Mount Whitney - September 5, 2011

Chakri had a few open reservations for Mt Whitney and he asked me if I wanted to do it. In I was!

Hike: 22 miles out and back. 6,150 feet elevation gain.


Participants: Chakri, Samanvita “Sam”, Krishna, Stan and myself.

Sep 2nd to Sep 5th, 2011

(I have not proofread this post - corrections will be done anon.)

The Plan: Leave on Friday, stay at June Lake Friday night, Lone Pine on Saturday night. Start the hike on Sunday morning, camp at 12K Sunday night. Monday morning 4:00AM start for the summit and head back to the parking lot by Monday evening and drive back home…and back to work on Tuesday.

Friday September 2nd we left for Mount Whitney, we drove across one of my favorite roads, Tioga Pass, as we crossed Yosemite at 9,900 feet and drove down to 395 at Mono Lake. We spent Friday night at a nice Swiss Chalet at June Lake. Morning of Sep 3rd the gang went to see the sun rise at Mono Lake…I decided to sleep in and only awoke once they were back. After a decent breakfast we headed off to Lone Pine, the city at the base of Mt Whitney. Along the way we stopped, ate and took photographs (of food) and pretty much enjoyed the drive on 395 south.


Once we got to Lone Pine we stopped at the rangers office and collected our passes and WAG Bags. WAG Bags are basically large specifically made garbage bags that one has to collect ones human waste in and carry it back to the trail head for disposal (Mandatory 'Pack it out' program instated by Inyo National Forest). This is done to ensure that the Whitney trail, streams, lakes and wild life are not destroyed by a deluge of human poop. The normal ‘dig, crap & cover’ is not allowed due to the heavy traffic on the trail (aren’t you glad you are more enlightened now). That done, we settled into our hostel room (2 bunk beds and Chakri took the carpet). We sat and sorted through our bags, consolidating the food, fuel and other items so as to minimize the amount to carry up the trail.

Sunday morning (4th), after a good breakfast (which I skipped in lieu of 2 cups of coffee) we drove to the Whitney Portal (8360 feet) which is the start of the trail. There is a lot of bear activity at the Portal and due to the many cars parked there the bears have gotten used to checking and breaking open cars with food left inside. Given that it was my car :-) I made sure everything was removed and packed into the bear lockers. Just as Chakri was directing me into a rather tight parking spot I saw a black bear about 10 feet behind him! I kept waving my hands and pointing & he thought I was asking for more directions! Finally he saw the bear and managed a quick photograph just as it ran into the bushes. Once we were done packing and cleaning, off we went on a nice easy paced hike to Trail Camp at 12,000 feet. The hike was about 6.3 miles with about 3,640 feet of elevation. My backpack was weighed in at 32 pounds, I did not carry my tent as Sam and I decided to share a tent.

At the start

The hike was nice and easy paced – the trail was single track and we had to make frequent stops to let people pass as it is a very busy and popular trail. Stan was in his element, jogging around and taking photographs of bear turd (he said it was bear turd...I have no idea...he could have missed his WAG bag for all I know). We met a couple training for their Himalayan Base Camp trek – I kept pace with them for a while, stopped and chatted about what their diet was and how they made this trip here as often as they could in the past few months...they had been up to Whitney several times recently and were testing out altitude sickness pills. The Diamox was causing some side effects and she was not too happy, but she would carry on and see how long the side effects lasted.

All of us stopped for lunch overlooking Lone Pine Lake – it was a nice spot and we spend about 30-45 mins resting and eating. All along I was feeling fine, drinking enough water and moving on at a steady pace. After lunch I pushed on with Stan and after a while I was walking alone (Stan probably stopped to photograph more poop) – after a while I decided to stop and wait for the others. I relaxed and the wait turned out to be close to 30 mins as the rest had stopped to take photographs. I met Steve (Stephen Rodzevik) who was backpacking the John Muir Trail over 15 days. We chatted for a while and since he too was camping at the Trail Camp he said he would meet us there.

