New - Running Shoes

Its been almost two years now that I am running on thin sole shoes. I was inspired by the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. In this book he explains the benefits about barefoot running. He sites examples of special breed of tribal who can easily run 100s of kms without a sign of fatigue. One of the specialty of the tribe is that they use flat and hard soled shoes/sandals. This is in complete contrast of  modern day cushioned shoes.

2016 Mumbai Marathom

I was also fascinated by good cushioned shoes. I started my running with a moderate cushioned shoe. It really felt good and comfortable. Back then I was running only 3-4 kms daily. Things were going good and suddenly a book into my life as a gift - Born to Run. I also researched a bit and came to know about many ultra-marathoners like Milind Soman, Scott Jurek, etc who run barefoot or use very thin sole shoes. After reading the book, I decided to try out barefoot running. I was (and I am still) scared about the stones, blades, glass pieces etc on roads. It may cut through my barefoot and hamper my running. So I decided to go for least cushioned shoes, ie Canvas shoes. Good thing about canvas shoes is that as time goes by, the sole thickness keeps reducing because of the wear. This helped in smooth transition from cushioned shoes to almost barefoot running. I ran my first half and full marathon in these shoes. The pair requires a replacement every 2 to 3 months, depending on my run distance and speed.

Aqua shoes 50

After almost 2 years and using more than 8 pair of canvas shoes, I am now going for another transition. I am experimenting with Troibords Aquashoes 50. You can get it from amazon or decthalon shop. I bought one from Decathlon shop for 500 Rs. This is actually meant for use near beach or rocky slippery terrain. I decided to go use this for running, why? Because it has really thin sole, 1 mm only and small rubber studs in bottom for a firm grip. The sole is really flexible and gives me a perfect experience of barefoot running. Secondly it is ultra light weight. I haven't measured but it is too light. It has a fabric on it which fits tightly on foot and also takes the shape of your foot. Thanks to this fabric, my pinky finger injury is reducing. Weather you have a broad foot or flat foot or any construction, this shoe should fit. Also the fabric is netted, so your feet remains well ventilated. It is too easy to get into these non-laced shoes. Lastly, you can use this without socks.

Today was my third day with this shoe and so far all is well. I am doing almost 2 miles on flyover and 1 mile on flat road. I am assuming that I will be able to use one pair for 3 to 4 months. I would recommend this shoe for anyone wants to try going barefoot. Make a note - A slow and steady transition is required to go from cushioned shoes to these ones. Making an abrupt change will give rise to joint or calf muscle injuries. Drop in your experience, suggestions, feedback , queries or just a Smiley. I will be keep you updated regarding my experience with these shoes.

Keep Running and Stay Fit !

Leap of Faith

Leap of Faith

7 am in the morning !!
Coffee shop is some 30 metres away from. People are all over the places have some hot coffee while chatting with their friends and colleagues. Televisions lined up and playing news channel so that people of every age group can watch or atleast pretend to watch.
There are people having coffee without any colleagues and there are few people chatting without coffee. I am surrounded by human beings of each possible type.
30 year old someone is busy on phone discussing about his today's presentation. Then there is a 14 year boy holding his not so smart phone near his ear for almost 10 mins now, i wonder what is he discussing about and with whom. May be his new world changing idea or his recent achievement in last week's school sports meet. Boy looks much more energetic than the guy next to me who is discussing about office work.


Apart from coffee house, there is a toy shop, purse shop and what not. there is also a gift shop selling all the costliest items in the world at a premium rate. Not to forget my favorite book shops. I was actually standing in front of one of the book shop for good 5 mins starring at the shelf. i was looking at different book covers and doing a mental check about which book I read, which ones are in my bucket list and which are ones that I hearing it for the first time.
Subconsciously I was taking a note of all the free space available in the display and filling it up with new launches yet to be come. Reading - there are few newspaper racks having all the latest happenings of the world. For a change, I am not reading a newspaper today. A new gang of three friends just came in my line of sight, reminds me of Dil Chahta hai.

7 am in the morning, people in this age can't be imagined without smart phone. There is a guy and a girl at different locations busy clicking selfies. So yeah, selfies are now so much gender specific. I am trying my best to get into atleast one of the picture. Some are busy chatting on phone, while very few are playing games. I can also see some people struggling to get their phone charged at free power outlets. Some are busy updating today's presentation on lappy. Some Gen-Z, current generation, guys are busy watching old but funny episodes of friends.  I watched Friends last year assuming that it will help me improve my English for so called CAT exam for MBA.
People are anxious, majority of them look happy and few look neutral. Few look confuse and are running up and down and asking for help at inquiry counter.

7:30 am in the morning. This is all what is happening on my left hand side. If I see straight, I see Milestone kind of numbers reading 4, 5, 6 to infinity. Housekeeping staff busy cleaning the floors and seats. There is a good amount of security, let me not get into detail of it. There are screens showing timetables of today's schedule. Some advertisement boards for smart phones. The ceiling is made up of tubes forming a truss and covered with thin metal sheets.
On the right there are people wearing reflective jackets and busy doing their work. Looks like its very routine job for them. There are buses, trucks, road train, fuel tank and AERO-PLANES. Yes, i am at the airport. A plane just came in at the terminal where I am sitting. looks majestic and let me not delve into the beauty of the plane. Travellers and baggage getting off loaded at one end, at the other end there is a long queue of passengers waiting to board the same aircraft.

What am I doing here. I am at Chennai domestic airport waiting for my Mumbai flight. this is one of my routine visits at home. A long routine visit.

Leap of Faith - This was my FB status a month ago when I was at the same place and going Mumbai for Holi. The title seems catchy and you may or may not find a direct relation between title and post content. For me, Leap Of Faith, this is what is constantly running in my mind.
That trip was planned just two weeks before the departure for some special reason. I was trying to dive into an unknown territory and hoping that I would get results that I had dreamt of for so long. I am really glad that my manager approved my last minute short trip. I enjoyed my trip at home. The only issue is I wasn't able to accomplish the task that I had planned. That was a good learning lesson for me. May there was really no need to go for that impromptu visit, anyway, past is past - can't change it.
This time again I am trying to accomplish the same task. It is matter of trying and trying till I get there. There was a phase after the last trip that I gave up on my dreams. Somehow, after some encouragement from books and stories. Strong motivation from my friends, I am back to where I was a month ago. This time with a stronger sense of purpose and a deeper conviction. I am trying to dive into the unknown in a hope that all my past good and evil deeds will form a net and catch me.

8am in the morning - My English, i can't find proper words. This may well turn out to be yet another crazy step/chapter in my life book, but I have decided to go for it. There are lot of things that I have done in the past which I shouldn't have. Some were non-logical, some were crazy some were pure stupid. Those past actions give me strength to take my next future crazy step and I am proud of it. They say ask and don't be afraid of rejection. Just a change of seating location for me at the airport. So, there are some personal leap of faith and some professional. Three months have already gone by 2017, there hasn't been much of difference in my life as seen from outside. I tried miracle morning, continued for 50 days and then again went back to being old me by not being consistent.
But let me tell you, there is some change in my attitude from the inside. Have read around 7 books in last three months. Many more books to read in next three months. 100 days of running challenge is also going to start from April end. So, lot of activities lined up.

My flight just came in and it is time for me to board. See you guys later.

Please do leave your feedback and comments below.

Are You Giving Your Best

One of the life changing questions that I ask myself these days. I seriously don't remember if I picked this up from some book or ted talk. The source doesn't affect the effect this question has on me.

Have read articles in which people say ask yourself - What would you do, if today was your last day? I tried answering this question and became sad after answering it. I would like to be in Mumbai with my parents and near and dear ones and let them know how much I loved them. If today was my last day, then I wouldn't spend time running miles and miles, or cycling by keeping bum on saddle. I would spend all my money and eat as much dark chocolate and Brownie as I want.

Few positive things did came out of this question, I started conversing more with parents and near and dear ONE. I started sleeping really less (it backfired and since a week I am back to 7-8 hour sleep pattern). I started eating loads of chocolates. Negative side - I stopped exercising for few days, I started spending on unwanted stuffs. I was not focusing much on work and studies. I was totally carefree. Then suddenly Happy Realisation Moment occurred and I changed the question. Still not sure if its my own creativity or from some book, but the question did wonders.

Are You Giving Your Best !

