2009 update & Vineman August 1, 2009

(Photograph by - Rashmi)

It took a reminder from Stan for me to get started on my race report for Vineman 2009.

First order of business is to congratulate my friends on their accomplishments:
Big congrats to our first time Vineman (Iron distance race) Finishers.
Doug Obester, Abhijit Karmarkar, Nick French & Karen Bonnett – Welcome to the club!

Relay teams for the Vineman
Chandramouli “Mouli” Balasubramanian (swim) and Anil Rao (Bike & Run) – Anil is now just a short swim away from an Ironman race finish.
Tandy Chouljian (swim), Kevin Sorensen (bike) & Tony Fong (run) – they won their age group.

Manisha Ghosh, Som Ghosh and Stan Ho also participated but had to stop due to bike issues (Manisha/Som) and severe GI issues for Stan (his race report). They really toiled hard but at times mechanical issues and stomach melt-downs are beyond our control. Stan has continued training and has his mind set on his big race in November “The Silverman” Triathlon. Best of luck to him.

Congrats to my sister, Nandini - she started running this year and has finished 2 half marathons in Chicago! Way to go Dini!

100 mile and over 100 mile runs:
Anu Singh joined the elite group of 100 mile run finishers – Rajeev Patel accompanied her and finished his nth century race
Rajeev Patel ran an incredible 186 miles of a 250 mile Thames Ring race in the UK
Anush Elangovan for his Mt Denali expedition.

Further congrats to the Next Generation of athletes – Manisha’s son Samir (age 13) swam the Catfish 2.4 mile swim without a wetsuit and finished in 1:55, Som’s 10 year old daughter Shewli swam the Alcatraz swim and dedicated her swim to breast cancer survivors! (Her Blog) Anu Singh’s son Nishad ran 25 miles with Anu as her pacer during her 100 mile run…all incredible and budding athletes.

Tandy, Doug and I participated in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon, we had a wonderful time on a perfect day in beautiful San Francisco. The swim was different from the 4 prior crossings I’ve done – as there were 1000+ swimmers jumping off the San Francisco Belle. A few weeks before the race Doug & Tandy invited me to join them on a trial swim – the 3 of us swam with the Race Director guiding us through the sighting process and coaching us on the areas to avoid during the swim. It was beautiful and one just cannot help but stop and gawk at the city of San Francisco from the water. It looks so beautiful with the Golden Gate bridge to your right and the Bay Bridge to your left and the cold bay water surrounding you in a protective embrace (Yeah right!! The last bit was just a bit much!).


(Photograph by - Vinod)

Now on to August 1st and the Vineman – the drive in on Friday was PAINFUL! The traffic was just UN-BEE-LEE-VA-BAL! Anil, Renuka and I drove up together. After getting there we registered, met Tony, Doug, Tandy, Abhijit, Stan, Manisha and Som. Checked into our rooms and headed for dinner. Tony, Karen and Kevin could not join us but the rest of us has a super time at dinner and we headed back to the hotel for an early night.


(Dinner)


(Post dinner pix - showing off our race band)


Race morning was fantastic – it was cool with some mist hanging low over the water and some fog rolling in. Met Kevin, he was pumped and ready for his promised 5 hour ride! After the body marking was done I headed off to catch my swim wave. The swim was crowded and shallow. The turnaround point was so shallow that I had to stand up as my hands were scraping the bottom.



After a quick change I was on my bike – Abhijit was right there with me we rode out together and then I decided to make use of the lovely weather and took off. About 10 miles into the race I hear a booming “GO Raj – turn those legs arooound”...Kevin zooms by me beaming...he was like a speeding freight train – I felt I was standing still! Wow! He was flying. I went on and around mile 35-40 I felt some pain around my right knee...expecting it to go away I pushed on and unfortunately by the time I reached the half way point the knee was hurting pretty badly. Tandy was waiting at the 56 mile special needs station, cheering us on. Nick was there too – he was feeling good and we chatted a bit as I tried to stretch. After borrowing some sun block from him we both took off.


