tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76541162024-03-23T10:48:40.544-07:00DhammoniaDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.comBlogger953125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-72255841629820174402023-12-29T01:48:00.000-08:002023-12-29T03:49:14.704-08:00Books in 2023<p>2023 has been an tougher year than 2022 from a personal time perspective and hence for reading. The first 3+ months were a washout since we had no nanny. But I managed what I could from Apr onwards. Here are the books I finished</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Deep by James Nestor (this is a little all over the place vs his subsequent book, Breathe, but it is fascinating and never boring)</li><li>Dare to Tri by Louise Minchin (I was trying to coach someone to his first triathlon and wanted to see what the journey of someone who did so, was like)</li><li>Outlive by Peter Attia (sort of overhang from my reading from 2022. I was just curious to see what he had to say, given his presence in the modern health space)</li><li>Choosing to Run by Des Linden</li><li>The Innovation Stack by Jim McKelvey</li><li>Radical Candor by Kim Scott</li><li>The Long Game by Dorie Clark</li><li>The Power Law by Sebastian Mallaby</li><li>A Boy in the water by Tom Gregory*</li><li>Good for a Girl by Lauren Fleshman</li><li>The Best by Mark Williams and Tim Wigmore**</li><li>Adapt by Tim Harford***</li><li>The Museum of Curiosity: Series 1-4 (audiobook)</li><li>The Museum of Curiosity: Series 5-8 (audiobook)</li><li>The Museum of Curiosity: Series 9-12 (audiobook)</li><li>The Museum of Curiosity: Series 13-16 (audiobook)</li><li>Master of Change by Brad Stulberg</li><li>In it for the long run by Damian Hall</li><li>We share the sun by Sarah Gearhart</li></ol><div><br /></div><div>*wonderful moving book. A hark back to the days when the world was perhaps simpler. Very hard to not cry at several points in the book.</div><div>**fabulous reading esp for a coach</div><div>***re-read this for some work</div><div><br /></div><div>I really loved Lauren Fleshman's book since it is a fantastic insider's viewpoint into the life of a gifted athlete and a rare one at that, given she's a woman (sadly, there still aren't enough books about female athletes). I highly recommend you try it. </div><div><br /></div><div>13-16 brought some much needed joy into my life. It is a quirky radio show, filled with very smart people and lots of fun and trivia. Hits the spot for me. And each episode in the series is ~20min. I loved it so much that I rationed my consumption so that I wouldn't run out of it quickly. Strongly recommend it as a daily dose to anyone who wants to lighten their day up.</div><div><br /></div><div>I just picked A Boy in the Water as my book for the year because it had more resonance for me as a coach and I am a sucker for emotional stories and at this point in my life, like swimming a lot. While 18 is about Sang (Kipchoge's coach) and is mostly around running and is predictably a good read, it didn't make me cry at any point</div><p></p>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-37208408089465073302022-12-26T22:04:00.001-08:002022-12-26T22:04:56.362-08:00Books in 2022<p>2022 was the first year in a long time when I read a lot in the health and fitness area. Not since 2011, when I was on a sabbatical and read ~30 books on running, has my reading been that specific. Still, I managed to get some reading not directly relevant to work also. The no of books dropped drastically since the year was up and down personally. I just lacked the energy to read consistently*. </p><p>Of course, I have read a bunch of children's books over the past 3+ years, thanks to my boys. Most of them are wonderful and I remember this particular quirky story, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikki_Tikki_Tembo">Tikki Tikki Tembo</a> among others.</p><p>Here are the books</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Why we get sick by Benjamin Bikman</li><li>Metabolical by Robert Lustig</li><li>The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick</li><li>The Cold Start problem by Andrew Chen</li><li>What doesn't kill you by Scott Carney</li><li>Breath by James Nestor</li><li>Why we swim by Bonnie Tsu</li><li>Klopp: Bring the Noise by Raphael Honigstein</li><li>To be a machine by Mark O'Connell</li><li>Titan by Vinay Kamath</li><li>The Midlife Cyclist by Phil Cavell</li><li>Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman</li><li>7 Rules of Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer</li></ol><div><br /></div><div>*Imagine having a copy of Astrophysics for people in a hurry and still not having read it. That's how bad it was.</div><p></p>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-86827142835641768802022-09-12T00:10:00.004-07:002022-09-12T00:10:34.221-07:0011 years<p>It is amazing how much your life can change in a year. And then again, how much it can stay the same over a decade, depending on where you look from!</p><p>Among others, I don't have time to make a detailed post like I did <a href="http://dhammo.blogspot.com/2021/09/10-years.html">last year</a>.</p><p>But a big change from last year is that I started a new job in Dec 2021. So I am no longer on my own.</p><p>The last 9 months have been remarkably up and down in all sorts of ways - both on the personal and professional sides.</p><p>I am grateful for the fact that running is a big part of my life. If you are on my annual mailer, you will hear more.</p><p>In the meanwhile, say hello and let me know what's up with you.</p>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-17468642572716478202021-12-22T21:58:00.001-08:002022-12-27T00:55:08.722-08:00Books in 2021<p>Update: If you got here because of my linking mistake, here's the link to my <a href="https://dhammo.blogspot.com/2022/12/books-in-2022.html">2022 list</a></p><p>Here you go</p><ol><li>How the World Thinks by Julian Baggini <i>(still being read)</i></li><li>The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt <i>(still being read)</i></li><li>Verbal Judo by George J Thompson <i>(still being read)</i></li><li>Right Hand Left Hand by Chris McManus <i>(still being read)</i></li><li>The Smartest Kid in the World by Chris Ware (graphic novel) <i>(still being read)</i></li><li>Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez</li><li>The Biggest Bluff by Maria Konnikova</li><li>Dreamers by Snigdha Poonam</li><li>The Most Human Human by Brian Christian</li><li>One Track Mind by Michael Stocks</li><li>Books, Movies, Rhythms, Blues by Nick Hornby</li><li>Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley</li><li>The Barefoot Coach by Paddy Upton</li><li>No Rules Rules by Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings</li><li>Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke</li><li>Kicksology by Brian Metzler</li><li>Think Again by Adam Grant</li><li>A Bigger Prize by Margaret Heffernan</li><li>Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance</li><li>The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle</li><li>Disrupt and Conquer by TTK Jagannathan & Sandhya Mendonca</li><li>How will you measure your life by Clayton Christensen</li><li>The Culture Book by the Culturati</li><li>Good to Great by Jim Collins</li><li>High Output Management by Andy Grove</li></ol>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-50219064339895362622021-09-11T03:24:00.000-07:002021-09-11T03:24:15.553-07:0010 years<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">It has been 10 years now.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The mental flux I discussed <a href="http://dhammo.blogspot.com/2020/09/9-years.html">last year</a>, hasn't let up much.</span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ill-health did hit family too with a couple of scares</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We now have two sons :) And life has bigger spikes in both directions most days now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I continue to run without a plan and ran a forgettable marathon earlier this year thanks to a GI malfunction. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">For the first time, my consulting income exceeded my coaching income in a calendar year. I am still consulting on running. I finally got <a href="https://www.runningcoach.in/">my own website</a>, thanks to my pal, <a href="https://athreyachidambi.com/">Athreya</a>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I also continue to work with my amazing friends at <a href="https://choosetothinq.com/">ChooseToThinq</a>. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My newsletter at <a href="http://dschool.substack.com/" style="color: #3366aa; text-decoration-line: none;">dschool.substack.com</a> completed one year and I continue to post each week. I wrote about the Tokyo Olympics for <a href="https://www.sportskeeda.com/profile/d-dharmendra">SportsKeeda</a>. That was a lot of fun and learning. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reading has been good this year but still less than I would like, but hey I am getting paid to read and write! Wait for my annual post on the books I read. This year, I have gone back to paper copies and my audiobook consumption has dipped, partly because I can't listen for too long and I try and avoid my phone as much as I can, with two young kids.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I stay in touch with Spanish by using Duolingo everyday and crossed a year of using it, about 3 months ago.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I continue to be grateful for so many good things in my life. I only wish the same and more for myself and for you, my dear reader. And an extra serving of good health to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you are anyone (incl. an NIT Trichy or IIM Lucknow alumnus and) wondering whether to work for yourself and whether you'd be happy and comfortable, I can tell you I am working for myself and I am ok so far, after ten years. That's not too bad, eh?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">If you noticed, I could reuse a lot of last year's content because the more things change, the more they remain the same.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And as with the last few years, now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)</span></div>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-29689680350559158132021-01-08T03:48:00.000-08:002021-01-08T03:48:11.166-08:00Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley<p>Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley got added to my reading list late last year, thanks to Alex Hutchinson putting it on his fall list. I had actually gotten in touch with the publisher via the author's agent but some mess happened in the background, partly due to which the paperback wasn't available in India until last week or so. So I never got the advance copy I was hoping to get. Eventually, I could hold out no more and bought an ebook (Thanks to Google Books!) and got reading. So I set aside a few books I was reading and decided to read this. And what a treat it was!</p><p>Michael is a social anthropologist, who also happens to an almost elite runner (~2:20 for the marathon). Due to a combination of circumstances incl a studentship and a fellowship, he ends up in Ethiopia for his doctoral thesis, which ends up leading to the book. He discusses how he chose Ethiopia over some other countries which have a running culture but are much less studied/written about. The book is fantastic from even before the time he sets foot in Ethiopia, while he describes his student life in France, etc.</p><p>But from the moment he lands in Ethiopia, the story is mostly about running. And Michael has a very keen eye. He talks about using what is called the observant participation technique as opposed to the participant observation as he goes about immersing himself in the Ethiopian running scene, mostly at the higher end. Among others, the running group he tags along with includes men* who have run around 2:05 for the marathon! He describes how Ethiopia has a better record at the Olympics than its rival Kenya and how Mo Farah has been beaten by athletes of Ethiopian origin at thr 5K and the 10K, even since he became a force to reckon with. He also mentions how due to cultural reasons (among others), he chose men as it would be much harder for a western guy to go and interview women in Ethiopia. Much like in Finn's Running with the Kenyans, he describes how hard it is to be a top athlete in Ethiopia when he marvels at the fact that the bus conductor of the bus he's in has run 30:05 for the 10K. And at various points, he tells the reader how Ethiopian domestic competitions are much harder to win than international races, since international races rarely feature more than half a dozen Ethiopias and maybe a similar number of Kenyans, whereas local races can have up to a hundred contenders. So most Ethiopians may consider the rest of the participants as fun runners :)</p><p>He discusses how Ethiopian runners rarely run alone, viewing running alone almost as an anti-social behaviour. Further they seem to believe those who run alone are running for health, rather than training for competition. Competition and money seem to be the twin motivations for elite athletes. So his fellow runners are somewhat befuddled by his running just like that. The appearance of his girlfriend at some point in his story, convinces them that he does have a life outside of running.</p><p>He also provides a map of Ethiopian running hotspots, travelling as he does with some of his group to various events and episodes of training. Some of these have local legends attached to their names - Haile, Bekele, Dibaba etc. He is frequently joyous and tired as they run at higher altitudes free of pollution and as Michael jokes, oxygen!</p><p>His immersive experience, especially with athletes of that level is sobering to the reader. While the Ethiopian men train hard, they don't necessarily seem to rest well, so far as sleep goes. There's lot of demystifying to me. While elite athletes are also human (obviously!), some of their behaviour (much like ours) is very endearing (finishing long runs early to watch their fellow runners race for ex). It is also quite moving to see their fierce commitment to pacing in groups, although the group mindset may be in the decline thanks to the brutal prizemoney-driven dynamics, esp in races like Dubai (a la Cadillac-steak knives).</p><p>There's a lot of everyday struggle depicted as-is, as the athletes try and justify their effort by the prospect of reward, summed by the paraphrasing a beautiful quote from Montaigne (The Game is worth the candle). And Michael is extremely self-conscious as he recognizes his status, despite his modest-by-comparison running talents (for context, Michael could be a contender for most city marathons in India!)</p><p>Amongst many reasons I love the book, it rekindled a certain pure love for running, that had been elusive for over a year in my life. It brought back memories of a time when I ran hard and had fun. And of course, be immensely grateful that I don't have to run for a living, unlike the amazing characters, not all of whom will see fortune favouring them in life.</p>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-76908178032783350212020-12-26T01:39:00.003-08:002020-12-26T01:39:55.973-08:00Books in 2020<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are the books I read in this year<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine</li>
<li>Be Social by Karthik Srinivasan</li>
<li>Das Reboot by Raphael Honigstein</li>
<li>The Body by Bill Bryson</li>
<li>Influence by Robert Cialdini</li>
<li>Supermarketwala by Damodar Mall</li>
<li>Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert</li>
<li>Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke</li>
<li>Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Caffeine by Michael Pollan</li>
<li>The Coming Storm by Michael Lewis</li>
<li>Measure what Matters by John Doerr</li>
<li>Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert</li>
<li>Atomic Habits by James Clear</li>
<li>Sevens Heaven by Ben Ryan</li>
<li>Story Plot by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne</li>
<li>Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez</li>
<li>Fast, Cheap and Viral by Aashish Chopra</li><li>The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman</li>
<li>Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger</li>
<li>Win at all costs by Matt Hart</li>
<li>The Athlete's Gut by Patrick Wilson</li>
<li>The Science of Running by Chris Napier</li>
<li>Comrades Marathon</li>
<li>The Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger </li>
<li>Out of Thin Air by Michael Crawley</li>
<li>Non-Bull Shit Innovation by David Rowan</li></ol>The Antidote by Oliver Burkeman is subitled "Happiness for people who can't stand positive thinking". If you know me, you may guess why I liked the book so much. I enjoyed it immensely and learnt a few things from the book, even on topics I thought I knew the ground on - Stoicism was one such. It is easily my pick of the year. If you are a runner though, Crawley's book is fantastic and you will love it. How was your year in reading?
