DEAD TOES

Chennai Marathon 2006

2006-02-11T04:08:00.000-08:00

These organisers better go and do something useful. It was the worst kind of marathon that I had ever run. Right from the start, you can tell these guys were acting like clowns with no plans in their heads. It was required of all the runners that we get examined by a doctor. If they had more doctors, it would've worked out ok, but they had only one doctor. Any way, as usual I had my complaining session with the organiser. The organiser grabbed me by the arm quite roughly, he took me to a guy who is some kind of coach who organised the race. The organiser complained that I was shouting at him. It was so funny.

I had a nice chat with the guy, I assume that he was the race director. He let me know go without getting examined by the doctor. I also had three applications for Amri and his friends, they also got the bibs for the race.

The race started at 6:30 a.m. It was much better than starting at 7.45 like at Mumbai. Well, I crossed the 10km mark in 40 minutes, there was no water at all till the 11th Km mark. When I complained to the guys who were part of organising committee, they said that I should learn to run without drinking water. Instead of water, they had offered Glucose powder and peeled oranges. Any way, I didn't really want to run the whole race, so I stopped at the 21km mark. It took me 1:31 hours to complete a half-marathon.

This is great when I consider the fact that I didn't run at all from 15th of Jan till the race on 5th Feb. I was sick with mumps. I had lots of rest and lots of food.

In my opinion, the Rotary Club should stop organising marathons by themselves. They should ask someone who is capable of organising it better or they should employ someone with a little bit of common sense!

Been There! Done That!! Bugured now!!!

2006-01-23T06:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I had a good run last in Mumbai. Here is the break-up of my time. I hope it makes sense to you. btw,

14.1km 0.56.38
23.2 km 1.35.22
32.5km 2.21.54
finish 3.19.30

Any way, I wore a singlet with the Tibetan flag with a message that "FREE TIBET from Chinese Occupation"

Well, the first half of the race, I did really well, but when the sun was out, it was fairly hard to run in the heat. The temperature was pretty high around 26c.

Most of the way, people were chearing me on and sometimes they would call out, " Go sri lanka! GO!!!" It was really funny to see these educated people getting confused with the Tibetan flag for Sri Lanka. Then, some people would should shout out, " Go India!!!' when I got closer to them, they would kind of mumble and say, " oh!! he's a Tibetan!" I could only smile at their lack of decernment to features of people from Tibet. Then again it's a good thing they accepted me as just another person and cheered me on. One"aunty" even gave me a chocolate biscuit to eat! That biscuit was really needed at that part of the race.

At the 32 km mark, all my energy was totally depleted and I kept trying to move my legs but, they were bloody tired. I generally take some money with me when go out for a run, This time carrying money proved very useful. I stopped at a roadside store and bought me a nice bar of chocolate and stuffed myself and continued on. The last 10 kms were the toughest, but I kept thinking of all the fun things that I have done in the last few months, I was just trying to take my minds off things. Especaillyall the jokes that Tsering (a Tibetan Friend) used to tell me, I imagined him with his football matches with his yellow hair etc. I also remembered all the crazy people I have met. I kept me going till the end of the race.

I finished the race at around 11:15 and they gave me medal for finishing the race. Then I went and got my time printed on an official certificate. Finally I dragged myself off to the nearest pub to get me a nice bottles of foster's, I realised I had only an hour and half to drag myself onto the train, back to the sweat paradise called Chennai. So, I reluctantly abandoned the idea of taking the muscle relaxant and got myself a nice bowl of noodles which was so good.

It was so nice to have a bath in cold water. Before the race, I had taped all my toes in surgical tape to stop the blisters. I have no blisters from this race, I also didn't lose any of toe nails!

Enough about the mumbai marathon, now I have to start training again for the next race that is on in three weeks. I better start burning more fat fairly soon. Yeah, I went down from 68kgs to 62, my target is to achieve somewhere around 58-60. In Chennai heat, that can be done quite easily.

why, why, why???

2005-09-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

I still can't understand who really *&^% up most of the things on this planet. People are totally trashing this earth. Mainly the people who live in the city. You walk down the street, you will see plastic everywhere. Sometimes even rich people throw rubbish from their cars while on the road. That really peeves me off. Why can't they just stop by a rubbish bin and drop the s**t?

The situation is quite different when you go to a small village or a small town. I was so surprised when I went to Salem recently. They had cleaned up the storm water drain which used to smell so bad. But, now only the rain water flows in the drain and it's so great someone actually thought about things. I wish we would get some thinking people here in Chennai.