(Special needs - mile 56 - with Nick- pix by Tandy)

By mile 70 I could not get into the big gears at all – the knee was really hurting...I was spinning in the easy gears and dreaded the thought of having 40 more miles of spinning to do! Man was that boring as hell...Doug flew by me and cheered me on – he was looking really good. Around mile 85 Anil and Abhijit caught up with me and we rode for a while – I stopped to stretch and I lost both of them as they powered on. After what seemed like an eternity (it was my slowest bike time EVER) I got to the transition – switched into my running gear and took off (well limped off) and I saw Tony swinging back on his second lap. (Tandy swam a 1:22 swim, Kevin took 5:09 and Tony eventually ran a 3:01 marathon – A 9:40:24 finish!)


(Kevin and Tandy)


(Tony finishing)

After cheering Tony on I saw Stan walking...WALKING! Now Stan does not walk, I stopped and asked him if all was well. He seemed to be in really bad shape, said he could not hold anything down and was really cramping. I told him to hang on and gave him a salt tablet and some water, he promptly spat it out (or threw it up). Stan said he would walk from aid station to aid station and see if he could make it, but he was in a pretty bad shape. He carried on and Abhijit and I ran on for a bit. I was power walking at this stage and Anil soon caught up. Doug was in fine form as he ran through for a super finish. As we jogged/walked through the finish of the second lap Anil said "come on we can go under 15 hours if you jog a bit faster from here on out". So off I went trying to keep up with him. Vinod, Rush, Renuka, Gurpreet, Krishna, Deepu, Chakri, Mouli, Tandy were all out there cheering us on. Arul who was a race volunteer was marshalling the mile one section which also was the last point before the finish – he was AWESOME in cheering and being out there for over 6 hours!

After a 5 hour 18 min Marathon I was done – my finish time was 14:43:01 (Swim - 1:24:09, T1 - 00:07:17, Bike 7:46:46 (ugh!), T2 -00:06:33 Run 5:18:15)


(Abhijit, Tandy, Doug and Rajeev - Finishers medals and smiles)

Weather was perfect – but the knee was not :-) All in all a great weekend spent with lovely people doing what we all enjoy.


Up coming races:
Chicago Marathon October 11, 2009
Dallas Marathon December 13, 2009
Big Sur Marathon April 25, 2010

Sept 14th Anil, Padma, Anush and I were invited on the Radio Show "The Indian Angle" The link is here for those with an hour to kill. Only sound no video:
The link


After the radio show (Anil, Anush, Rajeev, Padma & Shachi)

2008 update

Finally a recap of 2008 and an update to my long dormant blog.

Team Asha had another great year, record number of runners and funds raised. Malati Gadgil qualified for Boston Marathon, making her the first woman to qualify from the SV marathon chapter – Congrats Malati!! A big thank you to Gurpreet, Ram and the entire Asha coordination team – they really put on a super show.

Update on events participated in by some of my friends:
Rajeev Patel: Completed 2 more 100 mile races and many 50-60 mile runs. He also was the Race Director for the Ruth Anderson ultra races in San Francisco.
Alan Geraldi: Apart from running 20+ miles to work – he finished the BadWater Ultra marathon (135 miles).
Padma: Finished 2 Half Ironman races.
Vinod Herur: Qualified for Boston Marathon.
Doug & Chandramouli: Finished their first Half Ironman – Big Kahuna, Santacruz, CA.
Stan, Abhijit, Tandy, Doug & I participated in triathlons in Auburn, CA.

6 races and a bit of travelling in 2008, also the first year I did two ironman races.

Races completed in 2008:


Total Race miles in 2008: 474.2 miles

A bunch of us also backpacked through the gorgeous Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite Valley, CA. A wonderful 3 day trip.