</div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-91932096940088840032020-11-18T19:53:00.003-08:002020-11-18T19:53:37.569-08:00Manju - 15 yearsIt is 15 years, since Manjunath Shanmugam, fondly called Manju was shot dead while doing his job right. Am happy to recollect that several good people worked hard to put his murderers behind bars amd emsure his memory is not lost by doing good deeds in his name. Here's a moment to remember Manju. Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-54789023893735454522020-09-11T02:23:00.000-07:002020-09-11T02:23:49.774-07:009 Years<p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia;">It has been 9 years now.</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia;">And there's a modest chance I may go back to a job in this 10th year.</span></p><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Other than the time between June 2012 and Oct 2013, when I had the most heartbreak while chasing my Boston qualification, I have not come close to the amount of mental flux I have had in the 12 months (esp the last 6, which must be common with everyone in the world right now!). </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Ill-health and misfortune has been a scourge in the lives of several people dear to me. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">That has hurt my head quite a bit.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Partly as a result of that churn in my head and a lot of disrupted sleep, I gained ~2 kg after the first month of the lockdown (when I had actually dropped 0.5 kg, although I ran only on the terrace of my house). I am still trying to shake off 1 of those 2 kgs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">My son continues to drive a lot of my life's decisions. What I underestimated is the amount of time raising a kid, especially in the early years, takes. And that became very pronounced for a 15 day period when we didn't have a nanny, a little while ago. As a stopgap measure, I began using a spin bike 2 months ago, to stay fit while not leaving the house. I like it enough to continue doing it, although there are no restrictions on stepping outside now, where I live.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I continue to run without a plan although I had a memorable race at Mumbai in Jan where I ran my 2nd fastest marathon in India. I am grateful to just stay in shape and manage to run.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Coaching remains my primary source of income although the start of the calendar year had a couple of surprises. I did a motivation talk at a company's offsite (my first and only day-trip to Goa, till date!) and then consulted for another company on running, for a bit. I also got an opportunity to work with two people I love, over the past 3 months or so. That has been quite a nice experience. I also started a blog for sharing interesting content that comes by way, for the people I coach. That was born out of weekly calls we started doing, in the absence of our weekly face-to-face meetings, where we began discussing interesting content we had consumed in the week gone by <a href="http://dschool.substack.com">dschool.substack.com</a> That among others has also resulted in my beginning to write a bit every week.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Reading has been better than the previous year but very start-stop. Wait for my annual post on the books I read. Again, audiobooks and podcasts have been helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I learnt a little bit of Spanish and among other fun items it ushered into my life was this delightful South American cartoon called Mafalda. Look it up if you haven't heard of it already.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I continue to be grateful for so many good things in my life. I only wish the same and more for myself and for you, my dear reader. And an extra serving of good health to everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; font-family: georgia, utopia, "palatino linotype", palatino, serif;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">And as with the last few years, now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)</span></div>Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-43284582740261303102020-04-15T23:26:00.000-07:002020-04-15T23:28:16.790-07:00Mutual Anagrams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Mutual Anagrams</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-f5804d5c-7fff-b5c3-a4ae-750dbc1f44de" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I started solving crosswords in the year 1996 in the first year of engineering college. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Then I was on a break for almost a decade and resumed in 2014 trying to spend 15 minutes a day at least. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">It is perhaps the only part of my life that is connected to the Daily Mail of the UK, </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">since the Economic Times syndicates their crossword. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I have collected a few solutions which are anagrams of each other. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">There’s a certain simple pleasure observing them. I have posted some of these on Twitter in the past. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">These are from the last two years or so. </span></div>
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<table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="199"></col><col width="170"></col></colgroup><tbody>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">WANT SARDINES </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SAINT ANDREWS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">CABINET DOOR </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">NOTICE BOARD</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">CANADIAN MINERS </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">AMERICAN INDIANS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">ERRATIC RUSSIAN</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">CURTAIN RAISERS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">URGES NICHOLAS </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SOUL SEARCHING</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">DECLARE ISOTOPE</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">RADIO TELESCOPE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">MILTON'S PREFACE</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SELF IMPORTANCE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">LONG TITLE</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">ILL GOTTEN</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">TITANIC SWINDLE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">IDENTICAL TWINS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">PILOTS DEFENCE</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SELF DECEPTION</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">NILE CRUSTACEAN</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">NATURAL SCIENCE</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">ADORNING SPA</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">GRAND PIANOS</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">INSURED FLYER</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">USER FRIENDLY</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">USER FRIENDLY</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">FINDER SURELY</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">BRACES RUMP</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">BUMPER CARS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">RED STEPMOTHER</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SHORT TEMPERED</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">PACIFY EXCELLENT</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">LIFE EXPECTANCY</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">YOUNGSTER'S IDOL</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SOUL DESTROYING</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">FERRIS WHEEL</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">WHERE FLIERS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">COMMENTS VARIED</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">INVERTED COMMAS</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">ROUGH LIFESTYLE</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">SELF RIGHTEOUSLY</span></div>
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<tr style="height: 20.75pt;"><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">PEERS INTERFERE</span></div>
</td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 1pt 1pt 5pt 1pt; vertical-align: bottom;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">FREE ENTERPRISE</span></div>
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</tbody></table>
</div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Of course they would be more fun with the clues but I enjoyed the general overlap between the </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">subject matter of the words by themselves. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Let me know how you like them. There’s another set of mutual anagrams but they are less common. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Ex; HOT WATER BOTTLE - WHAT BETTER TOOL</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "eb garamond" , serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">I’ll save that for another day. Salute to the amazing setters. </span></div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-64737011744101674712020-04-13T20:59:00.002-07:002020-04-13T20:59:14.463-07:00Pedigree and Persistence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This post has been cooking for a long time.</span></span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-8521878e-7fff-28a1-5390-e2a06ad00c67" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The germ of the post (no pun intended) was planted in my head while listening to Bill Bryson’s The Body (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">filled with trivia like most of his books, read by him, which is great but the book is nowhere near the best of his work, cynical as it is - More on the book some other time</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). He writes about how the discovery of the bacterium that causes salmonella by Theobald Smith (who came up from hard circumstances), was cruelly attributed to Daniel Salmon, who happened to be the person Smith was working under. Daniel Salmon benefited from this and Smith didn’t. Thankfully Smith had a better end to his career and life. </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s an even more appalling story - that of Albert Schatz (also from a very poor background), who was </span><a href="http://www.albertschatzphd.com/?cat=articles&subcat=streptomycin&itemnum=001" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cheated of his discovery of streptomycin</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and a Nobel Prize was cruelly awarded to Waksman, at whose lab Schatz had worked briefly. Schatz was conned into waiving his royalties while Waksman didn’t sign his waiver. As a result, Schatz didn’t benefit and Waksman did, at least as Bryson tells it. Perhaps even more cruelly, much later Schatz was awarded something named after Waksman!</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The point of this story is not to talk about misappropriation of credit (there are tonnes of stories like the above and not just in the Nobel Prizes) but what we end up thinking when we hear of a certain person’s pedigree or awards. I will be the first one to admit that I have been and will be guilty of this in the future. But one must be wary of putting people on a pedestal simply because their name is followed by a few alphabets. It may be a better bet to seek the opinions of that person’s co-workers/classmates. In a recent conversation with Tyler Cowen, Reed Hastings pointed out how he relies on this mechanism rather than look at people’s CVs.