Random Thoughts

Balance

2006-09-07T06:25:00.000-05:00

Life is a chaos. The choices we make -- consciously or unconsciously -- are meant to bring some order to it. Balance is my favorite word and it is a challenge to balance different aspects of life on a daily basis. Invariably one aspect becomes dominant than the others, by choice or otherwise.

Ever since I've returned home after my sister's wedding -- late April -- with my wife and daughter, spending time with them has taken priority over anything else. So it was little surprise that my running took a back seat in the overall scheme of things. I guess the lack of momentum and lethargy coupled with the busy work schedule are to take equal share of the blame. Adjusting my activities around the random schedule (is that an oxymoron?) of my daughter has been something that took some time to come to grips with. Only recently I've rediscovered the motivation and adjusted my daily schedule to resume regular running. In the process, I have fallen way behind with regard to achieving my goal of 100 hours of running this year. So as it stands now I've about 15 weeks left in the year and more than 60 hours left to complete. That comes out to be little more than 4 hours a week. Gotta to pull out all the stops now. Let's see how far can I go.

Running Time (Goal: 100 Hours)
Year To Date: 33:27 (47 attempts)

Books Read (Goal: 25)
Year To Date: 36

May
The Soloist By Mark Salzman
Smith Delivered By Louis Begley
Payment In Blood By Elizabeth George
With No One As Witness By Elizabeth George
The Rhythm Of Life By Mathew Kelly

June
America - A Citizen's Guide To Democracy In Action By Jon Stewart
The Charlie And The Chocolate Factory By Roald Dahl
The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova
Pundits from Pakistan By Rahul Bhattacharya
The Education of a Coach By David Halberstam

July
Hungry Tide By Amitav Ghosh
Night By Elie Weisel
Mile High Club By Kinky Friedman

August
The world is flat By Thomas Friedman
Beyond A Boundary By CLR James

Neat!

2006-05-24T14:37:00.000-05:00

I guess I will have to switch to Nike shoes.

Progress Update - Apr 06

2006-05-04T18:58:00.000-05:00

Running Time (Goal: 100 Hours)
March : 01:30 (1 attempt)
Year To Date: 21:46 (30 attempts)

Books Read (Goal: 25)
March : 1
Year To Date: 21

This Month

Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand

Progress Update - Mar 06

2006-03-31T15:56:00.000-05:00

Running Time (Goal: 100 Hours)
March : 09:44 (12 attempts)
Year To Date: 20:16 (29 attempts)

Books Read (Goal: 25)
March : 8
Year To Date: 20

This Month

Great Deliverance By Elizabeth George
The Tipping Point By Malcom Gladwell
King Solomon’s Mines By H. Rider Haggard
Beyond The Blonde By Kathleen Flynn Hui
Swimming To Antarctica By Lynne Cox
Time Machine By H. G. Wells
And One More Thing Before You Go By Maria Shriver
Today Matters By John Maxwell

Previously

Winning By Jack Welch
The Broker By John Grisham
High Country By Nevada Barr
On The Road By Jack Kerouac
The Zahir By Paolo Coelho
Black Beauty By Anna Sewell
Story Of My Life By Helen Keller
Mary Mary By James Patterson
The One Thing You Need To Know By Marcus Buckingham
The Tale Of Two Cities By Charles Dickens
On Bullshit By Harry G. Frankfurt
At First Sight By Nicholas Sparks

Progress Update - Feb 06

2006-02-28T17:28:00.000-05:00

Running Time (Goal: 100 Hours)
February : 04:44 (7 attempts)
Year To Date: 10.32 (17 attempts)

Books Read (Goal: 25)
February : 9
Year To Date: 12

This Month

Winning By Jack Welch
The Broker By John Grisham
High Country By Nevada Barr
On The Road By Jack Kerouac
The Zahir By Paolo Coelho
Black Beauty By Anna Sewell
Story Of My Life By Helen Keller
Mary Mary By James Patterson
The One Thing You Need To Know By Marcus Buckingham

Previously

The Tale Of Two Cities By Charles Dickens
On Bullshit By Harry G. Frankfurt
At First Sight By Nicholas Sparks

The inertia

2006-02-23T17:56:00.000-05:00

I went for a run this morning after almost three weeks. And boy, did it feel good!!

