Sunday morning Bengali run. We switched to our traditional winter starting spot. It is a mile and half of straight going down and unfortunately, back 😉 The three traditional members – Amitesh, Samaresh and myself showed up together after almost two months….

The effect of the hills were very evident. 5 miles took almost 5 more minutes to finish. They were pretty steep hills. The downward slope were very punishing on the knees. I think I still need to master the barefoot running foot falls….

Winter is a wonderful instrument to sharpen your memory. Today, it drilled into my memory cells that I should not forget my gloves when running in the thirties. Boy oh! Boy. The light wind did not help either. After 5 miles of brisk running, I had to run inside the Starbucks bathroom and run warm water in my hands for about five minutes to get senses back in my fingers. The thumbnails hurt real bad. Just to be safe, I am going to keep an extra set of gloves in my car now. Other than that, a nice enjoyable run. Good chance I might put in a run in Central Park tomorrow.

It is a beautiful fall morning. Warmer than normal and cloudy. Went for a 5 mile run. That took less time than the wait for coffee at Starbucks. 20 minutes before school begins, Starbucks suddenly changes from being a coffee place to a breakfast joint!!

After my 5 mile run this morning, I was stretching – one of those touch your toes kind of thingys – before my Starbucks when a gentleman walked up to me asking if I needed help. I am sure the bones must have been creaking and my face must have been all grimaces 🙂 He said I looked like I was in pain!! Just when I was feeling good about a 5 mile run 🙂
It was good that the gentleman turned out to be an old buddy of mine – Larry Doering that I had not met up for some time. We caught up on each other over the next twenty minutes.
Hey – had I not looked so painful while stretching, he probably would have just walked past and I would have lost a chance to reconnect! That is the way I am thinking about it anyways 🙂

Samaresh showed up with his daughter Paroma. Amitesh was too busy playing tennis. So, the three of us out 5K. Paroma was clearly very tired (uncharacteristically) from the late night parties 🙂 We did enjoy the Starbucks though.

My left knee is giving trouble again. I think I need to keep a faster pace with the barefoot shoes. Will try some new Merrel shoes with wee bit more support and see if they work out better.

BTW, my friend Matt Semrad sent me a WSJ note that talks about not going faster than 8 min/mile and run for more than 10-15 miles after hitting 50. I figured I have nothing to worry for another 15 years 🙂 That is my story and I am sticking to it.

It was nice weather – 64 degrees. Went out for a run after quite a long break. Ran a mile on the running turf and then got bored with the “one good turn deserves another” thingy 🙂 Got out and went for a run on the trails for another 5 miles. I just can’t run in circles… or a treadmill for that matter….

For Bengalis – famous for their “monkey cap” with the pompoms on top – this was one cold run in 42 degrees. Worse, none of us were well prepared – no gloves and everybody in shorts. Paroma, Samaresh and myself managed to power ourselves thru. The idea of the extra hot latte and chocolate milk kept us going 🙂 It was a good 5K run – although we looked somewhat like Rudolf with our red noses at the end of it. And for the token sentiment towards Bengalis, Paroma came with the pompoms on her head!!! 🙂