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another aspect of the above stories is that of persistence. Both Smith and Schatz persisted through remarkable hardships in life to achieve significant professional successes and I am happy to report that both lived long and had long reasonably successful careers, after the significant setbacks. Finally, two sobering stories from listening to Tyler Cowen’s conversation with the remarkable Ed Boyden - one of </span><a href="https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-bad-luck-and-bad-networking-cost-douglas-prasher-a-nobel-prize" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Douglas Prasher</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (Doug) and the other of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Kobilka" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brian Kobilka</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (BK). Doug had to abandon his scientific career due to a combination of circumstances but his work was built upon by two scientists who eventually won the Nobel Prize. To their credit, they were generous enough to invite him to their award banquet and also effusive in their thanks to him. After a long break from a scientific career, Doug made his way back to science. </span><a href="http://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2012/10/stanford-scientist-brian-kobilka-wins-nobel-prize-for-chemistry.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BK</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> had to work as an emergency room physician on weekends when he was faced with financial hurdles early in his career but eventually his work won him a Nobel Prize. I am the first one to admit that BK’s story shows survivorship bias but that’s not why I am quoting it. Also the point of this post isn’t just to prompt some thinking but also inspire you in these difficult times (not to forget, this post serves to do that to me!). Stay focused and do not despair.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What do you think?</span></span></div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-56153569925632271752020-02-24T03:32:00.002-08:002020-02-24T03:32:18.230-08:00Mumbai Marathon 2020<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For those of you who started reading this blog at least a decade ago, it is very likely you would have come across one of my posts on running. And the common thread between most of those posts, especially the ones on my full marathons in Mumbai (of which there have been over a dozen since 2005), was that I had one thing or the other going wrong till this year.<br />
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2020 was a welcome relief from all those painful memories and even more painful recounting that followed in the days, weeks and months (and in all honesty, years!) that followed each such race.<br />
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2020 was also the first time I ended up at the starting line with a rather flexible goal, mostly due to what I had put into my training - no intervals or tempos (since I have been unable to get commensurate sleep due to father duties in the last year or more). In fact, almost all the hard runs I had put in, came in the company of my running buddy, Vipul in whose company I did all my long runs at a challenging pace at Agara lake. I also had such a hard run at Goa in Nov 2019, that I knew anything better than that (~3:49) would be welcome at Mumbai. So I would be happy with a 3;30, not very unhappy with a 3:45 (which is faster than 3:49) and delighted if a 3:20 happened, esp since I found out that the race start was 5:15 am (literally a day before the race, when someone who collected my bib). I started rather conservatively, since I knew I had blown up in the past b/w 26-34km as the temp rose. In particular, I had been overtaken by a really good runner (woman) at about the 29km mark (U turn just off Worli Sea-Face), on more than one occasion in the past 3 years.<br />
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As a result, I wasn't too fussed with some pre-race events - one being my getting stuck in cluster f* jam near Kurla thanks to road closures and another being a late dinner, not to forget that my poor roommate for the night before had a violent cold he was recovering from.<br />
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I also made one change to my prep, thanks to a donation of a box of Maurten gels from one of my trainees in the US, also a friend. I even tried it in practice but I had tanked on my training long runs due to other causes. While I liked the gels, I wasn't sure whether the rest of my training was in line.<br />
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When the HM mark went by uneventfully, I was mostly waiting for the tanking to happen. However at around the 25km mark, I realized that I had hit a faster split than any of the prev 5 kms. Suddenly I realized that something special was possible. From there till the 34km mark, I was hoping for 6 min/km splits and doing well under 5 min/km. From there till the 38km mark, I was calculating what my finish time would be if I ran 7-8 min/km as in prev years and getting happy that I would get under 3:45 even if it did. At around the 38km mark, I caught a lucky break.<br />
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The leading woman runner (she did finish 1st amongst amateur women) came up behind me with a motorcycle escort. I realized that I stood to benefit if I could somehow just keep up with her and also just ahead (so that she didn't get impeded) while the motorcycle cleared the way. Thus, unlike much faster finishers ahead of me, who suffered due to the large nos of runners from other events, walking along Marine Drive, I had a free passage all the way to the finish. It wasn't a painless one though as fatigue had begun setting into my legs. But my spirit didn't flag for once.<br />
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I finished in <a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/3025549004/laps">3:16:13</a>, my second fastest marathon in India till date. Thanks to the weather, the organizers' decision to start early and Preity Rai (the top woman runner amongst amateurs), I had a memorable day.<br />
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The run was also memorable due to my decision to run in some excellent training shoes from Puma (Speed Sutamina which weigh 310g for UK size 9, in case you were keen to know), which weigh more than typical racing shoes which weigh about 200g. But the decision was predicated on work reasons, more than running, which is surprisingly not item no 1 in my life at this point.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(A couple of things prevented this post from going out at least 2 weeks ago - one is the aforementioned work reasons and another is a tragedy in the life of some running buddies, which I didn't want to divert attention from, by going on about my running).</span><br />
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I don't think I have ever got more from my running with such limited input. I am quite delighted with it. </div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-55032933723684898162019-12-30T21:57:00.003-08:002020-02-28T03:25:56.098-08:00Books in 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here are the books I read in 2019<br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>If this isn't nice, what is? by Kurt Vonnegut</li>
<li>Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt et al</li>
<li>The Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn</li>
<li>To the Finish Line by Chrissie Wellington</li>
<li>Mastering Sleep by Swami Subramaniam</li>
<li>Rework by Jason Fried</li>
<li>Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden</li>
<li>Range by David Epstein</li>
<li>The Long Dark tea-time of the soul by Douglas Adams</li>
<li>Loonshots by Safi Bahcall</li>
<li>The Crossword Century by Alan Connor</li>
<li>Alchemy by Rory Sutherland</li>
<li>The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson</li>
<li>The Invisible Gorilla...by Christopher Chabris et al</li>
<li>Katha by Shobana Narayan</li>
<li>The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff</li>
<li>The Nature Fix by Florence Williams</li>
<li>The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki</li>
<li>The Joy of Quiz by Alan Connor</li>
<li>Fifty things that shaped the modern economy by Tim Harford</li>
<li>Reasons to stay alive by Matt Haig</li>
<li>How I almost blew it by Sidharth Rao</li>
<li>If not now, then when by Greg Searle</li>
<li>In his own words by Terry Pratchett</li>
<li>Go! India's Sporting Transformation</li>
</ol>
<div>
Book 26 has essays by Dravid, Gopichand and Bindra (amongst people you may know) and Joy Bhattacharjya (amongst people you should know). What more do you want? I'd also recommend the Harford book for the anecdotes on Fritz Haber, Diesel and Fleming (among others).</div>
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<br /></div>
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I really loved the Psychopath Test by Ronson.</div>
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Since 2019 was such a good year, it is hard for me to recommend a single book as almost all of the above were wonderful reads. You may notice that the Pratchett and the Adams books were the only works of fiction that I finished. </div>
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How was your year in reading?</div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-12680034993297349412019-11-26T01:48:00.001-08:002019-11-26T01:48:11.890-08:00Manju - 14 years on<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am a little embarrassed that I remembered this a week before the 19th, when I was travelling and forgot to post. Today (26th when I am actually making this post) is a week and 14 years since Manju was shot dead on the job.<br />
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So much has changed in the country that I am unsure whether most people care about honesty and corruption. Still, one does hope that one gets better and so does our country.<br />
<br />
Here is a brief moment in memory of that brave man. I still remember you Manju. Bless your soul as ever.</div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-25872075221473288582019-09-19T06:51:00.001-07:002019-09-19T06:51:38.370-07:00Boston D Party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It has been 8 years since I started on a wonderful journey from Bangalore to Boston. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here's my book <a href="https://amzn.to/2kkrYdY">https://amzn.to/2kkrYdY</a> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I spent some time looking for publishers but made no progress. The story is there. The production value could be better but I didn't want to wait longer than I have. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The feedback from early buyers (who had committed to buy in 2011, before I even finished writing it!), is encouraging.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">US buyers, click <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XXB2VFZ">here</a></span></div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-54599354395785462072019-09-10T21:06:00.000-07:002019-09-10T21:12:20.543-07:008 Years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">It has been 8 years now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The further I get away
from 2011, the more I am impressed by the fact that I took the plunge than by
the fact that I have survived for so long without going back to a job.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The last year has been a surprise
but in ways I didn't expect. I had mentioned becoming a parent in last year's
post. Now our son is over a year old and walks around and pretty much occupies
the top of any list I make.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">The reversion to the mean
has come pretty close to happening although the themes for this year have been
parenting and other items.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Parenting is harder than
anything I have done before. I heard Scott Jurek say on a podcast that compared
to parenting, running ultras like he did, was easy (or something to that
effect). But it is incredibly fulfilling. You could say that on most days my
oxytocin levels should be greater than my endorphin levels. I don't think I
would have survived this without my superhuman wife. All mothers are
superhuman, by default!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Running continues to be a
constant although I mostly run without a plan. I am grateful to just stay in
shape and manage to run as much as I can.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">I stopped working with The
Fuller Life in mid-May to focus on finding some opportunity for myself that
offers more bucks. I was already getting enough excitement. Thanks to that,
coaching has stayed my primary source of income. And that is just one surprise.
