India Republic Day Parade 2016

Watching India's Republic Day has been my yearly ritual, whenever life has been steady. In school days Every year, it was a much needed holiday. That meant to sleep late and watch this on TV, lying under a blanket.

This year I could watch it the day before, as a late night show, being in a different timezone.
And Thanks to Youtube for their live telecast.


Hubby and me chattered and gossiped about each of the display. The first set of military parade was boring for me as a child. We would impatiently wait for the cultural ones to start. But wow, now it was so impressive to my adult eyes now. Hubby says, "Doosre country walon ki phat jati hai, yeh parade dekhke."

Karnataka set was lovely. Huge sculptures related to coffee and smaller ones about laptop. Maybe 4 people walking by in the traditional outfits. Immediately I say, "ya because rest of the folks are busy working in IT offices". Nobody takes a weekday off for anything else.

And there was the jhanki of Assam. Beautiful Assamese folks dressed in lovely Assamese silk and Mehkla-chaddor dancing Bihu.

Other set that I usually watch out for and cheer is Maharashtra. But I didn't find it this year.

Parking in Jurrasic

Piku playing on Netflix. 
A goes, " Hey Rrrrrr, look the guy from Jurrasic World!!!!" 
R comes hopping, and looks at TV,  "Yaaaaa, Mr Masrani."

They were awestruck - he's in Hindi movie ! For them, Irrfan Khan is big-shot Hollywood hero :)

And boy, they know more about Jurrasic World than I know about Jurrasic Park. Few weeks back, when I screened Jurrasic Park for them, they already knew MrHammond. I mean, what am I for !?! I thought I would be the one to lead them into Science Fiction and introduce all fundamentals to them. But with a handy iPad Mini, they are rolling right from Mars Rover chapter. I feel antiquated.

Jurrasic Park was my "time" movie. I was in 12th. Dad took me & my bro to the Arun theater, the only one playing English movies in Belgaum (atleast the respectable kind). All 3 of us were completely blown away by the movie. In 1993, the only marketing hype we could get from, was Doordarshan (DD). Cable TV was in early stages and we did not have it at home. And Internet was something I was going to learn about in textbook, as one of the top layers in ARP, in next 4-5 years. Now I really wonder, what told me that this was a must see movie ? I mean we had no known craze of Dinosaurs in India before this. Yes DD had taught me well, what a big-shot Steven Spielberg was. But seriously who hyped this movie for me ? Maybe some word of mouth publicity, slowly flowing into the small town. Movies were usually released months after the actual release in small town. So enough time to buildup. 

We saw the movie in big-screen theater; were mighty impressed. Kept trying to figure out how did they recreate the animals for the movie ? Eventually learnt about CGI. Got interested in fractals. After I started working in big city, Jurrasic Park was one of the first books I bought. Micheal Crichton became my favorite writer and I gobbled up all of his books, with strong opinions about each of them. In IISc, I even bought & read a book on Chaos Theory. Hmm, mighty influential movie indeed.

When Jurrassic World hype started, I easily ignored it. I am a grown adult, who will not fall for marketing hypes (so I would like to think of myself). But Dad was in town too. I knew I had to make it a family movie night. Dad, Hubby, A, R & me went to AMC for JW. All of us impressed again. I found the Indominus a bit icky. But I loved Claire (Bryce) and Masrani (Irrfan Khan) characters and their scenes. T-rex and Velociraptors were good. What bugged me was that one of the kids was not a girl and there was no one like Jeff Goldblum and Samuel L Jackson's character in this reboot. No fascinating science theory I could research offline.

But since then, the kids did their own research on Youtube, for more videos on this movie. Most of it is junk parodies. I sometimes wonder, are they learning anything ? If anything, they do know many dinosaur names, as fluently as Ramesh-Suresh. And they have loads of inescapable merchandise. 