This is my new Phone wall-paper. Whatever work I am doing I ask myself - Are you Giving Your Best ? If the answer is no, then I go back 15-20 mins in time and redo the in a better (if not best) way. The change is slow but steady. Let me start from morning - I started waking up early again. Running some 3 to 4 miles daily, eating healthy breakfast and doing many other activities. There might not be a huge impact now, but the change has started taking place at slow and steady rate.

At work - At times I have to do some meshing activity (related to finite element analysis). I am not too good at meshing and somehow my productivity used to drastically go down as soon as I start meshing. But since a week or so, after meshing few parts, I ask myself, Is this the best that I can give? If the answer is no, I go back to the mesh part and make it better, if not perfect. While making a presentation, I will insert few images in my presentation and then just casually check my phone to see if I have any new notifications and then the above wall paper pops up, Am I giving my best, again, if the answer is no, I will go back and change those images. Small small improvisation, expecting huge impact :P

I have customised a coffee mug too. The other side of it contains a promise that I made to someone. Let me not get into detail of the other side. It has made its own impact and I will surely share that story someday, but not today.

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Thank You and Keep Reading !!!

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What's the Use ?

Well, the posts should actually have final draft of document, garnished with fluent English and what not. In this post I would be sharing the draft one of the poem that I am trying to write. Comments welcomed. The poem just tries to convey what is going on in my mind and so you may not find one centralise theme. Just go with the flow and drop your comments.

What's the Use ? ? ?

What’s the use of mobile if it doesn’t bring me your voice?

What’s the use of watch if you can’t give me time?

What’s the use of Activa if I can’t ride it with you?

What’s the use of pen if you don’t write letters to me?

What’s the use of melody if it is not melodious?

What’s the use of suit if I can’t go out on date with you?

What’s the use of webcam if we can’t skype?

What’s the use of CCD and brownies if nothing happens over coffee?

What’s the use of boxing if we can’t fight?

What’s the use of running if we can’t run together?

What’s the use of Full Moon if there is no one to walk with?

What’s the use of song if there is no one to dedicate to?

What's the Use ! ! !

Part 2 of current poem - That's the Use



Check out the other Poems on my Blog

The Clock Struck 12

A Patch-up Poem

Day 20 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time as always. Did prayer and other stuffs. Went for long 80kms cycle ride with one of my friend. Today i had decided to not drink water or take any food intake for the entire route and that made the ride difficult. Bought my first cycling short and a jersey too. Jersey is tight and I can my Stomach bulging out, motivating me to thin myself :P

Talked with my Bestie at night for sometime - Highly Motivating. Finally I have got hold of two books that I wanted - Miracle Morning and You are a Badass. Starting with miracle morning first. Tomorrow is day 21 - ie the next phase of 30 day challenge. it is called unstoppable. Also there is a big match coming up tomorrow - May be match of 2017 for me :)

Ending my short update for now. Good Night Readers !!

Day 19 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time and did my prayers, affirmations and visualisations. After that instead of going for swim, I went to bed again just to wake up at 6:45. Finished my reading part in the morning only. I decided to go swimming in the evening, but had to skip to watch Nadal's Australian open semi-final.

Marathon match, just shy of 5 hours. Finally Nadal won and after a real long time it will be Federer and Nadal in a grand slam final, so called Super Sunday. So plan for tomorrow - go swim and cycling in the morning. Total of 1 hour to 90 mins, depending on mood and also weather. Looks like it might rain in the morning and I would Love to go for a cycle ride in that rain.

Happy Weekend Friends :)

Day 18 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Happy Republic Day !!

60% of Miracle Morning Completed,
Woke up on time, actually slept for 10 extra mins. Did all my routines. Started the run late 6:30 am. Planned for 10 miles (16 kms) but I could achieve only 8 kms. Came back had breakfast and slept again. Finally woke up at 12, successfully wasted first half of the day.

Went out for lunch and did some grocery shopping. I wanted to see Federer and Wawrinka Australian open semifinal match. The Dish tv had some issues and was not working. Googled for live streaming links and realised that it was possible to watch the match on Sony Liv. Internet Rocks. I should have done this before to catch up on Nadal's match. Anyway, second semifinal tomorrow, but I will be in office and will miss it.

So, watched the thrilling match till early evening and again did some time pass activities :P Going out for dinner now. Not getting enough motivation to cook my own dinner, although I have all the ingredients ready to home. As I told in my previous post, 4 to 5 times a week I 'll try to make dinner and other days I 'll go out.

Have a Nice Day Tomorrow - Thank God Its Friday :D

4 Ball Basic Pattern

Day 17 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning !!

It was tiring, rather i felt sleepy after lunch yesterday. May be it was the effect of waking up early. Gradually I should get used to it. In the evening done some technical reading too. Again started making salad saute for dinner. Plan to have that dinner atleast 4 times a week. I am waiting to get back to normal work routine, ie next week, then only I will be able to see the positive/negative effect of Miracle Morning.

Today - Woke up on time and did all the planned tasks. Cycled fo about 35 mins, 15+ kms at 90% effort. Cycle needs some maintenance to make it go faster. As of now it doesn't matter even if I feel bit sleepy in the second half of the day as long as I am following my morning routine. It holiday at work tomorrow and so I will be having more time to relax and cover up on my sleep. Need to make list of affirmations that I should be using in morning. Visualisation board - have to make one, but too lazy to do so.

Have Wonderful Wednesday Folks !!!

Day 16 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good morning Friends :)

Had plans to wake up at 4:30 am and add juggling in my morning routine list. But I woke up at 5 and did prayers, affirmations and visualisation. Read some technical stuff today for half an hour. As per plan I went for swimming and completed 10 small rounds, only 20 mins.

Had to fight a lot to push myself to go for swim. Once the costume was on, all the thoughts of procrastinating my swim to evening vanished. It is 7:10 am and I am almost ready to head out for office. Since there is still some time available, i will practice 5 ball juggling, rather learn 5 ball juggling.

Remember - The Miracle is Within You !!!

Day 15 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Halfway through and I have already missed two days of my Miracle Morning. Day before yesterday I forgot the blogpost and today I just skipped the entire Morning Routine.

Woke up on time, but then hit the snooze button like thousand times to finally wake up at 6:45am. Just 3 weeks ago, i used to wake up at 7:30 and get ready for work, now even waking up at 6:45am feels like I woke up late. Certainly some change is taking place.

Don't intend to miss a single day in the second half of the challenge.

Day 13 + Day 14 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Another exception was made yesterday as I skipped the blog post for the day. So here it is, 2 days in one shot.

Yesterday - Woke up on time tomorrow and did all the SAVERS task except blogging. Went for 25 km cycling. It was overcast and it did drizzle at times. It was really fun to ride yesterday. After coming home I slept. Then the maid came and so had to clean my room and other stuffs. Finally I slept again, woke up had lunch and slept again. Finally took shower at 5 pm and then just relaxed, not doing much.

Today - Woke up on time ie 5 am. went for a run, was planning for 5 or 10 kms but did only 3 kms. I was listening to audio book - Rich Dad Poor Dad while running. It felt good and refreshing, takes your mind of running pain. I don't intend to make this a routine, I still prefer running with no headphones. Writing a post now and so that all the task in my SAVERS will be complete.

I restarted reading the book - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, short stories huge impact. Still struggling with technical books, need to fix a daily time to read atleast one hour. It is just the starting inertia which is stopping me back. Once I overcome it, then the reading will be unstoppable. Still not able to find the exact reason why this inertia got built up. Either I can sit and brainstorm the reasons or just start reading a book. Choice is Mine :P

Have a Super Sunday Friends :)

Day 12 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time and performed most of my tasks. Had plans to go for swimming, but its too dark and cold outside. It has been just one hour that I am awake and I am already  feeling sleepy. Started reading Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. Had stopped reading it months ago, restarted  it and I will soon finish it. Thank God its Friday !!!

Day 11 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up on time, did my prayer and slept back again. Didn't read any book but heard Rich Dad Poor Dad audio book for more than 90 mins. Came back to office after a week and got some new assignments to complete. As always, my work quality still needs lot of improvement.

