Saturday, August 30, 2008

Team Asha in GKVK.

Hi Folks,

Here is my first post! Team Asha in Bangalore is doing great. We have a committed group of runners communicating through various means, training at various corners of Bangalore, Chennai and the rest of the world!

There have been a ragged bunch of us who have been meeting up every weekend and have been going through a training schedule. The Marathoners and Half-marathoners have reached the Half-way point this week! I am really inspired by our wonderful team! No frills, no cribs, just pure fun :)

We did the Half marathon distance (marathoners) and the 10K (Half marathoners) at GKVK, the closet to trails you can get in Bangalore. Its a really nice scenic location. This is an Agricultural University on NH 7 on the way to the New airport/ Hyderabad, just after the Hebbal flyover.

The run was amazing and even when the sun came out in all its glory, our team didn't let go! We had some wonderful fruits, biscuits and electrolyte drinks after the run. Thanks to my patient mom, the neatly cut juicy watermelon was just amazing! Hmm...hope all the 'no shows' are watching - you are missing a lot of good food, company and parties!

The other highlight of the run was our newly adopted unofficial mascot - GikkuVikku, who ran the complete half marathon with no training! He was enthusiastic and showed us all the knooks and corners of the GKVK trails. Unfortunately, he has a busy life and mentioned that he will be available as only the GKVK tour guide. Don't forget to say hello to him when you go to GKVK again. To know more about him contact Divya or see the photos :)

We took a few snaps on the run. I don't think I got a photo of every person. This is just what I got in the second loop. I will make sure I get a photo of everyone the next time - there are lot more runs to go :)

Photos from GKVK runs

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Conversations on a Run

Date of the run: 09-Aug-2008
Distance: ~10K


Comfortably Numb, being the coach, has to come up with new/unique ways to keep us motivated during the run. Since he feels that it is "all in the mind" and due to some "mind-distance" correlation (half of us have unfortunately forgotten most of that half an hour lecture) Santhosh decided to ensure that a steady stream of conversation is always flowing.
So with Siva (Athreya) pitching in actively and some of us getting in a word or two, we had a very "enlightening" discussion :)


For no particular reason we managed to discuss about:

1. Dogs [ Santhosh's pet topic - this was more of a monologue than a discussion ]
- Why dogs bite/bark
- Frequency of the bite/bark
- Pack mentality of dogs vs docile behavior when alone
- Santhosh's pet dog in college
- Whether a stray dog's bite is better than a pet dog's bite and the probability of its occurrence

Conclusion: Dogs bite due to "seasonal" reasons (Manohar's contribution) and due to "scientific" reasons (Santhosh's contribution) .

2. Weird Specimens at meditation camps (Siva's experiences with one such specimen who did all of the following)
- Going to meditation camps to "experiment"
- Controlling the "oracle" through meditation (or was the inability to control it?)
- Tantric/Pranic healing by looking at photos of people


3. BJP, Sri Sri Ravishankar and an existing proposal to attract "moderate Hindus" by cleaning Ganga


Oh...and the most importantly, after the run, I managed to get my first traffic rule violation ticket and actually met a police cop who I think was subtly asking for a bribe. And as always I am totally kicked about this new experience :P