2008 saw us go Boston (last visit was in 1989), Gwalior - India (visit after 25 years), Chicago twice, Seattle & Eastern Washington State (Grand Coulee)

2009 – update:
Decided to skip the Napa Marathon this year – just not ready or motivated for it. I reduced my training to the minimum (1-2 short runs a week) after Chicago marathon in October…In January I managed to put together a few runs and signed up for the KP San Francisco Half Marathon on Feb 1st. We got there late and had to run almost a mile to the start! Managed a decent finish and enjoyed some lovely Dim Sum in San Francisco. Since then I’ve tried to get my season going again, a swim here, a bike ride there and a few runs...let’s see how 2009 shapes up. The rains have finally come to the Bay Area, YAY!

Tagged by Rajeev Patel

I was tagged by Rajeev Patel with the questions below.

1. What was your 2008 running highlight and running low?
The highlight was an injury free year. No low in 2008


2. What race are you secretly planning on doing (or contemplating) for 2009 but haven't made it known to the public....until now.
No surprises - just a few regular races, nothing fancy.


3. Where would you like create and direct an ultra that (to your knowledge) none exists?
Huh?? I stay away from Ultras.


4. What is your "primary" race for 2009?
Full Vineman in August.

5. What is the most exciting thing about your upcoming race schedule?
The excitement is not for my race but a relay team that I helped set up for the Full Vineman. Tandy (Swim), Kevin (Bike), Tony Fong (Run) - they are hoping to finish in under 9:30 hours! It will be fun to see these uber athletes take on the race clock.


6. List your planned races for 2009:
SF half Marathon - Feb
Vineman - Aug
Chicago Marathon - Oct

The Grand Columbian Triathlon - Sep 13, 2008

(The gang at Dry Falls on the way back)

We flew into Seattle on Wednesday night and it was good to meet Ruchi, Anup & Rohan –had a few glasses of wine and some awesome lamb curry that Anup had made and called it a night around 12:30am.
Thursday morning we loaded up the Jeep and set off for the 4 hour drive to Grand Coulee – the contrasting terrain which changed from a lush green hills of Seattle to flat farm lands to barren hills to the granite canyons of the Grand Coulee area were matched by Anup’s eclectic music collection. We heard music that spanned UK bhangra, Bollywood hits, Turkish music, Japanese instrumental, Sufi songs and a collection of North African/Arabic beats.

Got to Grand Coulee around 2:30 in the afternoon dropped my bike off at the bike shop and headed for lunch and a few cold beers. Checked in at the Grand Coulee Motel which was right in front of the imposing Grand Coulee Dam. Went for a 30 min run in the evening and had some good Chinese food for dinner. Spent the evening relaxing by the pool, sipping a few cold brews. Friday morning picked up my bike and went for a short ride – rode the bike to the swim start and had a 15 min swim – rode back to the motel. Late afternoon as we were sitting in our room I noticed that the rear tire was flat – so set about pulling out the tiny metal shrapnel and as I was inflating the new tube Anup noticed there was hole in it (I’m glad these guys did not diversify into making condoms!) – any way, used my last new tube and headed to the registration/packet pick up (bought a few more tubes at the expo). As the pasta dinner was included in the race fee I had dinner with the athletes and headed back for an early night.


(Fixing the flat)

Race Day:
Up at 4:00 am got to the race start at 5:15 – dropped my T2 and special needs bags – placed my bike bottles – topped off the air in by tires and headed off to the start. The water in Banks lake was beautiful – bluest of blue and calm. The Race Director had placed a white rope all along the floor of the swim course – that was a huge help, although in a lot of spots it got hidden by the grass on the lake bed.

Swim: 2.4 miles (Time 1 hr 23 mins)The first 700 meters was swimming directly into the rising sun – the visibility was ZERO – but I had this guy drafting off me so I assumed he was following the rope or buoys…I was also very flattered that someone found it fast enough to draft off ME! But after about 1.5K his constant slapping of my feet and scratching my toes started getting me pissed. I just stopped – thankfully he carried on and I finished the second loop all alone.