Btw, this post comes from my friends new laptop. Using a Dell after a really long time. Marathon done, vacation done and January almost done. Time to look at yearly resolutions. One of the last years resolution was to do a triathlon. I bought a bike (cycle) last March and started 50 km cycling by September or so. Started swimming in May and kept on struggling with stamina. There were Sundays where I used to do 30 mins swimming (including breaks), 30 kms cycling and then around 3 kms running. Suddenly everything came to an abrupt end. The bottleneck is still swimming stamina. My plan for next 1 month is to do one activity a day. ie Swimming on day 1, then Cycling and then running the next day. I don't see much gain from this routine as of now. I also want to start on high intensity gym workouts, once or twice a week. May be after a month I should get more clarity on training plan that I should follow. In a month all my muscles should get ready for more strenuous workouts to be done in March. If not half (1.9 km Swim, 90 km Cycle, 21 km Run), I should atleast be able to do Olympic triathlon (1.5 km Swim, 40 km Cycle, 10 km Run) by December. There is a desire to improve my long distance record too. More on that in my next post.

Day 10 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Finally the first phase ends and today my SAVERS went for a toss. Woke up late, no reading or exercising. Author Hal Elrod talks about the power of the phrase - Can't Change It. I think I should accept what happened today, ie waking up late. I can't change what happened, forget it and focus on present to make a better tomorrow. Going back to Chennai tomorrow, morning flight. Not sure how my miracle morning will go tomorrow.

I feel tired and exhausted. Not sure if I will be entering my work place with renewed energy or same old enthusiasm. The post on marathon is still pending. The next 10 days ie day 11 to 20 are suppose to be uncomfortable. Also I will resume my training session on my new bike. I'll give more updates about my new bike (cycle) once I master it.

Day 9 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Day 9, still no sign of my marathon post
 I am becoming master of procastination. Woke up on time and did my daily routine. Till struggling with my legs, so I just went for slow walk in morning. For a change, I started listening to an audio book while walking. Rich dad poor dad, walked for an hour and was completely hooked up to the book.

I was not as open minded as I thought. I always used to think that morning walk or run should be done while listening to surrounding sound, ie no headphones. I used to see people with headphone and say to myself - this is not the correct way to start your morning. Today that view changed as I too had a headphone with an audio book playing on. There might be people listening to songs, prayers, audio books and may be no music at all. Ie using headphone only for noise isolation.

Need to be more open minded and less judgemental. Good Night Readers !!

Day 8 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Too tired today too and so writing this post late at night. Woke up on time and finished my prayer and visualisation and affirmations. Went for a slow morning walk. Legs still paining. I can walk but going up and down the stairs is still a big challenge. Started reading a small book, which should take around 1 hour to read. I think I will finish it off tomorrow morning. Things will back to routine once I go back to Chennai. Good Night Readers :)

Day 7 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

A very late post. Had my marathon today and somehow completed in just under 5 hours. Very exhausted as of now so keep this post as short as possible.

Woke up at 2:30 in the morning and did short version of my daily prayer, affirmation and visualisation. For exercise - I ran 42 kms :P , race started at 5:45 am and I slept a lot after coming home. I hardly had any practice in last month and so recovering is going to take some time. Didn't read any book or article, and scribing - I am writing this late post.

Good Night Folks !!

Day 6 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Woke up at 6:20, almost an hour late then my intended time. I am on vacation and nothing specific to do at a specific time. I am still doing my SAVERS, a relaxed one. Reading is still left, but remaining parts are covered. Realised that hitting snooze first time is very very hard as compared to doing it second time.

Ok, so here I am in garden. My childhood mini picnic spot. I remember on Sundays my dad used to bring me here and I used to have loads of fun. I used to enjoy horse riding, camel rides, popcorn etc. With friends - we used to bring sandwich and chocolates from home and have our mini picnic. It is just 300 meters from our building but as a small kid, it was a great place to celebrate.

Now the things/infrastructure has changed a lot. Mornings have become too crowded here as people have become more health conscious. The laughing club comprising of oldies goldies is still functional. Some basic exercise equipments have been set up for senior citizens and it is motivating to see them make use of this facility. A new skating ring has been opened in the park, how desperately I missed it during my training days. What is more exciting is that a kid was actually learning to skate there. All these sites are simply motivating.

Either the situation has drastically changed in last 10 years or my way of looking at things. May be both have changed, nonetheless it is motivating.

In my next post I'll try to focus on the mental talk I am having with regarding tomorrow's Marathon ! It is going to take each ounce of Mental toughness in me to cross the line, since there is no physical strength as of now due to lack of training and training discipline.

Happy Pongal
Happy Sankrant
Happy Weekend

Day 5 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

This is Sandeep reporting live from Mumbai :)

Like everyday, today also my eyes opened up at 4:30 an. Went back to sleep and woke up at 5 am. Prayed and meditated and then read. Today I read for 40 mins, it was too dark at 6 in Mumbai to go out for run. Not having my regular running shoes, I decided to keep my run short. Ran for 5 kms. I am so used to Chennai now, that I found my route too congested and polluted. So the breathing was somewhat hard.

Had tea made by mom to kick start my day. I am certainly late today in completing my SAVERS. It is 9 am and I am chatting with parents and Uncle and at the same time blogging. I have many products on my list to shop today, hopefully I should be able to buy them all. There is a cat that comes in our building everyday and we try to feed her milk everyday. Today I went down to pour the milk in her bowl. It was 6 am and complete dark outside. i went near to the wall and heard some meow meow and realised she was close to my feet. I was 4 step away from the bowl and she just leaped up on the wall and started giving angry looks to me. I thought she is gonna attack me any moment and so I just kept the glass there and she started drinking from that itself. I took 2 steps close towards the bowl to bring it close but she didn't let me go there too. So finally I stopped and went on for my run. Crazy Cats.

This time Mumbai Marathon team provided singlets to all marathon runners. Asics singlets, sleeveless and blue colour. It is one of the best running jersey I have ever had and I am planning to run my this year marathon in the same. Need to buy new running shoes too. It is said and believed that you should never try anything new on race day,I too believe it. So, I am going to have one or two short runs in this new kit and head on for the race.

Thank God Its Friday !!!

Day 4 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

It was just a little difficult to wake up at 5 this morning, may be coz I slept at 1 yesterday night.Also I didn't properly focus on prayer today. Too much of thoughts regarding today's travel, office work, etc. In the exercise section - I went for slow 2.4 km walk. Relaxing body and mind. Finished reading the book - Power of subconscious mind. Interesting read, explains why some of our prayers don't get answer. It also explains why we end up getting stuffs we didn't dream of. Not sure which will be the next book and what genre.

I am flying back home today evening for Mumbai marathon. Now-a-days it doesn't feel too different going home. The day of travel feels just like any other day. I am planning to cut down on sleep during this visit and spend more time with friends and parents.

In the book Miracle Morning, Hal says that most of us wake up at a particular time just because we need to be somewhere else at particular time. Like, I would wake up at 7 so that I can reach office at 8 or 8:30. So he suggest to wake up early (may be 1 hour) and do some particular tasks like meditation. Basically after waking up we should be at ease and not rush things up. Then I had one thought, now I wake up at 5 just because i need to do some tasks before going office. Is this correct thought process? Let me also remind me that past two days, my eyes used to open up at 4:30, much before the alarm. May be this is the state one needs to be. Ending my post abruptly now, since I need to finish my packing.

Happy Travelling Folks !!!

Day 3 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Instead of typing today, I wrote the post in a dairy and uploaded it, something that I am trying out for the first time..

Do - Comment to give feedback and share your viewpoint..

Day 2 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning !!

Lovely Cold Morning, just finished with cycling and sipping cold cup of milk. Woke few times in the middle of night. Woke up at 4.30 also and I had to remind myself that I have 30 mins more to sleep. So in a way it was like snoozing. Anyway, I woke up at 5 am like yesterday. Finished my prayer and affirmation by 5:30 and then read for 30 mins. Now its 6:50 and about to finish the last activity - ie blogging :)

So, what is this affirmation? Blogging is the last activity to complete the Miracle Morning, what are the other activities then? In the book Miracle Morning author Hal Elrod lists down 6 activities which should be done - SAVERS

S - Silence - Practice meditation or prayer in this section;
A - Affirmation - Talk positive to yourself about yourself to strengthen your belief;
V - Visualisation - Visualise all the activities for the day. Visualise how it would feel if your dream(s) come true;
E - Exercise - The word is self describing;
R - Reading - Read a book, may be self help book, technical books or something else which is thought provoking;
S - Scribing - Write down your thought, feelings or any idea which comes to your mind. I am blogging for this activity.