Commitment Day 5K - Race Recap

Race in winter of Minnesota is so thrilling. Not just for the humble-brag rights later on, but winter running as such is way different from that in other seasons. The crunchy snow and extremities-freezing temps (fingertips below 30F & toes below 20F) makes everything adventurous. So I picked the auspicious New Year morning race, as a highlight of running in Minnesota winter.

Last year it was 15 miles at Polar Dash. Overall a good race but they spoiled the experience by not listing my finish time, even when it was within time limit. Later there were rumbling about financial gapla. So this year, I looked for an alternative. And found one - 5K at Lifetime Commitment Day. I took months to accept it - it's not long-distance but it's a race.

On the New Year's morning, I got up early even after sleeping late. I was proud of myself, "I will be ready just in time for once in my life". I checked the website and noted, "Ah the start time is 10 am - wow ! I just earned an extra hour of sleep". So I put up a new alarm and went for that most desirable morning nap. Again I woke up by myself, I thought, "What a day, I am getting up before alarm, again." But it was too sunny to trust myself. Turns out the new alarm was for weekend, and this was not weekend and I had only 45 minutes to start of race !!! Boom I got ready in a rush. I was so panicky I forced my sleepy hubby to drop me at the start - I couldn't waste time looking for parking.

Fortunately everything went well after that. I was wondering about the warming place. I had forgotten that it's Lifetime - they had their own facility. Everyone gathered at their Gym. There was a round of Zumba for Pre-Race stretch.

Then, all runners gathered outside Lifetime on Plymouth Blvd for the national anthem & the race start. There were about 50 or so. I was guessing they must be the Run club folks. I felt good to see kids as well, so early on New Years morning.

The route was left from Lifetime on Plymouth Blvd, then a stretch on Fernbrook Lane along the Ice Rink and then via Rockford and back to Plymouth Blvd. Most of the sidewalks were cleared. And other parts of the run were on closed roads. Perfectly safe conditions.

Clock showed my finish time as 40:17 minutes. With a discipline-less training past few months, I will take this. This is my usual winter time. My outfit was perfect for this 20F temp. I skipped the neck-gaiter, which was an excess last Jan.

And the race swags was good too - T-shirt, bag, protein bars and a breakfast. I had expected a small, thread-bare event, but this exceeded my expectations. Overall a great start for the new year.

Wish you and your family a Happy & Prosperous New Year !

My Running Report for 2015

This year (2015), I ran 363 miles and finished in 6 races. It's lot less than those in 2014.  And yet this is the year I finished my first Marathon ! Yeaaaah ! So I blame my lesser mileage to this Marathon, ha. First half year because I was nervous about the upcoming and next half year as a recovery from the Marathon. Talk about excuses. The fact is that, if I had more mileage before Marathon, my performance would have been better. And if I ran after the Marathon (atleast after a few weeks), then my recovery would have been better. Coz mileage is tied to training and workout. Nothing is better than training well and working out.

What I did try this year were strength workouts. I did sessions of Extreme TRX, Kickboxing and bench-press in gym. I loved my sore muscles. It is wonderful while it lasts. As usual, the challenge is to continue it. Everything gets in the way, especially your hardwired brain, which does not pickup a workout clothes as easily as a chakali packet.

My arm & leg muscles felt wonderful after each workout session and for many days after. Running however, totally brightens the mood. Makes me feel I accomplished something. Any health benefits to the muscles were just a side-effect, I did not pay attention to, because they were invisible to the eye.

Races are something which bring the thrill factor to running. Before my first race all I cared about was medals. This year, I don't know where to store those heavy metals ! Now I am happy with the other useful stuff they give out like shirt, bars & good arrangements.

I completed these races in 2015. They are fewer but with rich experiences each. I blogged about them for my own reference. I had signed up for the Women Run The Cities 10 Miler too, as a followup for last year. I was all set for it, but I completely forgot about a wedding that same day in a different city. So I had to dropout.

