Mother Nature - The Most Beautiful..!!

Being running so long, haven't imroved my performance levels. So with Philly marathon around the corner in 6 weeks time, decided to kick my butt with some serious practice runs. And the long distance runs, during the day time dehydrates me a lot. So after pushing myself so hard, decided to go for a morning run today. Waking up at 6am on a Sunday, huh.... even i can't imagine. But still managed to wake up and gathered all my gear and got on to the road by 6:45am. It was really cold and temperature should be around 40+ degrees. And i was missing a glove. I got compromised that after a mile, may by i wouldn't feel the cold as my body temperature would go up. So started and also i wanted to test my new Garmin footpod as well. Even after the first mile, the footpod didn't get activated and also my hands started to get frozen and became numb as well. And one should really be lucky enough to see the beauty of mother nature during the best possible time of the day. With many trees just started to show its fall colors, it was really cool and green. And my course of run, which i'd decided seeing the maps, was a narrow road through the woods for the first three miles, and then on to county road 546 and then through the streets of Ewing and then back to home. Actually i'd decided a course of 12 miles. But unfortunately a part of that road was closed for maintenance so, i'd to take an alternate route and reduce the distance by 11 miles. The best part was the first few miles into the woods. It was totally calm, very cold atmosphere and really fresh air and there is a creek along the road. There was mist formed above the stagnant waters. And i saw some movement between the trees down in the creek, and i thought, i got some company. It was a deer which was also running. But it ran and disappeared after seeing me. Then i came out onto the county road. It was really so beautiful out there on this road. By the time Sun had shown his face up a little. And the trees with brilliant fall colors started becoming more attractive with the rays of the Sun. Enjoying this beauty little by little and i was moving on. Suddenly saw something a few yards ahead of me on the road. I was nearing it slowly and it was appearing huge. I didn't want that to be a deer and i started praying that it shouldn't be a deer. Unfortunately, as i got close by, it was an adult deer, lying dead. Had no clue as to why this happens. These poor thing just get into the roads and get hit by a fast moving vehicle. Seeing a dead deer made me feel more damped. Just felt something heavy inside me. And i kept moving on. Probably after mile, turned into a small road with lots of beautiful houses from the county road. Adding to my woes, there was another deer lying dead on that small road, along a curve. But i was wonder how could some one drive so fast on that narrow road along the curve. Huh... insane drivers. This was a smaller one compared to the other one i saw a mile before. So was thinking about that only and moving on. Just a few minutes down the road, i spotted something was running. I got scared probably could be an unleashed dog. Then i realized it was running away from me. And it wasn't a dog, it was also a deer. Seeing this live deer, brought my mind back to peace. Then slowly i got into the streets of Ewing, and i was still 5 miles away from home. But my hands were already numb and i couldn't hold my water bottle. And also i started to feel the pain along the side of my left knee. I had the knee wrap on, but still it started paining. Had to stop for a few seconds and stretch the legs, had a sip of the sports drink i was carrying and moved on slowly. Had to take a small pitstop since then after every mile probably, stretched every time a little and moved on. By the time i came back close to my house, it was already 9am and there was some traffic on the roads. Took 2 hrs and 5 mins to complete this 11 mile stretch and reached home atlast. It wasn't the better runs i'd ever had. But i'm gonna do this morning run every weekend from now on, just i need a glove to keep my palms warmer.... Just to grab the beauty of Mother nature with my eyes...!!

Selfishness...!!!

What do you think about selfishness ? Till few weeks back, my thought would have been always thinking about oneself and all the actions based on thinking about self. But now i've got a more deeper thought or rather insight into selfishness. I got to know this from a friend of mine. And this is how it goes, Thinking about one's own self and actions based upon that, is not selfishness but it is expecting others to act according to one's own thought and thinking. Basically expecting others to live a life based on one's own expectation..!! This is what selfishness is.... Let's try not to be Selfish..!!

Inconsiderate towards animals.