The goal is to have some ME time in the morning before you head on for work or your day to day activity. You may do one, two or all the activity for varying duration of time. Morning is the Best time to set the tempo for the rest of the day, so the above activities need to be done in morning and hence the name Miracle Morning !!

Have a Nice Day :D

Day 1 - 30 Day Miracle Morning Challenge

Good Morning Folks :)

Woke up at 5 am,prayed and meditated for about 15 mins. Read a book for 20 mins or so. Ran a slow 5 km and now blogging. In the past there have been time where I used to wake up at 4 or 4.30 and then go on a 8 km run, almost daily for almost a week. So, today didn't feel that extra ordinary. The main purpose of taking up this challenge is that it has outlined some 6 to-do things and for a specific period. As the days pass by, I'll be telling more about those 6 to-do tasks.

I was very close to hitting the snooze button when it started waking me up at 5 am. After putting up the alarm, I sat on bed for about 5 mins and almost dozed off so lost sometime there. Anyway at the end I recalled the purpose for which the alarm was set at 5 am and went about my routine. The posts are getting shorter and shorter. The frequently I write the shorter they become. In future I take extra efforts to select a topic/theme to write on. Need to take blogging more seriously, not just an update notepad.

Need to get ready for the office, see you guys tomorrow.

Have Marvelous Morning !!!

First Post of 2017 and a trailer for new blogpost series

Happy New Year Readers !!

Its late at night and I have taken up a 30 day challenge which will start from tomorrow. It is nothing new, just waking up early at a fix time and going through some set routines. I want to talk in detail about this, but it is getting late now. The first and most difficult task about this challenge is waking up at a fix time daily, may be 5 am, 4 am or 5.30 or any other time that suits. The goal is to get minimum 60 mins of me time before you start your day/office. ie you should wake up and spend 1 hour doing some specific task related to your development before you open your office email. or before you start getting ready for work.

I have heard that it takes 3 weeks or 21 days to develop a habit. last year I took up a 100 day running challenge, where I was required to run minimum of 2 kms daily for 100 consecutive days. I completed the challenge but that habit didn't sink in. may be the motivation wasn't correct or I wasn't focused. Although I improved my average running speed in those 100 days but I didn't continue the activity after the challenge. Hal Elrod (author of Miracle Morning) believes that 30 days is required to build a habit and sustain it. First 10 days will be unbearable, next 10 (11-20) will be uncomfortable and last 10 (21-30) will be unstoppable. In last 30 days you would be at ease with the new habit and it will be easy to sustain it.

My 30 day challenge revolves around this book (which I haven't read yet) and I am going to wake up early from tomorrow and start doing exercise and other self development stuffs. A part of this exercise requires writing, so i decided to write a blog instead of personal journal. The topics will be based on my mood and events going on in and around myself. I will certainly talking about the effect of this 30 day challenge too.

Running - Mumbai Marathon is coming up next Sunday and I have tons of excuses that why I didn't train hard and follow my diet etc. I am not sure if I will run or not, but if I run, i am determine to complete, no matter how much time I take. Might not be the best run of my life so far, but still a run to remember for a long time.

Juggling - No updates as of now. Working on some tricks which I was suppose to learn last year. Hopefully I will come up with a video by March end.

See you guys tomorrow Morning :)

#GoForGlory

MoM - Man on Mission

A real big title. This post again comes from 36000 ft above ground, cruising at not less than Mach 0.80. After half n full marathon, I used to look 3 year back. I was having breathing issues or asthma and taking 2 capsules a day. Things were under control provided I took care of what I ate and when.

Then running happened n my dose came down to 2 capsule per week. I was clocking in miles after miles at good pace. And then suddenly I completely stopped my medicine somewhere in June 2015. I continued exercise and ate what I wanted. No restrictions. Over- confident crept in and I started taking things for granted. I used to have occasional colds and blocked noses. Running  reduced and so did the endurance limit. It is in this form that I participated in full marathon which was nothing less than a disaster.

I used to give examples to my friends how my running n little dedication helped me to quit my medicines. Deep down I had one question for myself, why do I always compare myself with what I was 3 years ago? Why don't I say that last year my health was ABC or running speed was xyz n this year it improved IJK. Answer lies in the fact that I became complacent. I stopped improving just because I took things for granted.

Every time I caught a cold, I used to say to myself that I won't let this repeat again. But it came back again and again. Last week I was in Gujurat. Too much of heat and improper diet deteriorated the health further. I was forced to take my medicines again, 2 capsules a day for 3-4 days. I just that medicine.

Now, as I go back to my second home n into my daily routine, I will attempt to achieve the highest quality of health. Started following healthy diet since a week and it has made me a pinch slimmer. So, Man on Mission is me moving towards a healthier me. Have started cycling and skating to increase my endurance and also serve the purpose of cross training. There is an endurance event in Chennai in July and again in December, which is my prime focus currently.

Taking out 90 mins daily for  exercise seems no big deal. But then I have other passion of juggling which required minimum of 5 hours a week. Then reading non-acadrmic books for an hour daily. Then some office related technical studies. I decided to make a nice plan and follow it religiously a month back, but nothing materialised. This time, MoM is determined to make the things work.

Let us see how much endurance I have to smartly Juggle these stuffs.

Happy Flying !!

Race of my Life ?

Had started writing a post for new year and my running updates but somehow it remained unfinished. Here is a new one mainly focused on my upcoming marathon race on 17th Jan. It is a flashback post as I look back into past one year post my half marathon run. There are few things that make this post more special. First of all I am writing it at airport. Secondly it is a new phone being used by me which was a gift from a Special SomeOne, my Bestie :)

Flights are delayed due to poor visibility and I am waiting right in front of plane docking area. I see flights landing about 200 m away from me and other flights picking up passengers n going towards runway. I'll finish the blog midair and publish it as I land. Checking in for now.

Seat belts warning off n electronic devices on. Now getting back to blog title - Is this really going to be a race of my life ? This is certainly my first but not the last marathon. After this I can officially call myself a marathon runner and/or long distance runner. Till I run next marathon I will be under the category - 'Also Ran'. Generally used for one time runners.

I never imagined that any of my close ones will ever run such a long distance and then I find myself in that shoe. In the process I discovered that there are few cousins of mine who do long distance running. One of the few memories that plays in my mind is of a Sunday morning, 10  12 years ago. I accidentally stumbled on live telecast of some marathon (mostly Mumbai). I so very admired those guys, I had just woke up lazying around on Sunday and these guys had already finished 42 km run. Looking back it now, it feels that you can easily achieve what you want. Some might say you need to have a dream and passion and what not. Frankly I never dreamt of being an athlete at any level, nor was I passionate. Just that 2 years ago I decided to go for it to stay fit and achieve something out of my comfort zone. Discipline is also a very essential ingredient to achieve something phenomenal, I wasn't disciplined either. I believe that make your plan and it is more than enough if you follow 80% of it.

Haven't done long distance running practice after Diwali but still let me share another wondering memory that flashes in my mind. I think back of December 2013 and January 2014, the time I started running and building my stamina. I used to be dead in 2.4kms, my friends use to cross the line a minute before me and still fresh. Things have come a long way since then. My SPEED has almost been the same all these years. The feeling of comparing myself with my old myself is breathtaking. You see yourself and things around you very differently.

I read few blog post by marathon runners and one thing all agree is that - no matter what your speed and stamina is, you start respecting everyone running or taking up any other similar activity. You admire runners faster than you, you know what it takes to reach there. You respect slow runners, since they are trying and making a beginning. Don't be afraid of moving slow, be afraid of not moving at all (bhaag milkha bhaag).

Flashback of a year, after not achieving my half marathon timing target, I decided to go for full marathon within 3 hours - a very not unrealistic but a challenging target. First thing I did after half marathon was to chill and in the process lost all my stamina. Then I started working on my technique, changing foot strike pattern in particular. My shoes wear off in couple of months and sole wear pattern is a good indicator of my foot strike pattern. I now land on ball of my foot, outer side first and then inner side and the the front of foot and then push. I also changed my attire, moving to synthetic from cotton. Really short shorts and regular dry fit T-shirt. Last month I moved to sleeveless, feels so  relaxed.

