Run @ Nandi Hills

This was a happening weekend on the running front. Will start from Friday, didn't do anything bad on Friday night (Bad to be read as Partying :-P) and slept early, Saturday was the regular Cubbon run with the Red Dragon ganag, did around 12K on Saturday and the run was followed by a lively breakfast filled with discussion at Airlines. We decided on Saturday itself to run on Nandi hills on Sunday morning.

Sunday:

We started at around 5:45 am from Koramangla, it took us exactly one hour to reach the base of the hill, all of us were running at Nandi Hills for the first time. I started a little fast, only to realize it in a while that if I run at this pace I would be gone in about 3-4K, so decreased the pace, the initial 4k was okay I would say, we were prepared for such steep inclines, but the worst was in store for us, the last 4K was definitely the toughest I have run till date, when I used to drive through the same terrain I never realized that this road would be such a tough one to run! We got our share of attention from the people who were driving Nandi Hills, most of the people who passed us were going uphill to see the sunrise, and everybody had this question mark on their faces.... why ????? Well I loved the attention and curiosity that they had.

We treated ourselves with a good Nariyal Paani and Parle-G biscuits,we needed those as the only Gatorade bottle that Prateek had was snatched by a Monkey! As soon as we reached the point where everybody assembled to see the sunrise, the crowd became quiet, and it was really very embarrassing for us, probably this time we got too much attention! We covered the distance of 8K (uphill) in about 1hr 10 min.

Running downhill was tough as well, with all the traffic returning, Sun was cruel on us, and it was a lot humid as well, but apart from all these things I think running downhill is a totally different game, controlling your speed and avoiding any knee and ankle injuries.

There was a lot of things that I observed while running, things that you don't notice while driving:

-well the first observation is, the (the Bangaloreans) have made Nandi hills a very dirty place, the Road had really bad patched where a lot of Beer Bottle / Plastics / Chips packets were scattered, it really doesnt take any effort to take these things back with you, but I really don't know why people prefer to throw them.

- Monkeys: lots of them, but most of them were harmless
- The sound of your feet thumping, can give you a real high!
- Heavenly Silence
- Sunrise

Song Today: Koi Fariyad...

Running Gita Part - I, Running Shoes

Yashshri wanted some fundas on Running shoes, and I am on for it anytime :-P

I wrote a long e-mail, then actually thought that I can post it here as well, for the benefit of anybody who is new to running!

First Things first:

Shoe:

Good running shoe is the most important part of running, it actually helps you prevent any severe / minor back and knee injuries. So try out the wet feet test, dip ur feet in water and then put it firmly over a news paper. Read more about it here, and all the fundas about it would be clear. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319-326-7152-0,00.html

So now you have actually found out what type of foot you have, depending upon that you need to buy your running shoe. There are actually three type of feet.
1) Over pronating
2) under pronating
3) Normal

most of us in India have an Over pronating feet, if you have a flat foot then you definitely are an over pronator, there are chances that if you have a normal rached foot then too you can be an over pronator. Now u must be thinking what over pronation means. to find that out check these links:
1) http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319-327-7727-0,00.html

Gait Analysis:

The easiest way to determine your running gait is by looking at one of your used pair of shoes.If the existing shoe is too worn towards the inside, then you have an over pronating feet, if it is worn towards the outside then your feet is an under pronating feet.

so u see from these snaps that if your foot rolls inside then you are an over pronator and if it rolls out side you are an under pronator. Now comes the part that how to find it out. So the easiest way you do it is Gait Analysis, no you don't need to go anywhere for getting it done. Follow these steps:
1) Take a digital camera
2) you try to run on a treadmil or an open space, ask somebody to shoot a video of your feet, only the feet part .
3) Try and see the video in slow motion, when the feet (to be read as heel) is landing on the ground if it rolls inside, as explained in the link then you have an over pronating feet, if it goes a little outside then you have an under pronating feet. If is falls normally then you have a normal feet.

Now the shoes:

If you are over-pronator:

Adidas Adistar Control (Rs. 7,999)
Adidas Supernova Control
Adidas Response Control
Reebok KFS (Rs. 6,490)
Reebok Paris Pump Trainer (Rs. 7,490)
Reebok Premier KFS (Rs. 5,990)
Nike Duo-... ?

if you are neutral / under-pronator:

Adidas Supernova Cushion W, M, M2E
Adidas Response Cushion
Adidas a3 Gigaride (Rs. 8,399)
Adidas a3 Microride (Rs. 7,499)
Adidas adizero SN Wide (Rs. 6,899)
Reebok Aerolite (Rs. 4,990)
Nike: all that I found except duo-stability

Other useful Links:
1) http://www.runnersworld.com/subtopic/0,7123,s6-240-319-326-0,00.html

The parts in red are shamelessly copied from Rajat's Blog

CNN -IBN Blog on Scarlett case

Read this blog by Rajdeep Sardesai on Scarlett's murder. Whenever Rajdeep writes, he writes brilliantly

Blog

Disappointed.