Lunch

As we passed the Outpost Camp site at 10,000 feet I thought we had reached our destination...I quickly dumped my backpack and claimed a decent spot for our tents. Stan came by and smiled, ‘we have a bit more to go, this is the Outpost Camp not the Trail Camp’ so off we went again. We made it to the Trail Camp – some of the sections leading in were a bit sketchy but not too bad. There were a lot of campers out there already, some leaving, some coming, it was a busy place. Stan had found a spot for us and as I put my pack down, I saw a few used wag bags lying around...ugh! Why do people not behave responsibly and carry their ‘shit’ back with them! Disgusting! I shifted campsites, as Steve found us a few good spots near where he had pitched his tent. Once everyone came in, we set up tents. The wind had picked up and it was COLD. We started our stoves and cooked up some dinner. All of us huddled behind a rock trying to stay away from the wind...did I say all? Well all except Stan, he was still in his shorts! The kid is crazy! Anyway, I ate a bit, not too much as I was really cold and tucked in for the night. The tents were really flapping in the wind and around 1:00am I stepped out for natures call...the night sky was spectacular! Reminded me of the star studded skies in Muscat,Oman. It was still breezy but not all that cold.

We were up at 3:30am and after a quick breakfast we started for the summit. We just carried day packs and left our tents and packs at the campsite, the packing up would be done upon our return. There was a long line of headlamps heading up the 99 switchbacks. I had about 3 liters of water on me and some gels. I had on several layers and a jacket but I was still cold! We began the trek real slowly as it was dark. Stan had taken off and was already way ahead of us. The switch backs were painful, you don’t really feel like you are making any progress at all. After a while I could not hold a slow pace as I was beginning to shiver, so I picked up the pace. As I crested the switchbacks the sun was coming up, I was dying for some sunlight and warmth. Stan was making his way back towards me (he did this out and back several times during the day) and saw me shivering, he said something to the effect that the other side is sunny so I should be fine in a few mins. I followed him to a spot that had a superb view of the valley and some much need sunlight. I sat there for about 5 mins to warm up. Chakri, Sam & Krishna were just behind taking photographs.

Section of the trail

After that short break I started heading back up the trail...there was a downhill section after the switch backs and that irritated me because it meant that there were more up hills coming. I met Steve, he was on his way down! He packed up and left early as he wanted to be on the trail quickly. He looked at me and shook his head, ‘you need to keep moving, you are really shivering’, I laughed (or I thought it was a laugh!) and moved on wishing him a safe trip. Some of the sections were a bit tricky, narrow with a steep drop-offs on one side...I’m not really good with that kind of terrain and the shivering was not helping. There were a lot of folks on the trail and I stopped and gave way to just about everyone. My heart rate was shooting up to 170+ after every few steps! I would stop, bring it back down to 100, and start again. At one point I thought I was beginning to cramp...I sat and massaged it out. A couple stopped and asked if I was ok and looked a bit concerned when I said I’ll be fine. Slowly I made it to a spot where you could see the cabin on the summit (you can see that for a long time). There was a 15 meter section of the trail covered with packed snow, that really bothered me. Stan was at the other end and he shouted out “Get low, stay low”. My running shoes were sliding around a bit, but with some help of a hiker coming down I made the last bit. Stan walked me to the top...phew! I was tired and did not bother to look around much :-). I managed a photograph and just sat down and waited for the others. Stan ran (yes ran!) back to get the others.

Sam @ Snow crossing

At the top

The wheels come off!!

Once we all rested for a bit, I borrowed some water from Krishna, and Chakri said he would stay with me as I was not feeling all that great. Chakri, Sam and Krishna were tired too, but holding up much better than I was. As we headed down I noticed my fingers were swollen and my balance was not all there – bit of a problem but not too bad. We stopped often as I was getting tired and I began to suffer a bit more with some perception issues. My depth perception seemed off, I was reaching for the rocks but I was a few inches off...weird feeling indeed and not too calming when you are on a steep mountain! Chakri was always a few steps behind and kept engaging me in some conversation to keep me focused. I was out of water by the time I had reached the 99 switchbacks, Chakri shared some of his and we made slow progress. There were a few hairy moments but we kept plugging along. Then about a few miles from the camp (It seemed like a few miles!) I saw Stan coming back up! What a dude! He had water with him and he made us drink up and accompanied us back to the camp. I just collapsed for about 30 mins and tried to get some sleep.

At around 5:00pm we started to pack up the tents. I struggled with my sleeping bag and finally Sam/Krishna took over and packed it for me! They also packed the tent as I stood around half dead (Thank you guys!). We loaded up for the 6.3 mile hike back to the Portal. I was fine and my energy was coming back. I started to feel better – it was late and not many people on the trail. We passed the Outpost campsite and I started feeling really tired...it was that deep exhaustion you get when your body is saying no to every movement. I stopped at a small stream crossing...stared at the few rocks I was to hop across...Chakri asked if I was ok...I mumble something and just about made it across.