Around may June I started following some diet regime too, salads and fruits. Beetroot is my  favourite since it helps a lot in building more RBCs which means more oxygen can be absorbed and so more energy and faster I can go. I also decreased the percentage of runs I did in evening, mostly morning runs only. All was well in Mumbai, since it was home sweet home and mom took care of all my diet demands and made sure I followed my running routine. Dad motivated me specially after my long runs. Then came Chennai and each and everything changed. I eat chocolates and sweets as much as I want. No control on rice intake and no fruits at all. There was no running at all, finally my roomies Kartik and Rohith directly/indirectly helped me out. Kartik and I started off with 3 4 kms slow run and then gyming started in which I used to do trademill runs and some skipping too. Kartik has played football amd cricket at a very competitive level and it was good to restart my running with him. Since last 3 weeks Rohith has been a long distance running Buddy of mine. Running 7 8 kms almost 5 days a week. Rohith hasn't been into long distance running, but see him pre and post runs and you know he can make it big.

Had ran lot many 10 miles (16 kms) back in Mumbai and one 24kms too. There was good variation in running too, fast 2.4kms, medium and slow 8kms. Gruelling 16 kms. Then hill repeats and hill sprints. I exercised more and included skipping and cycling too. But all this was in Mumbai.

Plane is about to land, 10 15mins more. Now, again coming back to blog title. Why this race is so important. I practice a lot for half marathon except last month before race. I carried through somehow and finished it. This time I lost all that was gained till November end. I am fit for half, full I doubt. I am confident I will run slow and finish but at the same time I can't forget the troubles I had when I ran 24km when I was in good form. It is going to be a complete mental game for me. I have to turn deaf ear to my body. About the timing, if I go by my half martagon pace then it should be 4 hours 30 mins and I will be a happy finisher if I can do that. This is the personal cut off time I am keeping for myself. Wish me Luck :)

Hello Mumbai !!!

The First Juggling Performance of My LIFE

There was some technical function in my office this week (16 and 17 December) and all the new joinees were busy in volunteering and looking after the arrangements under the guidance of our seniors. The event helped to break the monotony of regular office work. At the end there was a small dinner party was arranged for us (Volunteers) by office. There were few batchmates performing musicals and also planning for few games. I thought of putting up my juggling show but quickly turned it down, since it would be too immature a show.

This idea pops into my mind before 5 pm and we had show at 8pm. Some Solid encouragement from friends and I finally decided to give it a try. Dropping balls in front of the crowd was the least of my concern. I was worried about the time slot, I didn't had enough tricks to go for more than 3 mins. Juggling show - a lot is expected than just 3 ball basic cascade. You also need to be a performer and I was assuming that I would be busy focusing on juggling and no crowd contact.

Office, Home and Party venue were in close proximity and so I was able to go home after the office and practice for 30 mins and have a dress change too. I wanted to time my practice but the change over time between office and party was late and just warmed up with few tricks. There was one more trick I practiced a lot, picking a fallen club by kick. It worked at times in practice and times it didn't.

Finally the party started and first performance was a musical. They just rocked, Guitarist, the Singers - super Awesome. A perfect start for a perfect evening. My roomies were next to me and kept telling them - 'This is the first time I am nervous about performing on stage' I remember there was a time I told to myself - 'Ok, you are nervous, but you will be soon performing on stage. A property of performers is to hide the anxiety and fears inside and put up a good face. Moments later I was like who cares, I am nervous and I can't get over it.' They calmed me down and at the same time motivated me.

Finally the time came and Juggling balls first. I spoke that I am a beginner and I am nervous too and it was visible since I dropped in first few seconds performing basic trick. After few deep breaths and claps I got in the rhythm. 3 ball tricks and under the leg throws. Before going for the actual under the leg throws, I tried to copy one of the juggler's show trick that I saw. In that you pretend to throw the ball under the leg but don't actually do it and then ask audience if they saw it. Then you follow it up saying that you will do it in slow motion and then you actually throw it under the leg, that really generated some laughs among the friends. Then 4 balls, something that I am not good at, but still few throws here and there and the trick was done. Then the rings, three rings. There is a way in which you end the trick by putting all the three rings around your neck, I tried that trick and it worked, although bit clumsy.

Finally, the new props, Juggling clubs. Again, three club cascade. I tried the kick pick up and wow, It was perfectly executed and ended perfectly too. For the show stopper I tried one of each, a ball, a club and a ring, one of the toughest of all the remaining tricks that I performed that evening. !0 to 15 throws got executed nicely and I was done. A final Bow at the end- felt majestic.

Finally all the participation and fun-games-winner got some Smiley balls and it was majestic. Finally the nervousness was over-shadowed, not in an ideal manner. Thanks a TON for my friends and roomies for motivating me.

I registered my First Juggling Show. I started somewhere in mid-jan after running the half-marathon and was able to have my first show within a year of my training. The main concern that show will end within 2 mins was a highly inaccurate judgement, It lasted for almost 5 mins. Signing Off for now - Keep JUGGLING :)

New 30-day challenge

Blogging after a real long time. Its been three weeks since I came back to Chennai after a wonderful and sleepful Diwali vacation at home. Too many emotions in varying intensities surround me daily. I miss my home and parents for sure. I keep thinking of present and future and not to forget the past. This is all that I can say as of now about what is going on deep inside my head and Heart.

Moving onto some lighter and also adventurous topics- Running. 40 months to go for the Marathon and I am in good shape if not great or bad. Started my current training season a week ago. 6 months ago I planned of running couple of 50 kms in December, all that now appears a distant dream. It is for sure that in practice I won't be running more than 30km before the marathon. Race day is going to be a hell of a challenge. Point to be noted, I never ran a half marathon before the actual race day (which was January 2015). I had a plan to avoid that mistake, but all went for a toss. Anyway can't and won't back off. Tickets are booked and shoes polished and carbs loaded. Stay tuned for more race updates.

Juggling - torrential rains brought life to standstill in Chennai. Lucky for me that I am about 50kms from main City and not much of flooding issues here. The rains called in for 3 4 days office holiday and things back home went all gloomy. Not too much to do, plus I was in no mood of reading any new books. Juggling came in for rescue for few hours each day. TV was another pass time. Roomies and friends and monopoly helped in too. Instead of being thankful to God for saving me from the pains of floods, I was busy in my own thought process and making the things more gloomy around me.

So why the section is titled as Juggling? I am planning on learning 5 ball juggling since months now. I finally got serious now and for next 30 days I will consistently work on 5 ball cascade for minimum of 45 mins a day. 15 mins will be for warm up and clubs and at times rings just to freshen up. Hope I learn atleast a flash of 5 balls. Flash of 5 balls - throwing and catching 5 balls in a 5 ball cascade pattern. It takes months and at times years to learn the basic 5 ball cascade and months more to perfect it.

Lunch time about to end,need to share this on facebook too.

See you later :)

MIX Story Post

A collection of short paragraphs of all the topics that I wished to write about in the previous week. Sunrise is a perfect moment to Rise and Shine. Its been a month into my training in Kandivali, same route since long time and still a new perspective came in today. So far mornings have always been associated with my runs and school buses and kids that I encounter on my way. I am talking about 6am to 8am time. I take three short train journeys to complete my real long journey to my work place. I mentioned a few post ago that I generally walk to office from station at around 8.30 am. Sun doesn't come up much but the entire place is well light up and fresh. Today I saw the shops being opened. Few closed and many already set and waiting for their first customer. Some are busy, cleaning and arranging the counters and food packets. Some shops like dairy and stalls like newspaper are meant to be opened early. What I see is hardware shops, foot wares and even gift shops. May be this is one of the way in which these guys do hard work. No conclusion to be drawn here as such, abrupt end it is to be for all the thoughts.

Group 5- refer the following article to know the background of the coming paragraph - Group - 5. So we are 4 member team. It is human tendency (or just mine) to find similarities as well as differences and just try to co-relate each and every event that takes place. On this lines, let me take you through few chatchy links between the members. NEWS- North East West South, that is what our team is. They may not be leaving there, but belong from there. Covering the entire region. Rohit (Pahadi) - Northie, Shraddha (Goblin) - East, Myself (let it be a secret) - West and Kartik (KG) - South. All of us are Chasmis O_O . Last but not the least for now -- all are 'O+'. O+ is not so rare, but not so common too and so is worth noting that all four ended being in one team.

It being 11th October today and 11.10 pm, just 1 week to go before my Chennai Mail flags off.. Yes, I'll be on board it and going Chennai (Kanchipuram), my new work place and my first out of the fortress (Mumbai) expedition. I want those filmy style Long Good Byes which ain't gonna happen. What so ever worst case scenarios I thought off are turning out to be true. The timing is so late that it so not so possible for the near and dear ones to reach out. Secondly, train starts from CST but out boarding is from Dadar. So, once in there is hardly any chance to be out of the train again for the last time, Phew !!