Saturday was the full moon run, organized by Runner's for Life and Bangalore Hash House Harriers, the trail was lovely, probably one of the best I have ever seen near Bangalore, the weather was just perfect for a run, cool and breezy, and the Junta was awesome, so I expected a lot of masti and gup shups during the run. But now the sad part comes, I planned to run 21 K but ended up doing a 10.5 K, yes you read it right a pathetic 10.5K and that too in over an hour. This is definitely one of my most pathetic runs, I am very disappointed with myself.

Perhaps my runs when I was graduating to be a runner were better than these, I was atleast getting on to a next level with every run, but this time, I don't deserve an applaud, everything was nice , then what happened ? I did an analysis and found out some reasons:

1) The biggest mistake I did was, I ate a lot in the afternoon, and that did the damage.
2) The other mistake was, I decided that I would do a 4:1 thing, this is 4 minutes run and 1 minute walk, but I realized it later that this 4:1 doesn't work for me, as I lose the tempo of running and then I just wasn't in a mood of running
3) I am actually 2 KGs heavier, I think this also contributed to my pathetic run
4) I wasn't carrying my ipod, I thought that I would chat with the Janta there, but then I realized it for the first time how important my ipod is , it creates my own personal space , my space for running.
5) November I ran the Kaveri Trail Marathon, then December there was the Bangalore Ultra, Januray I ran the Mumbai Marathon, with all these three months of marathoning I was eating a lot, but soon the marathons and the tough training stopped in February, and I am still eating the same marathon Diet, I need to cut down on it!!!!

So I have started working in the direction of correction. I went to Cubbon this morning and ran about 6K in 35 Minutes, I guess this is a decent timing for me, but now comes the "not so decent" thing , it was extremely tough for me to run 6K today, I don't know what happened , I used to run around 3 loops in the same place, and today 1 loop seemed so tough. So no pampering for some days, no good food and only training!!!!

Song Today: Khaali haath shaam aayi hai...

The Great Eight...

So... Madam Pheonix, after rising from the ashes has tagged me. This tag is called aath ka aankda, as Pheonix called it. I need to list eight things, under a lot of catogories:

Eight things I am passionate about:

Running
Driving
My Family
Food (yeah I am a big foodie, so u see I need to continue running all my life!!)
Good Bakar (to be read as conversations)
Movies
Reading
Music (specially RD Burman's)

Eight things I want to do before I die:

Run a 100 mile Himalayan Stage Run
own a BMW
Drive from Kerala to Kashmir and see the real India by road
Travel to a lot of arbit places in India, and then travel around the world!
Drive a ferrari
Start an NGO of my choice, which actually will "work" for the cause
Run the Boston Marathon.
Go for a vacation to Hawai...


Eight things I say often:

"Apparantly..."
"YUps..."
"Hey Dude..."
"Well..."
"Dhakkan.."
"Oye.."
"Ki haal chaal.."
"Chalo fir..."

Eight books I’ve read recently:

Life of Pi
Husband of a fanatic
Shalimar the Clown
Shantaram
Atlas Shrugged
Cuckold
The Google Story
Maximum City

Eight songs I could listen to, over and over:

Mera Kuchh Samaan... (Ijazat)
Katra Katra... (Ijazat)
Do Naina aur ek kahani.. (masoom)
Comfortably Numb... (Pink Floyd)
I'd love you to want me (Lobo)
Seene main jalan... (Gaman)
Aaj kal paaon zameen par... (Ghar)
Kal Chaudvi ki raat thi... (Jagjit Singh)

Eight things that attract me to my best friends:

Approachable
Staright Forward nature
Reliable
Perception
smartness
Genuineness
Down to earth attitude


I pass on this tag to:

Nitin
Rathi
Manoj
Archana
yashshri
Kanu

Song Today: Deewana hua badal (Kashmir ki Kali)

Unlock Bangalore...

Excellent Initiative by Times of India. I wrote about the growing chaos on the Bangalore roads sometime back on this blog. In fact in any social circle the safest topics to talk about are the traffic and the road conditions in the city. But what are we doing to control it ? This initiative by the TOI is all about getting awareness in the people of Bangalore, making them more civilized, more responsible. The main problem here is the drivers and Cab walahs who doesn't seem to give an ear to all these sort of problems, they break the rules / laws so confidently, just because the cab belongs to some corporator / or they know a local politician.

