Intro
This blog as might be apparent from the title has to do with running, biking and basically other outdoor individualistic sports, sometimes extreme, such as rock climbing . But don't be surprised if you find articles on work, personal life, music and even philosophy, this blog is an exception in this aspect in the blogosphere of running blogs and I am trying to revamp the blog to make it more runner friendly. You might want to look at the sidebar titled 'categorised', which as is obvious, categorizes my posts into different areas of interest.
The other thing that might interest many people is a section on 'running videos' and 'general videos' on the side bar, which I keep updating now and then.
I plan to bring in more posts on running and biking, with some added colour, so as to make them 'complete'. That's about it for now.
As a post-note, I have run a half-marathon, but I am yet to attempt a marathon, which through some concerted effort and time should happen in the future, but that ofcourse is not the culmination of this blog, it would on the contrary be something to jumpstart this blog onto new vistas.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
Going home tomorrow morning. Back to India after 2 years. Pretty excited, yes I am. I notice that I haven't blogged for a long while. Hmm, I was occupied with my course work and also spiritual reading, which contrary to what some might think, is pretty exciting and thought provoking. Why do many people like fantasies, science fiction (LOTR, Harry Potter, et al) etc? They would like to believe that there is more to the world than the routine stuff.. Spirituality is also a fantasy, except that it is not out there, but right here, related to our daily lives. Anyway, might blog again next month after getting back.
Kennenisa Bekele with the WR
A favorite in 1996 and 2000 olympics, El G finally realised his dream at the 2004 olympics with a double gold