Yesterday there were too many things to cheer about. Was back to stuff that I like the most, experimenting on real stuffs. There is some machine in plant which happen to be relatively noisy than others and our team was working on different solutions. So far all our suggestions were on paper, yesterday we finally touched and modified some set up, although the set up failed but atleast we made a start. The assembly always keeps moving and cars keep coming in and so cant make any changes in between. We get just one opportunity in the entire day to make big change and that is during the lunch break. 25 to mins is what we get and also we need to hope that out modifications don't hamper the core purpose of the machine.

The day ended on an even higher level of Awesomeness. Meeting my Bestie (Boxer), Ms MBiAn and Salman. Before that, a small incident happened. My dad keeps coming to Kandivali (my office is in Kandivali) and Malad, but very occasionally. I was on my way to Kandivali to catch a train for lower parela dn out of no where I see my dad suddenly appear and talking on call and it was my Mom. That moment and all the connection simply blew me off :). Back to friends meet -We roamed and talked and discussed. Work places issues to film talks to marriage proposals. Had Gol Gappe after Eons, I had stop eating them except for hostels. All credit to Boxer for the delicious dish. We went to a sports shop there and tried out Big Ball Juggling and boy did I succeed, I should have recorded it. There were skateboards too and I just couldn't stay away from it. Tried it once or twice and Bang, I was down. That was the ended, I just walked off the store before it was too late :)


Let me not make it any more bigger. I am very hopeful that there will a charging point in our compartment. If things go as planned I'll be writing a blog on my way with some attempt to make readers interactive. Stay tuned for a week more and do contribute to the next post.

Weekday S01E03 - Torturous Tuesday

Happy realisation to me. May be afterall it wasn't a good idea to go for this week long post series. I am too tired and no new thoughts flowing in. I had lot of stuff to write for Friday and Saturday and may be Wednesday too, for other days I would just be beating the bush. Being a dedicated blogger requires much more and this very instant I am not upto mark.

Just like so many of my other activities, I will leave this here, incomplete.

Good bye fellow readers and a Big sorry in the end to have disappoint you..


Sleep and Let Sleep ;)

Weekday S01E02 - Miraculous Monday

Was able to finish off work a bit early and thus an opportunity was created for a short run that I grabbed with my welcoming arms. Around 6 kms with high intensity sprints. Something went wrong today leaving me dead exhausted for the day and as a result I am writing this second post of the series using an Android phone ;)

I would visit Shiv temple on Monday mornings and then leave for IIT. There used to be a lecture at 9.30 am, 1 hour bus travel, temple visit etc forcing me to wake up at 6 am and thus I always started the day on a torturous note. Recently the temple visits have been reduced. Today I visited a temple inside the plant and coincidently it turned out to be a Shiv temple.

Many a times Mondays would be spend thinking about the Sunday party or just relaxing to recover from Sunday funday. Nothing much happening about this day, just a warm up for fourmore days of work.

My mind is shutoff n no more ideas poring in.. Good night Readers. . .

Weekday S01E01 - Sunday Funday

Week starts on Sunday for me and it has been an Awesome one. Woke up a bit late and then went for a usual 5 mile warm up run with mid intensity. Then some chilling out moments and juggling practice. Finally I recorded my first proper juggling video consisting of very basic tricks just for starters and link for it is - 3 ball juggling basics

Sunday, also called as Ravivar in Hindu and considered Sun God's day (I consider Sun as star as well as God). Colour of the day being White, but what makes this day special is the holiday associated with it. I read few books and for some it also Sunday Church day. Sunday's are considered to be weekly off for majority of offices, colleges, governments departments and banks and what not. In school days it was a good day to wake up late but you easily get bored since majority of school mates don't meet each other.

Most of Sunday special stuffs have been associated with childhood. Now-a-days they ain't as exciting. Dad used to be home on Sundays. Horse rides and garden trip with dad and my bro used to be the best part. Also there used to be few Sunday special comedy shows on Sony television (I don't remember the name though) which made sure that each Sunday begins with a roll on the floor laughter :) Playing cricket for years on Sunday became a ritual. This is the only day when all would be free. You work 5-6 days a week and still gather tremendous amount of energy required for sports on Sunday and that is what makes it more awesome. Mothers day, Fathers day, Friendship and what not, all are celebrated on Sunday and making it more happening.

Then there used to be Formula 1 races which I used to follow so much once upon a time. Alternate weeks and at 4.30 pm star sports. If there was any other sport finals, it would be played on Sunday too. There were and still are too many reasons to be Happy about Sunday. The new dimension running along with job has made Sunday a LONG SLOW RUN/distance (LSD is what they call it). You go out at 9 am and still streets would be empty and air would be fresh and full of oxygen. One section of my running passes through a playground and you can see small and big boys playing cricket or football and some just chilling out with their buddies.

Don't know what happens to body and stomach since on Sunday there is simple no mood and hunger for dinner. So it is generally light and some variety, like idli/dosa or some new biryani type recipe by Mom. Ice cream to end the day, what more should I ask for ? There is other side of it too, a small one. You can't find a top without a bottom. Likewise at ties Sunday becomes the day for house cleaning and so the rest part is gone. Going to religious function or marriages on Sunday may take a toll on your body if its for too long duration. Being in Mumbai you just can't ignore the locals (railway). There is mega block and less trains running which don't stop on all stations. If you think commuters face the problem think of the maintenance workers or officials who look after the entire stuff. They really miss out a whole of Sunday and lot of crucial family time. It is for the bigger cause for the safety of travelers and for their money too. Recent derailments have forced me to rethink on the sincerity by which the work on Sunday is done and also a big question arises on the quality of new materials coming in.

Heard today is going to be some Big moon day and Moon being my favorite I am just not gonna miss it. Signing off for today and getting ready for Monday Morning Blues :)

7- Post Blog Series (Trailer)

VIBGYOR - That is how we used to remember the rainbow colours in order. Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green,Yellow, Orange, Red. Each colour has its own frequency and a group of people who consider it as their favorite. There are so many different set of colours out there, but this is what we can distinctively obtain by passing sunlight through a water droplet or simple put, on a sunny rainy day. Black and White, absence and presence of all colours respectively, complete the set. In some culture white is auspicious and black is gloomy and in others it exactly the other way round.

Then we have seven wonders of the world. 10 years down the line we may have a completely different set of wonders. Each has its different meaning and made in different decades and even centuries. There seem to be no connection between them like the colours. Above set of colours are part of something what we  know as white light or sunlight. Why only seven wonders of the world? I am yet to find out, but that is not what I am currently interested in.

Just two examples of set of 7, one is nature's gift and other is man made structures grouped in one. There is one example which is combination of man-made classifications and forces of nature. One large mass of land existed and through thousands and lakhs of years of evolution we now have 6 distinguishable huge land masses but classified into 7 continents. Then there is religion coming in, 'Shaadi k saat pheere'. The less I speak about it the better. There are other examples which could be listed. Someone may come up with any other number too, but my main focus is SEVEN.

It took me 7 years after my 12th to finish off my graduation and plus the post graduation. What's more, my name SANDEEP is a 7 letter word, a perfect coincidence. Above paragraphs is just an example of random stuffs bonded together by 7. I will be writing 7 posts for next seven days (one post a day). It will be based on seven days of week. Colour of the day, some 2-3 more lines about it. I may or may not discuss my present day events, but I will be describing in detail about what each day means for me. A childhood memory or teenage years or college project days.. Just me and that particular day :)

! ! ! 7 days of week coming soon ! ! !

Last Month in the Fortress

Finally I am writing just a night before my record breaking long run tomorrow. Fortress here means Mumbai, where I was born and nurtured and brought up etc etc. . . Last month? Thanks to globalization and what not, I will be moving to Chennai for my new (first) job as a researcher. More on that later, but I will surely share my side of story of the training I so far went through. A paragraph on my running update and next target. Finally I'll try to peek inside and see what I feel about the precious Last Month.

