My first half marathon....Yes I did..yes I did!

I ran my first half-marathon on the 25th of July in San Francisco. It was overcast..55ish..not much humidity. Almost perfect running conditions. There were 20,000 people running..people of all ages. Grandmothers ran faster than me. It took me 2 hours and 30 minutes to run 13.1 miles at a pace of just under 12 minutes a mile. Actually, it took me about 6 months of training to be able to do this and not collapse. And actually enjoy the running experience.

The realization that health is really important only struck me at the ripe old age of 29. I guess when I was younger the arrogance of youth precluded any thought of my own mortality! Anyway, I decided to get into shape...which meant changing a lifetime's worth of bad eating habits and a laziness to get off my butt that is legendary. When I was 7 years old, a driver who worked for us informed my Mom that the only way to get me to run was to let a dog loose on me! Thats a pathetic little story, but like so many pathetic tales, its also true. The only time I ever ran was when I saw a snake in Lonavala...I ran for my life. And my family makes fun of me to this day for my sprint. So yeah, snake, dog...same difference. It needed a life threatening event!

After I lost some weight, I decided a challenge was necessary to keep the motivation going. To be honest, I have no idea why I chose to run. I think it may have something to do with reading this quote by Emil Zatopek.

"Essentially, we distinguish ourselves from the rest. If you want to win something, run the 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon."

Then again, it may not. Its a little blurry now, why I chose to try running. Besides, its not that important anyway. PT Usha I am not..so who cares why I chose to run. I just did.

What I do know is this. I liked it. Initially, I couldn't even run a mile. As the weather improved and I started running in the park, my stamina improved as well. I decided to register for a half marathon..that would give me something to work towards. San Francisco was a natural choice...I love the city. I have family I'm close to there. It was a large marathon, so I wouldn't be the last to finish..there'd be a couple of arthritic 80 year olds behind me...I was sure. So, I bought myself 2 books. One to tell me how to train for a half marathon and the other just to tell me a good story about running.

I bought Born to run by Christopher McDougall after I saw him on The Daily Show. It was filled with anecdotes about legendary runners and an interesting story about a tribe of athletes. I finished it in 24 hours flat. It was inspiring to read about these ultra runners who could run a 100 miles at a sub-7 minute mile pace. So damn cool. I wanted to be at least a little (very very leetle) cool.

So after 6 months of carefully organized training, I was in SFO and ready to run. A little digression into how carefully organized I was. I used Google Calender to plan my entire training schedule based on my book and several running websites. If I'd planned my PhD this carefully, I'd be graduated by now!

The atmosphere was electric...there was just so much energy in the air. And not all of it came from people getting nervous they wouldn't be able to pee before they started running. I have never seen longer queues to use port-a-potties ever. It would've been funny if I hadn't stood in line for 20 minutes myself. As befits a newbie and a slow runner, I'd selected the final wave start in the second half marathon. (The first half of the SF marathon is beautiful as you get to run through the Golden Gate bridge. Its also full of steep uphill runs. I picked the second half..not nearly as scenic. Much easier.) I was running by myself..I didn't know a soul there. I had my iPod set to my running playlist. It was me and Dire Straits and some Rahman here and there. All I know is that I had the time of my life. People were cheering all the way along..it was uplifting. The first 6 miles were harder than I'd thought. Miles 6.5 to 8 were an absolute pleasure...all downhill runs where you could let it rip. Miles 10 through 13 were a test of willpower really. But the sense of accomplishment when I finished...priceless!

I was stiff for a full 2 days. But it hurt pretty good:)

When I was sufficiently recovered and back pretending to work in the lab, I found I had the vanity to look though thousands of pictures on Marathonfoto.com to find mine. I found 3..I'm smiling in all of them..even though I was blissfully unaware I was being photographed. I think the endorphins had kicked in pretty well. All I know is, it looks like I'm having a good time.

So, I was going to title this post "An epoch in my life" after the title of a chapter in one of my favorite girly books "Anne of Green gables". But I've decided a half-marathon doesn't qualify as an epoch. Only a full does. Watch this space for details.

Books I enjoyed in 2009..

In random order:

1). The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes

2). Love Marriage by VV Ganeshanathan

3). Brave companions by David McCullough

4). 2666 by Roberto Bolano

5). Toss of a lemon by Padma Viswanathan

6). Gifted by Nikita Lalwani

7). Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

8). The Forever War by Dexter Filkins

9). Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

10). Where the heart is by Billie Letts

Will do better and read more in 2010. There..thats my resolution for the New Year.

A wonderful read

Just finished The Toss of a lemon by Padma Viswanathan. And I haven't enjoyed a book and been touched by it so much in a long, long while. Last time I felt this way it was 2005 and I'd just read Salman Rushdie's Shame. But this book affected me differently...I could relate to it in so many tiny, little, different ways that I found myself nodding vigorously, or laughing or shaking my head in resignation as I read. In case I haven't made myself clear, a bond was forged, we connected, the book and I.

