Run Fatboy Run !!!!!!

"Running is equivalent to meditation !!!!!"
Have any of you heard this above statement ??? This is in fact true in my case.

How do you define meditation?
According to me meditation is something where you live in the present moment, not worrying about the past or the future and simultaneously keeping your mind at peace. To achieve this concept of  living in the present, meditation involves concentrating on each and every breath inhaled and exhaled. And finally the awareness and feeling of each and every part of the body.

For me running is everything the above definition states and more. While running your whole concentration is on moving the body forward one step at a time, taking deep breaths of air in order to fuel that motion, feeling each and every part of the body, especially via the sensation of pain which makes you live at the present moment. This is of-course somewhat different from a traditional sense of meditation. Its like trying to find peace in midst of absolute chaos. There is literally no scope to get distracted with any other thoughts creeping regarding the past or the future. In other words the mind is totally void of any unnecessary thoughts, in short a calm and peaceful mind.

It has been nearly 5 years since I started running. So it was high time I ranted something in favor of it :P.  It was more of a necessity back then and this necessity was triggered by a lifestyle of just working for 7 months in the corporate world. 7 months of corporate world and my triglyceride level was 171 mg/dL, which exceeded the normal value in unison with its other cholesterol cousins. So what solution comes to my mind???? RUNNING OF-COURSE and in one of the most unlikely places to do it. Initially was running within my house, up-down in the terrace and so on. I was way too shy to run on the streets or scared of  being chased by dogs because I didn't want to end up as an object of ridicule to someone , since I couldn't run for more than a couple of minutes altogether.

The first month was the toughest. You could not run for more than 5 mins, hence the motivation was low , and on top of that there were pains at all the unimaginable places post the run. But something kept on inspiring me to keep on running and surprisingly I did. Gradually over a period of time I started to become better and better. And when someone starts to improve in something there is a constant urge to keep on bettering that. Finally I had a sustainable motivation which has been driving me for the past 5 years. It does surprise me when I reach a goal which I thought to be impossible a year back.... bringing out the fact that with necessary dedication anything is possible with the human body and more importantly the human mind.

The first official run I took part was in the Sunfeast Bangalore 10K 2010 , clocking a time of 59:57 mins. The subsequent year it was 55:40. Of late my official fastest time in 10K is 52:40 min and my BHAG for this year (Big-Hairy-Audacious-Goal!!!!) is a timing of under 45 mins. Hopefully would be able to do that in TCS Bangalore 10K on May 19. Keeping my fingers crossed. Apart from the countless 10K's I have run , I have run only 1 half-marathon (2:18:26 hrs) and 1 full-marathon(5:29:05 hrs). The later 2 were done in quick successions in order to strike out an entry in my bucket list :P. Moving on I plan to concentrate only on 10K's and half marathons, bettering my personal records. Eventhough I dont have plans of running full marathons frequently, considering that it takes a toll on the legs and the overall physical well being, pushing the body to the extremes, I do plan to run that distance for some special occasions like my bada-BHAG (Biggest-Hairiest-Audacious-Goal !!!!) of becoming an Ironman triathlete :) (3.9 km swim, 180 km cycling, 42.2 km run to be done within 17hrs ), hopefully would be one before I turn 40 :P.

Another reason for taking up running is that now I eat whatever I want -totally bindass. No Dieting, Not bothering abt calories-  running pretty much compensates everything. It might be because of the same reason that I have not lost weight in the past 3 years and have the perfect weight for my height. Neither less nor more :). And this is one the cheapest sports out there, just slip into your favorite sneakers and run your heart out on the endless roads, churning out mile after mile. If there is one sport which signifies freedom, running would surely be at the top of that list :). Freedom from capitalist society with minimal or no gear required, freedom from dependence on an other individual, freedom from time of the run, freedom from competing with other individual (everyone is running their own races) which leads to freedom from worries, strategy and probably backstabbing  and finally freedom from unnecessary thoughts.

But apart from the good side there is an ugly side to running too. Run very frequently without a break and you end up with a busted knee. So I do keep in mind not to run more than twice in a week. Further I plan to participate in just 2-3 events in a year so that they are distributed over the entire year and providing sufficient motivation to train in sun, rain or cold.  And in order to supplement my running i have taken up cycling, kickboxing and planning to be a regular swimmer too :). So in short I can be termed as a pakka fitness freak :P.

