On Intensity

Just finished my spring quarter. Pretty intense 5 days I had finishing up projects. I went hiking to Tiger Mountain I, two weeks back. It's one of my favorite spots. Tiger III is the more popular one during the weekends. But Tiger I is usually deserted. Atop Tiger I is a small bench and there is also a hut made of aluminum sheets nearby called hiker's hut for shade. This trip saw me enjoy the sunny weather. I reached the top at 5:15 pm and sat on the bench, enjoying the view of Mount Rainier and the valley nearby. I then settled down for a pleasant 30 minute meditation, with little birds chirping around and the wind brushing against my face.
Coming down from the Tiger mountain was pretty intense. Why? I had a deadline to meet!!
I had to catch a bus at 7 pm(the next bus was at 9 pm) and I left the top at 6:15 pm. I under-estimated the time it would take me to get down. Jogging down the trail is not easy with lots of small stones, wood, and slippery edges around. You have to be totally focused on the trail. A second's error could mean a slip which may or may not be fatal. It was pretty intense for me for this reason coupled with the fact that I had to meet the 7 pm deadline. 6:50 pm I had almost reached the base of the hill and the highway in sight. Now I had to just make a sprint to the finish. Wow, this reminds me of my undergrad running sessions of around 5kms.. It was pretty intense. We were three guys and we started off slow, atleast I did, but I would catch up with others and then towards the end, in the last 1km stretch we would be pushing our limits in order to beat the other guy.
This 7pm deadline of catching the bus reminding me of that intensity... It's like, when you are done with it, you tell yourself, you are not going to do it again.. Not at that level of intensity anyway, but you do it anyway. Intensity. It's good to befriend it.
Coming back, I reached the bus stop at 7:01 pm. But guess what? The bus was late by 10 minutes!! But this intensity that I felt while jogging or sometimes running downhill (going with the grade) made me wonder if I could apply the same intensity to my work more often.
I had the opportunity this week.. One of the most intense weeks I have had. But it's a different kind of intensity, involving lack of sleep and stress. I prefer a quiet kind of intensity, an inner intensity, that doesn't necessarily express itself as stress in the body, and an intensity that's long-term, and an intensity that's sustainable.

Long run at greenlake

It is a sunny day today and what a perfect day to go out and enjoy the greenlake experience. Running around the edge of the lake, with people of all ages, with dogs of all sizes and breeds, with all kinds of colors (differernt shades of green and orange on trees, pink and yellow spring flowers bloom, etc), is quite an experience. I finished off my run, by finding a chair near the lake to sit on and meditate for a while and enjoy the silence within. If I could use just one word to describe the total experience, it would be awesome.

Shifting to Green lake

Green lake is one of the really beautiful urban spots in seattle. The name is suggestive of the geography of the location. It's green all around and in the middle of it all is a large sized lake.
And the new place I am shifting to is right next to the lake, just a block away!

And, this place is a runner's haven and heaven!!

Rocking fun are there.

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Hiking near Granite Falls

Hiking through trails,
Walking through forests,
What do you seek?

I seek to experience the nurturing hand of nature,
The hand that shows up as soothing sounds
of gurgling water in a nearby brook,
The hand that shows up as a bird singing it's song,
The hand that shows up as the beauty of mountains, valleys, and lakes, beckoning you forward.

I seek to become aware of the jarring noise of my thoughts
in the deafening silence of nature,
I seek to internalize the peace that I find in the forest trails,
I seek to put things in perspective by realizing
the ignorance of man in living life monotonously,
while nature beckons, as always.

Did a solid 4 hr hike in trails near a place called Granite Falls, around 40 miles from Seattle. I noticed a lot of logging going around this area and also heard a few gunshots. I came across a fence with a few horses idling around inside. I stood at the fence and the horses came around and said hello! As I reached my hand out towards them, they first thoroughly whiffed their noses around my hand before letting me touch them.
Also saw a coyote and a black bunny along the way. I wasn't hiking to any particular destination, just randomly exploring the trails nearby. I guess I walked the half-marathon distance of 21 kms today.. Pretty tiring!

Seward park experience

"Imagine yourself sitting below a tree on pristine green grass with dew drops glistening in the late afternoon sun. Imagine that you are less than a feet away from a lake that is moving rhythmically creating a beautiful sound as the gentle waves splash the shore, with ducks wading along doing some gymanastic upside down flips. Now as you look across, you see the shoreline, dotted with a few tall trees, winding along a curve and your gaze meets the sun that's sending you it's warm rays, providing comfort in the cold weather around. As you close your eyes, you take in all the beauty and sounds and let yourself become more peaceful and content for the moment..."
Now, if you are into meditations, you would say, "this is starting to sound like a nice guided meditation".

Getting back to where I left off..
Now as you become content in the moment, you start hearing some random noises and you recognize them as: A few kids running around with their uncle yelling at them to put on their jackets, two or three 30 something women walking along with their dogs, discussing their ex-boyfriends, and a couple not too far away, who just can't get enough of each other.

Now, this would go down as a Seward Park experience.
I did hike around in the old-growth forest trails in Seward park for around an hour and a half before the above experience happened. One of the trails lead me to an interesting amphi-theatre that reminded me of the open air theatre (OAT) in my undergrad college, back in India.
The Seward park has a very interesting geography as you can see in the map below. It juts out into the lake, almost making it an island. On a clear day, the Mount Rainier is also visible from the East side of the park.

Discovery park again

Felt an impulse to go to the discovery park. It was cloudy when I started, but when I hit the discovery park, it was sunny! The last time I had been to discovery park, it was cloudy to begin with and midway through the hike it started raining!

I decided to explore the South beach and South bluff(or cliff) of the discovery park and this side has some gorgeous views of Mount olympics. At one point (you are standing at the edge of the cliff) you can see the cliff dropping down a few 100 feet into the beach, then there's the puget sound lake, then a few islands, and then the mt. olympics..One of the mountains in the Olympic ranges reminds me of the mountain in the Lord of the rings. Also looking at these mountains in their glory brings out a tune in my mind... 'Will you follow me?' by Rob Dougan (youtube it to listen). Didn't have a camera (gifted it to my family) to capture the scenery. Altogether, a rejuvenating 2 hr hike.

Federer-Nadal showdown - Australian Open finals

Catch it this sunday night (Feb 1st 09). Since I am in Seattle, I will have to get up at 1 am Sunday to watch the finals. I am rooting for federer as always, should be an intense match with brilliant shot making from both sides.

2009 Seattle Marathon

Just registered for it..yes!!

Here's the website: Seattle Marathon

The marathon's going to be on Sunday, November 29th 2009.
So it's atleast another 10 months for the marathon. That gives me a good time for training for the marathon. I am shooting for below 4 hrs. Let's see how it goes.
Will update on my progress every month. FYI, I have stopped running completely and that is one of the reasons I registered for the marathon.. so that I get back to running shape. Have been evading the marathon for the last couple of years..Finally, I will be doing the marathon this year.