Breaking Barriers !!!

     Should have written a week ago. This is Saladous blog, having Salad and doing time pass. Running has so uch entered into each and every part of my life, even all my posts contain some or other reference to it.

     In IIT we follow pointer system, 10 being the max. In first two sem I ended up with 8.9 and in third sem it went down to 8.66.. 9.0 seemed to be like a my personal sound barrier which I thought will never be broken by me. Below is the details about by semester and overall performance. First time I am sharing my academic results in such details and making it public..

     In fourth sem I finally broke barrier of 9.0 but it was SPI is Semester Performance Index, overall I still lagged. Even after removing some extra subjects with low grade, I just couldn't cross 9..  8.9 was the closest I would have reached. Then there is this present term going on, stage one project. Scoring a 9 is rather easy and even if get a 9, I still won't break the barrier. Thanks to my guide, examiners and so many connected people and friends and my all time favorite, my Aging Lappi helped to get an AA, ie 10. Its not updated but now my CPI is finally 9+..

     There are certainly boys and girls out there who never ever went below 9, their story is completely unlike me. So, this breaking of barriers may not be a great big deal when you see the entire universe, but in my own little world it means something big. In school and college too I was good, but never the Best. Never thought that good numbers and I can go hand in hand, picture is changing now. I was like the worst among the best when it came to numbers and ranks. Each and every journey has its own peculiarity and this too has its own taste. In running I never thought as my game and had great respect for athletes. In acads I knew that being a topper is an achievement but not a big deal, I can have it and now I am half way through it.

     This also marks one more achievement, ie being a good in presentation. Though some of the graphs and mathematical contents were missing, overall it was fun. I overshoot again from the allotted time and that has been one major drawback of my presentations. As long as audience don't find it boring I am okay with it. Now the next step to climb is in December, less than 5 weeks to go and I am still not working in that direction. Its about the placements, Mech Core companies generally come by 5th or 6th December. Need to get in correct frame of mind and preparation intensity in a day or two. Plus the village visit is gonna slow down the momentum further. Hoping for a miracle to come by and get me through.

     Now, coming back to running, I started with 75 mins of target for Half marathon and revised it to 90 mins. A 9 over here too. Again my speed stays stagnant at 120 mins, not at all enough. You either get a degree and walk out, or you go home with Distinction. Same is with 120 mins and 90 mins.. Still I am being hopeful. Included skipping in my training and the posture has improved. From tomorrow I will cut off the ankle weights during skipping too.. Experts suggest that skipping or running with ankle weights will lead to injury in later stages of your life and so seems like I made a wrong investment. Health is more important though.

Happy Studying !!!

Springy Legs !!!

     This time this post is from a classroom in IITB. I am waiting for pre-placement talk to start off. Yesterday in running I could barely complete 3 kms of running. Legs just refusing to leave the ground and don't ask about the speed, it was pathetic.

     Today it was completely different. I felt like someone had attached springs to my legs. At times earlier this year, I have clocked 12 km/hr on endurance runs, today it was slight less than 10 km/hr. But I can't remember ever before feeling such light legs. I was tired about 60% of journey, but still could keep my pace throughout. Maybe the skipping along with ankle weights starting to show some effects. Only time will tell how far and fast I am able to go. Target speed of 14 km/hr is far ahead about still within the reach. Less than 90 days to go for the marathon. There is one certainty for sure, an adventurous journey is what I am going to go through.

     Nothing much to write under this title.

Run Fast, Run Long !!!

Retirement

     I wanted to write so so so many stuffs and posts and what not. I always used to wonder how can people who blog just leave it in between and stop writing, now I know the answer. The Blogger app for android helped me months ago to write as much as possible, time to get it back. Forgot few titles but finally here is one of a kind. As usual something related to recent events taking place in my life. I guess its better to go thought the Retirement Announcement below, before starting the with the main content.

Retirement Announcement

Sandy's Official Broadcast Network---

In most recent news it has been found Sandy is retiring from running, here is more from Sandy Himself..

"Hello, this message is for people I closely associated with my running or who knew about it. It is has been a short exciting journey n blah blah, its time to exit.

This is typical of me, I had a target or dream, went after it, showed off, boosted a lot about it n even before reaching there I am calling it a day.

It will be hard to again trust n confidence of my friends, they can call me a quitter, self boasting or whatever, at the end I just require they support.

I personally consider all this as an experiment, specially when its all over. This experiment went a long way than others and learnt many lessons.. That's all for now."

As you can see, Sandy doesn't look much upset about the call off. May he anticipated it, just a couple of days more and he will back on his track of MTech at full pace.

Stat tuned for more updates..

     Some of my close and near and dear ones received the above message from me a week ago. Now it is going out a bigger scale through this post and as I share it on facebook. It was 2nd of October and I saw women's marathon (Asian Games) and then went on for a run. I did clock faster and enjoyed my run, more importantly it was smooth run. Then I was to meet some of friends on the same day, the BEST bus didn't stop where i was standing and I instantly decided to take a run after that, almost 150 to 200 meters and I finally caught. I was like - 'Wow Sandy !!! You surely can SPRINT '.

     Since September I was thinking that should I really give up running and lot of thought processing went in it. Finally, after the eventful day, I called it a day to myself and some of my friends. Got a mixed reaction, I thought that may be from next day, ie Dusshera I will try to be as before, before I started running. Things always never go as planned, initial days were gloomy. I tore of the pages that were supposed to be first half of my book titled - 'My 21km Journey'. Posters like 'Marathon Champion' and 'Inter IIT' were removed by me which were hung on the drawer.

     So many this and that and everything just cooking in my mind, finally the news broke out to my parents (Reaction not to be mentioned here). A week or so went by and I was back again, I decided to come back just to never stop running again. Almost 5 days since i decided to make a come back and I haven't ran since then. Yesterday there was Grossy GC in IIT (Its like a mini marathon 6kms or so). I thought that this is Awesome moment to make a come back, but it wasn't to be. Got caught up in placement related activity, overall Yesterday was totally Gloomy.

     Nevertheless, I am going to make a come back. Earlier this year, while going for tennis practice session I mentioned I felt Nadalish, not because of the tennis though. It was due to the hair band, the then opening of shoelaces as soon as I finish my session or as soon as I am done running. Running longer than normal when not well or when tired. That were some good days. When I decided to make a comeback, I started feeling like Agassian (Andrew Agassi). You must be aware that I have developed an interest in reading sports bio and autobio. There came a stage where Andrew just quit. Broke his rackets, gave his costly rackets to poor children roaming on streets and telling himself - ' I am not going to need this anymore'. Later on he came back and we all know where he finished off.

     So just a couple of days more and I will be back on track. Finally I am developing spirit, fighting spirit of an athlete, of a sportsman. All through out my life I used to admire each and everyone connected to sports. No matter even if it was gully cricket. One sure shot stuff learnt in the process of playing is never quit and also that its never too late. You can always win any match no matter how bad in a position you are. Now, when I started running and playing some other sports, I automatically copy pasted that Love and respect for myself too. Less than 100 days for Standard Charted Mumbai Marathon and 50 days for my Placement season. Another big Leap taking moment of my life.

     Last week, seriously I thought of putting sticky notes in my room like - 'Don't Dream', 'Never Run', 'Quitting is easy', etc. Having gone through that rough phase, I am now a better person to achieve my dreams and Dreaming Big too.. Thanks a TON to all my friends for being with me and encouraging me to make a come back.

Dream Big and Run Long !!!!