This book brought back so many memories. Of childhood summers in Mayavaram. Of daily visits to the local temple, a small little cubby hole of a temple it was, served by a small little man I only knew as kurukkal. Of helping my Tatha pluck flowers for his daily pooja from the garden. Of sitting by my Tatha as he did his daily pooja and waiting for the naivediyam, so I could eat! Of the sweet, sweet smell of Jasmine that grew on the terrace, where I lingered on sultry evenings to escape the heat of the power cuts that ravaged us. Of afternoon story time with Tatha (he told wonderful stories and took pains to vary them and read up new ones for me) and coconut trees in the backyard, and cycle rickshaw trips to town. Because the author has captured the essence of a small village in Tamil Nadu, and a Brahmin household so beautifully that I can't help but remember.

Mostly though, the protagonist in this book, Sivakami, reminds me of my Lakshmi paati. My maternal grandmother. She wears madisar, follows madi-aacharam, yechal-pathu, and until recently didn't eat food cooked by anyone but herself. She also brought up five kids, and one grandchild. She followed all the rules associated with being "out of the house" 3 days a month..something I resented as a 13 year old. She never forgets birthdays or anniversaries. And she has the quiet inner strength that Sivakami has. She's made of something more than I will ever be. She has courage, resilience, tenacity, and a generous, loving heart occupied in equal portions by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And she believes in feeding people well...one of Sivakami's most enduring qualities!

Oh, this book brought back so many memories of days long gone and reminded me of the people I love the most, and don't call often enough! It has been a rare and most enjoyable treat.

Nothing ever happens in August.....

Have you ever dropped an air-conditioner out of a window? Its not fun. It makes a loud thudding noise and you know its never going to be fixed again, and you just threw 200$ out of the window. But then, have you ever had your super-excellent landlord fix it and install it back in the window where it belongs? And then after it works fine for 2 days, have you ever had an irate landlady come up to tell you you can't use it anymore because its leaking water into her wall? And then have you had to buy a new air-conditioner and have your super-nice landlord help you fix it? And then have you discovered 3 days later that the new air-conditioner leaks too? And then have you had to clean it out...spilling water over your floor and smelling your room up with a weird, mossy wet smell that won't go away for a week? And then have you had to fix it into the other window and keep your fingers crossed it doesn't leak this time around because you installed it tilting outwards? No? Oh, what a humdrum life you lead! Its been a week and I still have a yucky, wet smell in my room and I'm waiting for the air-conditioner to do something weird. Maybe it will do me a favor and give me Legionnaire's disease..

I can't wait for winter.

Also, there is a mouse in my house. I can handle mice in a controlled lab environment...not in the wild....and by wild, I mean my home.

On the bright side, I had the best email conversation I've had in months. Reproduced here for your benefit.

It all began with this innocent note sent by player A:

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/video/Interviews/CF3n3z100/3/Shahid-Kapoor-Speaks-About-Kaminey-Part-1.html

Kaminey! Apun ka agla target!

Have a happy working week :)

To which Player B, replies thusly:

I heard that there is a prequel planned for this..."Kutte" ;-p

And I (player C, of course!) couldn't resist:

And its being produced by Dharmendra:)

And then player D was forced to reply:

And the planned sequel to be directed by Ramsey brothers is named "Mein Tera Khoon Pe Jaoonga"

And so and so forth for 15 emails. Which resulted in players A and B watching Suryavanshi that night. And me youtubing every ghostly movie I could think of from Madhumati and Bees saal baad to Bees saal baad!

More than made up for bad days at work and air-conditioning woes and suchlike.

5000 words of nothingness

I like the Arts & Letters website. They usually do a wonderful job of linking to the most interesting articles on the web...erudite, whimsical, funny...you name it..they cover it. Which is why I was surprised when I clicked on today's articles of note link, and landed up here. It was a silly article really. Clearly, she is bitter and unhappy. Even more clearly, she is also self-absorbed and narcissistic. I feel for her, as a person. As a reader, I cringe. There's really nothing she has to say that is at all important. All she has are stories of her girlfriends who all seem to have sucky marriages and sexless lives and a rather disenchanted piece of advice about avoiding marriage because love is fleeting. So, it didn't work for her, so nobody should get married? Sour grapes anyone? She is the anti-Sanford. He, of the sappy e-mails, and rambling press conferences. The only thing they have in common is their unhealthy obsession with themselves.

David Brooks wrote a rather nice article in the NYT about the loss of dignity in America. (Which aldaily linked to!) The Sandra Tsing Lohs of the world need to give it a dekko. She is a writer and a commentator..must she not strive to bring dignity to her writing? And if she isn't capable of doing that for any reason, can't she just go on vacation or something? Not churn out some crass piece which makes my head explode at 10pm at night, because of its sheer idiocy.

PS: I was trying to think of more dignified people. Here's my list in random order: Hema Malini, Naseerudin Shah, Rachel Maddow, Julia Roberts, Sachin Tendulkar, AR Rahman, Michael J. Fox come to mind immediately.