Weather	Name	Date	Distance	2015 Time
19F	Polar Dash	1-Jan-15	15 mile	3:07:21
30F - Hot	Securian Winter Run	24-Jan-15	Half Marathon	2:55:57
62F	Get in Gear	25-Apr-15	Half Marathon	3:02:14
75F	Lake Minnetonka	3-May-15	Half Marathon	2:55:37
45F to 60F	Minneapolis Marathon	31-May-15	Marathon (26.2 miles)	6:09:59
57-87F	City of Lakes Half	13-Sep-15	Half Marathon	2:53:03

Like last year, I went to watch the 2015 TCM Marathon runners in action. This is the race which started my interest and am always curious about it. I don't signup for it though, as my Summer training and stamina levels are not good enough for a Fall Marathon.

I managed to plot my training runs by month. I look at the graph and try to find a pattern and learn something.



My mileage spiked in Oct because I quit being a snob and blindly went to the gym. There is a usual debate about treadmill vs outside running. Yes the benefits of running outside are tangible. It is also a noticeably different experience. In Jan, when I ran Securian Winter Run 2015 - Half, after solely running on treadmill, wow it blew the wind out of my sail. It was tough to switch. Yet running on treadmill is way better than not running at all. Those gaps in the graph, those are because I was running outside, but the change of seasons or the weather that day itself, scared me to get out. Its struggle to just step out the door in the evenings. We are tired from the rigors of all day and chores of the remaining part of the day are beckoning us. We don't need extra challenge of any unpredictable weather to be added. That is why it helps to keep the gear ready - clothes, shoes, bottles, watch, etc. So we can slip out before any imaginary constraint stops us. Just get it done - is the mantra.

My miles from Jan to May were very very low, which goes against me since I had signed up for a Full Marathon in the end of May. What was I thinking ? My only explanation was that I was nervous. I was sure I would drop off & not show up at the Marathon. Or if I did show up, I would just do a long-run of 20 mile maybe and get out. Gosh what was I thinking ? This is the pure example of not-believing in yourself - but for 5 months !?! Never again please.

No, I won't blame the freezing icy February and rainy wet April for my low mileage. Oh wait, but I did get 48 miles in March ? That was thanks to 3 long runs of 13 mile, 13 mile and 16 miles. Wow, that's extreme. That shows my strengthen. Remind me again, that I don't need such desperate measure. I should stick to a training plan and if there's a gap in my execution, then not be hard on myself.

After feeling low in August, and still not gaining any solid ground in Sep, there was a surge in October. That's because I cleared my mind and stopped being afraid or demotivated by the crispy fall weather, and boldly walked to the apartment Gym :) And I could do it many times to achieve my year record of 53 miles in 14 days. That was was followed by a slump of no run in 30 days in Nov. I was miserable throughout. It was a moving month, so I couldn't do much.

Dark evenings are another detriment. Right from the Sunday when Daylight Saving kicks in, evenings are pitch dark as early as 4pm. And it is so till Winter Solstice around 22-Dec. It makes a big difference, if you are not used to getting out in these cold dark evenings. The first week goes in simply catching up with the sleep. Next few weeks, working up courage all day to really dress up and step out in the evening.

In December, I had moved to a new place. Along with unpacking and settling to a new commute and routine, I was chalking and charting plans for my outside runs - Sidewalks I could use, their distances, looking for winter domes, gathering my winter run clothes and race planning for 2016. All that means very few actual runs.

Anyway something is better than nothing. I promise to stop overthinking, and just dress up and step out of the house. Not overwhelm myself by thinking about what I will do outside. Getting to this auto-mode is the goal. Here's wishing myself All the Best for the New Year of Running.

Its pretty exhausting to read these reflections. But I know, they will come handy when memory fails me and I need guidance.

All of my yearly Run Reports are here.

Book Reading in 2015

With internet on all the time, the only reading I get to do is not book or e-readers but internet rabbit-holes of Wiki, Buzzfeed and way too many blogs. At some point in time, I had to exercise extreme restraint and get back to book reading, for way too many reasons:

1. To be able to hold my own attention on one thing, instead of switching between 10 browsers to read 10 articles, all at the same time
2. To stop my mobile from scorching my eyes every night till 2 am
3. And to show my kids what book reading meant. I mean, there is a point till when you can push a book in their face. But they will start reading only when they see competition. "Oh ya, look I finished this many books" smug is the best way to get them going. Oh ya, everything is a game for kids.
4. I don't have dataplan, so I need something in the bus. There are only so many billboards that I can read.