Why the gap, you ask? Well, I haven’t really been doing well. The month began all right but then I started feeling some pain in my chest. I didn’t think it was serious but I didn’t want to take any chances either. The physician asked me to take it easy for couple of weeks.

During one of those weeks my tooth started giving me trouble. They (my teeth) have always been my achilles heel (I am not sure if I can use that metaphor but you get the point). I could probably buy a lifetime supply of toothpaste with the amount of money that I have spent on them. I finally caved in and had it extracted. The surgeon asked me to take it easy for couple of weeks.

I guess you know what happens when you take it easy for such a long time. The inertia builds in and it forces you continue taking it easy. It took me almost four days to fight it off. The good thing about the inertia, though, is that it works both ways. Now that I’ve started again, I’m hoping it will force me to continue running.

The Zahir

2006-02-19T08:06:00.000-05:00

I haven't been running for past three weeks 'cause of bad health. It has allowed me to spend extra time on reading. I recently read a very interesting novel by Paolo Coelho. The review is in another blog I participate in. Click here to read it.

The iPod

2006-02-07T13:39:00.000-05:00

Long time ago I used to run with a Sony Walkman. It was quite bulky and inconvenient. I mean who listens to audiotapes these days :-). I tried CD players but they skip a lot. And yes, even those that boast of the anti skip feature. It didn’t take me long to switch to a flash based MP3 player when my wife gifted me iriver FP 799T. I think it is one of the better MP3 players out there. It comes loaded with features. Some of the things I liked were:

Standard arm band (iPod, in contrast forces you to fork out another $29)
When you wear it on the arm (usually during running), its screen is slightly tilted towards you. This makes it easier to work with it without breaking the stride.
40 hrs of listening time for a single AA battery
Decent amount of memory (1G)
Reasonably priced (around $160)

Things I didn’t like about it were

Navigation button is difficult to operate. If you don’t click it in exactly the right angles you won’t get the desired effect
No bookmark feature for audiobooks or podcasts
The ‘cool’ factor is missing
Music Manager is no match to iTunes

I think I read it in The Life’s Little Instruction Book something to this effect: once in a while you should just get what you really want. So I decided to gift the iriver to my brother and buy an iPod nano :-).

Here is the strange thing:

It’s not reasonably priced ($249 for 4G)
Most of things I needed (like armband) are not standard
No FM tuner, voice recording feature etc.
It needs to be connected to a PC for charging (unless you buy a separate charger)
It doesn’t have the tilt screen (as described above)

And still I love it more that the iriver. Why? Because it makes an ordinary song sound extraordinary, it is extremely easy to operate and it does have the ‘cool’ factor. Not to mention the podcasts, photos and iTunes.

When buying a product you can weigh the pros and the cons all you like but Once in a while you should just get what you really want.

Runner's don'ts

2006-02-06T09:45:00.000-05:00

Do not check your weight in the morning if you watched superbowl the previous night :-)

Progress Update - Jan 06

2006-02-02T05:38:00.000-05:00

Running Time : 05:48 Goal: 100:00
10 attempts

Books Read : 3 Goal: 25
The tale of two cities By Charles Dickens
On Bullshit By Harry G. Frankfurt
At First Sight By Nicholas Sparks

Show me the money

2006-01-28T16:53:00.000-05:00

Running is not really a "cheap" sport as one may be inclined to think.

For starters, one needs a good pair of shoes based the foot type. Those old pair of tennis shoes, not really a good idea! This is a basic necessity even if you're a recreational runner (running less than 25 miles per week). Be prepared to pay anywhere from $75 and up. The pair I use is Asics GT 2100 and it costs about $80. And don't forget the running socks. Another $10. Those cotton socks don't breathe so I'd stay away from them.

Next come the clothes. Cotton shorts and t-shirt tend to chafe. Not really a good experience on a long run (greater than 5 miles). Typical costs is $50. I prefer Nike DRI-FIT apparel that cost me about $50.

I prefer to run with a heart rate monitor. A good HRM costs about $100. I use Nike Triax C6 that cost me about $85.

Running is a lonely sport so carrying some music around is a good idea. Those walkmans are thing of the past. MP3 players are much cooler and lighter. Flash memory based MP3 player work great as they are immune to skipping. These may cost anywhere from $60 to $250. I use iPod nano (details in another post) which cost me $250 + another $75 for accessories.