So end of the day what is my present triglyceride count? which started it all in the first place.... it has come down to 94 mg/dL :).

"Pain is just temporary, Victory is forever !!!!!"

P.S.-->The title is shamelessly hijacked from a movie of a same name starring Simon Pegg, where his character runs a full marathon. A rather hilarious take on it :).

Image Courtesy: Navy Running.

A Coastal Sojourn: Drive, Dive and Run !!!!!

"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF"(Darth Vader Style) "GURGGGGGLE"!!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!
"KKKKOOOFFFFFFF" "GURGGGGGLE"  !!!!!

This is pretty much the only thing you hear while Scuba Diving.
 "हर एक सांस  का एहसास" (u get to feel every breath) gushes the beautiful Katrina Kaif in 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara'. And for once I do agree with what they say in movies. You become aware of every breath you take, sucking in air through a tube and releasing it in form of millions of bubbles, which is pretty much the only thing that is keeping you alive. And the views you get to see is just "WOAAAHHH!!!!", its much-much better experiencing it than what is shown in the idiot box by the channels like Discovery and NGC. A must-try for the adventure loving people. Became such a huge fan of this sport that even planning to become a certified diver sometime next year :).

Group Shot

With a free weekend and Raghu's marriage falling on the same we decided to go for a trip. Shashi had prior plans of running 10K @ Nitte-Mangalore Marathon, hence resulting in combining all the individual events into a grand plan of ours. First was to attend wedding @Sirsi, Second was to go for Scuba Diving @Netrani Island and third was to participate in the 10K run @ Mlore. Got myself registered for the 10K run, reason being to give company to Shashi in particular and for my love of running in general :). Contacted Dreamz Diving Centre  and booked our slots for Saturday (23 Feb 2012), with the fee being 4.5k/head. Since this island is a restricted island one has to get permission from the Navy beforehand itself which is part of the diving package.

5 of us(Vineeth, Manju,Harsha, Shashi and Myself) left Bangalore on 22 Feb @ an unearthly hour of 4.15 am in Shashi's brand new Chevy Sail hatchback. Since the car was new it couldn't be driven at speeds exceeding 90kmph and this tested our patience when driving in the 4 laned Pune highway.  So much so that I was eager to get off the Golden Quadrilateral and ride in the 2 laned state highways, which was much more fun at these speeds. We got into a State highway near Harihara and from there it was smooth drive till Sirsi. We reached just in time to attend the marriage, enjoyed a sumptuous lunch and it was time to drive all the way to Murudeshwara in a highway kissing the coastline. Reached the place by dusk booked a room in a secluded place called 'Sea Side View Resort'. Roamed around Murudehswar for the rest of evening, chilling out.

Netrani Island

Got up pretty late next day since we had to report to the dive centre only by 9am. After reaching the venue on time we got to know that "9am" was the time mentioned only so that people make an effort to come early. One by one everyone of the 19 people registered for the "Discover Scuba Diving" program showed up and we started to our destination only by 10.30 am. The 1.5 hrs boat ride to Netrani Island which is 18kms from the coast is pretty boring, with nothing much to do. But one of the Hungarian dive instructor gave an introductory talk about underwater sign languages, the gear, adjusting body to the depth etc during this time, but unfortunately that lasted only for about 30 mins. Reached the totally desolate Netrani Island , a small hillock in middle of nowhere. In fact this island is used by the Navy for target practice, and hence taking their permission is an absolute necessity. The sun was bright and up , the water was still,clear and dark aqua green, hence making it an ideal condition for diving. Eventhough the water was not totally transparent as in Lakshadweep (within the lagoons), this would do for our first diving session without having to travel great distances.