That way, I did end up reading many books this year. Here are some of them with my notes, in no particular order.

Why Not Me - by Mindy Kaling

This one was a good ride. Which is a raise compared to my experience with her previous book.
I loved her dialog delivery, even the unconnected comedy on TV. I loved her quote, "I have a personality defect where I refuse to see myself as an underdog. My parents raised me with the entitlement of a tall, blond, white man."
So I got her first book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)". My dad read it first, and he was all shrugging, "What is this ? Nowadays everyone can write books !". I blamed it on him being from different generation and culture and him not having seen her shows. But when I started reading it, I could barely turn pages. I think I gave up after 2-3 chapters. It did nothing for me.

So it took me lot of courage to get her second book. I mean, I was still impressed by her quotes. I had to read something from her. Thankfully this book turned out good. It was about her experiences in college and from professional life. So along with her wit, I got a glimpse of the TV show making world. I was impressed by her hard work, even though I expected it. The most profound portion is where she explains that confidence comes from entitlement which is supported by hard work. And her attempt to remove the derogatory tone from the word 'workoholic'. It was a good chapter.

Fresh Off the Boat - By Eddie Huang

This was a fun ride. Very engrossing from the very first page.

I got to know about this book because it was recently made into a TV show. I saw few of the episodes and it was funny but predictable. I would expect the story to go one-way, and that is exactly where it would end. Standard Asian immigrant in USA with second generation kids plot; something covered in numerous ABCD line movies. But I guessed the book would have to be different.

I got the book and laughed through it. It was different. Book moved from his kid years to college and then adulthood.  Was stunned at the self-destructive actions. Learned some minute details about growing up as immigrants children, what they face, some terminology. I grew up in cultures different from my parents, though within the same country. So I could connect to some parts. But growing up in a very different country, especially one with strong set rules like America, combined with immigration challenges, which make us feel like we are living in borrowed time for years, it makes the experience very different. Culture clashes of home vs school vs peers.

Language used was also why this was so engrossing. It was clean for his initial childhood till he settled and made friends. And then it was littered with s, fs and mfs, picking up speed towards his college and working years. Towards the end of the book it was totally studded with repeated profanity. This maybe for effect, maybe his individual style, but it did help make the points it wanted to make.

Dean Karnazes Books 

1. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner
2. 50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days -- and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!
3. Run! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss

 

If you want to get enchanted into the world of running, get captured by charisma of a filmy hero, Dean Karnazes books are the ones to read. He glamorizes the world of distance running, and in a good way. Totally cheerful and no bitterness anywhere. All Mr California-Sunshine in tone. Even the sad parts in the books are so well-written but they don't pull you into it. Keep you at the interested in sports level. Equivalent of a masala movie.

To his credit, he did run some incredible awe-inspiring races and won many. All 3 books are detailed humorous and informing. I learnt many things needed for running from his books. Felt inspired by his adventures and his enthu, self-deprecating yet humblebrag descriptions. His association with corporate Northface showed in all places. He talked about some of the DNF, which were reassuring for me, that its not all hahahehe.

Eat and Run - by Scott Jurek

This one had the most impact on me. A quiet loners simmering recount about all the running in his life and about some of the high-profile races. His chapters were more poetic. Every chapter had a recipe, which did not interest me the skeptical-cook .

The Extra Mile - by by Pam Reed

By now I wanted to find out specifically about Elite Women. Deans and Scott Jurek's books were good to learn about the world of trail and ultra distance running. I know a lot of women did it too and won many. So what were their experiences ? What about unique to their gender ?

Dean mentions Pam Reed in his book. She won Badwater twice. Not division or category, but won the actual complete race ! Now that's intriguing. So I got her book.