I am now coaching almost the same number of people as I was at peak with
trainees continuing for almost 4 years or more now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">Reading has suffered a bit
but I have read some wonderful books this year. Range by David Epstein,
Loonshots by Safi Bahcall and Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden are 3 picks if
you can't wait for my annual post on other good books I read. Audiobooks and
Podcasts have bailed out quite a bit of my reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">I continue to be grateful
for so many good things in my life. I only wish the same and more for myself
and for you, my dear reader. As with every year since I began coaching, I have
met a few wonderful and generous people who have tried to make my life better
in the last year too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: georgia;">And as with the last few
years, now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have
been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-71034780764535307042019-05-16T07:43:00.002-07:002019-05-16T07:43:44.103-07:00Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Rise of the Ultra Runners by Adharanand Finn is the 3rd book by the author and easily his best work.<br />
<br />
Spoiler Alert!<br />
<br />
If you don't want to know some key details of the book, skip the rest of this post, read the book and come back to finish reading this post.<br />
<br />
If you are still here, I must thank you for indulging me.<br />
<br />
As I tweeted giddily after the initial few chapters, it has everything from fantastic anecdotes, sibling rivalry, the wonderful Thomas Payn and expectedly some of the legends of ultrarunning.<br />
<br />
For one, the book is quite unlike anything Finn has written before. It has none of the meticulous, slow nature of his two earlier books on Kenyan and Japanese running. It also betrays a certain impatience (perhaps driven by the publishing contract) for someone entering the world of ultrarunning. But it is a bloody colourful book and never has a dull moment. Amongst many reasons to read it, is the author's visceral honesty and willingness to share his vulnerability with his readers although one would love to know how one even has the cognitive coherence to remember such detail for someone subject to hallucinations during an ultramarathon!<br />
<br />
As the reader follows Finn on his journey, one wonders what happened to the Finn from Kenya and Japan? Wasn't he much nicer? You wouldn't expect him to mock his generous hosts, would you? And he does get quite hard on himself, more than once about his racing. The one time one sees a clear sign that this is the same author who wrote with such fondness about Kenyans and quite some amusement about the Japanese, is when he observes the rather "white" universe of ultrarunning. And to his credit he does make an attempt to remedy that (which would be familiar to some of his followers on Twitter). But this book is mostly about Finn and his experience while meeting practically every legend in the ultrarunning scene globally. The one gap if any, is that there's almost no mention of some of the accomplished Japanese runners, esp in the 24 hr races.<br />
<br />
If you weren't already a fan of Finn, when you see his adulation for Damian Hall, the journalist runner who does spectacular stuff at the UTMB, followed by a desire to emulate him, you know you are that guy!<br />
<br />
The book also has more of his family and friends than in his previous books, since this book has a lot of self-reflection on Finn's part and it hasn't escaped this writer than Finn spent more time in the Alps doing his first UTMB than I spent in acquiring this book, reading and then writing this review!<br />
But it was worth every moment and I hope you get to savour it too.<br />
<br />
It has enough drama for even a non-runner to appreciate a good read on an adventure. You could read the book if you a runner, maybe even an ultrarunner, an adventure seeker, a navel gazer, a nature lover or someone who just loves a good story or two.<br />
Don't blame the author if you get inspired to sign up for an ultra!<br />
<br /></div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-51881400522164781572019-04-11T05:09:00.001-07:002019-04-11T05:09:13.148-07:00Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="docs-internal-guid-17e7ad6d-7fff-aedb-b4cf-052c27549b74"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christie Aschwanden’s Good to Go, is subtitled “How to eat, rest, sleep and rest like a champion” but it could easily have been subtitled as the sports science version of </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://callingbullshit.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">https://callingbullshit.org/</a></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
</span><div style="height: 0px; text-align: left;">
<span><br /></span><span><br /></span><span><br /></span><span><br /></span><span><br /></span><span><br /></span>x</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s more than a lifetime’s reading of books on training to achieve better performance as an athlete across sports but there’s not a comparable body of work on recovery. And that’s with good reason - It is really hard to figure out what works and not too many have bothered trying to find out. Should you take that pre-workout drink that all your friends are taking? Should you buy that special set of socks that your rivals are swearing by? What about those post-race ice baths and massages?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christie boldly steps in where not many have dared to and examines claims from manufacturer of recovery devices and supplements and protocols and practitioners to see what works and whether it makes sense, even stepping aside to explore what works when it seemingly doesn’t make sense! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Along the way, she manages to entertain the readers with humility and humour while raising the reader’s understanding of what sports science has to say on various topics. While she willingly submits herself to various ideas in the interest of sports science, she doesn’t spare herself for trying whatever idea she is examining, in the first place. And she has the inputs of over two hundred people in the area of sports science including Olympic medallists, world class sportspersons across sports as diverse as American football and mountain biking, coaches, sports scientists, even the businessmen behind some of the products and services and fellow authors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book is endorsed by two of the very best writers of our times - Alex Hutchinson who wrote the incredibly useful “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Which Comes First</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cardio or Weights” </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and David Epstein who wrote “</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sports Gene, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” and with good reason. Christie is very respected as a writer on science and it will become quickly obvious to her readers why that is so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The book is an enjoyable read and not just because Christie writes in a simple, lucid and witty manner with chapters titled “The Cold War” while discussing ice baths (and related protocols) for recovery or “Selling Snake Oil” on supplements, but it causes the reader to pause and think for herself why she is doing what she is doing and whether it really works. The book is worth reading for just a section alone - one on questions for scientists in an early chapter titled “Just-So Science” and how a study on whether beer aids recovery taught her lessons she uses throughout the book. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">*</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">This review should have appeared about 3 weeks ago but I had an avoidable mishap with the publisher. This review was made possible due to an advanced copy from the author</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-12311690948063307522019-01-21T04:20:00.001-08:002019-01-22T07:10:17.641-08:00Mumbai Marathon 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A little bit of blood, lots of sweat and some tears...<br />
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Y’day was the 15th edition of the Mumbai Marathon (now called the Tata Mumbai Marathon).<br />
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The last year has been a significant year (and not just on the running front) in my life. With the birth of my son in Apr last year, I decided to put my running way down on my list of priorities at least in the short term. From Apr to Aug, I ran for just 3 days a week and at an easy pace. From Sep, I began running 6 days a week while continuing to run easy. By the time KTM came around in Nov, I was in good shape, despite no speed work.<br />
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I had a very good run at KTM thanks to some German business travellers, running under 90 min for the first time ever. So I was looking forward to Mumbai this year wondering this would be the year I would have a good run in the full marathon. Since 2011, I have had great runs at Mumbai in the half but a good run in the full has been elusive.<br />
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I had been to Mumbai last week (Well, Vashi isn’t exactly Mumbai - it is much cooler than South Mumbai, for sure) and I knew that come race day, the weather would suck - like it has in most years. While I wasn’t looking for a PB, despite being in PB shape, I wanted to beat my best time in India 3:14 from a race in Bangalore. I knew that was possible as my fitness felt better than that. I felt confident enough to tell anyone who asked me what my target was that I’d love to run between 3:10-3:15, unlike in previous years where I felt telling someone my target for Mumbai would jinx it. As an aside, I don’t feel like this at other races - when Hari (a running buddy) had asked me at KTM what my target was, I had said that I’d love to get as close to 1:30 as I could. And I did. But then…<br />
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Since the race started at 5:30 am this year, I woke up at 2:30 am as I was staying with a friend at Worli and wanted to be at the venue by 4:45. Since I had nothing to do after 3:30, I tried taking a nap till 4 am but that didn’t work. I finally ended up at the venue by 4:15 itself as the ride was a breeze. My cab went thru Marine Drive which was a surprise since I expected road closures much before the race start.<br />
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The race start was great as my first km took me almost 4:40 thanks to the crowds. I was kicked as I have never started this slow. I spent kms 3-10 talking to Murthy, a fellow runner from Bangalore, about his daughter, already a promising runner. Once we hit Pedder Road, I held my pace but Murthy dropped back a bit.<br />
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By the time I got to half way point, I was so looking forward to the 32km mark where I would begin a planned surge. That was not to be. Thanks to my bowels not being empty, I ended up with gas which got progressively worse from around the 26-27 km mark and I slowed to a walk. I went to some shops on the sea-face and asked for ginger which helps with gas. Since I couldn’t get one, I had to walk as my abdomen hurt a lot. I got one only by end of the sea face with a vegetable cart! That helped a bit.<br />