Let me start with the job. I started training from 7th September 2015 and a brief summary of day can be found in my previous post titled - Day 1 for an Igniter. Next few days were bit hectic and few, very few, chilled ones. I got used to travelling for 90 mins one way to get used to office. Then long hours in the office and cafe 4X4 and lectures. 23 of new GETs/PGETs (henceforth when GET used for group will include PGET also, unless stated otherwise) are stationed in Kandivali for training purpose. We were divided into 6 groups of 4 each except one. Each group would visit a particular system (transmission, engine, assemble, etc) for 3 4 days and learn as much as one can. Lunch session suddenly got more interesting since all the 6 teams would come together and share their experiences.

A good time to introduce my team, Shraddha - our leader, Rohit and Kartik and myself. Rohit is MTech from IIT in Mechanical and guitarist. Kartik, Mechanical Engineering and MS from London in automobile engineering. I clarify most of my silly doubts with his help. The two guys are so chilled and relaxed so unlike me. Chilled here doesn't refer to training and enthusiasm for learning. Chilled here means not getting entangled into any unnecessary or unwanted tensions at all. Both will be moving to MRV Chennai with me after training season. Finally the leader comes in Shraddha, GET in Industrial engineering. Very eager to learn all auto terminologies. Reminds me of my GET days, when I used to get overwhelmed just by the sight of a pneumatic wrench. Shraddha - you just need to hear her laugh to know all about her. Ask her anything about MOST or ergonomics and, and I won't describe what happens next. You better experience it yourself. Not all group secrets are to be made secret :P. I failed in Japanese proficiency test few months back, but I am learning Bengali from our BONG leader.

I change three trains to get to my office and after few days, I found a good window of reading books. Metro and western railways are less crowded in the direction that I travel and I get more than 25 mins of reading time one way. That is 50+ mins of reading daily. I wake up just in time in morning and so no stretching or yoga but then again there is way to compensate it. I generally walk from Kandivali station to office, around 20 to 25 mins of walking. In a day it accounts for 1 hour of walking, which is better than zero workout. The attitude of what I was few years ago and what I am is reflected in the way I look at the things that just happen. I feared and never wanted to travel from home to Kandivali daily, but company policy made sure the worst thought scenarios become a reality. Result is, now I am very much happy about the way things are placed. Maa k hath ka khana mil jata hai yaar :)

Runing, last week got early leave one of the day, I came home, ate and slept. But something inside me kicked up and ended up running 6+ kms starting 6pm. Then came Sunday and I planned 15 miles, but ended up running 10 miles, not bad, but a surely there is a scope for improvement. I wasn't tired after run, even though I ran just once a week. I assumed I was in good fitness, but the the recovery period between your runs is another parameter of fitness. I took 2 days to fully recover from the calf pain. Yesterday was 5 mile run, like a walk in a park. Again i'll aim for the stars tomorrow (25 kms, just over 15 miles) and I am determined to atleast touch the nearest one.

18th of October, Sunday is the day I will be moving south of India. Finally a time for proper good bye will come. I don't know what and how will it be. I can't imagine or predict the scene of platform and parents and near and dear ones. Let us just keep the topic changing here itself for a month more. One thing is for sure, actually realisation of moving into other territory will seep in after December 2015.


I'll end by quoting a dialogue from the movie 'Men of Honor' by Master Chief Billy Sunday

The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero.

Day 1 for an Igniter

Day 1 of  ?? Day 1 of shop floor training. Although I officially became a Mahindra employee on 31st August. But it was induction for few days. Hotel stays and lectures and outdoor runs. As a n engineer you by default have many plant visits, few as long as a week and few as short as 2 hours. Today I was touring and scanning the facilities as an Igniter. Igniter- a name given to Mahindra Rise GETs and PGETs, I am not sure if we would still be an Igniter after confirmation??

Our shopfloor training is 45 days long and I am posted in Kandivali plant for training, later on I will be moving to MRV Chennai (more on that later). I was to reach the plant at 8.45am, being a localite, I wasn't given any accommodation. Kandivali plant from my place is more than 20kms, after lot brain storming and going through pros and cons of all options, I decided to take the rails. Central railways from Mulund to Ghatkopar. Then metro from Ghatkopar to Andheri and then western railways from Andheri to Kandivali. Man, the metro, it was my second metro trip, simply awesome. It was about 7.20am, so no crowd as such and Sun just trying to RISE over the clouds. Reminds me of Mahindra Rise :P . I reached Kandivali in about an hour.

It was suppose to be a great day. All throughout the Engineering and specially the last three years of MTech, I have being waiting to get a chance to go out and prove myself. Climb up the ladder of corporate hierarchy,bring in new innovation and what not. I didn't have any dream company as such, but I wanted an Indian based group.Its a different story about placement, but Mahindra Automotive and Farm Equipment Division. Having visited tractor plant 4 years ago, Nashik plant a year ago and a BAJA member for a short time, it all came together. Finally I am in and a start of new climb. I don't know how far is the summit, what's the climb percentage (slope) and what is required to reach there( this climb analogy comes in due to Tour de France that finished last month).

Its not uncertain if after climb there is a flat or a decent. Slow or fast decent? how many trick corners might be present, who knows. For time being, lets just enjoy the climb and support of the spectators. In Mahindra they have a nice word - 'VUCA' - Volatile, Uncertain, Challenging and Ambiguous world. Let us come back to present. First of all, the routines, like exercise or run helps to start the big day just a regular one. Indeed the day started like any other day, no different. I get down at Kandivali and take an auto. Pretty normal, then bang. An accident, although no major damage done, but a crash went down in the record books. Auto driver had an excellent reason for the reason, his leg wasn't on brake pedal or it slipped off. Finally he dropped off in middle of nowhere and that too wrong street. Thank god for buffer time, things ended well and I reached on time.

Then the welcoming session, lunch etc etc.. We got our safety shoes, almost 30 mins were taken to select the shoe size. It was three pm and no substantial work output was achieved by us. Bang - another major event to end the day. 23 of us were divided in 6 groups to visit different plant units. Ours was transmission unit and a small 15 20 mins session was for gearbox and transmission basics. Currently for some reason or other, I want use name of any Sir or our senior Mahindra Buddies. We were assigned one senior buddy to help us through the basics, phew, the energy level of the buddy and passion to teach left us shocked. We saw the entire transmission assembly step by step. That's not all, after each step we would interrupt and see the importance of previous step. No matter how big or small the step was. Was a particular gear shift fork is designed the way it is and why not the other way was understood. Pokayoke (fool proofing) was seen live in action. Some funny incidents and some serious flaws which exited in previous designs was discussed and how new designs were incorporated. Small but a crucial part was the transmission test bed, less than 2 mins to fully test the transmission. 2 wheel drive or four wheel, it doesn't matter. Overall it was a first deep practical lab session I can say. This was just in 3 hours, more 40 days, each of 8 hours minimum yet to go.

Signing off for now, need to be up and awake early for tomorrow.

Dreams Did came TRUE

An unusual Sunday long run !!

M so excited, writing about running. A quick fitness level update. August just three four 8 km runs, few hill repeats 4 km and few small runs. My year end resolution was to reduce yo 65kg from 70kg, instead I reached 75kg.. Phew, lots of fat.. I am in pune for a week and today was third day. Its full if sweets n carbs n sleep n so 75kg. In august I reached a stage where I had overcame the pain of regrets and so skipping my runs was a cake walk..

I just happy realised that only way to get out is to wake up n go running, sliw but long runsss.. Today was that day, Sunday  - famous for long runs.. There was fuel and fire to run n finally the spark was ignited by new location. Instead if outdirrs I ran indoors in treadmill. Hotel gym :).. Have heard that its easy to run in treadmill n its true. New shoes n natures natural view, I ran 10.5km in an hour. I thought I'll be tired, but no, I was refreshed n hardly exhausted.

Wanted to go on top of those hill, a small one n finally found a company to help me on my way. Man, just 100m n the exhaustion due to previous run swept in. Slow n steady we made it. Perfect beginning for Sunday. Then it was fun filled day all the way. I was expecting to be in kandivali for September n October n new location for training but that is not suppose to be.

Small tough time, almost 4 hour travelling it will be n need to fit my training schedule. More challenging is to get the fitness level back and an unlimited enthu for learning new technology.. Its gonna be Awesome !! I hope I write for next three days the same way as today. My company induction starting tomorrow..

Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do

End of Two Crucial Months

Yesterday was the best day to write this post. The second best day is today. The two crucial months I am referring to is the vacation period just before joining. It was supposed to be filled with running, reading, juggling n self discovery. Well I pretty much scored average in all and didn't clear Japanese language proficiency test N5 (basic level). Currently I am waiting for document verification n joining process of my first full fledged job. It was all exciting yesterday n the emotions would have been visible in the post. But at this moment I am waiting, and I wonder if waiting will ever be exciting. Just amused at how many yeaes in all do we spend waiting. . .So the mood of the blog might be OK OK and to the point.

Let's us brush through the summary of previous 2 months. By July end I was running 10 miles easily n regularly and then came august. Hardly ran for 7 8 days in all and the longest run was just 5 miles. I never was worried about my tummy till today, all thanks to August andmy laziness. Its not just laziness.. Running with mind of meditation explainswhy we loose track of our goalsand how to make a come back. By reading that book I realised I was bring over ambitious and also lost track of my goal and motivation. Will talk about my revised goals latter. Juggling - didn't work a bit and so no improvements. Reading - I finally finished Nelson Mandela's book about long walk to freedom. Ordered half a dozen new books and read a couple of them. Self discovery - I discovered my hidden love for sleep , just joking..

Waiting - that is what this post was all about to be. While travelling too we are waiting for our destination but we call it as travelling time. May whenever or wherever we queue up, we easily classify it as waiting. Its like I am ready to eat but waiting for food to arrive. I am all set and ready to go, but waiting for bus. Had to take a break to get some prints, but still waiting.

One aspect about writing on mobile is that I feel the post is big n too much is written n on seeing it on web it seems small. Hope this is small too..

See you all in post induction post..

Critical Last Month

I am late by 2 3 days, but that is it. Last 4 weeks to go before I go on my first full time professional duty. Another title of this post would have been 'Changes in New Year Resolutions' or 'New Short Term Goals'. Before going further you may read - Start of 2 crucial Months.

12 hours of sleep minimum per day, that is how I can describe best my last month. Made a visit to Pune to meet some of MTech classmates and met my Sister too. Travelling is fun with your Bestie, no matter how short or long it is. So, back to Pune. Wasn't a well planned, rather not a planned one at all. Made some of friends awake till mid night and my Sister too. About Pune, well the homes I visited were Breezy. Climate Cool and shops remain close in noon. For me that was little tough, also public transportation, well it is rarely used by localities. 2 Wheeler dominate the streets. I learnt Bike riding too, better late than never..

Remaining time of the week was spent reading some books, hardly 30 pages a day. At this slow rate I was able to finish just 3 to 4 books, some half, some full. Read couple of books on kindle and sometimes getting a comfortable hold becomes difficult due to the touch screen. Anyway, I read a book 'Power of Habits', it consists of some case studies, some experiments with lots of people and tries to link the theories with real world events like a boycott movement at national level. Have heard a lot that - if you repeat something for 21 days continuously, then it becomes a habit. If you too believe the same, then please read the above book to find out the truth.

Running- there is a book by Bill Hudson (an Olympic athletes coach), Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach, and he talks about adaptive coaching. It consists of 6 7 different types of running drills to be performed for a better performance. It doesn't talk about cross training, nor about gym, it just supports and advise high volume workouts.One simple logic - marathon world record pace is just less than 21 kmph and we all can run faster than that, so why aren't we world record holders. We definitely have speed, but the endurance to carry that speed over longer distance is missing and book talks in depth about the building up that endurance. Additionally it suggests 8 to 10 secs of steep hill sprints to avoid injury and its working for me so far. Finally it talks about self assessment and how to how to plan your workouts.

Currently I am back on canvas shoes, and hope each pair at least lasts for a month or 500 kms, whichever is late. I ran some 10 milers in July. At the end of July, laziness again caught me and I skipped many days of exercise. I hope to go upto 15 miles this month. Then 20 in September and 25 (26.2 miles is Marathon) in October. Although my speed is 10 to 11 mins per mile, very slow, but I wanna focus more on mileage building. Also read about Milind Soman and few others competing in Ironman. Triathlon or Ironman was always on my list, but main focus was ultrathons. So, I searched for triathlons in India and realised that, like marathons, here too there are varying duration and distances and each have its own qualification criteria. I can run and cycle, but not swim (not yet). So the short long term plan is as follows

Jan 2016- Full marathon (already registered)
Till mid- 2017 - run at least one ultrathon (more than 75km run)
2018- One basic or entry level or Olympic distance triathlon.

In 2016, I will be starting and focusing more on swimming and occasional running. Hope the 2016 Marathon goes well. Also I was worried about post marathon depressions, but now I have few targets for next 2 3 years to help me be focused on strength and stamina build up.

To finish off, let me talk about few secondary activities. Gave up on Guitar learning. Lost the motivation and too difficult to start off. Language, I am not sure I will go any ahead with any of them for next few months. Juggling, after 4 ball, I am just not able to go ahead. Five ball juggling seems a long long dream to accomplish. There are 5 to 6 steps to reach upto 5 ball juggling and I am currently struggling with 1st. It is just 15 to 20 mins of practice per day.

Signing off, hope to catch up with you readers once more before the month goes by !!!

B2B - Back to Basics

Back to blogging with mobile. Few things just happen and you get a tppic to discuss about. You just love to write when its related to your new passion. Yhis is a real short account of my running shoes.

It was evening of 16 th December 2013 a day after tour de India cycling event. I was determined to participate in half marathon in Jan 2014 n on 16 DEC I was out shopping for shoes. Like most I wanted to buy a highly cushioned shoes. Bought a good pair n continued with it for a week or two before going for new pair.

This new pair was just an extra addition that I wanted and this new shoes felt good. It was like spring n yet soft and I set good new records. Things were good n I was running about 2 3 kms a day and then came by birthday. My Bestie gifted me a book Born to Run and it is famous for turning half of running population to barefoot running and I was no exception. Going direct barefoot ain't good given the condition of roads. So I went for canvas shoes that has minimum cushioning and wears off quickly and making your running close to barefoot.

I ran my 10.5km qualifying in June 2014 with same shoes. Bought a couple of more n used then in my first half marathon. Training continued with the 2 new sets. I increased my running volume last month. Thanks to few books, apart from volume, I have mixed up different running speeds in my cycle. Things were and still are good. After shoes I finalised few shorts to be used. Now I no more run in cotton t-shirts. Normal water is what serves up my purpose of hydration. ( used glucon D in summers n doesn't make much difference). Was planning to go more modern on running and then my shoes called me back to basics. Around 30 to 40 miles of week was enough to wear off my shoes till the end. I started with canvas since it has thin sole and wears off quickly. This is precisely the reason now I will be moving away from them.

Old shoes are back on and next few weeks I'll finalise my pair. Right pair is necessary for smooth transition. 10miles a day and new shoes could easily derail me. Just 6 months to go for full marathon and so can't reduce my mileage. Just hope for the best. Also thanks to Mahindra n Mahindra for keeping me in Mumbai till October. By October I wish to build up stamina to take me all the way to 42 kms within 4 hours. Then the so called sharpening period will start where I would like to increase my speed n build up a aerobic and mental support system to carry me upto 50 kms minimum.

Start of 2 Crucial Months

     It is already passed midnight, meaning it is 18th of June today. I am having my final MTech Project presentation and couple of hour of work yet to be done on the PPT. Culmination of thoughts since a month, watching past marathon races on youtube and finally TVF - Pitchers - 'Tu Beer Hai' gave me the push required to write down this post.


Three Categories

1. What I wanted/wished for myself (3/5 years ago)
2. What I really want for myself to get to my post ten year future image
3. What is being forced on to me due to reading books and peer pressure

     Need to fill in the contents in the above three categories. Never really thought of breaking down my bigger Image or goal into small steps. Next two months is the Perfect Time. Okay, so what's with this next two months, when do they exactly start from. Calculations are based on slight assumption that I will have my Job joining post 19th August. As mentioned earlier, my MTech Presentation will be over today and then only small work remains to be done. So, I won't be having any major academic work to be undertaken. So from this weekend to mid August I have approx two months of stay in Mumbai. My first of many overseas (outside Mumbai) assignment will be starting at the end of this period. My visits to college will be reduced to once or twice a week. In short, I am free free free !!!

     It will be good if I can figure out my role in the company much early and equally important to identify its role in my life. I'll be reading loads (minimum 6) of books and writing quite a few blog posts too. I wanted to write something else too but somehow I don't recall it. Anyway, let me ended it here. One of my rear posts since December of 2013 that I am not mentioning my favorite activity !!!

Rise or Perish