Her language was factual but not enough race info. More than 50% of the book covered her affair, anorexia, her business ventures. Given that it is her autobiography I should take it. I was looking for 100% racing info - greedy me. She kept it real, and real life is mundane and boring, even of an achiever. She did not Hollywoodise it. I appreciate that she did write about most of her races. I wish there was more of which guide others towards it. It does have helpful info. She details her competitive nature. Talks about her athletics in her school years and how it linked with her everyday life. She talks of running as a mother. Running experience in different events.

Everything I learnt about running was bit by bit from RunWorld and FB pages, runner blogs and these runner books. But nowhere do they tell if anyone makes money, even for expenses or if the elites. So I conclude that the use their creativity to earn or sponsor. Once they build their strengths and capability, there must be professionals who know how to use it for corporate or charity benefits.
A lovely write-up on Anne Weber's GoFundMe page gives some clues.
(Update: found one article: Prize Money Aimed at Americans Helps Emerging Elites )

Wild - by Cheryl Strayed

I heard about this book around the time when the movie started to spread the word about it. I have been fascinated by long-distance, so this was intriguing. Plus the writer is originally from Minnesota. It was a good read. Many pages were devoted to her pre-trail life in Minnesota.  Her story-telling was flashbacks of her mother and her divorce as she moves along the hike along the PCT trail.

Found parallel with my new venture as runner. Each run or race, is a revelation. The way we get absorbed during self-training and research for it. Also I prefer long distances versus a short-distance at greater speed. It matches my noncompetitive temperament.

I remembered this book while running in Lake Minnetonka Half-Mara. At about mile 5, the cushions below my toes started hurting. Like I had cement for shoe-soles. And then I thought of Wild, where her boots were 1 size small and killed her toes & feet, but she did nearly half of her nearly 1500 miles in those shoes. I had brand new shoes of excellent quality and I was complaining ! That helped me cover rest of the miles. My pain actually disappeared after few miles.

The book details her alone time while hiking. At different rest camps, she meets other trekkers. They all relax together, enjoy meals and rest. And then they each start at their own schedule and move forward. They don't decide to stick together, or slow down for someone else or pickup pace to match another. Its only at stopover that they hangout together. Its not a competition, but individual journey. This is something I believe strongly in life.

Saw the movie after reading this book. That was worth it too. The movie time & format is way different to squeeze in all details, and they didn't. But they touched upon each of her personal life events, could convey the pain about death, not so much about the divorce; which was a good thing. Way too many movies linger about the love-pains; it get more attention than it needs. Not enough talk about strong mothers in the modern life. And then the movie captured the outdoor beauty of the PCT trail. That alone made it was worth a repeat watch.

Older Reading lists: Entire Book list | 2021 (2) | 2021(1) | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |

Colors of Fall

Today while walking across my usual aisle, I looked out my usual window and saw cars. I didn't remember seeing any cars out of this window. Hmm , left me wondering. And then I realized. The leaves have all fallen away and the tree are bare branches & twigs. That's why I could see the road across. Haha.

There will be Day Light Saving change, which makes our evenings dark like midnight.
There will be rain, which strips the leaves off from the tree.

But before that, they are impossible beautiful colors.
The beauty which brightens you up.
No painting depicting the Fall colors, can capture this beauty.

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. - Albert Camus

So true.

Four Seasons of Minnesota

The trees are on fire, this time of year in Minnesota. It's almost a ritual to drive far & wide, to places with sweeping views of colorful trees, click picture and then post it on FB :)

People crib about MN winter, but everyone loves that MN has 4 seasons. Each season change is so  tangibly different, its a verifiable phenomenon every year. I tried to capture it by clicking a tree outside our balcony, at different times of the year. Its not a flawless time-lapse sequence. I changed phones and lost some of the pictures. These 4 do capture, how it is in different Quarters of the year.

