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!!! 🙂

Last few weeks, I have not had as many runs during the week as I normally do. A little too hectic travel and somewhat of laziness 🙂 is responsible. To get myself slapped back to routine, decided to go for a long run today. Should have joined the group and finished it off early morning. Instead, I waited till it had warmed up to the fifties. Took a lot more energy than I was bargaining for. 10 miles in the hills in just a shade under 100 minutes….

After a hiatus of a week – thanks to all that late night partying – the Sunday morning Bengali run was revived! It helped that we set the clocks back last night – gave the partyers some more time to sleep in 🙂 And yet only Amitesh and I showed up 🙁

On the other hand, we took full advantage of the crisp cold weather with very little wind and flat surface to post our best group run. 5K at 8:36 pace (total of 26 minutes 38 seconds). Best part was we were able to do this with negative splits (8:59, 8:39, 8:13 and 7:57).

Awesome! and Thanks Amitesh for the run and the coffee thereafter!

When I checked the local weather, it said 39 degrees and with wind chill it was 30 degrees. So, I did what any sane person would do – I dressed up for December and went out for a run. It was not half as cold as that and I was certainly overdressed 🙁 Within one mile, I had to start taking layers out. All in all, a good – if somewhat uncomfortable – run on a cold, very windy morning. To cool down, I put in 2K of rowing in the gym. I love the idea of the cold weather coming upon us. Nothing is more fun than daring the elements to go out for a run. Till people consider you insane, it is not worth doing it 🙂

Since most of my Bengali friends were sleeping in this morning after the Puja celebrations last night, I went ahead and ran in Fowler Park for a 10K run. It was really cool temperatures (mid forties) and I was not dressed for it – specially in the shaded parts of the run. Which was good – since that forced me run fast enough to warm myself up. I think I was the only one running in shorts and half sleeves. That and the fact it was flat surface was enough to make a big difference compared to my 10K hill runs yesterday. Almost 100 seconds per mile difference. Yesterday was 9:53 min/mile while today was 8:16!!

The run was extremely enjoyable. The Starbucks coffee all by myself after that – no so much 🙂

10K run in between dropping and picking up Nikita at her friend’s birthday party. The north Roswell hills were very pretty but very punishing. Slowed down to 10min/mile. Beautiful cool day with the sun shining bright. Now enjoying a strawberry smoothie at Starbucks waiting for the birthday party to get over…

Today I went to midtown Atlanta. It was cool (43 degrees) and the wind was stronger than I and bargained for. After a few minutes, I avoided my usual route and started heading down north-south streets (the wind was from the west). Other than that, it was a enjoyable run. The chapped lips and sniffles notwithstanding 🙂

I have always been worried about my upper body strength as I grow older. (To be honest, I have been worried about a lot of things about myself as I grow older 🙂 But, I digress.). For sure, I am aware that upper body strength makes running easier. But I just cannot seem to get myself to go to the gym. If it is not out in nature, I get bored quickly. And if does not involve some gadgets showing speeds, distance and such other digital numbers, I am downright disappointed 🙂

However, I have gained 6 pounds 🙁 Once upon a time, a friend of mine – Rachel Stark had asked me to try out rowing. Which actually intrigued me. It would be cool to go row in the river. Of course, I have to first finetune my swimming skills. Which I am not good at, do not want to do it in a gym and does not involve too many digital devices 🙂 You get the drift 🙂

To play safe (and not drown) I started doing it in the gym. I know I know – it is in the gym. In my defense, there is a cool display showing my strokes per minute, speed, distance etc 🙂 On the flipside, the Nike Fuel Band and the Fitbit does not recognize the amount of work I have to do (I guess those accelerometers are more tuned for activities that give you a jerk – like stepping).

Well, so far this week, it has been 5K run followed by 2K rowing each day. Let’s see how long this lasts… The temperatures outside have been awesome – 46 degrees. I just wish I could do the rowing in a river…