New shoes and almost 12 miles.

Got new shoes from Nike store in orlando. Today was the day to take them out on a loong test run. The shoes did great, fitted well, and like good running shoe did not feel new. They are not as good as Rahul's, but are +, meaning can connect to my hypothetical iPod.

Was suppose to run 12 miles today. Started around 6:30, good early start. First 4 miles were easy, surprisingly easy. Then had to take a break to meet Rahul. After that next couple of miles were ok too. After the 10th mile, it got really hard, energy totally spent. Its ok, this was just the first 12 miler and I had not been running all week. Next one will sure be better. It took a total of 3 hrs with breaks and walks etc.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1927042

almost 6 miles today

Today was a good day to run. Started out a little late for the weekday, @6:45, but it was a perfect day. Temperatures in 10C, slightly cloudy, good wind. I started out thinking will run for 30 min., then thought on 45. By the time I was 30 min into the run, I was, well, totally into it. So decided to so my pending 6 mile run. Ran to the second bridge at liberty state park, did the little uphill pilgrimage and then ran back through the first bridge. It was nice, except water was a problem. By then end of 4th mile, I was totally dehydrated. Knee and ankle had started doing funny things. Somehow survived the last 2 miles. Wasted lot of time walking around, looking for water, so took almost 1hr 10 min. But over all a very good run. Lesson learnt, always carry water. Next week its another 10 miler!

run-o-walk-o-run

Today was not a good day to run. Started out on a negative note, did not want to run. Ran a little, then was very thirsty. Spent 10 minutes looking for water at liberty state park. Found it. Ran some more, walked so more. Just no mood. By 45 min and in mile 4, I had totally given up any pretense of running. Only thing that was driving my legs to move faster was the intolerable smell of water and what not. Somehow managed to get back to VanVorst Park and then just walked home. Ran about 4 miles, 2 miles short of target. Got to make it up on Tuesday.

1st 10 miler, woohoo!

Sunday I was suppose to run 10 miles, but as usual I was lazy. So then I had to go out and run that 10 miles today. It was not fun :(. Last 2 miles were a real stretch, half walking, half running and half crawling. After that coming to office, not good. Got to go and sit in the massage chair for a bit.

uphill running

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

Walking on the streets of New York

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

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

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

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

7 mile in liberty state park

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

40min run 20 min walk

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

Prepare for the next half-marathon - Seafair

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

all is not lost - corporate green initiatives

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

3.5 mile run

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

आत्मनिर्भरता और आजादी

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

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

we shall dance ...

My latest resolution in life is to get back to Salsa dancing. Living in New York, it would be a shame to want to learn it and not do it, there are salsa clubs at every corner. I really enjoyed it back in UCSD, then forgot it all, should be easy to pick up. Here is one very close to office.
http://www.dancechelsea.com/
and there is dancesport http://www.dancesport.com/
and I am sure many more.

passed deception pass

"hearing the water of sound and the sound of water"
Another day in Seattle. Started be best way it can with a dance party at Trinity club. We had to wait in a line for about an hour to get into the club, it was semi worth it. The music was good, and it was a blast dancing again after such a long time. That's one of the things I definitely miss most about Seattle (though while in Seattle I did not go out that much, still there was a option here). We "danced it out" till 2:30a.m. We were back by almost 3:30, and I was asleep before I hit the pillow. The plan for rest of the day was a hike at Deception Pass. I think I had been there before, but maybe not, I remembered the bridge, maybe the beach, not sure. Anyway, so it was an average Seattle day, very cloudy and not raining yet. The drive was ok, been on that road about 20 times. When we got there, it was kind of cold. Though coming from New York, I did not feel it that cold. The bridge and view from bridge was really good. This is where Puget Sound meets Pacific ocean. It was cold and had started raining by the time we got out. We still managed to hike a bit to a "view point", got all wet. On the way back, we went to Thai Tom for dinner, to go.

Ride thru 520 again

ok, so not really nostalgic, because I still believe i never left. But crossing 520 bridge on a super clody day after a long time was nice. On my way to new Google office, I was also driven through salmon bay, fremont area, the places I used to run though more than a year ago. I don't know why, but I do love living in Seattle (or rather love the idea). Its not just social and work life, though they were both great here, but its in the place. Maybe because it was my first real home. But I love the rain and the cloud. Walking down from office, I realized that I actually missed walking in that slight drizzle, under the never breaking canopy of clouds, threatening to soak you at any time, but never actually doing it. Also went and visited the Kirkland waterfront when I first took my telescope out, and where I used to sit early morning to just relax and enjoy moments of solitude, again under a cloudy sky. Oh, well, I will just have to get over it, its like that thing which you know you can have any day, still you cannot have it.

wanderer

I recently saw this movie "Into the Wild" about this guy in his early 20s who sort of runs away from home to go into the wild, to find solitude. After a year or more of roaming all over US, he ends up in Alaska to spend few months "living off the land", but then ends up being dead of starvation. Other than the "being dead" part, the movie was .... (i don't have the right word for it, something good). I have often wondered what it would be like to just go away for a month, alone, away from work, city and everything that defines our life and try to rediscover yourself. I say a month as I know I definately cannot survive without a purpose for more than a month, I would want to go back to work, talk to friends, watch TV! But can I do it for a month. Can one just disappear, go away, wander around, like take a car and go coast to coast. How hard is that if you have the money and the vacations :) During the Peru trip, I did meet few europeans who had been on vacation for 6 months, roaming all over south america. That's quite close, but can I do it. More importantly would I be let to do it, is that even a valid question? I will definately update the blog if I decided to go away, after all I will take my laptop, and my GPS and cell phone along, and will surely find a way to connect to the net, can't live without my daily e-mail.

--
tuls

ok one thing i found

that i like about NYC is that i do not have to worry about driving every day. Of course most of the time i hate that i cannot own a car and drive up I5 or 405, but then the everyday thing is somewhat nice. Like today, there is so much snow, suburb roads are mess, but i do not care. I will go home at my usual time by my usual train. kind of nice, especially after driving nightmare in seattle snow. At the same time NY style, I will have to walk for 10 min in super cold weather, and have to stand for another 20 min in dirty crowded train and go back to that silly small apartment with no carpet.

Interesting blog to watch

http://www.winesofeast.com/

The Indian wines.

Intelligence vs Hard work

A very eye opening article
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids&print=true

bdays - still happy?

When do birthdays stop being happy? at 25, 28, 30, 40, 60, never? I can see myself at 18, being happy that I turned 18, though being in India and at school, it did not mean much at that time. I can totally imagine Shayon being extremely happy at his 21st (is it already over), finally he can go to Indian Ocean concerts he has been missing for years. I am kind of happy at 25 too, don't need to pay extra for car insurance anymore! But can you feel the same at 40, oh great! I turned 40. Well, what is so happy about it, other than now you can use the "age defying" makeup, "wrinkle protection" cream and maybe put away your backpacking gear for good. I guess you could be happy to be still alive in this brutal world, and if you are in that position, could be happy about still holding on to good friends, or having a successful career behind you. Still, at 60 when someone says Happy B'day, doesn't one feel like replying, ya, very happy, its beginning of the end, thanks for reminding me! We should pass a law that after 30 you are not allowed to wish anyone happy birthday, that day does not mean anything, its like a normal day of year, and not a reminder of life passing by. I am sure we can find plenty of days to celebrate, except this one reminder of aging process.