Well its time that we the responsible Bangaloreans take the initiative and report any such incident, I know the number given on the cabs where it say " In case the driver is driving rash please call...." number never works, its always out of order, so here is the solution, take down the registration number and report the incident on the e-mail address:

unlock.bangalore@timesgroup.com

Let us tell them that they are being watched continuously, even if the traffic cop is not there! Just reporting is not enough, some more things are required:

1) Car pools
2) Encourage children to use the school bus
3) If you are traveling in the cab, ask the driver to follow the rules, or don't use it
4) avoid driving under the influence of alcohol
5) If you are driving, give more respect to the pedestrians.

Happy Driving!

Other Posts on Traffic:
Cab Manace
Bangalore Traffic.....

Song Today: Khaali haanth Shaam aayi hai....

SM Krishna coming back to Karnataka...

Read this news on Times Of India

SM Krishna is one of the best Chief Minister Karnataka has ever got, one can still see the changes that he was trying to bring in, the benefits of those in the state. He was the person responsible for giving Bangalore the "Silicon Valley of India Status". This news is definitely a great boom to the IT industry in the state. Most of the later Chief Ministers were busy in milking the industry and the Bangalore City by various methods, and its better we don't talk about Mr Deve Gowda and his unethical state politics.

With the comeback of SM Krishna, I hope to see some drastic changes (obviously if he comes to power). As the state is under president rule and the last coalition government was a great disaster, the childish games that they played under the supervision of Mr Deve Gowda, I think the development of the state was the lowest priority of that government. Shutting down schools, big drama over Bangalore Metro land allocation, not to forget the BIAL airport, and the list is endless.

I think the local people of Karnataka would welsome SM Krishna as well, and this can be Congress party's trump card in the upcoming elections in the state. The people after trying loads of "good for nothing" Chief Miniters have finally found out that its better to "rollback" the transaction, and revert back to the old Chief Minister!

Welcome Back!!!!!

Song Today: Choti si kahani se.....

Tag...

Saw this tag on one of the blogs, so thought of doing it.

Now the rules, this is relatively simple, I have taken the letter N and described some words, what they remind of me. You all would be assigned some similar letter, describe yourself

Nakedness: something that is more real, so more a part of me (transitivity) !
Nano: car from Tata / IPOD Nano ?
Now: I live in present...
Nascent: most of my ideas
Nation: Mera Bharat Mahan
Naughtiness: always a part of me :-)
Negative: one thing i prefer not to be but at times end up thinking that way
Negotiation: Auto Walahs
Narayan: Reminds me of the Prodigy song...
Nervousness: makes me fall asleep
Newton: is a unit in Physics
New York: I would definitely like to visit
Niece: too many
Nomad: my mind
Nuclear: my family
Nazi: I love to read about them
Nirvana: Used to be my favorite rock band.
North Korea: You get pathetic food there
Nasal: Himmesh / Atif Aslam
Network: reminds me of Facebook / orkut, what else can you think in this age of "Online Social Networking"
New Orleans: Never been there


I pass this tag on to:

Pheonix: Your letter is C
Yashshri: your letter is M
Rays of Sun: your letter is R
Dreamcatcher: your letter is D
Manoj: since you are a runner, I give you R
Nitin: Your letter is S

God is back in heaven!!!

Yes Sachin is back at the world No 1 ranking for ODI batsman, well I personally feel that the legend is much above the number game now. Anyways time for celebration for India, and Sachin fans!!!

Congrats!!!!

Song Today: Jalta hai jiya mera bheegi bhyeegi raton main...

Shoes .... Update

Finally my Asics Gel Kayano-14 is here. Thanx to Rathi for getting one of the best running shoe for me!!!!

watch this space for the photograph of that beauty :-P

Frustrated with....

The Cabwalahs: who just doesn't respect the pedestrians
The autowalahs: who doesn't have the courtesy of saying no when you ask them to go to "X" place
The Guy: who banged my car, and was never guilty
The Policewalah: who was standing on the red light and did nothing when "the Guy" banged my car.
Air Deccan: who doesn't refund the amount, but give you a cash voucher
PVR: 70 bucks for a sick burger
Jodha Akbar: one of the longest film I have ever seen, the movie just doesnt end.
The bar in front of my house: Please stop playing loud music after 11:30 am
Bangalore Municipal Corporation: and their fetish to find and dig only the best roads in town
Raj Thakrey: for obvious reasons
Aishwarya Rai: please take a crash course in acting
Chitrangada Singh: Please sign a film
Amar Singh (Sp): Stop acting a pimp to Mulayam Singh
Manmohan Singh: Comeon don't listen to "madam" you are capable of much more
Anil Ambani: happy ?
Sachin Haters: Losers....
Dada haters: he is better than Dhoni, call him back!
BMTC Bus drivers: who on this earth gave you guys a driving license ????
Bollywood: please release a film, I am getting bored on weekends
Left parties: stop screwing the nation
Myself: for giving an eye and an ear to all these things....

Song Today: Mera kuchh samaan....