Snow makes the winter more beautiful and more bearable. It's all quite and cinematic, while it's snowing, even during a Snow-storm. Night sky lights up from all the refraction's from city-lights. Street lamps glows and the orange light on mounds of white snow fallen on the land, is something which never stops being peaceful. All of this from the safety of your house. It does not feel cold, while its actually snowing. Like each flake is absorbing all the cold (which I know is not scientifically possible). The killer cold comes later, when every surface is frozen and out to get to your bones.

Minnesota Spring is legendary. Officially, its after Groundhog day. But we still have leftover snow after that. It's this way from March to June. Once the snow melts away, its Rain time.  One week of rains, and there are leaf bud sprouting everywhere. All lawns turn from white to Green. And flower plants in every lawn and campus.

Technically Summer is from June to September. But it start the exact moment you realize, that you don't need jacket, gloves, hat & muffler anymore. You can throw away the heavy boot and switch to sandals. That's when you know, yes its summer. These are pleasant months, with maybe few days of 100F. This year maybe 2 days were 100F and rest were all in 70F to 80F.  There hasn't been a week when it did not rain, this year.

Beginning of Fall is usually such a beautiful sight. In Sept-Oct, all trees are colorful with dark greens, yellow, pink, maroons and browns. We can't get enough of those sights. Pictures cannot capture the beauty of Minnesota Fall. You don't have to travel far to see it. Any evening at any lakeside or park, and we can see unbelievable range of colors. This tree did not change color. Leaves just dried & fell off. Trees with empty dried stick branches are a usual sight after the colors fall of.

 And finally, a bearable sunny winter again. All year round, we dread the coming winter. But it lasts only 3 months. Initial few years, we forget to enjoy rest of the seasons, because of this dread. What we actually fear is the after-office return, to a frozen car seat - from being parked outside in 20F or lower. The frozen steering wheel cuts through your fingers. Those 10 minutes till car warms up, just resets everything you know. With the increasing thermostat, all is forgotten. And then we are back to the cycle of seasons.

Spectating TCM Marathon 2015

Every year when this comes up I so wish I would run this one. Indeed this is the one from which I learnt about races. Studying the TCMarathon route, I feel like now I have covered most of those places via all the other races I have run so far. And they are all beautiful spots. I think my primary motivator for all the races is to see the corners of Twin Cities which I wouldn't explore otherwise. And it turned out to be true.

TCMarathon is a highly publicized one. In 2012, it started showing up in my FB newsfeed, and once I checked out their site and studied all pages, that was my first time knowing, whatever is a Running Race ? Till then all I knew was at the school levels. I never knew that grownup adults too indulged in it. Till then, running was just a boring torture tool, I knew people used to loose weight. TCM started that train of thought, which pushed me on the way to learn way more now then I ever did. I keep jotting them in my blog-post How to get started with Running - 101. Its a lot of info, that I learnt in bits and pieces, from different articles I read. It's not complete info, because there is always something new going on. But its enough to get started.

So in a way TCMarathon is the one, which got me dreaming about Marathons, while I was still in "couch" stage. In the past 2 years, I keep looking at their registration page, but lack all courage to sign up. Doesn't help that they close in July and I need to be confident by then. Also this Fall Marathon needs training in Summer, which is the time I can do it least. I just can't run in summer heat and have most of the vacation distractions at this time.

Hence TCMarathon remains in back burner for now. And I do the next best thing. Which is to check it out :) Their Specatator guide is pretty informative.

For the 2014, I went to Lake Calhoun with my daughter. It was 35F that morning and we were bundled up in coats & gloves. We rang the cow-bells and shared one with a toddler whose Dad was running. Saw the leaders who eventually won the race in Mens & Womens. We high-fived the middle pack. Saw the guy who juggled 3 footballs throughout the course. This sport is called Joggling, I learnt. We stayed on, till the escort car passed with the last runner. So I got to see the leaders, the middle packers and the ones in last batch. This was Mile 6 and it was amazing to see the varying degree of energy each batch had.