Chakri stream crossing

Five minutes later, I was done! I just sat down and said, ‘guys, you all can carry on to Lone Pine, I need to stop’. There ensued a long debate/discussion as to what needed to be done. I tried to stuff some food into my system, but it revolted. I was done! Finally everyone decided that we would walk back to the Outpost Campsite and stay the night. Krishna carried my backpack and since we were out of food, Sam borrowed some from other hikers coming down from Whitney. Sam/Krishna/Stan/Chakri (Rock Stars!!) set up my tent and my sleeping bag...I just crawled in and tried to sleep. I struggled for a bit with a blocked nose and a queasy stomach before I drifted off to a deep sleep. I could tell Sam was really worried as she saw me sitting up in the tent for a good 10 mins before I drifted off to sleep. What an amazing bunch of folks! I am glad I was with them for they really took care of me. Thanks a million you wonderful people.

I was sure there was a bit of panic back home as Renuka was not sure what was going on and she was expecting us back that evening. Stan and Krishna walked about half a mile from the camp site at night to find cell phone reception and finally called home to let them all know we were ok and would be back the next day.

Morning it was a different me! All the energy was back the fingers had come back to normal! We made our way down packed up and drove back to Lone Pine – All of us called our respective managers for the day off (Tuesday was a working day) then headed back to the hostel for a nice long shower. After stopping at Mono Lake for a quick tour we got back home at 10:00pm!

End! Still leaning on Chakri

It was an eventful trip for me and I must say my first brush with altitude above 10,000 feet was not very good :-) But I am glad I was with the folks I was with, the company, food and all the help was just awesome!

Sam, Stan, Chakri & Krishna you guys ROCK!

3 Mile swim (Alcatraz and Back)

After our trip to Ansel Adams, Murali Krishna asked me to arrange a long open water swim in preparation for the Bridge to bridge 10K (6.2 mile) swim.

I got Gary Emich’s contact from Tandy/Doug and set up an Aquatic Park (AP) to Alcatraz and back swim for Monday August 22nd.

We got to South End Rowing Club bright and early and after a quick tour of the facilities – Gary explained the tides and the various signals he would be using to keep us bunched together. Chakri and I were still a little sore from our 50 mile run on Saturday. I was hobbling around with a few large blisters...but the cool bay waters would be good for the sore legs.

Given that we were heading out at the peak of the flood tide (6:30 AM SHARP), we had to aim to the west of Alcatraz and the slowing tide would drift us towards Alcatraz Island. Gary asked us to get suited up and wait for the horn at Aquatic Park. There we stood; Chakri, Mouli, Murali Krishna (MK) and I waiting for the large yellow RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to show up at the opening of AP (The RIB was not allowed to enter AP). 6:30 sharp the fog horn wet off and through the murky light of dawn we could just about make the outlines of the RIB. The four of us started off and we stayed together as we slipped out into the bay. Once out in the bay, Gary pointed to the direction he wanted us to swim and off we went. Slowly, as the sun rose, we could see the outline of Alcatraz and Gary kept the boat to the east of us so we would not be sucking in all that exhaust.

Out of Aquatic Park

The going was good and the water was calm. Being a left side breather I had to make an adjustment to keep the boat in sight (it was on my right) – Mouli and MK were 5 to 10 meters ahead and Chakri and I stayed together. We had all discussed that we would stay in a group, so every few minutes Mouli and MK would stop and wait for us to catch up. Once we settled in to a decent pace we kept drifting to the east (tide coming in) and Gary would point us to the west…finally we made it to the island and stood up on the rocky beach on the west end of Alcatraz. My wetsuit had begun to chaff around the neck and was getting a bit irritating. After a brief break (about a min) we headed back. The tide had begun to shift and was now moving west (out to the ocean).