Plan was dive to a maximum depth of 12m(40ft) and the duration of the dive being around 40 mins. Each novice diver is accompanied by an expert diver and one doesn't need to know swimming for this program, with the buoyancy control inbuilt in the diver's jacket making one float effortlessly at a particular depth. For obvious reasons everyone cant dive at the same time since there are only around 5 expert divers, the others were left to do snorkeling which looks like a big joke after scuba diving :D. They called for the first 3 divers and it was vineeth, shashi and myself volunteering within no time. Then started the gearing up process. Couple of fins connected to the legs, a compressed air cylinder in the back with a nozzle to the mouth, a dive mask over the face and a 20kg lead weight belt to the waist. They asked me to get up and sit on the side platform of the boat and to my utter surprise I couldnt even stand up in my first attempt due to all that weight. Finally was able to and then comes the scary part, with the tank facing water and feet inside the boat, they flip the body upside down so that the tank enters the water first. Supposedly a standard diving procedure to avoid the tank weight falling on top of the diver.

The first few minutes my instructor tried to familiarize me with breathing, clearing the face mask, adjusting the ear pressure as we went down and so on. Once I understood everything it was time to dive. Was initially a bit scared and this resulted in some heavy breathing which snowballed into me thinking that enough air is not getting pumped through the pipe :P. Call it the paradox of fear :D. But after some time got to know the problem, tried to relax and after that it was a smooth ride. Every time we dived couple of meters the ear would pain and I would have to adjust the pressure by just popping the nose :P. Then the beauty of this place started to emerge. Thousands of the fishes swimming here and there , in so many bright colors.

I never expected to see such huge schools of fishes anywhere near to the mainland. Every now and then there would be fish floating just in front of my eyes, blue, green, orange with violet stripes, brown, translucent ....pretty much an endless list with sizes varying from minuscule 0.5 inch to around 3 feet. Felt altogether in a different world, where one is totally weightless and there is no effort to keep oneself afloat. And when one looks up towards the water surface, one is easily spellbound by the rays getting refracted through the water and giving various different light patterns . Was able to descend to the max possible depth of 40ft without any problems, giving a thumbs up for any future options :).

After scuba diving session tried to do some snorkeling and by then it was time to return back. This was followed by yet another boring ride. Reached the coast at around 5 pm and it was time to leave for Mangalore for the final leg. Reached Mangalore at around 8pm and went directly to Hotel Pentagon off Pumpwell circle to collect the BIB and timing chip. From here we went to have our dinner @ Mainland China nearby, thnks to a treat by Shashi. All of us were in shorts, especially me in extra short swim-shorts , attracting stares from a lot of beautiful girls :D. Kinda felt like a girl wearing a mini skirt and getting stares from guys :D :D.  Went to Hotel Woodside @ Balmatta Road and it was time to call it a day.

Me and Shashi got up early @ 5.45 am to reach the 10K run destination @ Mangala Stadium. We were just in time and sharp @ 6.40 we were flagged off. Majority of the route was through concrete roads which took bit of a toll on my legs. But the major turnoff running in this marathon is that traffic is not stopped enroute. So that leaves runners nowhere else to run but along with buses, 2 wheelers zig-zaging through traffic. I was like "WTF!!!!!" .Humidity was another factor which took some time getting used to. Apart from that the route had a lot of gradients to be negotiated, making it a pretty tough track. Finally when I was just 100 m from the finish like as per my norms I started sprinting really fast, and this was suddenly cheered by a huge crowd comprising majorly of pretty girls from some local engineering college and this further fueled my final push and I completed my run in 52 min 40 secs, my best 10k finish time. When I say my GPS reading I was really shocked seeing that the last 100m I had clocked a speed of 21.1 kmph :D, my fastest marathon finish ever and u know what some cheering from pretty girls can do :D.

Just before leaving M'lore we had a feast of sorts @ Pabba's supposedly the place for best ice-cream in Karnataka. The return drive was eventless and we reached Bangalore at around 5 pm. Looks like I have one more hobby to be interested in, but to become a certified diver I have to become an expert swimmer, which I am not at the present moment, therefore starting towards my new goal. So that I can dive at any location across the world, with the options being endless :).