(Swim Start)

Bike: 112 miles (Time 7 hrs 43 mins) Changed had a Porta stop and off I was – the bike starts with a 3.5 mile climb to the Mesa – (We drove up the climb on Friday and it looked steep in some spots) but with fresh legs and a cool day it was not all that bad – it was a easier than the Old LaHond climb in Portola Valley (Woodside, CA) – then once on the Mesa (Table top plateau) you could see for miles in all directions – it was desolate country – not a tree in sight – miles of farm land. The first 60 miles were all rolling hills with long stretches of 2-3% grade – The 10 mile stretch out of the town of Almeria was especially painful – the blustering cross winds and the irritating 3% grade just sapped my energy – this plateau was deceptively hilly! For miles I saw no one, accompanied by dust devils and tumble weed – the only way I knew I was on the right track was by seeing the occasional gel pack or CO2 cartridge on the road. Around mile 60 Ruchi, Renuka, Anup & Rohan were at the Almira aid station.


(At Almira - Pix by Anup)

I stopped and refilled my bike bottles and headed off for the next 52 miles. The last 37 miles on Hwy 155 were the worst – this historic route has not been maintained and there were partition ruts every 10-15 feet (for 35 miles!!) the constant “Thump, Thump, Thump” was very uncomfortable – I tried riding on the white lane marker but every car/truck that went by made my bike wobble. I was glad to get off the bike. The ride over the Dam was pretty cool (only the participants were allowed over the dam – it is closed to public due to security issues)


(View from the top of the climb to the Mesa)


(Hwy 155)

Run: 26.2 miles (5 hrs 19 mins) The run was off road on well packed dirt all along the river (Two 13.1 mile loops) – I was cheered on by the gang from the bridge and had Rohan’s company for about 100 meters going back up the hill to the bridge at the end of the first loop (2 hrs 33mins) – As I was walking up the short hill, Rohan said “Isn’t this a running race? Aren’t you supposed be running?” I had to laugh and watch the 10 year old scamper up the slope…Ah! to be young again!


(View from the bridge -Pix by Anup)


(Grand Coulee Dam - Pix by Anup)

I made the turn around and ran on for the next 5 miles at a nice steady pace – I met Richard Jones who had also participated in the Vineman Iron distance race 6 weeks ago. He was in good shape – he really powered away from me on the bike on that bumpy 155 stretch...We ran together for a half a mile and then he asked me to carry on. Richard went on to finish the race, big congrats to him…he had suffered badly due to the heat at Vineman and could not meet the cutoff – that DNF was taken care of at the Grand Columbian Iron Distance triathlon – He is an Ironman! I finished the marathon in 5 hrs 19 mins for a total finish time of 14 hours 47 mins. Rohan decided to run the lap around the block to the finish with me and as we neared the finish line he just took off – the crowd (and I) had a good laugh as we watched him sprint away and finish a good 20 meters ahead of me…Ah! To be young again!


(At the finish - with Rohan looking on - Pix by Anup)


Picked up my bags the next morning and headed back to Seattle – settled in for some lovely dinner and beer and had a good music session with DJ Anup.

Great race – very well managed – well stocked aid stations – lots of Porta Johns. If the full distance race returns in 2010 I will consider doing it again. Thanks again to Ruchi, Anup, Rohan and Renuka for all the cheering and support.