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I then stopped at a porta-potty at Kemp’s Corner but that didn’t help at all.<br />
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I began running again but in another 4-5km my legs which had got compromised thanks to a weakened core, just didn’t recover. I gave up and did a mix of walking and jogging till the end. I even entertained thoughts of pulling out of the race at the 29km mark when I passed close to where I was staying in Worli, but the memory of my only DNF in a 75km race at the 50km mark, thanks to a bad attitude haunted me for a year. I just sucked up and went on. As I established a few years ago, if you don't hit your target, any number is not palatable. So even if I finished in over 4 hours, it didn't matter.<br />
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Only when an old running friend, Priyankar popped up by my side with about 200m to go, did I attempt any sort of running.<br />
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That helped me finish looking better than I did after 30km but my stomach was bugging me.<br />
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Due to the gas, none of the electral and water (or even a banana) I had consumed along the way had been absorbed. Due to this happening at the ultra, I knew I had to puke it out or risk a messy flight trip back to Bangalore. So I did that. An old trainee and friend, helped me get thru this. We were both spooked when I puked some blood at the end. At first I thought it might be ORSL in the apple flavour, but I went home and checked that the drink is just light brown in question. I am guessing that my dry throat must have gotten scratched and puking must have made it worse.<br />
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Anyways, I was fine after this and went home, showered, had a nice lunch thanks to my host and left for the airport. Just a few years ago, I would have agonised over this. Thanks to the baby, there were very low expectations. I am disappointed but not exactly shattered. Another year, another race.<br />
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See you all next year.</div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-32180830175564799612018-12-31T00:20:00.000-08:002018-12-31T00:30:07.130-08:00Books in 2018<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
xxx<br />
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin</li>
<li><a href="https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/endure-review-pushed-to-the-brink/article22783835.ece">Endure by Alex Hutchinson</a></li>
<li>Revolution for Dummies by Bassem Youssef</li>
<li>ISRO: A Personal Story by G. Aravamudhan</li>
<li>Let me tell you a story by John Feinstein (with Red Auerbach)</li>
<li>Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith</li>
<li>How to make a spaceship by Julian Guthrie</li>
<li>Failing to Succeed by K. Vaitheeshwaran</li>
<li>Principles by Ray Dalio</li>
<li>The Everything Store by Brad Stone</li>
<li>Scale by Geoffrey West</li>
<li>Dissenting Diagnosis by Arun Gadre</li>
<li>The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben*</li>
<li>What Have you changed your mind about by John Brockman*</li>
<li>Factfulness by Hans Rosling (and Anna + Ola Rosling)</li>
<li>Start up Nation by Dan Senor</li>
<li>Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness</li>
<li>Consider Phlebas by Iain M Banks</li>
<li>Leila by Prayaag Akbar</li>
<li>The Real Town Murders by Adam Roberts</li>
<li>Payoff by Dan Ariely</li>
<li>The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle</li>
<li>Raising the Bar by Gary Erickson</li>
<li>State of Slim by Christie Aschwanden, Holly Wyatt, and James Hill</li>
<li>A Man called Ove by Fredrik Backman</li>
<li>First Ladies of Running by Amby Burfoot</li>
<li>Out of my Mind by Alan Arkin</li>
</ol>
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*Unfinished</div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-4853721379630654642018-09-11T07:53:00.001-07:002018-09-11T07:53:20.464-07:00The Seven Year Itch <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It has been 7 years since I quit my job.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">It has been an interesting year to say the least. 2018 has been so good that I sometimes worry about reversion to the mean:)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">The themes for <a href="http://dhammo.blogspot.com/search/label/OnMyOwn">this series</a> has been running, reading, freelancing, writing, gratitude in general, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">When I wrote last year's post, I had alluded to my attempt at the <a href="http://dhammo.blogspot.com/2017/10/malnad-ultra-2017-80k.html">Malnad Ultra 80K</a>. That was a great experience at running my longest distance in one event. The running part was off to a rollicking start in Jan of this year when I won a half marathon, for the first time in my life, contributing to <a href="https://twitter.com/dhammonia/status/949864104008736768">my most popular tweet</a> till date. A little after that, I had a rather forgettable outing at the Mumbai Marathon. I turned 40 this year and that was made super-sweet by my setting a 5K PB, sharing the podium with people around half my age and some celebrity overdose as well, just the day before my 40th birthday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My coaching is on its way to not being the major contributor to my income for this financial year (if current trends continue). I've increased the time I spend at The Fuller Life as a consultant and we have made some modest progress in the time I have been there.</span><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> The pool of people I coach, have showered such affection on me that I sometimes consider doing it for free, but that bank balance alert every Sun morning takes care of such thoughts ;)</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It has been really far more fulfilling than I had expected to be a coach and I am infinitely grateful for that.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have tried at least 2 big bets and they have bombed quite embarrassingly and am surprisingly pleased about that. At least one of them was thanks to my work.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have read more fiction in this year but more on that in my year end post. But hey, if you need a recco - try Factfulness by Hans Rosling. To say it will change your life (if you are like most people and not some yogi) will be an understatement.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And I finally managed to <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/endure-review-pushed-to-the-brink/article22783835.ece">write</a> again this year after quite a hiatus, with a review of a book by one of my favourite writers on running, no less! Don't you love Canadians?!</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Perhaps the one sad note to the year was the passing away of a dear uncle :( All the equanimity in the world can't help alleviate the grief at least at that moment. It was a big blow to my mother (and hence to me) and a lot of my family.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And one more thing - the new theme for this year (and as one of my friends and trainees wagged - perhaps for the next 15 years!) is parenting! We became parents to a lovely boy a few months ago. That has overridden everything else in my life (quizzing among those). It was one decision that was taken after quite some deliberation and one, perhaps one can only assess reasonably only in the long term. Amongst others, if you didn't already respect the role of women in your life in general and mothers in particular, parenting is an eye-opener to that path.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While writing this post, I discovered that the title of this post comes from a persistent skin disease and not the Marilyn Monroe movie (based on a play)! Who knew?</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">And no, I am not going to back to the rat-race any time soon although some addition to my bank balance is more than welcome. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">I continue to be grateful for so many good things in my life. I only wish the same and more for myself and for you, my dear reader.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-converted-space" style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">And as with the last few years, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)</span></span></div>
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-89895432682955610852017-12-27T00:02:00.000-08:002017-12-27T00:02:18.420-08:00Books in 2017<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2017 got off to a better start than 2016 and I tried to maintain a better pace through the year. The reading in 2017 was aided in no small part by the no of books I started reading in 2016 but didn't quite finish. 2017's reading also got off to a good start thanks to starting off with graphic novels which make the reading a bit more fun.<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Property by Rutu Modan</li>
<li>Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbag</li>
<li>Logicomix (graphic novel)</li>
<li>Running by Ronnie O Sullivan</li>
<li>Why We Run by Robin Harvie</li>
<li>On Writing by Stephen King</li>
<li>On the Move by Oliver Sacks</li>
<li>TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking</li>
<li>H is or Hawk by Helen MacDonald</li>
<li>From Ouch to Oops by Ram G Vallath</li>
<li>The Space Merchants by Frederick Pohl and Cyril M Kornbluth</li>
<li>Twenty Four Years to Boston by Jim Brennan</li>
<li>Redshirts by John Scalzi</li>
<li>Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance</li>
<li>Enter The Dangal by Rudraneil Sengupta</li>
<li>The Element: How finding your passion changes everything by Ken Robinson</li>
<li>I contain multitudes by Ed Yong</li>
<li>The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf</li>
<li>To Sell is human by Dan Pink</li>
<li>Starter for Ten by David Nicholls</li>
<li>Four men in a boat by Tim Foster et al</li>
<li>A lifetime in a race by Mathew Pinsent</li>
<li>Sapiens by Hariri</li>
<li>The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson</li>
<li>The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis</li>
<li>The boy who runs by John Brant</li>
<li>Raif Badawi: Dreaming of Freedom (graphic novel)</li>
<li>Will it make the boat go faster by Ben Hunt Davis and Harriet Beveridge</li>
<li>The View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman</li>
<li>I'm not a terrorist but I've played one on TV by Maz Jobrani</li>
</ol>
<div>
One of the key changes this year was that I read some fiction, driven partly by Gautam Shenoy's lovely sci-fi themed column for FactorDaily. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I was torn for choice to pick one book I'd recommend. I enjoyed almost every book but not one book held me for the entire time I held it. King's book was a great read but you may not like unless you are a writer (even if you are aspiring to be one).<br />
