Summer of 2009

The last couple of months have been hectic in some sense. Had been volunteering for a fitness program in the Centre of Physical Fitness and Sport Sciences in Hyderabad Central University for about 2 months. It was quite an experience in itself. Had to wake up at 4 in the morning and drive 10 miles to reach the university and it was really good to get a first hand experience of the kind of training that professional sportsmen under go.. Just the early morning ride is worth it. The scientific approach was much effective than pumping iron at the gym. Hope I'll continue this.

Attended a 7 day yoga program by Isha yoga center couple of days after the fitness program finished. Was worth the time and effort and would definitely recommend it to friends. Went to B'lore for the weekend of 05/30-31. Its more of a (bike) trip to Hogenakkal than to Bangalore. Hardly stayed for 5 hours in B'lore over the entire weekend. I was cruising at 120 km/hr without any helmet(the helmet was too small) and it was great to feel the wind blowing all over your face at such speed. This is my highest speed on bike(previous one was at 95 km/hr) and also my first bike ride in a hilly terrain. Friends at work say I am tanned to the maximum. Had loads of fun in the waterfall, driving consistently at 90+ km/hr, driving in the middle of the night with heavy downpour hitting on your face and blurring the vision in a region where elephants frequently cross. We went as a group of 18 ppl on 9 bikes. I never thought such a beautiful place existed in Tamil Nadu. Will post the pics as soon as I get hold of them.

Cycling with HBC

The Hyderabad cycling club hosted the runners' club on march 22. We cycled around the north-west part of Hyderabad(map here).  We rode upto Osman Sagar lake and back to gachibowli stadium. The entire distance was just above 28 kms. We couldn't have asked for a better weather and yours truly was really pumped up and ready to do another 20 kms at the end of it. The road leading to osman sagar lake was picturesque that day. You can read about the ride from the Hyderabad Cycling club's blog here. It was primarily organised as cross-training exercise for the runners. It was great for us to not only cross train but with such an exhilarating crowd. 

       As someone who has commuted on bicycles for more than 10 years in my life, I was really excited about the trip. And thanks to Shay for picking an amazing route. It had all that one could ask for, uphill, cross country, sand and downhill where we were able to race down at 50-60 kph. After a lot of cycling in the campus, I did want to go to work in a bicycle. May be, I can do that sooner. 

Next one on twitter. Got to go now.  Just ride!!

The Auroville Experience

It was a colossal experience. I couldn't have chosen a better place for my first half marathon. The entire trip was great and the run was the perfect icing on the cake. I was so close to backing out from the trip which in hindsight, seems not such a brilliant idea. The reasons being I haven't praticed anywhere close to what I wanted to( I wanted to run a total of 100 kms in the 2-4 weeks before the half but just ran about 25 kms) and I had a freak accident a week back. 

The trip with the hyderabad runners club to chennai and then to pondy were memorable with discussions ranging from IPL to entrepreneurship. The fact that there are no marathons scheduled till the second half of the year pushed me take the plunge and boy, I am glad. We reached Auroville at around 6 pm on 02/14 to collect our bibs. The place is quite scenic and event organisation was good in general. 

The full marathoners started at 5 am, the next day. The half marathoners started at 6 am and for most of the run, I was accompanied by Rajesh Vetcha from Hyderabad(for almost 18 km). Well, he was my pace setter and being a veteran marathoner, got a lot of gyan about running. We were joined by Anupama from chennai for close to 10-12 kms(Here's her version of the run).  Was ultra-cautious at the start as I didn't want to aggravate the injuries. At around the 5-6 km, we had the drummers playing the dappan koothu genre. Had a lively discussion with Ganesh on how underrated the genre is. We had a strategy of walking all the aid stations(one in every 4kms) and it was fun. I kind of amazes me that I was able to run the entire stretch. During our weekend runs with the hyderabad runners, I pretty much used to break down at 15-16 kms. Guess the Auroville weather must have helped me a great deal here. Meet Abhishek from Bangalore during the last 5-8 kms and we were sprinting at the end. It took me 2 hrs 37 mins 32 secs to cover 21.1 kms. I tried to get a sub 2:30 but what the heck? I am glad that I was able to run here. After a wonderful post-run massage and breakfast, was waiting for the other hyd runners to complete. Had a good shower and roamed the place a bit. Planning to come here next time for a full marathon. Some of the Auroville impressions are captured here. Next is the hyderabad half some time in august. Hope I'll do a sub 2:30 there. Happy running!! Au revoir!!

The week that was

• Been on a 4-day trip to kerala. Had a much needed break. Will post the snaps and if possible the travelogue soon. 
• The recent Australia - South Africa series was breath-taking and might well be the start of a new epoch. It was one damn good series that I was ready to wake up each day at 5-5.30 am IST and never grizzled about the time zone difference. Smith was dazzling in general and what stood out was his tenacity to come and bat at No.11 on the last the day of the match (with broken hand and injured elbow), given the fact that SA had already wrapped the series. The next 8 months of test cricket I guess would be sufficient to know how the teams would be ranked for the coming 4-6 years.
• I have just about a month left for the Auroville marathon and do need atleast 100 kms under my belt before the D-day. Hopefully I can get some mileage.
• Read a great article by Marina Krakovsky on "The Effort Effect". The article postulates on the kind of misdset people have and how labelling is harmful. A must-read for everyone. 
• Saw Slumdog millionaire. The movie was gripping and riveting. AR was mesmerising. Congrats and hope the movie gets nominated for oscar. 

Au revoir!!