This year, I saw the TCMarathon 2015 at 25th Mile. I wanted to see the state of runners at this close to finish. Temps were a pleasent 50F+. I reached at 10:10 at Summit Avenue, after parking in Grand Avenue. Spectator guide was helpful to figure this out. One of the leaders just passed at that time. He turned out to be 2nd place. This was my first time witnessing a leader actually so close to finish, so early ! Long back, when I would reel off the times of the winners from the result pages, we would kid, "Did he ride a motor-bike ?" Haha.

Wheelers went by and I was quite out of respect & disbelief.

Watching women runners was exciting. I was stunned to see these 3 Women leaders. One in the middle came first place later. But here all 3 stuck together all the while.

And then came the 2:30 to 3 hour finishers. They too ran at consistent pace. Back straight, hands paddling their body, feet just going one step in front of the other. I hardly heard them breathe or know about their breathing at all. If anyone could be in monk-like steady state, that would be these runners. Except they were running. Moving forward. And they had been doing this for the past 2+ hours, across 25 miles. This was across different age groups - younger ones, 45 year old women, men in 60-65 range. Even the ones coming around at 11 AM were running. I saw maybe 1 or 2 stop for a walk break of 5 seconds. That's all. #Goals.

I stayed till 11:15 but could not stay longer to see the middle pack and the last runners. I did want to see, in what state they would be. Surely they could use more cheer from spectators.

I was the last few finishers in my first Marathon run in May-end this year. This Nike: Last ad is so me. I hope to be better next time.

City of Lakes - Half Marathon - 2015 - Race Recap

I came to know about City of Lakes - Half Marathon  in the RunMinnesota magazine lying in my office reception where I spent lot of wait times in the first week :) And since Lake Calhoun and Harriet are my usual long run route, I knew I had to try a race in this place.

I arrived half-hour early at the Tennis courts at Lake Harriet. Hubby dropped me closeby. It's residential area and cars were lined up on all streets. The crowds were all serious runners and very young age group. Since this was MRDA backed, I imagined they used this for pure running exercise . It was indeed non-frilly race. Practically no family kind spectators.

I was intimidated, but I wanted to see the semi-elite perform. I haven't attended any race coaching or group runs. I self-learn from internet and I train alone. I wanted to see, how the 8 pace & 7 pace looks like ? And I did get to see it, thanks to the way the route was laid out.

Race started at 8 am towards East. After a loop of Lake Harriet, we moved through the William Berry Parkway towards Lake Calhoun. And at this point, I saw the Lead runners on their way back for the 2nd loop of Lake Harriet. My mind was blown. I totally disoriented about what the route loops were ?? Took me a long time, to do the math that it was half-way, but yes they were Fastttt !

Then the route went around Calhoun towards East. I saw a Timer screen and sprinted to shave as many seconds as I could :) So my 5K time was 36 minutes. And then it was the usual run-walk-wobble around Lake Calhoun. Towards the end of West Parkway, the lead runners overtook us again. I swear I could feel the whoosh. Spectators cheered them "Half a mile more ! Keep going !" And after a pause, "Halfway there, keep going !" Gave them a thumbs up, coz I knew that was for me :) Those lead runners were a sight to see. The elite ones from Africa and the local serious ones - back straight, hands paddling their body, legs running at the consistent pace, and breathing without effort. One of them wheezed loudly all along, but it did not change his posture or showed any pain. I breath better than before. I should do that with increased pace and lesser walk breaks.

When I reached the Lake Harriet bandshell, which is the finish point, here the first Woman crossed the line. That was exciting. Time flew in my second loop of lake Harriet. Second half of any race is always better. Runners had thinned as usual. I did try to save time where I could. I think I did not look at the lake waters at all; which is my usual distraction. Could be because we were on road and not on the trail, which is closer to the water. In summer runs, I save time, because I have no pocket to store my iPod and so I don't stop to take any pictures. But that also means I don't have many summer run pictures.

The route was lined with trees and very little sun. And thankfully it was not windy that morning. My outfit was just right again. No overheating or cold chills.