Underwater Photo's Courtesy: Dreamz Diving


Official Run Timing:

Overall Rank	Bib	Name	Category	Category Rank	Split @6.5	Net Time / Gross Time
55/160	2052	NITHIN ULIYAR	OPEN	46/126	00:34:02	00:52:40 / 00:52:48

Route Map:


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"TvaRun": The IIM-B Community Run

Tvarun means acceleration in sanskrit language and this was the name given to the first edition of the annual IIM-B run with participants varying from alumni, students, professors and kids of any of these. Kind-off a IIM-B family get-together. All the participants were called to assemble at exactly  6.45 am on a lazy and a chilly Sunday morning of 17 Feb 2013. Since running 10k was part of my regular training regime didnt do anything special for this race. The 10k run started at exactly 7 am and so we started running through the awesome shade filled streets of IIM-B.  There were close to a 100 participants for the 10k run. The sun was pretty much out in glory but couldnt penetrate the thick foliage. Within the first 100m of the race the groups were formed with me part of the leading group. Shocking !!!!! In any of the marathons I have run so far I have never been a part of the leading group , let alone 3rd place :). I was running with a constant pace of around 12kmph , my usual speed for my weekly runs for the first 2.5km. 

But as soon as I crossed the 3km mark my speed dropped to 11kmph and then to 10kmph and then I was overtaken by a lot of people. Really a lot of runners with the number being 10 :(. Since there were no timing chips the organizers had come up with a unique concept of collecting colored rubber-bands at strategic places, which somehow felt like taking part in some competition in school :). Enjoyed that part too. Anyway finished the race strong with a final sprint and with my career best timing of around 53 mins for 10k. Not bad, even though I couldnt even make it to the top 10 finishers. But having seen the competition have a new goal of having a podium finish sometime soon, since non of the competitors are professional athletes and neither am I :).

Photo Courtesy : IIM-B Volunteers

Update Oct 2, 2014

Finished 7th after a last minute nail biting overtaking of an exchange student :)

KP a.k.a. Pushpagiri Reversed & Reloaded

With so many treks yet to be explored in India, especially the southern part of it which can be accessed over the weekend, I never imagined having a repeat trek within a span of 2.5 years. But many things fell into place and I was going for my second attempt of Kumaraparvatha peak. But atleast some of the factors where different this time around (1st KP trek)
1. It was a winter trek against the monsoon trek the previous time.
2. Trek path was reversed. This time it was Kukke to Somvarpet.
 

Initial Climb From Kukke

With a free weekend and SK insisting on his first trek to KP, we finally decided the destination. Booked the onward journey tickets for 5 of us (Shashi(also on his 2nd KP trek), SK, Ashwin, Praveen and Myself.) for the 11th Jan 9.30 pm Rajahamsa bus leaving to Kukke Subramanya. Since we had decided quite late, we were to adorn the last few rows of the bus, which resulted in disturbed sleep later on as the bus negotiated the ghats. Reached Kukke @ 4.50am which was shocking since even the KSRTC website predicts reaching the destination no sooner than 5.30am , that too after leaving Blore late due to the festival rush and the long weekend.

All the 3 peaks in 1 shot

Bhattara Mane

With not even a hint of sunrise anytime soon, we roamed around and found that Neo Mysore Cafe was already opened and serving at this unearthly hour. We were the first batch of customers to have breakfast for the day (idli's and uppittu) and we left the town at around 5.30 am to traverse the 1.5kms of tarred roads to the beginning of the trail, expecting we might have some light by the time we reach it. With the first signs of sunlight we hit the trail at around 6.15am and hence started the trek. Surprisingly there were close to 4 other groups beginning the trek along with us and later on we got to know that close to 70 people were attempting it from Kukke side on the same day !!!!!!!!. But thankfully only a third of that figure reached the peak for camping.

Early morning trekking has its own charm. A dead calm forest suddenly springs into life within the first rays of sunlight. Birds, insects and what not chirping away to glory. Was a very soothing music to the ears :). Since this time around there was no monsoons, didn't encounter even a single leech for the entire duration of the trek. The plan for this day was to reach Bhattara mane for lunch(@ around 11am) and reach peak by  5.30 pm. But things were to be moved beyond expectations for the next 2 days. We covered the first 6 kms of the trek through the dense jungle and 1km of grasslands and reached Bhattara Mane's house at exactly 9am :P. Just before reaching Bhattara mane one gets to witness all the 3 prominent peaks one has to conquer(the first unknown peak, Sheshaparavatha and finally KP) .We were not sure at what time lunch would be served since we didn't want to loose time loitering around this place. The next section would be through sun baked grasslands and Ashwin had some difficulties in the climb. But surprisingly they informed us that it would be ready @9.45am :P. Hence it was a no-brainer and we had some awesome spiced buttermilk followed by the simple lunch of rice, sambhar and pickle (80/head).