I've covered the "bare essentials". If one is pulling out all the stops, one might consider winter gloves, winter jacket, cap, water carrying equipment etcetera. Not to mention sun block cream, vaseline, gatorate, sports bars and gel, books on running and subscription to Runner's World.

So now you know why I run. Because after spending all this money, if I don't, I would be left with just these gears and no wife.

On a serious note, I started out small (with just the shoes and socks) and added what I felt was necessary as I went along. Guess you would feel better and you consider it as investment in your health.

So to borrow the punchline from mastercard:

Running shoes $80, Running socks $10, HRM $90.
The joy or running Priceless!!!

Happy running!

The best of 2005

2006-01-28T16:23:00.000-05:00

Groucho Marx said

I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.

So take your mind for a jog, throw away all your worries, unwind and pick up a nice book. Here is my top 3 of 2005 if it helps:

By far the best book that I read last year was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Since I talked about it in one of my earlier posts, only thing I would say is to read it as soon as you find some time. Lots of it, actually. It's a long one.

Rule of four by Ian Caldwell et. al. is a story about four friends, and no that is not why there is a four in the title :-), at Princeton who stumble upon a book that carries a historical mystery. The comparison to Da Vinci Code is inevitable. Although this book is bit more of an intellectural thriller. It reminded me of my college days and probably be more fun to read if you could relate it yours. You may find it difficult to put this one down.

Blink : The power of thinking without thinking by Malcom Gladwell is a non-fiction unlike the above two. The author, by way of case studies and research, explains how our snap judgements or unconcious decisions based on first few seconds of looking at "things" may be more correct than the ones we take after a long mulling over. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, the book proposes an interesting theory that is definitely worth your time. Being a small book doesn't hurt its cause either :-)

Happy reading!

New year resolutions

2006-01-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

First of all, here is wishing you all a very happy new year. Pretty sure, everybody you met has said that to you, so, here is an attempt to being bit more specific:

May the price of your stocks skyrocket!
May you get the salary hike and promotion you've been waiting for!!
May you get the success (however you define and measure it) you deserve!!!

And while we are at it, how is that new year resolution going along? Don't you love them? What's a new year without some resolutions, so here is couple of mine:

100 hours of running
25 books

I read somewhere about a 'health bank'. What it means is that taking care of your health is akin to saving money. The more deposits you make, more wealth you have when you need it. So this year I've decided to make 100 deposits in running-hour-denomination.

I plan to read about 25 books that will hopefully teach me something new about various aspects of life in general. I have a pretty catholic taste to I'm going to read anything that I find interesting. BTW, this number does not include the books related to professional development or home improvement or such, which I've to do anyways. It would be my way of relaxing, I guess.

Reasonably challenging goals but I hope to achieve them. I will keep you posted on the progress on a quarterly basis (at least).

Progress so far:

Running: 1 hour
Books: 0

(Hey, I'm working on the second one. Currently reading: At First Sight By Nicholas Sparks)

Here is to a new beginning!

R & R

2005-11-07T14:05:00.000-05:00

I will be away from Nov 12 thru Dec 9 for some much needed R & R.

No plans, no nothing. Would just sit back, relax and spend time with family and friends. And if time permits, may be, indulge myself in some old fashioned book reading in the paper form.

If you're into classics and don't mind reading online books this site may be just what you're looking for.

Talk about audiobooks...

2005-10-27T04:58:00.000-05:00

Here is something to chew on from Wired magazine.

The ups and downs

2005-10-11T11:51:00.000-05:00

For the past few weeks I have been increasing the mileage of my weekend long run steadily. Couple of weekends ago, on saturday, I completed my first 9 miler on WOD trail(http://www.wodfriends.org/) in 2 hours. Felt great to discover that I was actually capable of doing a 9 miler. On tuesday, I went for my 5 mile tempo, ignoring little bit of pain that I was experiencing on the outer side of my left foot. I figured the pain was nothing to be bothered about, since I already had quite a bit of rest over the last couple of days. Guess what? It got worse and despite the RICE (Rest Ice Compress Elevate) treatment I have been laid low for last couple of weeks.

