8-year old Nikita and 9 year old Sreya (they are BFFs) joined us for the Sunday morning run! Of course the trusted Paroma was there as always. We had another surprise participant in Sharmila. Needless to say, the good old Amitesh and Samaresh were there for sure.

Everybody put in a good run. I walked with the Li’l champs. Before everybody showed up, I did put in a fast sub-8 min/mile 3 mile run to test out the hams. It appears that the hams are getting better – the lungs were totally tired out though 🙂

Here is a collage of some of the pics….

After almost a week off the roads, went for a 5 mile run. Not sure whether I am under the weather or it is this hot and humid weather, I lost steam after three miles 🙁 Had to take two breaks in the next two miles. Was not enjoyable. The right glute and hams has recovered a lot though…

Technically, I am supposed to be off the road. But when the kids wake up early and want to run, it becomes very difficult to resist the run!!! Missed Amitesh but his daughter was sure there! First time we had more daughters than dads on our Sunday morning run!!!

My New Years’ resolution in 2010 was to run 100 miles every month for the year. Somehow, I was able to keep myself motivated thru the year to reach it. But came January and February of 2011, I started losing motivation. I was lacking a goal.
So, I gave myself this weird idea – I will re-learn how to run all over again by switching to barefoot running.
Easier said than done!! In March 2011, in those really cold days, I started running literally without any foot protection on grass. Eventually got myself some tips from a coach, watched a lot of videos, got help from my doctor, graduated to barefoot shoes and was able to run on roads again.
After 18 long months, I am back to where I was! Posted 100 miles for August. Arguably, I picked a convenient month with 31 days and I need some time off the road now to let the lower calf muscles gain their strength back. All the same, one milestone reached in the journey back to learning how to run anew again.

Almost to celebrate that, ran into two of my old running buddies – Samantha and Lara before running. It was great catching up with them after a long time….

Special Sunday run. Our daughters Paroma and Tasha joined us. We missed the party animal Amitesh and his daughter!!

Yesterday, I did not stretch after running. Instead, sat and had Starbucks coffee. Paid for it moment I tried getting up. The right glute and hamstring had completely stiffened up.
Walking has become onerous, let alone running elegantly.
Put in 5 miles. Very uncomfortable run. The left leg had to overcompensate resulting in the left knee complaining 🙁
I just want my red wine now and forget about the run 🙂

Had quite a scare this morning. Went for a 10K run in Alpharetta. I was running on asphalt keeping my eyes ahead to see if any oncoming car was on my lane. However, that meant I was not watching where I was stepping. Managed to stumble on something. I was coming downhill pretty fast. The next five seconds was a huge struggle for me to stop from falling down. Essentially I was bent over, head first, desperately speeding up my cadence to get my balance back. I wish somebody had videotaped that. I bet you I looked like an ostrich running for life 🙂

On a side note, this practice of looking for problems on the longer horizon and not paying attention to the immediate has gotten me into trouble before. Once, in Dallas, I was late for a meeting and was speeding to get to it. All the while, I kept a sharp eye for cops on either side of the road in the horizon. In the process, I conveniently passed a cop car also speeding on the road. Well, one of us got pulled over by the other using the long arm of the law 🙂

Today was Georgia Tech area run again. First three miles were really boring – my Nano had run out of battery – so none of those learning new words in “Says You” podcast today. I was literally checking my watch every other minute counting how many more minutes to go. Then I heard somebody running very fast behind me and yelling my name – turned around and sure enough it was Andy and Rachel out for a run too. So we ran for couple of miles together. Talking with friends while running completely took out the boredom. In fact, I was surprised that I had reached five miles already. Although talking does slow me down since my lungs have to do double duty. In any case, that is my story regarding why I asked Andy and Rachel to slow down for me. And I am sticking with it 🙂 (Both are very fast runners).

5 miles in Milton/Alpharetta. Very early in the morning. It was cool – 59 degrees!! Stretching over, now sitting outside Starbucks watching the sun come up from behind the trees. Light breeze. Almost as if, the world has come to a standstill. Blissful.
Once in a while pierced by the nagging new pain on the top middle part of the left foot 🙁