on the course of preparing for marathon. It was a great run.

--
tuls

Don't drive your passion, let your passion drive you --- Tulika Agrawal.

Seattle sunsets

Did I ever mention that Seattle gets the most beautiful sunsets (everytime sun is out). I have never seen a usual sunset here, every sunset is full of vivid colours over beautiful mountain range. All this is made possible by the constant cloud cover, and presence of Olympic Mountains. The combination makes every sunset unique. I am sure this is true for sunrises, but they are harder to come as cloud cover is usually thicker in the morning. And then I can see sunset from my office window, but cannot see sunrise. I think I am going to make it a point to capture all sunsets from now on, use my digicam :)

BDay

Another BDay is here. How much ever I try or want no celebration, let the day pass as a normal day and forget that one more year is over, celebrations just seem to happen in Seattle. Yesterday night Rahul made some cake (Devil's food, yummy) and then some folks came over for mid-night cake cutting.
For tonight I had happened to find a nice Italian restaurant for a quiet dinner for 2. This seemed like one of very few restaurants where i actually would like to go and eat. But when your husband refuses a romantic dinner, you know something is fishy and you hope that its a surprise party with friends!. So ya, a surprise party tonight.
Its fine, its been a good year, mummy finally visited, had a goodish trip with her, pulled off a nice Orlando vacation. Finally moved back to Seattle and getting settled here. Ran Seafair half-marathon. Did quite a few good hikes, including really challenging hoh river backpacking. Broke my hand. In all a ok year I suppose.

Dinner and A movie

without the dinner of course. So yesterday I decided not to go for dinner and movie with the guys. No surprises there, neither in the fact that I was confused till the last moment. Then a car shows up at my doorsteps without giving me a final chance to say no. So I was like, what the hell, dinner (not eating) only takes about 1/2 an hr and then I will be back in no time and do some house work (haa haa haa haa haa). So I change, put on lenses and comb hair in record time and out of the door. Dinner was pleasant, I was still elated at having finally met all deadlines, checked in code, borken build and fixed it and have my manager tell me relax, you are doing good. Ok, not all deadlines some review stuff still left, but you don't expect me to care about that! After dinner, movie time. uhm, I don't like movies, they make my head hurt, especially the english ones. But someone without deciding, I saw myself deciding to go for it. Come on, what are you going to do at home anyway, house work! haa haa. Our intended 9:40 show was sold out, a sign Tulika, go back home. But at that point I was pretty much stuck in Bellevue. So went along for the 10:25 show. Burn after Reading. For one I did not understand the title for long time, till someone actually said it during the movie! And it turned out to be a total timepass movie, hans hans ke pet mein dard ho gaya. Koi story nahin, sirf comedy. Isko Bheja Fry ke saath compare kar sakte hein!
Lesson learnt: Sometimes imprompto non-decidsions for dinner and movie turn out good.

Hoh River Trail

The ultimate backpacking experience....
No they did not pay me ask me to write a ad for them.
This weekend we went on a 34 mile backpacking trail to Glacier Meadows along Hoh River in Olympic national park. We planned it as a 3 day backpack, with first and last day flat walk with backpacks and second day loong 14 mile hike without backpack. I was apprehensive about the 14 mile, it involved a 4000ft+ height gain and loss. Oh well, its going to be a challenge, big deal.

Day1: As usual we started more than an hr later than planned. Packing took quite sometime as lot of things need to be divided. Everyone's pack was around 30lbs, I would guess same as Grand Canyon pack. The trail started out as very flat and in a very dense forest. Dense as in temperate rain forest dense, huge moss covered trees. I would say almost spooky.