Full Vineman Triathlon, August 2, 2008

I did The Vineman Six years ago,
Half a dozen years! Oh! Where did they go?
2008 Full Vineman was to be a group event
Anu, Rajeev, Vinod, Padma - to injuries and a higher call they went.
Last man standing, I thought I might as well go on
Another race, and another poem will spawn.
Race day 3:15am I awoke - coffee , banana and oats ate
Off we went to T1 and the starting gate.
The last song you hear stays with you they say,
For me it was Khwajaji…alas that song did stick to my dismay!
Vinod, Rashmi, Chakri, Veena, Deepu, Mauli and Krishna,
They had all come to cheer and participate in the drama.
The swim was done in a consistent 1:24 – Off to the bike I strode,
First 56 went by in 3:14…I pondered a 6:45 as past the turnaround I rode.
Three bottles sustained energy and 3 gels down, I was on track
Plan the race and race the plan…there was just one little crack…
A weird thirst I felt around mile 40, mouth parched, I’d made a trade
I had stretched out my hand for some Gatorade.
That stuff, in my stomach does not quite sit so well,
At mile 60 it came back to cast its dastardly spell!
My stomach suddenly bloated felt like a balloon
I thought , if something did not give I’d be airborne soon!
Like a “born-again” seeker I began seeking in earnest
The little green portas , they became my eternal quest
Not to forget the song…I took some liberties with it by far
Porta mere porta, dil me samaja…
The run began with a serious attempt to get it on
My stomach lurched , I searched, where have all the Portas gone?
Taste of water felt bad, Gatorade was out of question
Coke, I hoped, would come to the aid of my digestion!
Out of the blue comes Stan..."Rajeev why are you walking?"
“Find a Green House” I say, “then I’ll tell you why I’m walking”
Go Rajeev shout Renuka, Vinod, Rashmi, Veena
Cheering me on are Krishna, Deepu, Mouli, Chakri, Sabita
My stomach with me following waddle on as they scream
The sun has set, my finishing in daylight is all but a dream.
Pitch blackness all around I finally begin to run
Fatigued, pained and angry…and I do this stuff for fun!
Finally I stumble over the finish - fifth one I’ve done
Those that say “it gets easier” - have been out to long in the sun!
Mani runs in to finish, of this man I’m now a fan
Cool, calm and collected he is an Ironman!
A big hug to the weary cheerers, they are tired to the bone
One final stop, this time a ceramic pot, we are headed home
What a day! I’m sure it would be different, had it worked out to the plan
But then again, if it were so easy, they wouldn’t call it the Ironman!

------------------------------

Cheering Squad: Stan is missing as he was on his bike cheering everyone

Off the beaten track! Yosemite version 2.0

All righty then... Its been 13 months since our debacle at Yosemite - I still had to see the White Wolf to Soda Springs (Tuolumne Medows) route. Arun Sharma, who had organized the one day 32 mile run/hike last year, invited me to do the same route as a 3 day backpacking trip this year. I, in turn, invited my training buddy IronStan (soon to be rechristened "IronSherpaStan") to share the pain. I have never been backpacking before - so this was going to be interesting. I borrowed a backpack from Rashmi & Anil, bought a compact sleeping bag from Sports Basement and a $15.00 small tent from Walmart! (Pam called it a womb tent) - it actually is a studio tent, with an attached bathroom...the bathroom is only a zipper away...come to think of it...two zippers away...wait...including the sleeping bag...three zippers away...I call it my "zip zip zip zzzz...unzip unzip unzip wizzzz tent"...much more sophisticated name indeed.

Thursday July 17th 7:30 pm Renuka packed the backpack and weighed it - 32lbs! Leaping (expletive) lizards! there is no way I can walk 32 miles carrying 32 lbs...some repacking, lighter t-shirts, and 20 minutes later - 30lbs..."I'm screwed" I say...might as well enjoy it ... we had a 4:30am departure from Sunnyvale so I got to sleep early, 12:00am.

Friday July 18th: I was up at 3:00am and ready at 4:15 awaiting Chakri and Stan. 4:30am Stan calls "Rajeev, I just got up...sorry, but does this cause a problem?"..."Umm, no Stan we are just going to be late and Arun is going to #$%&^%$ KILL us!" We asked Stan to drive directly to Pleasanton and meet us at Pam's house. We started for Yosemite at 7:00am and got to White Wolf around 10:30. After parking two cars at Soda Springs (the end of the trail) and repacking the backpacks with the bear canisters, we started the hike at noon. (Smart move of the day: distributing the 5 wine bottles into 3 plastic containers and ensuring the 3 containers do not travel in the same backpack - I believe the President, Vice President and the Speaker of the House have a similar plan of action...except they are not in plastic containers...I think)
At the start: (L-R Chakri, Stan, Me, Arun Sharma, Aun, Pam, Karan, Heera, Arun Desigan)

The players: Karan (7-8 years old), Pam, Anu, Heeral (Age 20-25), Rajeev Char (millions of brownie points for my previous comment), Arun Sharma, Arun Desigan (Old), Chakri (like Madonna & Prince he only goes by a first name- ageless), Stanley Ho & Mike (both around the same age)