1. ASICS Women's GT-2000 3 Running Shoes - which I had trained in. 
2. Single Technical Tee and capri pants
3. Cap to shade from the sun and prevent my hair from flying away.
4. Chap-stick - lips get dry & burn because of wind, sun and sticky powerade

The 2nd loop of Lake Calhoun started well. The 10 mile Timer showed up and I sprinted again to shaved few seconds off 2:09 hours. And I did not chat with anyone. There was a runner dressed in all black - long pants, full jackets and black cap. I felt hot just looking at him. He was jovial, "I will run slow. I have to work tomorrow. I can't break my knees." :) I so agreed with him. By now, there were very few runners. Yet I did not bother to look back. Didn't want to be disappointed being the last runner, so early in the route. Non-race runners had started running and biking on the route; it was that deserted. I distracted by trying to figure out which ones ahead of me, were racers and which were not. 2-3 miles before finish, I spotted a guy in Blue jacket and cap. I never saw him before in the course. So I thought he was a Bandit. 'No one would wear jacket for this long".


Water stops were just right and evenly spaced. I did not over-drink like usual, nor was I thirsty. At the last water-stop, I was sobbing when I took the cups. I was just happy I was going to finish. It was a pleasant day as well at 60F.

Meanwhile, the Guy in Blue proceeded to finish line. I never saw his face. And then the announcers said, he was Thomas Huberty, 64 and he had Finished the CityofLakes Half every single time since it started in 1975 !!! Wow ! Talk about judging by book-cover. And like in every race, a Senior taught me humility at the finish line.

My finish time was 2:53:03 . Definitely better than the previous races this year and with usual minimal training through the summer. I was happy.

Place	Class Place	Class	Finisher	10 MILE TIME	AGE GRADE	NET TIME	CLOCK TIME	PACE
54	62	W35	Prithi Shetty	2:09:17	38.36%	3:04:49	2:53:03	13:12

My cheerful family relaxed at the play-area, Band-shell and then we left for the Lake Centennial Art Fair (Fall in the Arts). I knew once I go home, I would never be able to come out all day. It would be lunch & bed, that's all. This Sunday being the last day of the Art Fair, I could not miss it. It was a good day indeed.

Swag was a cool heavy glittery Medal, Glass and snacks. No T-shirts for me, as they were for winners of every category.

This race was a rich experience watching the Lead runners, middle packer and experience runners, thanks to the way the route is shaped (infinity :).

Pre-Bedtime Bored Jar

Week day evenings are so chaotic. There is this rush to cook, feed, eat and packup so we can go to bed as soon as possible. But because we parents are so busy with these main chores, week after week go away and we spend a small % of the day doing some quality stuff with the kids.

I truly like the idea of Bored Jar. Here is my tailored version, for those Weekday evenings. This will help me when my brain can't step away from the chores to think of some short activity with kids. These things are lying around neatly organised. All kids need is something interesting to get started and then they are off doing more by them-self.

Pre-Bedtime Bored Jar

1. Country & Capital / Atlas
2. Ludo or Snakes N Ladder
3. Chess Or Checkers 
4. Catch Ball
5. Draw / Color
6. Amar Chitra Katha  / Comics
7. India History
8. India States
9. USA States
10. Rubic Cube
11. Jump Rope
12. Hula-Hoop
13. Origami / Paper Craft
14. Book 
15. Reading
16. I-Spy
17. Write / Draw in Journal
18. Puppets
19. Build Fort
20. Shower / Bath
21. Water Plants
22. Phone Grandparents
23. 5-minute Hindi
24. 5-Minute Tulu
25. Astronomy
26. Cleanup Tables
27. Cleanup Closets
28. Cleanup Lego
29. Dance steps 
30. Jig Saw
31.  Puzzle
32. Card 
33. Games
34. Board Games
35. 2 Pages of Workbook
36. Make Beds
37. Hop Scotch
38. Tic-Tac-toe
39. Connect Dots
40. Doodle