AT ALCATRAZ

On the way GGB in the background

On the way back my goggles started leaking and I had to keep clearing them, no matter what I did it just would not seal tight! As we swam on the tide and wind picked up and Gary kept pointing us to the east. The AP opening is pretty tricky and can’t really be seen from the bay. Then we heard Gary say something but I could not hear him or follow what he was trying to say. MK said we need to swim to the wall on the west of AP, that did not make sense to me as we were to head inside AP. I kept fighting the current and trying to head to the opening...finally I swam close to the boat and asked Gary what was going on. He said we missed the opening and the tide was too fast to try swimming to it, he said 'aim for the rock wall' to the west of the opening. Off we went, I saw the buoy zipping past me...well it was actually me zipping past the buoy :-) the tide was moving really quick. I looked back and saw that Chakri was still close, so I started a sprint to the wall (I thought it was a sprint). I got to the rocks and stood up, and cut my feet on those sharp rocks. Then headed back to the boat.

As I climbed onto the boat Chakri came by and we told him that he had to touch the wall and then come back to the boat, so off he went :-). Gary looked at us laughing and said, "I'm sure Chakri is saying, 'what a bunch of bastards'..." :-). Once Chakri was on board, I patched up my cuts and off we went for a nice warm shower and back to a normal day at work.

ALL DONE

Big thanks to Gary, he is an awesome guy.
Gary Emich web site: Lane Lines to Shore Lines

Run-de-vous (50 mile run)

Run-de-vous endurance runs
(All photographs from Rajeev Patel's race page: http://rajeevtherunner.sports.officelive.com/PhotoandVideo.aspx)

When Rajeev Patel sent out an email saying he was organizing an ultra race to celebrate the people you love, I was in. My brother had just been diagnosed with cancer and was getting ready for chemo. I signed up and said I will run to help him fight his cancer...that was April. By the time he was ready for chemo, the cancer had already metastasized and spread, and on May 24th he passed away. After coming back from India, training was the last thing on my mind and I kind of fell back on a lot training. Swimming seemed the only activity that gave me some relief. Come August and I was chatting with Anu Singh and Patel and I said that since I was not ready for the 50 miler I would skip the race...I immediately got emails from them saying I HAD to do it in Raghu's memory :-) - so well, off I went to run, jog, walk & crawl my way to the finish.

My final impetus for the race came when 15 year old Nishad Singh (Raj & Anu Singh's son, coached by Rajeev Patel) was running his 24 hour run in preparation for his first 100 miler. I was inspired and thought, 'let me go and run with him for a few hours and see how I feel'. I hung around with Nishad and stayed on my feet for about 6 hours walking, running, jogging around the tracks. That evening I knew I could do the 50 mile run without hurting myself :-). Nishad went on to run 60+ miles in 24 hours, he is an incredible kid.

Renuka and I went for the carbo load dinner at Bucca-de-beppos in Palo Alto and met all the other runners. It was great to meet Alan Geraldi after years! This is the crazy guy who helped push me towards doing my first Ironman race in 2002. After a nice evening exchanging stories with all the ultra veterans we headed back for a good nights sleep.

We got to the start at 5:15am and after setting my things up, I headed to the start line where Race Director Rajeev Patel was giving some last minute tips. On my request he played the Beatles song 'In my life' in memory of my brother. That was a really nice gesture and I thank all the other runners for indulging me this request. 6:00AM sharp we were off, whooping and cheering in a chilly, foggy morning. I had decided to run a fast(ish) 19 miler in training for Twin Cities Marathon on Oct 2nd, 2011, then slow down to a decent pace for the next 10 miles and then jog/walk the rest. The race was around a flat 2 mile loop and it was nice because you got to the aid station every 30 mins or so and there were always plenty of folks cheering, helping and ready to walk a few laps with you.

(a walk break)

I kept to the plan and then walked a few laps. Alan and I kept company for a while then he took off. It was nice talking to the other ultra athletes, a few of them were regulars at the 100 mile circuits and it was great getting race and training tips from them. Nishad was in fine form and he had his AWESOME friends with him. These kids must have each run well over 45 miles for sure. Bill McCarthy was there too running his first 100 miler, Bill has always been a big inspiration and it was nice meeting him. Anju came by and she kept me company for close to 6 loops (may be more) and it was nice catching up with her and hearing about her recent world travels.

(My right Anju, left Sahana and Eshaan)

The miles just melted away, and before I knew it I was done with my first ultra. The only damage was a few blisters on my feet.

(the finish: 11:22:44)

Next morning Renuka and I came back to help others finish their 100 mile races. It was humbling to see all these folks pushing and willing themselves on, they had been running through the night! I walked with Alan for a few miles and then cheered as all of them came in to finish. Such an amazing bunch of folks. After helping Rajeev Patel and his crew wrap up all the stuff, I took a bike ride around the 2 mile lap to ensure that there was no trash on the trail, I must say that the runners were very good at keeping the trail clean.

