The colon cancer 15k

I cannot believe that I have become blase enough to consider a 15k race as just another race and not really prepare for it! This was my first race for the year and, to restate a cliche, I loved every minute of it. I was slower than my fastest pace, but it was fun. I had run a training run with the bloomberg team (no one else showed up -- it was just me and another guy from the group) on Friday and my calves still hurt from that. The other concern was that I had not really run anything longer than 5-6 miles and did not want to injure myself again (like last year about this time!). Things ended up fine in the end. It was a bit nippy -- ~30F with a stiff breeze. The race started 15 minutes late. I walked into my corral and started off slower than I expected to be going for a while. The thing that stuck to my mind was this image of a lady stretching in the corral and her legs getting goose bumps as soon as the klaxon sounded. I guess it was a race filled with adrenaline junkies!
The first loop in the park was pretty good. I was feeling strong, except for the calves hurting from time to time. I pushed through the stuff and finished really strong -- I felt like I could not do a single metre more of running -- what with the calves almost mutinying and the lungs at the limit of blowing up. In fact, I gave up about half a mile from the end of the race and started walking towards the finish line. That is when this guy pushing a kid in a pram cheered me on with the words, "Come on! You cannot walk now! The finish line is right there!" Reminded me of this beautiful hindi poem from high school and I powered on. Was happy with my finishing time at the end -- so that was icing on the cake! See this link for a result (not really sure it will work, but its worth a try!).
Oh and after the race, I realized that the big red walk through thing that a stall had was supposed to be a giant human colon. I cannot believe I walked through that -- I guess that is why I felt like shit at the end ;) Also, I do not think I will be using the shirt I got from this race that much..

What a day!

It was so warm outside that I hardly felt like sitting and doing any work today. Finally made it out of the office for a group run with the folks at work. Got my ass kicked at running (5 miles) again -- even though I beat my own pace. Was planning to wind down for the day when another friend called out of the blue and we made impromptu plans. Ate at this turkish place (nothing to write home about except the turkish coffee which felt heavenly). Decided to walk down to the train station to give this friend company. Hilarity ensued. Here are a few snippets of conversation I heard on the way to and fro.
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Guy running past us: This cocaine is really good!
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Guy in cab to lady trying to flag down one: You have really nice hair!
Girl: Go fuck yourself!

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Finally made it back home for a grand total of 13 miles today. Lets hope I can keep this up for the rest of the weekend (its supposed to be decently warm again!)

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Was picking up a passport for a friend and chanced by the cathedral at around 10 AM. Took this picture then. Life has been quite busy -- I am not really sure things would be sane otherwise. But then again, thats what work is for. I have been following the news in Japan quite single-mindedly. I have a lot of respect for the Japanese culture and its people from my interactions with them. The sheer scale of the disaster is unimaginable. It is saddening to see the loss and agony that people are having to deal with -- this is something that would be unimaginable even in a Jerry Bruckheimer summer blockbuster. There is something to be said about the social fabric that keeps the Japanese together though. I cannot imagine any other country running its stock exchange and any other facilities with a strict business as usual attitude. If something of this magnitude happened in India, people would be catatonic.
This article talks about and addresses some of the recent stories that have come up about how this cataclysm is a *good* thing for Japan and will herald in the next boom in the region. It reminds one of the broken pane economics and the fallacy inherent in the argument. But then again, its human nature to look for the good in every news one gets. So, the slip-up might be minor.
The media has been whipped up into a frenzy about the nuclear situation developing in Japan. However, the major story should be the humanitarian nightmare a few more hundred miles to the north. The cold, coupled with not much food/communication channels and the aging population is a deadly trifecta of tragedy. Lets hope the resourceful Japanese can come up with something to avert the issue. My thoughts are and have been with them. Lets pray for them to get the strength to do the best they can.

ps: If you end up getting drunk tonight, lets hope your hair does not hurt tomorrow (mal aux cheveux -- learnt this cute phrase today!)