When summer starts and its all green in the surroundings... and you can see a hundreds of varieties of animals in your neighbourhood... starting from deer to small squirrels... it is the best time that you walk through the country roads.... you'll love it... But the worst part here is atleast you'll see more than one animal dead on the roadside every day ... people have become so inconsiderate that they don't worry about these poor animals.... driving in the country roads have become worse.... we can't help animals getting into the highway, but we can atleast reduce speed in country roads.... if people love their neighbourhood, then they wouldn't be so inconsiderate and mean... show some courtesy towards these animals when they are crossing the roads... It is still a life ... show some mercy on them and drive carefully and safely..!!

The road to my First Twenty Sixer...!!!

I've to say this... Believe in what you do and give a one hundred percent, you can achieve your dreams..!! When i started my practice run for my first 3 miler, i initially thought, "how am i gonna run 3 miles... ". I felt it was really hard to complete it. Then when the day had come, i'd run 3 miles, and the feeling, peace of mind, relaxation you get after running.... i can't describe.. you gotta feel it. Then slowly increased the distance, i used to run in a park during practice runs. When i slowly increased the number of laps, then people started to stare at me... what this guy is up to.. .why is he running like this.. has he gone crazy... But i got addicted to that relaxation and peace of mind i felt after every run... so that pushed me to run more... and more... and more... so one day i thought why shouldn't i try running a half marathon... So i went ahead and registered for it. Till the day, my practice runs had never touched a double figure. But still that morning i went with complete faith that i could complete it. And when you see all the runners around you in that morning, huh... what to say.... you will definitely would want to run with that festival like crowd... The first hour of the run went as i expected. I'd an average speed of 6mph.. then the second hour my speed had reduced to 5mph and I'd totally lost my fluids. I didn't hydrate myself enough as i wasn't aware of how much fluids a person lose while running 13 miles as I'd never run before in the practice runs... My muscles started to cramp and i could hardly run in the last two miles. I was walking and jogging alternately so that i don't get a cramp.... so the last two miles took 25 Min's of my total time. It took 2hrs and 25 Min's for me to touch the finish line. That day i was flying around in the skies... c'mon I'd finished my first half marathon.... Have never run even a 100m race from the school days.... I'm here this day that I'd run 13.2 miles at a stretch. So, here I'm the proud first time 13 miler... Then came the thought... why shouldn't i try the big one... Had to wait through the winter... started practice early spring.... did a 13 miler in 2hrs... but that was the longest practice run I'd before the big one... So my big day arrived.... i reached there pretty early... there were around 9k runners that day... it was a chill rainy morning... I was there fully packed with enthusiasm, faith on myself, and of course, lots of carbs.. I was on my first dream run i would rather say... The first half went as planned... I was hydrating myself properly.. i hit the half way mark at 2:15... Then got to slow down as the number of fellow runners had reduced.... less than a fourth of the total runners were only running the twenty sixer... so that itself had an impact one me... as my speed reduced slowly... then got another guy who was running along.... he is a teacher and also on his first twenty six'er... so we took nearly 6-7 miles together... i hit the 24th mile mark at 4:30 Min's on the timer... then in the 25th mile I'd to stop around as i still didn't hydrate properly in the last few miles... so had to walk a few steps and then jogged a few meters... continued this till the last half mile... from there on gathered all that strength left in me.... when the finish line was visible... just blasted towards it.... and the last 2.2 miles took nearly 34 Min's for me... the moment i crossed the finish line.... i couldn't believe myself... I'd just finished my first twenty six'er... Every time i hear about a marathon since my childhood days... had never thought that i would get a chance to run one... I would definitely say thanks to all those people and volunteers who were standing on the road side and at fluid stations, encouraging.... still i can hear those words ... "you are looking great... just few more miles to go... Keep going..". We all have lots of miles to travel before we go to sleep... definitely I've few more marathons to cover in that... And this very special first one... i dedicate to my Dearest Sister..!! Now I've joined the Elite Marathoner club... !! :-)