(Nishad & Alan with their 100 mile finishers buckles)

Big thank you to Patel, all the volunteers and folks who came to cheer the runners. This was a fun race and I'll probably be back next year again.

Rest In Peace Raghu, you are missed...more than you you know.

Ansel Adams Wilderness: Lillian Lake Loop (August 13th to 15th

Ansel Adams Wilderness: Lillian Lake Loop (August 13th to 15th) Thanks to Chakri for inviting us to the Lillian Lake Loop backpacking trip. This was Renuka's first backpacking trip and I was hoping that she would enjoy the awesome experience. The planning involved about 80 emails :-) but we finally nailed it down to 7 of us (First timers: Renuka & Megha, Chakri, Stan, Abhijit, Krishna and I). We left the Bay Area around 3:30pm on Friday Aug 12th and stayed at the Sky Ranch in Oakhurst, CA. As soon as we checked in we worked our way to the bar. Sky Ranch is a nice cozy place tucked away in a corner of Oakhurst. The bar (The Branding Iron) is supposed to be part of a 100 year old converted mountain ranch, and has a nice old bar feel to it. The walls around the bar are covered with dollar bills signed with memories of past patrons. As we walked in the bar was closing, but the extremely friendly bartender Johnnie Rae (an Elvis impersonator) opened the bar for us. All of us has a few drinks, Abhijit and I had a few few more :-) - The evening was great with Johnnie bringing out his guitar and singing a few Elvis songs for the 5 of of still at the bar.

(Rest stop)

(Renuka)

We began our drive up to the trail head at Clover Meadow at around 9:30am. The road to the trail head was really bad, most of it was potholed and in terrible shape. After squeezing into the packed trail head parking lot we set off on the Walton/Fernandez trail towards our first campsite, Flat Lake. With about 30lbs on our backs we made our way up to Flat Lake. Some of the climbs were tough but by and large the 7 miles there were beautiful and everyone made it without any issues. The only problem we had was the immense amount of mosquitoes in the area...just swarming. Thankfully we all had head-nets and plenty of repellent. Once we got to Flat Lake we set up camp and found a nice fireplace build with rugged stones. After we were all settled, I took a quick dip into the lake to freshen up and were all set for an evening with a small fire, a sip of vodka and some dried 'Mountain House' food packs.

(Flat Lake campsite)

We were up and packed by 10am the next morning and made our way back to the Lillian Loop (Flat Lake takes a small detour off the main trail and is on an extension of the Fernandez trail) and continued in our anti-clock wise direction towards Lillian Lake. The route to Lillian was a bit more challenging than yesterdays trip to Flat Lake, so Stan, Abhijit and I did some out and back runs to relieve others off their backpacks for short steep climbs. We made it to Lillian and hung around for an hour. Then we made our way towards Staniford Lakes. Once at Staniford (around 12:30pm) we stopped and tried to figure out our next step. So Chakri, Abhijit and Stan decided to head up to Chittenden Lake (our next campsite) and set up a few tents and then come back for the rest of us at Staniford. Megha, Renuka, Krishna and I climbed our way to the largest of the Staniford Lakes and found an awesome spot to rest and swim. The water was clear and cool, I'd hazard it was in the low 60s (F). Stan, Chakri and Abhijit joined us about 2.5 hours later and after we all had a good swim we headed for Chittenden Lake which had a decent climb and an unclear, rocky trail. The climb there was one place a lot of us were not very comfortable. Some of those ledges seems a bit hairy specially when you have 35lbs on your back :-). But the campsite was awesome, Chittenden Lake reminded me a lot of Minarets Lake, rocky, clear and edged with snow. With all the tents set up we settled in to watch the sunset and moon rise and then for another nice evening with a campfire, jokes, a few drinks and food.

Chittenden Lake

By far the highlight of the day was the swim at Staniford.

(Staniford Lake)

The next morning we headed back to the trailhead with a brief stop at Vandeburg Lake (we skipped Lady Lake as we were getting a bit tired) - The trip back was easier as we were dropping from the 9000s back to the 7000s.