:-)

Hmm. The previous post sounds quite melodramatic. I guess I just cannot live without drama in my life! So, anyway, as Barney from HIMYM would say, I decided to be awesome instead of morose and while away time and did a lot of interesting stuff over the weekend. First, I had my first run to herald in the spring season. I have half a mind to go to DC to catch the cherry blossom festival . Lets see if I can manage to find some company for that trip. I have also been informed that I have a vacation day that I need to take before the end of March. So, cue the planning for a nice trip.
Back to the weekend, got my ass kicked at running (ran with the team from work -- man these guys are good!). Recovered on Saturday by walking around the city (taking in the breathtaking weather) with a friend and then met up other friends for dinner and drinks at this unimaginably cool bar -- yes, I did feel quite out of place there. Topped off the day with a 2 hour walk back through the heart of the city. I really like NYC in spring and summer. Sunday only got better -- once I recovered from Saturday, I made it out to Jersey to wish a friend good luck for a crucial interview. Here is sending good thoughts his way -- it will be so incredibly awesome if he manages to land this job and move to the area!
The good news spilled over to this week too. I and my partner seem to have gotten better at bridge. We scored our first master points. Cheers to making it on the board finally! On the way back home from bridge, I snapped this picture of times square (at around midnight!)

The rain

reminded me of this:

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,

I am the softly falling snow.

I am the gentle showers of rain,

I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,

I am in the graceful rush

Of beautiful birds in circling flight,

I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,

I am in a quiet room.

I am in the birds that sing,

I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave bereft

I am not there. 

I have not left. 

-Mary Elizabeth Frye

...to the scotch bottle!

ps: Got this off this reddit. It is quite something to be faced with your own mortality. I highly recommend reading the whole post.

Too soon

I think I gushed about squash a bit prematurely in the previous post. See? The problem is squash butt or DOMS (read more about this here). I have created this post just for future reference for when I cannot sit at my desk for more than 30 minutes at a stretch. Even climbing stairs is quite an ordeal and needs some planning to get done without wincing.

Squash

I played squash today again after about 3 years. It was beautiful! I got creamed. Royally. I did manage to win the first set (while my opponent was still adjusting to my playing style). Once partner figured out my style, it was quite downhill. It was fun. However, its not much use if I do not learn from my mistakes and improve. So here are a few things I should work on improving:
1) Get to the center of the court more often.
2) Take services further up in the court to kill the advantage that a good service creates.
3) Build stamina! I was panting around like a dog before the third game which does not bode well for playing someone for an hour.

New year

The new year has brought a lot of new things. I have started playing bridge again -- it is a lot of fun even if I am the youngest guy in a room full of 30-50 people!  I am finally thinking about getting to use all the cold weather running gear I bought and the bike I purchased on a whim. Spring is around the corner and things seems good. It is true, the hair is a lot thinner on the head, the pants seem to have shrunk and mysteriously tightened around the waist. There are things happening. If anything, I seem to have become even more experimental about things. I think a smartphone encourages exploration (while the battery lives!). I had a couple of startup ideas that I have carefully filed away for future use. Things are still the same though. Still single. Still thinking about how things could have been different. Still thinking about how to *make* things different. Still thinking.

Time

It has been a while since I posted anything here -- about time to amend that. We are officially now into the cold season and the resolve to run through the winter is already wavering. No matter the fact that I know that I have enough stuff to see me safely through most of winter and no matter the fact that I set my alarm everyday for 5am, I still manage to convince myself that venturing out in this cold is crazy and for the really stupid and go right back to sleep.
                           I have been having a more productive time at work because of all the sleep though. In other news, I finally gave in and got me a smartphone. My earlier phone would keep turning off since there was some loose connection between the battery and the phone. This phone is really awesome! It shows me my email, news and facebook feeds and any other darn thing I might be interested in and also has a ton of games. It is quite similar to the earlier phone in that it is off come midday though -- because the battery is drained.
               Last weekend was also quite a lot of fun -- went to see the Colbert/Stewart rally and ran into some great company along the way. There were some really amazing signs at the rally that have made their imprint in my mind. Here is a sampling -- "This is a good sign", "Boehner killed my boner", "[citation needed]" among others. Still recovering from the weekend. Lets hope the coming few weekends are as much fun!

Biking

I just bought a road bike. Just in the sense that its been ~a month. However, I just took it for its first spin in the park. I did not realize the sheer amount of crap that one needs to purchase before getting in the saddle and riding. Since this bike comes with clip-on pedals, I needed to purchase cleats. Since it is a road bike, I would need a whole set of stuff from a air pump to a patch kit. Plus, given that I bike in the dark most of the time, I would need lights for the bike. All this makes you realize how relatively pain and purchase free running is. After all the purchases were made and I started to question the whole idea of owning a bike, I finally rode the bike today.
           It was fun! I was not too fast and my quads and hamstrings killed me through the ride (central park is waaay hillier on a bike than on foot!), it was quite a lot of fun to have wind in the face and to realize that what would take me the better part of an hour on foot takes a little less than half that on the bike. I still need to improve my stamina on the bike, but I am guessing that will come with practice and time spent in the saddle. For now, I am enjoying it.