Into the Distance...Coming back to life...

9.6 km in 48 min y'day
21 km in 1hr 56 min today in traffic b/w Shivaji Park to Wilson College and back (my regular Sunday run)

Ran both alone, as is usual. Feels good to get back into some groove after the disastrous ultra.

I think I have symptoms of Asperger's syndrome -> Only hitch is that I lack any of the mindblowing computing skills but I tend to take most things literally, hate noise, hate crowds, like to keep things organized, do one thing at a time, ...

Also saw Inglourious Basterds. Fairly ordinary for what one would expect from a QT movie. Marginal amount of the expected amount of violence - The Bear Jew is the only novelty item. Too long for too little entertainment. Could watch if one had nothing else to do...

Mary and Max...

is an outstanding claymation movie and tells the story of an 8 year old girl in Australia and her 40 something pen friend (obese guy) in the USA and how their extra-ordinary friendship pans out over 20 years or so.

Strongly recommended if you love animated flicks. Strongly recommended if you love off-beat scripts and strongly recommended if you love good movies. And

This is my favourite to win the Oscar in its category.

In the tradition of the movie, here is a P.S. -> A random look at the IMDB entry for Toni Collette reveals "...At the age of 11 she showed her phenomenal acting skills when she faked appendicitis out of boredom and longing for attention; her act was so convincing that doctors had to remove her appendix, even though the test showed nothing wrong with it...." I already love this woman... One more addition to the crush list

Update: I forgot I had seen Up and liked that immensely too. Up has a lot more American humour and frankly I loved it while M&M is more heartwarming and I am a sucker for heartwarmers. So now I am confused :( Why can't they split the Oscar?

sub 3 hr marathon...ok, Nobel Prize in Physics... not so fast!

If you thought Nobel Prize winners toil away for years in anonymity till that magic moment, looking like something from Dilbert, think again!

Click on this link and behold the 2001 Nobel Prize winner in Physics!

And yes, if you want to read his Nobel Prize lecture, read this also

Long Awaited Event - Grilled Sandwiches

I have been waiting for almost 4-5 years ("why" is an illegal question!) to buy a sandwich grill.
I finally flicked one that my mom got as a gift and made my first ever grilled sandwiches today.
I am overwhelmed by a desire to open a restaurant now ;)

Walk it off

On a day when my mind has been filled with large amounts of pent up frustration, I decided to walk it off, all the way home from work. It has been a while since I walked this much distance (we are not talking abt last week's race, ok!?) especially with a bag on my back.

I am feeling so much relieved. I am home reading last week's issue of OPEN with an interview with Sachin. Life in short is good.

Too often we (I included!) let frustration get to us. Others say "Sleep it off." My friends say "Run it off." For those of you who don't run, I say "Walk it off."

Manjunath's death anniversary

It is four years since Manju was murdered lest we forget. Manju, we will not forget you...

And as if his memory was not sobering enough, there is dishearterning news of this person named Anand Prakash who has been abducted on his job in Uttarakhand
What will it take for us to demonstrate we have a conscience?

Stephen Fry and the twit on your face...

Click on this for some delightful tweets from the one and only Fry

Retail Therapy

After y'day's debacle, I had to soothe my battered ego. What better way than to buy some books

Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann
We are like this only by Rama Bijapurkar

Bangalore Ultra 2009

Miserable, ego-battering experience.
Took a shade over 7 hrs.
Did the 1st 25 km in 2.5 hrs. Did the next 25 km in 4.5 hrs. Had problems with gas (mostly since I had biscuits for breakfast) and puked like crazy at the end of the 4th lap as well as during the 4th lap. Theoretically ran the whole race without water. Out of the body experience.
The roof of my mouth was so dry by end of day that I could not eat without wincing in pain.
Would I do it again?
I guess so!

More soon.

The Sound of Water

Click here to read.
It is my first published review of a fictional work

Random Notes from Bangalore - contd.

Ran 10K this morn. Easy run for the most part - 51 min
Still not very sure of finishing the ultra in 2 weeks while running. Have piled in enough mileage to know I will be matching or beating my times in the last two years.
Bigger goals in life await. Watch this space...

Assorted Notes - Bangalore Visit

33.6 km run on Sat
12-13 km run earlier today.
While waiting for someone to join me at breakfast, ended up buying "So you think you are good at trivia" (the official NTN trivia challenge) for Rs. 35/- at the bookshop next to Hotel Airlines. For 2000 questions, I think it is a good buy...
Landmark Quiz Bangalore in the afternoon today - still haven't managed to qualify. But got an audience prize - Robbie Williams' Rudebox.

earlier in the day, the window of a friend's car got broken and his mobile (and his wife's too) got stolen. this is the 2nd time it has happened to someone in my friend's group. last time round, it was at lalbagh. this time it was cubbon park. tip for the day: don't leave anything valuable in the car when you park in some public place.