<br />
The Jonasson book was a surprise and I enjoyed it, perhaps because I had no expectations from it.<br />
<br />
However the John Brant book is perhaps the one story that'll stick for a long time in terms of life lessons. To manage what Julius Achon has managed with his kind of background is incredibly inspiring.<br />
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The one reading moment that stuck with me for an entire day was to read Gaiman on Syrian refugees. It just tore me up. While anyone who lives in our time should be able to see the horrors of Syrian refugees, Gaiman's writing affected me quite a bit.<br />
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2017 was a better year than 2016 thanks to audio books, Kindle versions and Google Play Books on my phone. Thanks to these, I am in various stages of reading another half dozen titles at the least.<br />
I continued to indulge in books on rowing. I suspect 2018 may be titled towards cycling, which I haven't read about in a while.<br />
I am hoping 2018 is at least as good, if not better.<br />
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What was your year in reading like?<br />
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-24275117676783102972017-10-23T02:34:00.002-07:002017-10-23T02:34:53.677-07:00Book buys<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Encouraged by the fact that I have read more books already this year, than I did in the entire year, last year, I went and bought a few books using coupons, courtesy the KQA (partly from a books quiz and the rest from a history quiz). And I even bought a work of fiction that came highly recommended by friends.<br />
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The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson<br />
Mother Pious Lady by Santosh Desai<br />
Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith<br />
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I have read parts of the Askwith book in excerpts and online but still got it, partly aided by the fact that it was on running and partly because it was mostly funded by coupons.<br />
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-71304098696087019492017-10-12T22:45:00.001-07:002017-10-13T00:17:39.725-07:00Malnad Ultra 2017 - 80K<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the recurrent conversations at last year's <a href="http://www.malnadultra.com/">Malnad Ultra</a> (MU) was about several runners wanting to be back for the next year's edition. As the race director, Anand told us at the briefing the night before, 86 of last year's 198 runners came back. That's enough support for the fact that it is a bloody good race. I had planned to be back for 2017 but I was wondering whether I should repeat the 50K or the 80K, since I have nursed the plan of doing Comrades for a while. My goal has been to do an 80K under a specific time, so that I have the confidence to fund the expensive trip to SA.<br />
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My decision to register was made rather easily since one of my friends, V had already registered for this year's race and transferred his entry to my name, since he was unable to run the event. Till then I had been holding back on whether to go back and do the 75K at the Bangalore Ultra (some ego damage there) while doing the 50K at Malnad.<br />
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I began training specifically for the race from early June.<br />
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I cheat a bit here. My dear wife, S had seen some other runners at MU 2016 and recommended I get a hydration back pack for myself if I was serious about long runs. Being the cheapskate I am, although I don't skimp on my running expenses, I had never even considered getting one. But I got one in Jan from the US, which helped manage the logistics quite a bit. It took a little getting used to, since my shoulders weren't very strong. So even 1.5L of water left me a bit sore on my first try.<br />
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Thanks to K, with whom I made my first ever trip to Thurahalli forest for an exploratory run sometime then. I was in love! Thurahalli forest is perhaps one of the delights of the year for me. One big lesson from the prev edition of MU was that my ankles weren't very used to trails. Thurahalli more than fixed that! Thurahalli forest has elevation, trails and few people in the early hours of the mornings, even on weekends, although some cyclists turn up early to do downhill slopes with people walking by! I did a run at Thurahalli at least once a month over the last 4 months to get used to trails. And all the runs were way slower than my usual long run pace, mostly because I couldn't go any faster.<br />
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One of the major decisions in training is nutrition. Since I had planned for an 80K, I had always wondered what to eat on the run. I had considered bananas (not enough for me), curd rice and dry fruits. I never got around to trying dry fruits consistently although I have used figs on several long runs. Bhasker had introduced me to a product available at Namdhari's called Dry Fruit Delight from a TN based company called Navadarshanam. It is a disc shaped mix of dates, figs, almonds and cashews. I used that on my 45 and 60K runs as below. I also had a detailed chat with Farah on this a few weeks before the race.<br />
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I also did a triple Nandi (3 times up and down Nandi, by road - 45K) and a quadruple Nandi (60K) about 2 weeks apart, to get used to the elevation at MU. The triple was uneventful since I can now go thru marathon distance w/o much trouble. The quadruple was 2 weeks after. But before that, a hitch.<br />
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On a simple training run during my 3 week taper, I twisted my ankle at Lalbagh. My right ankle swelled up to the size of a golf ball or so to the extent you couldn't see the ankle joint for 2-3 days. I did nothing and no running for 4 days or so, although I had planned to do so, 24 hrs after. This is perhaps the first time in my brief running history that I have had an injury so late in training. While this didn't affect my running as much of the training was done, it did make me conservative on paces for the remaining 3+ weeks, esp the 60K.<br />
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The quadruple was quite a learning experience. A and I started together after which he branched off to the trail loop (I didn't have the confidence to do the trail loop). Like an idiot, I made an overconfident bet on hydration by having only water for the first 2 loops (I usually drink mostly electrolytes). The 3rd loop was miserable since I began getting nauseous. I met A, the saviour for the day who gave me salt, cash and advice. I used all three :) He also left some spare salt at my car, stopping his run to do so (I would never have done so!). I used the cash to buy a can of Coke (!) and in an episode of Idiot Redux, bought potato chips with the change. That caused gas, which I think is due to the oil. I had had the foresight to carry ginger for my long runs. That helped take care of the gas, although it took a loop to do so. In a stroke of luck, I asked the vendor who sold me the Coke to give me some of the salted masala (the thing they put on cucumbers, guavas, etc - salt, chilli powder, pepper, etc). That masala fixed my queasiness. That's when I did the facepalm about using only water for the first 2 loops. On my 3rd descent and 4th ascent, I was hampered by the gas in my stomach caused due to the chips. I decided to take a nap after the 50K mark by the roadside. Several tourists esp bikers were amused by this. When I woke up after 15 min or so, I felt like a different person altogether. I managed the last 10K quite comfortably. This part of my training was to guide my race-day prep for MU 2017. The injured ankle was barely perceptible on this run since I land mostly straight and have little lateral movement. Further by sticking to the road, I also minimized the chances of any lateral pressure on the ankle.<br />
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The taper was spent in catching up on the year's reading.<br />
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K, N and I travelled to MU 2017 and I carried my breakfast (and coffee) for both raceday and the day before - muesli with milk and honey. I did eat lunch at the resort we were staying at - chapatis with dal, although I had planned to eat rice. The woman serving us, asked me to come back after finishing what was on my plate! I am not the sort who does multiple sorties at buffets unless it is for dessert. I pile at one go and eat leisure. Thereby I missed eating rice and curd. Dinner however had no such issues. I had almost a litre of curd with some rice for dinner. And that was it.<br />
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On the morning of the race, I got up before K and promptly got the adrenalin up, spotting a small scorpion right next to my bed! I killed it after considering for a moment whether I should do something else. After a quick coffee, I was ready and had my breakfast of muesli while K got ready.<br />
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Based on the time I took for the 60K, I had set myself a target b/w 9-10 hours (closer to 9.5 hrs if all went well, ~10 hrs if things went wrong). Since the course was wet due to the rains even the prev day, I knew that it was unlikely I would get anywhere near 9.5 hrs as wet trail surfaces make for slower running. I set out with a 10hr target in mind. The start was too fast for my liking but even the normally sedate A, went out with the lead group of 110K runners and they were ahead within a km from the start. I began falling back deliberately to try and not go faster than 10kmph.<br />
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At about the 6km water stop, I was promptly told by the volunteers who made a note of our bib nos, that I was the first 80K runner at the point. This situation didn't change thru the race. I was in the lead for the 80K till the finish. 3 of the 110K runners were ahead of me all the way till the 67K mark where our paths diverged. I suspect all 3 of them would have finished the 80K well ahead of me had they run my event.<br />
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Around the peak point of the course, I ran into A again and he greeted me looking fresh as if he had just been dropped at the top of the peak and not had to run 1200m uphill! He also told me Paul Giblin (the star of the race) had lost his way and missed the turn to the peak. I myself almost missed the turn but was corrected by a young guy running the 110K, Dev. I may have run 6K extra like Paul did, if not for Dev.<br />
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I was familiar with parts of the course having done it last year and slowly made my way back to the 50K point. At various points, I ran with Bipul who did a run-walk mix. I did the same but also did slow jogging up hill at some points, since I am not used to walking so much anymore. As Bipul pointed out, there was no discernible difference in pace b/w run-walk and running slow on the course.<br />