(Renuka at Chittenden)

(Renuka[in blue] and Megha on our way back)

2011 – Well Begun Is Half Done

It has been 10 years since my first marathon (Napa Marathon – March 2001) and I thought the best way to celebrate it was to go back and run Napa again. 10 years! Wow! Hard to believe indeed. I still remember Rajeev Patel talking to me about marathons back in 1999 and 2000. He was well into marathon running by then and was ready to impart his encyclopedic knowledge to anyone who showed even a little interest in running. It was around that time that I had fallen into the bad company of ultra athletes, such as Alan Geraldi, and it did not take long for Alan to convenience me of signing up for an Ironman in the next few years (I did my first IM in 2002).
The other milestone I hit was 20 years of doing triathlons, starting from my first race in Bombay back in 1990.

2011 – Well Begun Is Half Done.
Races: San Francisco Half (Feb 6th), Napa Marathon (March 6th) & Big Sur Marathon (May 1st)
San Francisco – Kaiser Half Marathon
I started 2011 in decent shape, my normal winter hibernation was shortened due to my signing up for an early Ironman race (Ironman Texas – which I will not be doing). I had been training since December and decided to run the San Francisco Half marathon in Feb (Kaiser half). The half went well…well, not really, but kinda OK – I did not PR and I did feel a bit of that ‘aw, shucks, I could be sleeping right now’ feeling coming on around mile 9 and just backed off and finished in 1:42:36. I just did not feel fresh at all. I carried on with training and put in a few more decent rides/swims/runs and took off for Napa Marathon a month later.
Napa Marathon – (My 5th time running this race)
We had a good group running, Chakri, Mouli, Krishna, Vinod and Anil. All folks I admire and have raced with them in the past. Chakri, Krishna, Mouli, Renuka and I had a wonderful pre race dinner at Fume in Napa (Nice place) and once we realized it was going to be a wet race day, we enjoyed the evening a bit more..may be a bit too much :-). I was up early on race day and walked to the finish line where the busses took us to the start. It was drizzling and a bit cold. Once I got to the start I just stayed in the bus till about 20 minutes before the start. Then on to the Porta John lines (far too few portas). The drizzle was light but constant and I just did not feel that ‘race feeling’ at all. (Napa in 2001 was wet, windy and cold! Napa in 2011 was wet but a lot better than it was 10 years ago.) We took off and I decided to aim for an easy 4 hour run or just under. I met a few other Indians running and chatted a while – since I was carrying my phone with me I was keeping them and myself updated with the cricket world cup match going on (India V. Ireland)…with spotty cell phone reception is was a tad bit frustrating. As the race progressed I met Vinod and he was suffering from painful blisters – we walked together for a mile or so (I had pretty much decided to slow down and did not really feel like running) – the course was beautiful with vineyards on both sides – green hills and foggy conditions, felt like I was back home in England (I’ve never been there).

(Some photographs along the way)








Finished the race in 4:12:48 and headed home. It was around then I decided that I needed a break. Over the next few days/weeks/month the rains came back to the bay Area with a vengeance and my training suffered (especially the bike)…


Snow on Kings Mountain/Skyline.

In April I decided to drop out of Ironman Texas and just take a break from training.

Big Sur Marathon:
Nandini (my sister), Renuka and I had signed up to run Big Sur – they were to run the 21 miler and I was going to run the Marathon with Arun Simha…Nandini switched to the full marathon and after an injury Renuka switched to the 9 miler, I decided to run the race with Nandini. In hind sight that was a good decision as Arun went on to run an amazing race and set a PR on a very tough Big Sur course. I doubt I would have kept up with that 4:18:50 pace..HUGE CONGRATS TO ARUN…he really has trained hard for this and had an amazing run. Nandini, Satyan and I finished the race about 1.5 miles short as they closed the 1.5 mile out and back Point Lobo loop to us by the time we got there (I was happy!). Renuka went on to finish the 9 miler (with no training in the last two months) she had a blast and enjoyed the awesome day we had. Bright blue skies, blue as blue can be Pacific and green rolling hills…sheer beauty! We did the 24.5 miles in just under 6 hours. It is a really really beautiful course and a must do race for all runners.

At Safeway keeping warm

Complaint: I have to say that the Big Sur organizers really did screw up the morning for all of us. They insisted that we get bussed to the start and then did not make any provisions to keep us warm! We were at the start at 4:20AM! It was FREEZING!! Thank god for Safeway, they let us squat in their aisles for almost 2 hours.

Lesson from this year…take a break in winter…after a hard 2010 season I needed a break (mentally) and should have taken it. Training through winter (specially biking) is not my thing. Running and swimming was fine, but biking was hard with it being cold and wet on the hills.