Kallu Mantapa

 

50-50

Left the place at around 10.30 , moved towards the forest check-post , joined along with a IISc group of 3 in order to bring down the costs (they issued entry receipt for 5 people for a grp of 8 with 200/head). From here starts the most challenging part of the trek, in fact the only challenging part. Open grasslands , with no shade and steep gradients, one has to conquer 2 peaks before attempting the final peak of KP. Here the progress was slow. In these grasslands the only watering point available is @Kallu Mantapa which is almost 2.5-3kms from Bhatta's house. Reached the place, rested in the shade of the mantap, refilled our bottles and it was time to move on. Many first timers easily get decepted into believing that the first peak is the final destination of KP. With the other 2 peaks  invisible they see that peak as the highest in the vicinity. Once we climb up our first "false" peak one gets to view the awesome drops from the sides of Sheshaparvatha. Close of 1000 ft vertical drops !!!!!! . Also from the 2nd peak there is stone projecting into the oblivion, where I had got a snap taken. Even after 2.5 yrs I still hadn't got the guts to sit on the edge of the rock , but Shashi was so interested to have a snap taken sitting on the edge. This was not surprising since his mobile wallpaper is of a person sitting on the edge of Preikestolen in Norway and he looked desperate to replace that with his own snap :P.

Preikestolen ????!!!!!

After it was a descent into dense forest followed by a flat steep rock face. The place where we had struggled to descent during the monsoons. But now it was not much of a challenge. From here it was 200m climb to the top and we reached the place in around 3.15pm, taking close to 9hrs. Got a sweet cozy spot , covered by vegetation in 2 directions and rested in the shade for the next 2 hrs. At around 5 we pitched our tents and it was time for some sunset views. I was expecting some good views this time around since the sky was super clear. But unfortunately the sunset (as well as the sunrise) was blocked by a layer of clouds in the horizon. Hence we didn't get the perfect sunset and even-then it was decent. Returned back to our camps, started the fire to cook our dinner of noodles. By nightfall the temperature had dipped and we were to witness a star studded night sky. Were inside our tents by 8pm.

Tents Being Erected

By night a huge group came and camped next to our tents. They were without tents or sleeping bags and entire night was filled by their shouting, singing and noise. Even-though this was disturbing to our cozy sleep inside the warm tents with our sleeping bags on, somehow I didn't get angry with them.... I understood their pain of camping in the open in the peak of winter. Next day was woken up @ 6.10 am by Praveen to catch the sunrise. It was freezing outside with considerable wind chill. Braving the cold with just the shorts and a sweat-jacket went outside to catch the sunrise. But sadly the horizon was blocked by a layer of clouds and the sunrise we witnessed was decent but not spectacular. Somehow I felt the views we got during the monsoons was miles ahead of what we were getting in winter.

Sunset

Just before Sunrise- with Venus

Packed the tents @ around 7.30am and it was time to descend via the Somvarpet side. Since we wanted to catch the 2.30pm Somvarpet to Blore Volvo we decided to leave this early. Directly entered the forests and descent was event-less apart from the 3 steep rock faces, but it being dry our shoes were able to get maximum grip and we were able to descent almost walking down vertically. We covered the 7 kms to Bidahalli APC in around 2 hrs, much earlier than we had anticipated. There was no one @APC at this time, hence we waited for some time (Gangnam Style dancing :P) before the forest guards arrived. We booked a jeep which would come all the way from Somvarpet and meanwhile we booked the 2.30 pm volvo bus tickets. Since we had close to 1hr to kill we went to the rivulet near the APC , had a bath in the freezing waters of the forest. SK had a fall into water with all his gear and luggage , this was after he got overconfident crossing a severely dilapidated hanging bridge, much to the shock of forest guards who said it was under maintenance :P. The jeep arrived and it was stuffed with 11 trekkers, 1 driver and 1 forest officer. The driver charges 1200 for 10 people and anything above it is extra.