Stan's best friend (Mike)

We begin the hike at 12:00 noon - 10/11 miles to Pate Valley - with a 4000 feet drop in 2.5 miles... about 3 miles into the hike we meet a couple and the conversation goes:

They: "Lukens Lake is beautiful to swim in, you all will really enjoy it"
Arun Sharma (AS): "You mean Harden Lake"
They: "No - Lukens Lake - we just swam in it"
AS: "No Lukens is that way" (pointing in the opposite direction)
They: looking at each other "No Harden lake is that way, you are heading to Lukens"
Me Thinking: "Oh Shit!"
AS: "Really!? Sorry guys, we are on the wrong trail"

A bit of back tracking later we are back on track - Stan's previous comments (in jest) about Yosemite being too high for bears and snakes ... came back to bite us! Within an hour we see a bear about 20 feet from the trail...scary stuff.

(Pix by Arun Desigan)

We move on...by 3pm fatigue starts setting in - most of us have not slept much and the heat and the weight of the backpack starts taking its toll. We shift some backpack weight around and Stan, Chakri, Arun Sharma and I decide to press on faster to get a decent camp site. We tell Pam, Karan, ArunD, Anu and Heeral to take it easy as it is a full moon night which gives them plenty of light to make the treacherous decent safely. During the descent we see our second bear sighting...this one is really close...8-10 feet away.
(Pix by Stan)

Shortly later I hear a "SPLAT"...the plastic wine pack I was carrying fell out of my backpack and broke...wine leaking all over the trail...SAD...Chakri & Arun managed to salvage about half a bottle from that mishap. After the descent Chakri & I lose sight of ArunS and Stan...
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir - on the way down from White Wolf

We keep pressing on hoping that they would have stopped for us. 45 minutes later no sign of them! Chakri and I are out of water...I drop my backpack and tell Chakri that I'll run ahead for 2 mins and if we do not find Arun/Stan we will head back towards the rest of the group. Luckily at the two min mark I run into a campsite - I ask them if they saw 2 guys go by...they did...I ran on a few more minutes and spot Stan...I scream "What the @#$% Stan!...you guys should have waited!" I had a mini meltdown...memories of last year came flooding back....:-). I ran back to Chakri and we got into the camp site (The site was fantastic) Arun made a nice warm cup of Coco for us and half a liter of water later, Stan, Arun and I set out to meet the rest. We left Chakri at the campsite. 30 minutes of fast walking later we finally see the others coming down the last of the descent. Stan and I relieve some of the tired folks of their backpacks and let them head on to the campsite faster. With daylight fading Stan, Heeral, Pam, Karan & I made the hour long walk back with our head lamp lights on. 9:30pm we are all accounted for...cheers and a camp fire is lit. As we filled our buckets during the night I saw a snake swim away from me in the river...that was too close...A sumptuous dinner and a glass or two of wine later, we set the bear canisters 200 feet away from the campsite, dowsed the camp fire completely, and we all staggered into our tents.

Saturday July 19th: 10/11 miles -(camp just after California Falls) 7:00am we are all up - ArunS & ArunD are directing traffic...breakfast is being made, hot coffee is being brewed...life is good. Stan & Chakri are all packed and ready to go! The regular backpackers (ArunSharma/Pam/ArunD/Anu and Heeral) make us all comb the campsite and ensure that we pick up every scrap we brought with us...not even a corner of a wrapper was to be left behind...we really spent some time doing this - and I am glad we did it, the wilderness is so pristine that it is our responsibility that we "leave no trace behind." We start out towards Pate Valley and the infamous "right turn" that Anil, Vineeta and I missed and got horribly lost last year. Along the way hikers coming back warn us about a "rattler 300 yards ahead" Pate Valley is a Rattle Snake heaven. Luckily we do not see any rattlers. We pass Heeral and ArunS - Heeral seems to be in some distress (She was not well a few days ago) We continued through the tall grass and thick brush of Pate Valley. We slowed down to ensure that Karan/Pam/Heeral were ok and within sight. The temp started rising and it was 87-88F and humid. We left the tall grass and got to the Tuolumne River...GOR-GEE-US!