Next steps…skip Ironman Texas and concentrate on a decent run at Twin Cities in October. I may do the Vineman Iron distance race again, but right now am not really thinking about it.

Other news:
Asha 2011 season has begun, the SF, East Bay, South Bay and biking programs are well attended and full of enthusiastic new runners.
The Asha Alumni continue to excel in other events such as ultra running and triathlons:
Chandrika Srinivasan finished her first Half Ironman at the Napa Vintage Half Ironman Race.
Srikanth Dola and Megha Chawla took their first steps into the wonderful world of triathlons by participating in the Wildflower and Napa Vintage sprint races respectively.
Congrats to all of them and others who have kept up the racing and cross training that triathlons give you.

Chartoon - Hitting the Wall!

Nice read: "Metabolic Factors Limiting Performance in Marathon Runners" - by B. I. Rapoport.

The research paper:

The math got to me, hence the pathetic cartoon attempt. :-)

2010 - Season

2010 season highlights:

> Chakri & Mouli finished their first Ironman Distance race (Full Vineman)
> Nandini (my sister) Finished her first Marathon (Chicago marathon)
> Murali Krishna, Vinay Kini, Mahesh Palekar, Rajeev Shankar finished their first half Ironman triathlon (Wildflower and Vineman 70.3)
> Team Asha bike program was launched and was a huge success, they completed 60 and 100 mile rides! Big thank you to the coaches, Lyresa, Jeff and my good friend Stan Ho for guiding them through the season. (more bikers = more triathletes :-)) Thanks to Megha and Dilip as well for starting the program.

My 2010 season was great, other than a minor knee issue, it was relatively injury free. I ran The Twin Cities marathon in 3:32:33, my best time so far, but I missed out on qualifying for Boston Marathon by 94 seconds! Close but no cigar :-)..Ah well, next time.

My on going FUND RAISING EFFORTS for Asha for Education:
I have raised over $2,000.00 so far. here is my runnernet donation page, please do DONATE if you can. (Thank you in advance)

My races for 2010 were:

Big Sur Marathon 4/25/10 & Wildflower Triathlon 5/1/10

(The group at Big Sur - prerace dinner)

BIG SUR Marathon - probably one of the most beautiful courses around. We get to run north on Highway 1 from Big Sur to Carmel - 26.2 miles of beautiful coastline. Arun Simha and I had run this in 2006 and he wanted to do it again in 2010. Having signed up for the race very early I forgot and also signed up for the Wildflower Half Ironman the week after Big Sur! With a 3 week trip out of the country just before the race I was in absolutely no shape to run this race. But hey! it is BIG SUR...you don't have to 'run' this you just enjoy the experience. We were really lucky to have a perfect day - clear sky, blue ocean and just superb views. Anil Rao, Arun & I ran together. Arun is great shape and he just eased through this race with virtually no issues at all. We had Chandrika, Balu, Vinita, Gargi, Kini brothers, Anup - runing the full Gayathri (21 miler) and a bunch of folks running the relay (Arul, Shishir, Roli, Anil, Meenakshi, Rahul, Deepa....the list goes on)

We took a bunch of photographs and just enjoyed the race.

(Arun, Rajeev, Anil)


(Bixby Bridge - Big Sur marathon 4/25/10))


(The Jagged Edge of the world - Big Sur marathon 4/25/10)

WILDFLOWER half Ironman distance Triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)- May 1, 2010

I've heard about Wildflower triathlon for years. I was told that it is a 'must do race'. It’s the 'Woodstock' of triathlons. The thought of camping the night before the race always put me off from participating. I like my creature comforts on race morning. However, this year was different...I finally signed up and after a lot of back and forth I decided to camp with the others before the race. We left the Bay Area around 1:30 in the afternoon on Friday and by the time we got there all the campsites looked full! Luckily Vinod Herur had done the race in 2007 and he knew the layout of the campsites, we drove about 1.5 miles out to the other end of the park and found a decent spot to pitch our tents. Rajeev Shankar & Chakri were doing their first half, Rajendra Kadam, Vinod and Swamy were doing the relay. Mouli & Veena had come in earlier and picked their own campsite. With registration done we headed back for a dinner of pasta and curd rice (yea! South Indians in the house Yo!) – We settled in for a cold cold night. We had a bit of a slope and I kept sliding down during the night, I did not get much sleep.


