Monday, August 30, 2010

Alibaug Mileage Log

12 km on Sat
21 km on Sun

Several interruptions on the treadmill due to powercuts at the hotel, esp on Sat. On Sun, due to me, they connected the gym directly to the DG-set.

Ran with an even older NB 767...

Been a while since I ran consecutive days on a treadmill...

Was raining like crazy at Alibaug (no pun intended) and hence decided to run indoors.

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Friday, August 27, 2010

Alibaug se aaya kya?

And I shall be able to respond in the affirmative, come Monday.

On for an offsite for the next 2.5 days ;)

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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Angry Middle Aged Man ;)

Anger makes me go stronger. 6 miles in 47:28. Go ahead, piss me off on Jan 15th. Will see what I can do to beat my PB ;)

NB 740

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Landmark Loot 2010 - Part II

The good man VJ bought Gang Leader for a Day for me from the Andheri outlet.

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Anger is the best floss

Nothing motivates me like anger does.

Ran 30 km in 2:58:47. No breakfast again. But this time I didn't forget. Had kheer last night. So I thought that was heavy enough. I was wrong but not by much. Ran out of fuel only when I reached Siddhi Vinayak (3 km before finish). Had a Perk with Glucose in it. (Cadbury guys, if you need an endorser, I am available ;)) Since I ran alone, had to buy water at Babulnath from that Farsaan shop. Lost about 45 sec for the chocolate purchase and about 30 sec for the water. I guess I can clip another 2-3 min by virtue of not having to carry water during races.

Saw Nitin Paranjpe and his wife, first on the entry to Worli Sea Face and then on the way back. When I smiled at him, he gave me a bewildered smile back!

And Anil bhai and I saw each other yet again... He did some fantastic sprinting with some 2 of his chums to close his run on Marine Drive.

Crossed Savio also (who was training someone) twice, once when I crossed Anil.

Dan gave a booster shout near Worli and that helped clip about a min on this run. Thanks Dan..

I am beginning to like the way I look now. Must be down atleast a kilo and my 30 inch trousers are loose...

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Fringe Benefits of being a quizzer...

Amongst other things is that if you get lucky occasionally, you win some coupons to further your habits.

But the one really nice thing is that you meet unusually smart and knowledgeable people who share more than one interest with you. Quite a few are avid readers.

One of the best I have known is JR. See the stuff he has written here instead of just cribbing about boring convocations like I would have...

Got to love this quizzing business...

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Landmark Loot 2010-Part I

Came back from a disappointing visit to Landmark where the systems were down, making search a pain, exposing painfully how the shop assistants are mostly out of touch with the books they sell.
Also to be fair to the shop assistants, the bookshop itself seems to be slipping out of touch with good books - bestsellers abound. Sample this - McEwan's Solar and Mitchell's Thousand Dream... Zoet were both unavailable!

Anyways thanks to the generosity of the bookshop, bought the following. Since couldn't find all the books I wanted, there will be a part-II atleast

  1. The Famished Road by Ben Okri
  2. My Year off by Robert McCrum
  3. Nocturnes by Ishiguro
  4. Middlesex by Jeffrey Euginedes
  5. Making India work by William Bissell
  6. Professor Stewart's Cabinet of Mathematical Curiosities
  7. The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer*
  8. The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton
  9. The Master and Margharita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  10. Following Fish by Samanth
  11. The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
  12. The Black Swan by Taleb
  13. The Difficulty of Being Good by Gurucharan Das
  14. The Company by Adrian Woolride and Micklethwait
  15. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
  16. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
and a gift for a pal from work.

Had a list of 34 books and found only 11 of those.
* adds to my swelling Booker winner collection

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Fri, Sat run

The cure to them all. Thanks to J from work, ran 6 miles on Fri in 52 min.

3 miles in 28 min
3 miles in 24 min

12.2 km on Sat.
1st 6.1 km in 34 min. The next 6.1 km in 28 min

At home listening to Sriranga pura vihara by MS Subbalakshmi. She is the mother of all good music. Audio paradise as I told a friend in the morning...

And today may be the day when I splurge on my Landmark coupons... Woo hoo...

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

What's happening here?

After a long time, I am not all that keen to go to Bangalore for the weekend?