I think the more we rape the earth of it's resources, the more disasters that we are going to face e.g earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes. I guess I am becoming more and more of a greenie. I don't think people ever consider the idea/fact that one day we are going to run out of resources. Even basic things like water, we won't have. Chennai people are the great example of how to conserve water. Man, some people do really make me angry. I have seen people who forget to turn the tap off at restaurants just after they had washed their hands. That's pathetic. I really hope someone will teach them not waste resources.

On a different topic, the shape of the beach has changed a lot in the last month or so. It seems this might have something to do with the tusnami we had 6 months or so ago. The sea water has come in further in land in some places and some places the water has gone so far away, it's pretty scarey when I run on the beach. You can't really predict when the high tide would return. We really need to treat the nature with respect or else it won't treat us with any respect at all. I guess we haven't learnt anything at all so far with the recent natural disasters. Well, the history is that we never learn from the history.

Ah... yeah! I am getting into shape now, I ran for an hour or so today and felt really good. Good to be fit again!

back from ashes!

2005-09-15T23:36:00.000-07:00

Finally I feel good again and all my sickness is gone. There is no constant fever or head-ache. I dont have to take Paracetamol any more. What a relief! I really appreciated medicine when I was sick. Sometimes the fever went upto 40C. Without the medicine, I could've died.

Any way, finally I started jogging on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday, I thought it's about time I pushed my body to get fit. I decided to do repetitions of 100 mts. I did 10 times and almost all the time I averaged 16 secs. I was so happy I am getting into shape pretty quickly. I really really really hope that I dont get sick again. Now, I have been very careful about what I eat.

I am on salty lemon juice diet still. Lemon juice is so amazing. I drink a lot just to help my body with the electrlytes that I keep losing when I run for an hour or so. Lemon has pottasium and add a bit of sugar and salt to the lemon juice. That would help to replace that Sodium and sugar. I find that it's cheaper for me to make salty-sweet lemon drink than to buy the electrolyte powder mix.

still recovering!

2005-09-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

it has been two weeks since I ran last. Life has been pretty strange recently. I feel pretty good now, but still I will wait for a couple of more days before I start running. Good thing about the whole sickness thing is that I lost about 5kgs. Any way, I have to be really careful and try not to wreck myself.

sick no running for a week

2005-08-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

I got pretty sick on sunday, so i am not going to be running for a week.

chasing cows

2005-08-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went for a slow jog for about 40 minutes on the beach. While I was running, I met some old friends who like to have lots of kids. This woman had about 6 when I met her 6 years ago, I think she added four more to the count. I don't know when they are gonna stop. Their religious belief is that they shouldn't use any form of contraception. Any way, it's my job to make judge people about their life. I had a nice chat and then just came home.

This evening, I took off hoping that I would be able to do about 20kms or so, but I just ended up just doing 15kms in 1:09:20 hours. Pretty tired now and I better hit the sack!

10kms in 41:30 mins

2005-08-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterda (sunday) i was planning on running about 36-37 kms, but for some reasons I wasn't able to run that far at all. I ran about 10kms in 41:30 mins. That was a pretty good run. When I finished, I just walked on the beach and came back home.

This month I missed running on the beach on the full moon day. It's the most amazing thing.

two months... four marathons!!!

2005-08-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Today I spent a lot of time working out a reasonable training schedule for the next two months. Well, it looks like a lot of fun. two months four marathons, that is kinda too many, but I would have to do this if I were to run the 100 miler race in November.

I have a self-imposed ban on alcohol till the next marathon. When I finish the marathon race on 24th of September, I could drink all I want. Then I shouldn't drink anything till the next marathon race, that is Nairobi race on October 23rd. I think this would be fun and it will help me be focused on the training.

The training schedule which calls for a 36-37kms run today which I hope to do this evening. It's going to be a little tough though as I am going to take the cross country route via the Buckingham canal road which has uneven surface with lots of thorn bushes around. This will be good for ankles and knees any way.

This is the schedule:

Week	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thus	Fri	Sat	total
Aug 21	36-37	Rest	8	11	9.5	Rest	8	72-73
Aug 28	19	Rest	9.5	13	9.5	Rest	6.5	57.5
Sep 4	22.5	Rest	11	Rest	8	Rest	6.5	48
Sep 11	16	Rest	10	Rest	7	Rest	3 opt	36
Sep 18	42.2	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest
Sep 24	42.2	Rest	8	11	9.5	Rest	8	78.7
Oct 2	22.5	Rest	11	Rest	8	Rest	6.5	48
Oct 9	16	Rest	10	Rest	7	Rest	3 opt	36
Oct 16	42.2	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest
Oct 23	42.2	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest	Rest

speed training

2005-08-20T05:52:00.000-07:00

I started doing the sprints again. It was good. 10X100 m avarage 16 secs. This is much better than 18 secs average which I clocked earlier. Unfortunately, I can't go to Kerala for the marathon though. I didn't train enough.