(The Indian Flag at the finish line)


(the group - after registration)

We were up at 5:00am – packed up the tents, Chakri helped in setting up the stove and we had a cup of coffee…hmmm good! We rode a couple of miles to the start line. It was a sea of bikes! What a sight! Lots of people and lots of energy. My wave was at 9:00am – the lake looked beautiful – BLUE water and calm. The swim was great, took my time at the transition – got on to the bike – the legs felt a bit tired, but within a few miles I was fine. The ride was fun – chatted with a lot of folks along the way, met Chakri and Rajeev Shankar – the last 10-15 miles of the ride was challenging (I remembered most of the ride from having done it with Rajesh back in 2006). Coming into the transition I was feeling great, but I had no idea what the run course was like.
(My tent - the morning getting ready)


(Lake San Antonio)

The run is a mixture of road and off road (more off road) and man was it hilly! I met Mouli at the start and he was struggling with severe stomach issues, we ran together for a bit and then I took off (Mouli dropped out at mile 7, his stomach issue was getting worse). Rajeev Shankar was in fine form and he was running well. As we hit the hills I was walking the hills and jogging the down hills – the trail dust was a bit thick in places – but the views were beautiful. The CalPoly volunteers were full of life and were constantly cheering. I started cramping at mile 6, after borrowing a few salt tabs from a runner managed to get a few more miles of running before beginning to cramp again around mile 10. I walked / jogged the rest and finished felling good but a bit irritated that I had forgotten to carry my salt tabs! Doug, Rajeev Shankar and I had finished around the same time. We met up with Mouli, Veena, Vinod, and settled in to wait for Chakri and Swamy to come in.



(Bike transition)

Chakri finished his first half Ironman distance race - and as he ran in we heard the announcer calling out his name and adding "Representing Team Asha" good show Chakri - you picked a tough race and finished it in style. Big congrats to both Rajeev Shankar and Chakri on their first Half Ironman finish.

The next day Murali Krishna (Asha SF), Venkat Subbiah (Asha SV) & Tandy finished the Wildflower Olympic dist race. CONGRATS!!


(Post race)

Dallas White Rock Marathon Dec 13, 2009

(With the Asha Dallas folks)

With Shri and Madhu moving to Dallas earlier in the year and buying a lovely place, it was a must that we all got there to pay them a visit. Of course the Dallas White Rock Marathon was a perfect excuse to get there and have a party! Renuka, Arul, Gayathri, Rajeev Patel & I flew in from SV and Nandu, Ravin, Rohan and Mallika flew in from Chicago. We had great time at The Rajan house. They hosted a prerace dinner for the Asha Dallas runners which was a blast!

Race morning was cool and calm - Patel was running with my niece Mallika, helping her finish her first half marathon. Congrats Mallika!! I accompanied Nandini for a while and after the half marathon turn off I ran with a few Asha runners. Rajeev Patel also continued on after the half to help a lot of Asha runners through the marathon race. Madhu ran a good race and got her PR! Way to go Madhu! Gayathri ran the half, her second of the year after San Jose RnR! We had great support from Shri, Arul, Renuka, Rohan and Ravin.

White Rock marathon is a nice flat race – it starts in downtown Dallas, circles the lake and heads back into downtown Dallas. It is a well organized race and has pockets of good crowd support. With good friends now settled in Dallas this could become a regular on my marathon circuit.

Chicago Marathon Oct 11, 2009

(Team Asha runners - before the start)

This was my 5th year of running the Chicago Marathon with Team Asha and I was looking forward to improving my PR by about 5 minutes.

The hotel offered us breakfast at 4:30am which was a blessing - there was a lot of nervous energy and excited faces - but most of all, a lot of concern about the temp...it was COLD! While we were in the bus heading out to the start the temp was 28F (-2C)!! It was not snowing but it was COLD. After a quick warm up I headed out to the start. The temp warmed up to about 33F and then topped out at 40F. I kept pace with the 3:45:00 pace group and eased into a 3:44:07 finish.

All our runners came in beaming and smiling, they really enjoyed the race. Almost all of them had set their personal best times. The cold weather seemed to have helped us Californians.

Asha Chicago had done a superb job, our tent in the charity village was heated and there was awesome food & massages awaiting us post race. I love this race, there is just so much energy in this city and the support is amazing. Looking forward to running Chicago 10/10/10 with my sister...it will be her first marathon.

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