15 September
2013
14 September
2013
Knee How? :-)
Trying to heal my left knee, I have been alternating between the Merrel barefoot shoes and the Nike Frees. To test the knee, put in a non-stop 10 mile (16K) run in 95 minutes. 17,500 steps and 1550 calories later, the knee is holding up strong. The lungs, on the other hand, are not amused 🙂
After the run, made friends with a fellow runner, Karen – who is training for her half marathon. She took this picture of me taking rest after the run.
There is a Bengali word to describe my condition – “biddhhosto” 🙂
(The title of this blog was inspired by a terrible cross-language pun by my friend Narayan – who co-authored the Wall Street Journal crossword thus Friday)
12 September
2013
Intersection point. Revisited!
The nagging sense of a missed opportunity to smile at a kid was powerful enough that I went back to the same running route this morning. Figured I might be able to see the kid on his way to school – if that is where he was heading the previous day.
On my way forward, I did not see him.
On my way back, I went past the school again and still did not see him.
Just as I was going to turn into the road back to Starbucks, I spotted him at a distance – with his mom. This time I was determined.
Changed my route, ran towards them and then slowed down. Smiling ear to ear, I took my cap off and told the kid that the previous day he had waved at me. I felt very special and that nobody usually does that. (Completely skipped the smiling part 🙂 ). He gave that same awesome smile and looked up to his mom.
His mom and I exchanged pleasantries (he is a kindergartner and goes to the school that I ran past). Then we fist bumped each other (I mean the kid and I – not his mom and I :-)) and proceeded on our own “lines”.
Now that is an intersection point I can live with!!!
10 September
2013
Smiling back…
One of those signature moments that makes every day such a beautiful day. Early morning during my 5 mile run on Alpharetta sidewalks, climbing up a small hill, I saw a very young kid – the boy could not have been more than four years old – holding his mom’s hand and walking along. Most likely to the Kids and Kids half a mile down the road.
As I approached them, I was trying to be mindful not to startle them from behind. The kid (who by the way, had his head clean shaven like me) heard me, looked back and his eyes were fixated on my bright neon orange shoes 🙂 And just as I passed him, he looked up to me and gave me one of those beatific smile only blissful kids unmindful of their parents’ “Stranger Danger” advise can give. And then wrested his hand out of his mom’s clutch and waved at me.
That was a very powerful moment.
By this time, I was just passing him. I raised my hand and waved back. He could not see me – but I smiled back to him too.
For the rest of the run, I mentally kicked myself for not turning back and showing the kid that I was smiling too. I guess I did not want to be weird to the lady. Or maybe I was too much into the running and missed the enormity of the moment. Regardless, the kid deserved better from an adult.
And that was my lesson for the day – in runs, as in life, we start from different points and end at different points. The line between those points – or the speed at which we traverse the line – does not define us. What defines us are the intersection points with others’ lines. For, it is in those intersection points that life offers us the opportunities to acknowledge each other’s journey, celebrate each other’s presence and make a difference to each other’s lines.
And that journey is what it is all about.
That is why we live. That is why we run.
8 September
2013
Shots from early morning
8 September
2013
A few Chalupa moments
8 September
2013
Boy! Did we show up!!
I had to eat some humble pie this morning. Last week, when 12 Bengalis showed up for our “Chalupa” Sunday morning run, I had a bet with my wife that we will have a steep decline to about half of that number today. Instead, 22 of them showed up today!!! With almost half a century of gap in age between the eldest and the youngest runner!!
In a total coincidence like last time, we had again an even (11-11) split between guys and gals! We had 5 junior runners and 1 decidedly sub-junior in a stroller 🙂 !! We had 6 first timers too!!
Couple of funny incidents to go with the great gathering today:
Before the group showed up, I had gone to put in a few miles by myself. Ran into Heidi and Lara from my old running group. Lara’s first question was “Where is your Bengali group?” !!! That is when I realized that this group has become world famous in Fowler Park 🙂 🙂
Second incident happened towards the end of the run. After running with Amitesh for over a mile, I turned around so that I could take pictures of everybody running as I crossed them on my way back. After I was done with pretty much everybody, I could see two bare chested white American young guys running at some distance away towards me. Recognizing it was Tom and Greg from my office, I ran towards them so I could run with them for a few minutes. (They are very fast long distance runners – so I would have been proud of myself if only I could keep up for a few minutes). When they recognized me, they teased me by yelling “Get him. Get him.” One of our group members – Atashi – heard this, lifted her head and saw two guys chasing me (I was couple of steps ahead of them). And she started to panic. As she explained later, she thought I was in big trouble!! We had a great laugh!! 🙂
Ah! Great start to a Sunday morning!!!
Thank you, Chalupa, for SHOWING UP!!!!
7 September
2013
Chalu-pa Saturday edition
2 September
2013
Countryside run
1 September
2013
Our group has arrived!!
Remember last week we broke all records of attendance in our Sunday morning Bengali run? 7 people for the first time and 2 ladies? (which was 2 ladies more than ever before?). Well, in further proof that women are gatherers, we had 6 Bengali women show up today!! Thankfully, Manas showed up in the last minute to even the playing field on the menfolk’s behalf. So we had a perfect dozen today!!!
That was a marvelous day for a run for the group. Cloudy, cool, a little foggy, albeit a trifle humid. We had a marvelous time with each other in the Big Creek Trail and then the mandatory Starbucks coffee-adda thereafter!! Every morning should start like this – great friends, some physical activity, a good cup of coffee and some hearty laughter!
We, being Bengalis, of course, are now going to devour some food that should undo most of those calorie burns – “luchi-mangsho”, “luchi-aloor-dom” or some Mexican equivalents like “loaded tacos”, “chalupas” and such. Speaking of that last item, our wizard-of-words Samaresh suggested that we should call our group “Chalu-pa” (in Bengali, that would translate to “active legs” or something like that). Clever!
Now time for some thanks….
Thank you Manas for showing up and letting us not be outnumbered…
Thank you Sharmila for letting me speed you up during the last half mile…
Thank you Puja, for joining us as the youngster speedster. Your perseverance to finish the course was inspiring…
Thank you Atashi for pushing yourself to run the whole distance without ever stopping…
Thank you Samaresh for being the rock solid leader of the group and setting an example for the rest of us…
Thank you Amitesh for showing us what speed is all about and the coffee at the end. (you know we are going to have a fight over that later)…
Thank you Malobika and Ashok for taking the pains of joining us after being so busy with your performances in Fobana last night…
Thank you Mohana for the temporary interruption in your sleep continuum 🙂 …
Thank you Sudakshina and Anindya for keeping your word from last night to join us “no matter what”…
Above all, “Chalu-pa”s, thank you for SHOWING UP!!