After a while Chakri, Arun and I decided that we should take Heeral's backpack and give her some relief so she can recover for the rest of the trek. We found a nice long log and hung her pack on it and 4 of us took turns carrying the "Pig" for the rest of the day.

The climbs were really painful...we had about 2ooo feet of climbing...Stan (and Mike) would take off for a few miles, drop his backpack and run back to help us - relieving one of us of our packs and heading out at double speed...the boy is insane!
(Pix by Arun Sharma)

For lunch on Saturday Arun D and Anu had chopped onions, shred carrots and cut avacados! We had tortillas stuffed with theplas, carrots, onions and avacados...we sat by the Tuolumne River...soaking our weary legs in the cold waters...sublime!

After a second grueling climb and some spectacular waterfalls we stumbled into a vacant campsite at around 5:00pm. Stan went for a 2 mile run...this kid is NUTS!

Set up camp and had an early dinner - finished off the wine and we were way too tired to hang around...by 10pm we were all in our tents. We had decided to get moving at 8:30 am the next morning.

Sunday July 20th: Campsite checked - we had a quick freshen up at the river and were off at 8:30 sharp. The 3 hour climb to Glen Aulin this was really tough and cumulative fatigue was getting to all of us...All of us?...No, one person refused to be conquered by fatigue...that was IronSherpaStan. He continued to do his relay work - he is insane! Heeral was feeling fine and was back in the swing of things. Karan and Pam were feeling much better too - the most memorable quote of the trip was during one of the million stories Pam & Karan were exchanging. Karan said "Medusa was cured by a good shampoo" I cracked up! this kid is special...for an 8 year old he is phenomenal. After a good lunch at Glen Aulin we had another 2 hour climb before we reached Tuolumne Meadows.

After that the trail flattens out at 8,600 feet...beautiful flowers and...meadows. A lady stopped me along the way saying "You have a face that is calming and says that you have a lovely voice, can you please sing a nice light song for me"...I sang (actually murdered) 'Country Roads' by Denver and both the lady and her husband rescued me by sing the song really well.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/H8h7u-I96Gwqr5x1gS2yQA?authkey=SkTrcCFgLao

4:30 we were all done..we finally made it...this was a tough trip, but we all agreed that the next time we need to do it in 5 days so we can actually stop and smell the roses!
Karan at the end (Soda Springs) He seems sad that the trip is over!

Tagged: Thoughts On Running

------------
My friend Anil “the horse” Rao tagged me and so here are my thoughts & answers to his tag.

1. How would I describe my running 10 years ago?
10 years ago – 1998 - Chicago was home, running was a challenge in winter but I do remember bundling up and getting those 5-6 milers in. Summers were great and I was in decent running condition – no injuries – nice easy 5-6 milers as I trained for The Chicago Triathlon and Lake Geneva Triathlon.

2. What is your best and worst race experience?
The best experience was during the marathon at the 2007 Ironman Canada – I felt really great and even thought I could have gone a bit quicker…pretty cool considering that I completely blew up during the 2006 race. This year’s Napa marathon was wonderful too – nice easy paced race which leads me to believe that if I stay uninjured I could improve by another 15-20 minutes in a year.

Worst race experience was during the Marathon in the 2006 Ironman Canada…I just imploded and everything went downhill. It was a slow tough walk. Other non-race bad/scary experiences were:
a) During a training run at Huddard Park (Woodside CA) in 2002-03 with Rajeev Patel. We got lost and ran out of water…the 8 miler turned out to be more like 16-20…the trails, hills were tough.
b) 32 mile Run at Yosemite where Anil Rao, Vineeta & I got lost - Details here

3. Why do you run?
Because it is swim, cycle, RUN!

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
I always listen to my body and no one else – and over the years the most regular and best piece of advice has been “relax today – have a cold beer.” I always listen to my body (and it shows :-))

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
I’ve been having a mid-life crisis for about 25 years.

I tag the following people:
Padma/Kiran
Mouli