I also shared a few kms with Sabapathy early on. By around the 40km mark, Kieren and Sandeep, the lead runners in the 50K whooshed past as if I had been a coffee bush or some such part of the landscape. Kieren eventually set a ridiculous course record, looking as if he was delivering mail, not like most of us, who looked shattered by the finish. Sandeep who ran a fantastic time at Comrades this year, eventually suffered for his pace in the last 6K and walked most of it, like Bipul and I did.<br />
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When I finally got to the 50K point, I was a little disappointed to find that the organizers weren't ready with sweet potatoes like they had announced. They had the same food for the 80K and 110K runners that they had for perhaps the 50K finishers and families. I don't think bisibele bath with khara boondi is the best food to eat during a run. So I sucked up and ate curd rice. A was done with his lunch and was leaving the 50K point as I was wondering where to rest for a bit. As I had done on the 60K training run, I took a nap, which I had planned to, despite not having any trouble with my stomach during the race. But eating rice which I have never done on a run, gave me a pause and I didn't want to ruin the race which was going well. When I went to sleep, I was still the leading runner in the 80K, although 3 of the 110K runners had completed ahead of me. When I woke up however, I did see a 4th 110K runner, who was leaving the 50K point. I saw him again only at the 67K mark, where he congratulated me in advance for making the podium in the 80K. I thanked him for doing the 110K :)<br />
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I woke up feeling quite refreshed and not sure whether I was still in the lead in the 80K event. Honestly I didn't care. If I wasn't doing 9 hrs for the 80K, it didn't matter to me if I was first or not. I really wanted to finish under 10 hrs as that would be enough reward for the training I had done. The stretch from the 50K to 57K mark was all road and new to me. We had only covered this by bus on our way to the start in the morning. At the 57k mark, I met 2 policemen who casually informed me that I was the lead runner in the 80K event, thereby answering the unasked question about whether someone had overtaken me while I slept. The stretch from the 57k for the next 2K or so, was easily the toughest stretch of the race as it was steep and continuous. One could see it from the bottom of the slope on the trail all the way up. I walked most of it and then began running slowly unless I encountered uphills - most of which I tackled with a mix of walking or jogging.<br />
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The cheap thrills of this year's race was discovering a waterfall (where the photographers got me to pose) somewhere around the 60-62K mark and then finding it again after a U turn downhill. It felt like I had a private waterfall for about 5 min. Another repeat thrill from last year was being asked by the photographers to stop and pose. I am happy for the attention.<br />
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Much of my race was spent running alone and thus felt like a vacation (albeit with more cardio than most of us get on one) mentally for ~10 hrs. I did encounter runners esp on the way back from the 73k mark (back on the same road to the start/finish area), all of whom greeted me, incl. one sweet lady who asked me to give her a high-five and quickly run away. I did as she asked :) Several fellow runners greeted me at various points and cheered like crazy, despite having run somewhere b/w 50-60K themselves.<br />
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There were missing water stops at various points on the course (incl in the isolated stretch from 62-66K) but once I hit the 68K mark, I didn't care any longer. That was the last point at which my speed was less than 5 kmph. I kept a steady rhythm from then till the finish, except on some uphill slopes where I walked or jogged. I was also greeted by various estate workers and kids along the route (yay! for Sindhu's troop of little bundles of cuteness!) some of whom asked where I had come from and how far I had run. At one turn somewhere around 75km or so, when I was climbing a slope, one bunch desultorily told each other that I don't talk while running since I just pointed behind me when they had asked where I had come from. I didn't mean to be rude but getting thru my first 80K wasn't going to get done easily for someone with my history!<br />
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When I came round the last bend to the finish, I decided to make a nice running finish and smile.<br />
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I finished in 9:44 hours, for the record. <a href="https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2065752375">Here's a log</a> if you are interested in that sort of stuff. I did a bit more than 80K after finishing by jogging around the finish line, just to have 50 miles on my Garmin, which I am unlikely to record anytime soon, again.<br />
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I felt fine enough to have some coffee, lemon juice and leave for our resort, since I needed a bath! I am still amused by the fact that I had 0 gels during the run of 80K and that I didn't have a monster meal after finishing. In fact I had dinner only around 7:30 pm, ~4 hrs after finishing the run. I guess 5mph isn't exactly sugar-sapping and I have more than enough fat to supply fuel for slow paces!<br />
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MU 2017 has been a lovely experience, enough for a lifetime. This is my 2nd time at the event and 2nd finish at the top. It is also my 2nd time of no puking during an ultra. I am unlikely to be back for next year's event since I have other non-running plans for the year 2018. I do hope to run the event sometime again in the future. The course continues to be beautiful and challenging. I am really happy that it exists and that I got to be part of it. Much respect to all my fellow participants esp the insane 110K runners.<br />
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As in every such journey of mine, several people have made it possible and I have mentioned some above. Thanks again to Bhasker, Farah, K, N and A among others. Thanks also to Anil Rao, Y and N, 3 ultrarunning buddies in the US, for the inspiration and support over the years. Finishing first in an event where there's no special recognition feels like being a character in an Amol Palekar film. You can secretly feel all pleased about a nice day of your life without wanting external validation :) While I am a fan of the process mindset too, a result like this doesn't hurt the motivation to pursue it as well as suck up the pain of saying no to a bunch of other nice things in life - reading, quizzing, get-togethers with friends, movies, etc<br />
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A billion thanks to everyone who made the event happen - esp the coffee estate workers. As I told the video team from Cafe Coffee Day, who are sponsors to the event, I couldn't have thought of a better way to bring two of my passions together - coffee and running.<br />
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Thank you for reading this.<br />
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Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7654116.post-22169645617898139422017-09-11T01:36:00.002-07:002017-09-11T01:36:38.886-07:006 years<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Aha! That time of the year when I look back at another year post quitting my job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I cheat a bit since I do a bit of looking back in my annual post on my my year of reading too. Anyways, back to topic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I have finally gotten to a point when the longest I have worked for anyone is myself. That has taken quite some holding on to my resolve.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The year gone by has been better than the prev one.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Coaching continues to be my primary source of income. I have however begun spending a little more time consulting for the nice folks at <a href="http://www.thefullerlife.com/">The Fuller Life</a>, something I began doing about 2 years ago. That means less time spent chilling out in general. For the last month or so, I am no longer napping in the day like I used to. That is likely to continue till Mar 2018, when I shall take a call on what I will do about my work when I turn 40. It is possible that coaching may no longer account for a bulk of my income like it has till date, from Apr 2018 but as of now, I have no clue what will. While financial goals serve as a counterweight to my enthusiasm, the year gone by, has also yielded opportunities to change the health and hence lives of at least 3 people. And there are some more in the works. I can't be more delighted with what I do. Thanks to all those people for the opportunity to do so. Fulfilment has never been lacking. The other, continuous source of pleasure from what I do is the number of interesting people I end up meeting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reading has been much better this year - partly why I feel better about the year. I still do crosswords daily, much less quizzing though :(</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My own running has been quite fun too - thanks in large part to miles accumulated on trails in this year. I ran my fastest 10K race in India in May and also qualified for Boston at a race in the US in June. I guess the one big change in my thought on my running is that I am at a stage where I can pass the opportunity to actually run in Boston, when I have one in hand. It has been a nice journey from setting everything else in my life aside to do precisely that over 6 years ago, to getting to a stage where I can let it pass. Incidentally I spent the last 2 days not running due to a swollen ankle and I didn't agonize for a moment about not running at all. In the last 10 days, I have been in bed voluntarily till 8 am or so, twice! No complaints. I still want to run Comrades. I am running the <a href="http://www.malnadultra.com/">Malnad 80K</a> in about a month. So I do have running goals but they aren't the only ones in my life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I still have no major life goals - the same state I have been in, ever since May 2014 when I managed to run a time which would get me an entry into Boston. And I am ok about that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As in the prev year, many thanks to my dear wife and various other people who try and make my life such a joy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The one sad note of the year is to see some trees in Lalbagh in particular and Basavanagudi in general, incl some closer home (those I have seen for almost 3 decades) go down, due to the stormy rains in Bangalore this year :(</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">See you next year.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Regardless of how you got here, now that you are here, say hello, write in and let me know how you have been and anything else you have been perhaps meaning to say :)</span></span></div>
Dhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14836862747392341766noreply@blogger.com2