26 February 2013

Those were steep!

5K run in San Fran this morning. Coming back from the pier, this is what I had as my running route. Right at the top in front of the yellow building is my hotel. It was unbelievably steep. My heart and lungs were bursting. As I neared the top, I could see the red light. The thought that I will get a few seconds break at the light kept me going. I was sure I will make it and then the darned light turned green 🙁 My mind lost all the strength and I just sat down on the pavement. Very frustrating to realize I gave up within 30 yards of my hotel 🙁

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25 February 2013

San Fran run

6K run early in the morning in San Francisco before the city woke up. The steep hills in the city were punishing on the knees. Once I got to the pier, it was enjoyable. You can see the Bay Bridge thru the piers here…

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23 February 2013

Saturday run between kid activities…

5 mile run in between ferrying Tasha around for all those weekend activities 🙂 My left leg/knee has not adjusted to minimalist shoes as well as the right leg/knee has.
Something interesting happened yesterday. Woke up at 5 am and realized it was raining heavily. I loved the challenge and wanted to take Mother Nature’s challenge head on. So, put on all the protective running gear and got into my car. When I pulled up near LA Fitness (after running in rain, I head straight to the showers in LA Fitness), it completely stopped raining. I was so upset that I decided to teach Mother Nature a lesson – so instead of running, I just went in and did some indoor rowing.
After showers, when I came out of the gym – wouldn’t you know – it was raining incessantly!!! I am still not sure who was the joke ultimately on 🙂

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10 February 2013

Se ki UP!!

First 5K run after the flu. With Sunday morning Bengali group. Seemed to have survived it so far.
Today, we changed up our route a little. At one point, we were looking up a steep hill in front of us. As we all took a deep breath before charging up the hill, Samaresh captured our collective thoughts in a few words
“Se ki UP
Baapre baap” 🙂

31 January 2013

Engineering Skills

Unintentional 7.5K run in Chateau Élan. The story is to “die for” 🙂 Originally, the idea was to run through the neighborhood behind the winery for 5K. Somewhere in the hills in the dark, I took a wrong turn and found myself on a State Highway and by now 5K away from where I needed to be. It was a single lane highway with no median and barely any shoulder to run on.
Throwing caution to the wind, I just ran on the highway (on the left side so I could see oncoming traffic). A ferocious looking dog that had greeted me about a mile back might have something to do with the decision 🙂 Judging by the reaction of the drivers, they are not used to seeing runners on that highway 🙂
At one point, after running downhill, I faced a long bridge with absolutely no side space to run on. So, I had to clear the bridge before any oncoming car could enter the bridge.
I summoned all my engineering skills – estimated the length of the bridge, knew my speed, estimated the vehicle’s speed, adjusted for the fact they will accelerate as they hurtled downhill on the other side of the bridge and estimated the point on the road other side of the bridge which was the cut off point (I had to make sure no car had crossed that point). Finally found an opportunity where the next car was beyond that point and I ran like the wind…
And met the car about half way into the bridge 🙂
She was kind enough to move over to the wrong side lane. And I ran the rest of the distance mumbling to myself “One minute is 60 seconds; not 100. One minute is 60 seconds…” 🙂

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