Didn't expect that this would happen. Since 1996 when I first left home, I have gone "home" every weekend I could.

Why do I feel like this?

Is it her?

Is it the airfare?

Is it the travel?

Is it the work?

Is it the interruption to my running schedule? This one can't be true since I would run with the gang...

And there is even a quiz on Bangalore this weekend!

And a pal is getting married.

Will know if I succumb to the itch by the weekend or not...

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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Landmark National Finals 2010

The team of yours truly came 2nd.
The guys who beat us were the same who beat us to first place in the Bombay round.

Woo hoo! More free books...

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Chennai - Weekend Mileage

~10K on Sat - from Thiruvanmiyur to Besant Nagar beach and back
~10K on Sun - from Thiruvanmiyur to Besant Nagar beach and back

Was surprised to discover Kalakshetra was so close to where I stayed with a pal.

Was even more suprised with Chennai being much cooler than Bombay

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

Thursday Run

6 miles. 48:30 or so...
First lap: 6:22
Fastest lap: 5:43

Last 2 laps in the rain

Used NB740, which are awesome....

Was too worried on last 2 laps since phone got wet... Gave lots of heartburn before performing finally. So far, fingers crossed...

Upcoming weekend in Chennai. Wish me luck.

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Sunday, August 08, 2010

Sunday afternoon run

After staying up till after 4 am working again after a night out the previous night, you don't notice when the alarms go off... (Atleast I am not superhuman... I wish I could lie and say my body can take that but it can't and I can't)

Some kid woke me up to apologize for missing y'day's run and was wondering if I am running today!

I even made breakfast for myself (toast only in case you wanted to know) to prepare for a 30 km. And it was already 10 am...

So I pushed it to later in the eve.

And then guilt took over. So ran 23 km in about 2:20 or more, primarily due to the oppressive humidity in the company of the kid who cycled along...

Not bad for this week. I have finally crossed 40 km for the week... How will I get to 75 in a day? :(

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Friday, August 06, 2010

Jaage se der...

The song couldn't have been more apt. Yet another night out on a Sat.
And this time I haven't slept yet.

Just came back from a 6 mile run in 51:23.
Couldn't have been better timed

1st lap in 6:33

Ran with the NB763 since it has been raining. Now the monsoon is on its way out. So the rain while more forceful is far more pleasant...

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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Blood, Sweat and Tears

9.6 km in 47:57. best so far in 2010.
2 nipple bursts to show for it. was worth it, i guess

new shoes, New Balance 740. Fits like a glove. Only hitch is due to some goof on RRS, got a D width. So can't use for full marathons.

Ran the 1st lap of 1.2 in 5:32 (fast, run is screwed)
Ran the 2nd lap of 1.2 in 5:33 (way too fast, run is now mothered)
Had run 4 laps in 22:30 (not my best yet, but good enough considering i didn't know how fast i was going in the first lap)

Had no water also, although that might improve my time by only about 15 sec. Still need to find another 45 sec first.

Might race in 2 weeks at some race in Borivili.

Lets see.

I think listening to 3 different stars sing Endalo Mahanubhavulu in the afternoon drove up my inspiration levels to achieve this.

45 min 10K, here I come

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Sunday, August 01, 2010

The Edge of Heaven

If someone needed convincing that World Cinema needed watching, here is one good poster child.

Spoiler Alert

The Edge of Heaven (aka Auf der anderen Seite) is a movie by Turkish Director, Fatih Akin and tells the story of a man who travels to Turkey in search of the daughter of his father's dead lover.

How the tale twists (and it really does) forms this endearing story. The song by Kazim Koyuncu which serves to knit the movie together is a positively haunting melody. HT to a pal for this one. I wouldn't have seen this movie but for my pal. My weekend has been phenomenal mostly due to watching this movie.

The gentle onset of grief, despair and then subsequent redemption of the movie, is best essayed by the episode during which the protagonist buys a bookshop up for sale in Istanbul, while being treated to chai by the original owner and then the episode repeats itself.

I could say a lot of things here about how the movie makes you feel but perhaps the best thing I can say is that you must watch it, if only to feel as happy as I did once I finished it. And believe me, it is worth the 1:55 that you spend on it. Sunday well spent.

Fantastic movie. Must watch

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