Now I know what they mean when they say "Listen to your body" :-(

Since I'm not being able to run, I'm focussing more on strength training (something that I was ignoring in favor of running for quite a while) and more importantly I'm getting more time to spend time with my baby who seems to be in the most cheerful mood in the morning.

Don't they also say "Every cloud has a silver lining". :-)

Great Expectations!

2005-10-07T13:28:00.000-05:00

Great Expectations By Charles Dickens is perhaps the most wonderful story I have ever read. The audio book by RecordedBooks is about 16 hrs long and I have a feeling that people would enjoy it more than the text. The narrator Frank Muller has done a fantastic job of bringing out the roller-coaster ride of emotions that this book is. I don't consider myself to be even worthy of reviewing it. You have to listen to/read it yourself to decide if you liked it.

Dickens (1812-1870) is said to be a literary geniuses of the victorian era whose creativity, arguably, is only rivaled by that of Shakespeare. Before I read this work I did not even know that the words can be weaved together in such a delightful fashion. It's like watching Tiger Woods play golf or Sachin Tendulkar play cricket. As close to perfection as they come!

If you're going to read only one book in your life, I would highly recommend you to read this one!

Personally, I can't wait to finish my current book (1776 by David McCollough) and listen to or read some more of Dickens' work.

A tribute to audio book inventer

2005-08-18T12:53:00.000-05:00

Whoever came up with the idea of audio books, deserves a noble prize! Well... may be not the noble prize but a whole lot of credit. My commute to work is about an hour (one way). It used to be my most unproductive time of the day. Consider an average of 20 working days/month multiplied by 2 hour/day. That adds up to 40 hours!!!

And now that I've discovered audio books, I look forward to my commute. Really! There is no road-rage any more. I no longer mind if the signal lights are red. And the time just flies by. In the last one month alone, I've listened to at least 10 books. I used to have hard time reading just one in the same time frame. And the beauty is that I don't have to pay a penny for the books Why? Because my local library has a website where the electronic versions of some of the books are available. I download them to my Desktop and then to my PDA. I can download them to my MP3 player, if I choose to, and take them with me during my morning run.

Pretty neat. I'm loving it!

The first 10K

2005-08-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

I did manage to finish my first 10k. Though not in the time I was hoping for (1 hour). It took me 01:11:12 instead. It was pretty satisfying nevertheless. Usually I run with my MP3 player but during the race I didn't. Just wanted to feel the environment, surroundings, everything... Racing has its own advantages. First of all it gives a good perspective on where you stand as far as speed is concerned (The guy who came first clocked 00:33:40) and life in general (80 year olds passed me by). Second it can be quite motivating to see so many fast and fit bodies in action. Anywho, my main goal was to enjoy the moment and I did. Every bit of it. You should try it some time.

Baby blues...

2005-07-25T06:17:00.000-05:00

A big reason for my continued interest in and practice of running is my wife. We recently had a baby and we're first time parents. If you talk to people who had babies in the past, they always say things like it's the experience of your life, your life will change forever, you're gonna have a wonderful time etc. What they don't tell you is: you will get only 2 hours of sleep in a stretch and that if you're lucky, the baby will eat, cry and poop all the time, and guess what they don't come with an "off" switch. Don't get me wrong I love my baby and do my bit in taking care of her but only a woman can have the kind of patience that it requires to take care of these little miracles. Not a day goes by when I'm not amazed by her reservoir of patience. I've never seen her getting pissed at me, even when she has been awake almost the whole night, when I'm off to running first thing in the morning. Although it doesn't do any justice to how I feel but here is a thank you to her for being a part of my life.

Preparing for the first 10K

2005-07-22T15:57:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd ever take up running. My interest in it started about a year ago. The main motivation was keeping fit and weight control, specially now that I'm not getting any younger :)

And now a year after, it has become almost a non-negotiable part of my day. Getting up at 5:00 AM, putting on the gears and heading out for running, when the most of the rest of the world is sleeping, takes a lot of discipline and mental toughness. I feel good about it. Although I have to admit I've not really been 100% regular.

I recently signed up for a 10K race that is held annually in Leesburg, VA. Since it's my first one, I'm looking forward to it. I would like to concentrate on finishing it strong. I'm not planning to set a time goal or personal record (PR) but I think I can complete it within an hour. Will see how it goes.

Lance Armstrong is my hero so I would like to finish this post with two words. Live strong.