Reached Somvarpet and the driver recommended Hotel Surabhi, which was bad according to my tastes. Spent close to 1.5 hrs in the bus stand and at 2.30 the Volvo bus arrived. This bus was facing some technical difficulties hence the drive was slow. Reached Blore at around 8pm and I directly took a bus to my home at Kengeri. Overall I felt it was more thrilling to trek to KP in monsoons for better views, less crowd and leech infested pathways(the absence of which u feel something is amiss :P )

Group Snap

Trek Details:

Trek Distance->   21kms (Kukke->Bhattara Mane/Forect Check Post(7km)- Kallu Mantap(10km)- Peak(14km)- Bidahalli APC(21km))
Total Cost Per Person -> 1.6 K
Bhatru Mane Contact No -> 9448647947/9480230191 (Got to book food or accommodation in advance)
Bidahalli Jeep Driver No -> 9449332006

Snaps Link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/117615192470834757069/KP20#

Siddarabetta TreK : An Abode of Caves, Hermits and Temples

Sept 2011: The last bike tour I had , to one of the best biking destinations in India....LADAKH !!!!!!!!
Now after a 15 month gap got an opportunity to go for yet another bike trip and this gap might seem endless for a regular biker. But that's the way it is. End of the day I was content that I was able to have atleast one bike trip for the year 2012.

Initial Climb

On a lazy and chilly sunday morning of Dec 23 morning, 3 of us (SK, Shashi and Myself) decided for a bike ride, a short trek and cave exploration. Regrouped with everyone at the Nice Road-Tumkur road junction and it was smooth ride on this NH4. Had a breakfast stopover at Kamath near Dobbaspet and were mildly surprised by around 100 high end bikes parked in front of the hotel. "Woah!!!! did I miss something???, 15 months of temp retirement and the biker population has shot up". But not surprisingly it was a bikers meet, hence the concentration of bikes of all ages and power. Spotted a gorgeous Yamaha RD 350, among the gleaming bikes.

A water source inside the caves.

Negotiating a difficult section

After Dobbaspet it was a diversion towards Koratgere and this 2 lane road had a love and hate relation with us. At many places it was smooth, with awesome curves , a delight for bikers , but on the other hand it was potholed beyond imagination. Reached Koratgere and soon after exiting the town we get the final left deviation towards Siddarabetta. This part was recently tarred, hence no comments :). Reached the base of the hill, parked our bikes and started the trek along these pilgrim frequented route. Also note that many localites near the base advice not to wear footwear, but no one will stop you and near the top there is a shoe stand just before entering the temple.

The trek directly came to business, with continuous steps we started to sweat within no time. The normal pilgrims had a tough time climbing up. But just when you start to think that this is getting interesting the trek leads to the entrance of the temple. Time taken is just under 1 hr to reach this spot. Left our shoes at the shoe stand and it was time for some cave exploration. Seeing us no one would assume us to be pilgrims and within no time a guide offered to take us for cave exploration. Hence off we started. The cave exploration was quite adventurous, crawling in total darkness, bending our body so as to squeeze ourselves through a narrow opening. At some places it was difficult to negotiate the huge boulders, getting down using 2 parallel adjacent boulders for support :P. Also the guide showed some spots frequented by hermits @ night. These places were so difficult to crawl into , but on the other hand provided absolute silence and void of any sunlight. A perfect meditating spot I suppose. But one thing what surprised is that there are no signs of any creepy crawlies inside this damp place, not even bats.... interesting.

Group Snap

From the temple it was a 20 min climb to the top of the hill and in process we got lost. But we ended in a very good spot hence just rested in this place for some time, reached the top which had a pretty good view of boulder filled mountains everywhere and it was time to return back. Since I am a big time sucker for quick downhill climbs we climbed down from the top within 30 mins. Took the bikes, taking the same route we came in and reached home at around 4pm.

Trek Details --->
Total Trek Distance--> 3 + 3 km
Difficulty Level --->Easy
Total Cost Per Head -->750
Trip 'O' Meter ---> 230 km

View from the top

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