Sunday run on GKVK

As a part our preparation we decided to run at GKVK this sunday for 10k. Sabine my fellow runner from RFL(runners for life) usually post the mail every week about GKVK run and we just decided to join her..after fixing the time me and jasmine drove to GKVK campus and it was so picturesque.
I spotted other runners also waiting at ganesha temple and by the time it become 6 am we were about 20+ runners :)
finally we started and athreya from RFL decided to show us the trail. I was running with him in front of the whole lot taking some time to immerse myself in self dignity that I am running in the front.....slowing the inner voice started talking to me, "slow down you are running little faster" and I kept saying "keep following this guy, take deep breathe, calm down, keep going" but still I was getting tired with every step I was taking.. finally we three (athreya, jasmine and myself) got separated from the rest of the pack and one point decided to wait for them. there I introduced myself to athreya and asked him "so are you running for this ultra marathon coming sunday" He replied "Yeah man, I will be doing 78 kms". and then it struck me that I am running with a guy who must have done lotsa full marathon and now doing 78 kms. Worse I was trying to follow him with his pace, no wonder I was out of breathe :(
then and there I decided one day I will run like him and smiled at myself saying "yet another goal"
ultimately I decided to carry on with jasmine, finally reached back to starting point huffing and puffing....
with less than 40 days to train and with a humble target of completing 21 kms in less than 2 hrs seems tough... but it only makes my resolution stronger. :) next sunday 12 kms run.
verdict: GKVK rocks and I am sure I am going to lot of sunday runs at this place

mumbai marathon, I am running!!!

Hello All,
I am running for mumbai marathon on jan 20th. due to shortage of time, I have decided to run for half marathon and do it under 2 hrs. So the first task wast to get a new running shoes as the old faithful RBK shoes are completely worn off. So this time I took a advice of fellow runners and headed out to buy adiprene supernova by adidas. and just to give myself the rocky balboa feel bought cap, sweat shirts and all. So today we (my flatmate jasmine shah) kick started the practice for half marathon. Goal is to do 5 kms stretch from cantonment railway station to mekhri circle and back. and we were on the roads by 5.35 am without any issues. I call it first day enthusiasm. There is slight uphill and downhill along the course and whole lot of traffic.. all the while I was cursing traffic which was heavy at 5.30 am. (thought running in my mind "mar jaao kamino chain se duadne bhi nahi dete ho sabre saber")
and we were back in 35 mins. in the end I was bit tired but totally worth. but wait a sec, I feel some uneasiness while walking. and as expected I can feel the blisters. well I paid 4.5k for the shoes and still the same old story. thats all for day one.
Update: I finished half marathon in 1 hr 53 mins :) 

masterji ki aa gayi chitti

Ride to Bheemeshwari

As luck would have it I visited Bheemeshwari this sunday! And what a experience it was.



We started planning a short riding with the initiative of my friend sonal. Every month or so she needs this "ride therapy" to keep her BP normal. In the end we become of group of six jolly person all set for ride. I was happy to see virat donning is new mafia look,meens actually coming for the ride itself meant that its a lucky day for us..also her friends, the two laurel hardy duo of sumo and gopal decided to join us.

We started around 7 from sonal's place, one hour later than scheduled 6 am. But when we have ladies in the group, it was a good start.
We took kanakapura road and it was lush green on both sides which really helped us to keep ourself cool. Expect for few bad patches, road was good. We stopped by in between to quench my thirst, I have this huge penchant for tender coconut water.There was had little chit chat and came to know more about laurel hardy. Our next stop was for breakfast at Kanakapura, then we started for serene mountain ride to bheemeshwari. The serpentine road really tested my driving skills since meens was my pillion. You see I really had to be careful since it was her first ride on the bike for such a long distance. and ofcourse all this while sonal was busy clicking photos through the ride and she really made the best use to scenic mountains and leafless trees :)





meens posing for a camera :)




finally we reached Bheemeshwari around 12 noon. All this while I used to think of bheemeshwari as a place where our mahabharata's bheem might have passed by and hence the name bheemeshwari. but one night prior to ride while was collecting info about this place I came to know that this place is named after the special fish variety named Bheemeshwari. But i was close with my logic, which is this particular fish are huge is size and so was bheem, so my guess is fish were named bheemeshwari "place where you find bheem size fish" gave up..

Anyways we proceeded to jungle resort Cauvery fishing camp where we came to know that a reservation is required without which you can't even park your vehicles inside the campus :P! and they were very keen on charging us, so after lot of fishy talk with the manager of the resort we were allowed to see the place free of charge given we dont use the facility which we eventually did.

We all unwinded near the bank of cauvery, gossipped for good 1 hr, and for some unusual reason meens was the target, sonal was still busy clicking snaps. I took a lesser known route in the quest of finding bheemeshwari fish. gopal and sumo were busy ripping on meens. it was so funny that in the end meens had to use stick to shut gopal.The place was so inviting for resting on hammocks that virat after putting up a brave fight to stay active gave up and slept off for good one hour.


Then we played frisbee for good one hour, where everybody mastered skills of how to throw frisbee. we were also accompanied by a chubby looking kid. meens was more interested in swings and singing songs. we were so noisy than we woke up virat with out noise, so he decided to join us finally it was 3.30 and we all decided to head back to home. as we were getting ready, clouds were building up and after 10 mins there was a huge overcast. sonal made a prophecy that i shall rain in 30 mins, and so it did leaving us stranded in the middle of the road. but with no place to hide we decided to continue our ride which was fun.
and from there it was one plain ride back home, in between we did stopped by a temple to thank god. back home it was all pizza and wine party.

I would like to thank laurel hardy duo of sumo and gopal, who kept the spirit of group high and alive. with there every smiling place and leg pulling attitude, i laughed for the whole day. and sonal virat and meens I hope we can few more places like this.

Route: Bangalore - Kanakpura - Sathanur (Take a left turn here) - Bheemeshwari
Distance: From sonal's place in Koramangala Bheemeshwari is around 100 kms.

Road condition: In general the road condition is good and the broken stretches are mostly repaired now. In another two three months good roads are expected. We did couple of bad stretches though, just before kanakapura.

finally she looks happy after the "the ride therapy"

Happy New Year

2007 the year where many of friends are getting married, sob sob for you losers!!!!