It's been pretty strange day today. There was a power cut whole day which was quite unnoying. None of the shops in the local area would be selling cold beer tonight. That's not good at all.

It's about time that I go down to the video store and pick up a couple of DVDs and some beer :)

after a long break.... running again!

2005-08-18T22:55:00.000-07:00

After a long time, I am going to write something here. When I just read my previous entries, it brought back some of the memories. Especially the one where I cooked a terrible cake. Since then I have decided that I would never cook a cake again at Amri's home. Actually, I can't anymore, he's married and Anita would beat the *&^% out of me if I cook anything there now.

Amri and I started doing the mad stuff again. Now, I am training for Hyderabad marathon which is scheduled for September 24th. The race would start on midnight and it will be the first mid-night marathon in India. I really hope that they have selected the routes where there is a plenty of lights. I love running in the dark but with a torch though. I guess I might as well take my good old maglite torch.

Any way, we ran about 16kms in 1 hour 8 mins. It was pretty good and this was one of the qucikest run that we did. I am going to try atleast 20kms tomorrow at a good speed.

I pretty obsessed with my weight these days. I weigh about 68kgs and I used to be 58. If I lose the extra 10kgs, then I can really fly in the marathon race. I hope to be pretty fit by the time I get to Nairobi for the marathon.

busy days

2005-03-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Life has been very good lately. I love being busy with work, running and having a good time. I had a very nice time today meeting some of my friends whom I hadn't seen for about three weeks.

A couple of days ago I ran for an hour on the beach. It was pretty tough to run on the sand. I think I ran about 13-14kms and I was pretty exchausted when I finished. But it was nice though, sweating it all out.

Tomorrow, I hope to run for a very long time. I dont know how long, but I want to try atleast 50kms or more. It will be so nice to be running on ECR on a full moon day. I wish I had more company, atleast someone came on a bike.

It's been very nice to be living in a very quite house. I love the neighbours' cats and sometimes I sit on the porch and wait for a nice shot to take on the camera. I love their dog too.

Well, it's almost dinner time and a time for a movie. I love watching movies these days. I watched "8 Mile" in French (I understood all the "F" words and everything else I didnt have a clue), a Japanese movie (which I can understand a little), then a spanish movie and finally a chinese movie. The Chinese was the hard one to understand and follow. It was nice to see diiferent kinds of movie. I am kind of sick of watching Indian movies (except some good tamil movies like kaadhal and Mani Ratnam movies). well, gotta go.

Do i hate or love Chennai?

2005-03-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I hate Chennai. Most people are so selfish and they dont care much about others. But the same time, I can't stay much away from here. I stayed in Bangalore for three years, but every chance I had, I came back here. The funny thing is I wasn't even born here.

There is a nice thing happened to me today. I was on the bike and there was a guy cut infront of me. I thought I would be a nice guy for a change, so I smile and let him go on his way. He also stopped and he was happy for me to go first which was nice. I think I should try this often and stop complaining about other people being nasty. .

Moved to a new house...

2005-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

Today I moved to the new place near Thiruvanmiyur and very close to the beach. Now, I can get up early in the morning and start running on the beach or on the ECR. My goal is to better my time for the Bangalore marathon. It will be pretty tough running in Bangalore with lot of uphills.

The judgement day... burnt in hell!

2005-02-20T08:43:00.000-08:00

The judgement day.... Chennai marathon 2005.

It was so hot, it's like hell (but love Chennai though!). However I finished the race in 3hours 30 something. It was quite disappointing, it's much better than not finishing.

Another marathon completed. My wish is to complete 100 marathons. When I started out for the first marathon, I said I would do one marathon and stop. Now, 100 marathons.

About the marathon today, I did most of my running at the earlier part of the race. I did half-marathon in 1 hour 32 mins and it was pretty good. The second half was hell. It was sooooooooooooo hot!

Now, two bloody toes, 3 blisters and full body pain. Tomorrow, I got so much work to do.

Finally, I met Amri's parents and it was ncie to meet them. They were so nice and they invited me for break-fast tomorrow, so it would be nice to see them again.

the worst day...

2005-02-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

the whole day was quite crazy. Anything I did ended up in a disaster. i almost got hit by a bus. The cake that I cooked was terrible. I dont think I would be cooking any cake again for a long time :(

week to go...

2005-02-13T08:44:00.000-08:00

Still gotta a week to go before the marathon. Hope to do the long run after the Chennai marathon all the way upto Pondy. I think I might be able to do alone. Well, see how it goes. I got two bloody two nails now and hopefully, they wouldn't stuff up my performance at the marathon.