Sports

Last run for 2010?

Jhanvi and I ran the 2010 Hot Chocolate 15K last Saturday (11/6/2010). I don’t know why I keep doing this.. but I don’t seem to realize that I am not a superman 🙂 and cannot run races efficiently without practicing. Anyways, here is what happens when you run a race without ANY training..

My Results

I was aiming to be the last in everything :).. but looks like some people still beat me..

Jhanvi’s Results

Thx to Jhanvi for making me run the race… I wanted to run the 5K and call it a day 🙂 (and no. it is not called cheating when it is 27 degrees and you are freezing your butt off!! 🙂 ).. but she encouraged me to run the 15K. Clearly not my best time.. but I am proud I completed it never the less.

November 8, 2010 by Running Sports Uncategorized 0

First run of 2010

I kicked off the 2010 running season with the Shamrock shuffle held on March 21st. Jhanvi was going to run it with me, but was not able to due to health restrictions. She is planning on joining me for a couple of half marathons this year :). Hopefully, she won’t beat me as she did last year :).

I finished the 8K (5.1 miles) a couple seconds short of 1 hour :). Official chip time was 0:59:51. Results are published here. Looks like I am going to settle in the 12min/mile pace. That has been my pace for the last couple of races.

April 5, 2010 by Running Sports Uncategorized 0

I ran for Chocolate!!

Jhanvi and I successfully finished the 2009 Hot Chocolate 15K, held on the lake shore of Chicago last weekend. Not a surprise that Jhanvi beat me by 1 second :). Her finish time was 1:46:27 and mine was 1:46:28. It was a chilly day, but after a couple of miles we fell into the rhythm and enjoyed the race. The only disappointing portion of the race was the watery hot chocolate that was provided at the end of the race. I am not sure if it was a case of the organizers underestimating the crowd or if they were being cheap, the hot chocolate (which was supposed to be the attraction of the race) was pretty watery.

Yes.. people do run ~9 miles to get a cup of hot chocolate :).

November 3, 2009 by Running Sports Uncategorized 2

Last half marathon of 2009

I ran the last (at least for now) half marathon of 2009 this weekend along with Jahnavi and Sri. We ran the Northface Endurance Challenge Half Marathon. The Northface Endurance Challenges are a collection of races which take place in the wilderness across the US throughout the year. The race in Wisconsin, held each October, is the easiest out of them. I ran this race last year and wanted to make this of my annual races.

My official time for the race was 3:01:09 (~31 minutes slower than my time from last year). So this makes it my slowest half marathon ever. How do I continue to keep breaking these slow records? 🙂 Well, by not practicing :).

While the run itself was painful (reminder for self.. never ever run a half marathon in the woods without practicing!!), it was fun to have Jahnavi accompany me on her first half marathon. She was a real trooper and kept me company throughout the race. I also took some videos of the race (that again tells you how poorly I prepared for the race 🙂 ). Here is a snippet from my last mile, I was delusional by this point 🙂

The obligatory pre and post race pictures 🙂

Pre Race

Post Race

October 26, 2009 by 2009 : Half Marathons Fun Running Sports Uncategorized 0

I guess I am a superman :)

I successfully completed the Chicago Half Marathon held on 9/13 in 2 hours and 44 minutes. I know that is nothing to brag about 🙂 (in fact my worst time so far for a half marathon).. but considering that I didn’t train for it at all and had a couple shots of tequila and some beer the night before, I think I did OK. But boy was I hurting at the end.

I ran the race with my friend Sri and his friend Rama Krishna. Obviously, I was the late finisher in the team.

Here is our pre-race picture

p.s : Please don’t take this as advice to start drinking before embarking on a long run :).

September 20, 2009 by 2009 : Half Marathons Running Sports Uncategorized 1

First race of 2009..

It was cold (35 F), Windy (30 mph) and snowing (3 inches) for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K race yesterday…. But I was determined not to miss yet another race this year. Thx to Sri for pushing me during the race, I finished it in 51:28 minutes. Thats an average of 10:22/mile.

[Photo Credit : Kieffer]

This is how the course looked like. The road was so slushly that my feet were frozen and I couldn’t feel them till the 2nd mile.

[ I have to make fun of Sri’s new moustache 🙂 ]

March 30, 2009 by Running Sports Uncategorized 5

2009 Superbowl

The only cool thing that came out of the 2009 Superbowl (Other than the fact, that the Cardinals played their heart out.. but still lost), were the 3D ads!! Dreamworks and NBC partnered up with Pepsi to show two ads in 3D after the first half.. I don’t know if the hype generated by the ads justified the millions of dollars spent to create them.. I am sure the picture below was reflected in most of the households across America 🙂

Thx to Sri and Kirthi for hosting this year’s Superbowl party.. The Guacamole and Haleem were yummy..Pictures from the party (http://flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157613256281176/)

February 2, 2009 by Food Fun Sports Uncategorized 0

New land of opportunity for baseball..

Sri sent this link (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/11/24/pirates.indians.ap/index.html?cnn=yes#) from Sports Illustrated about a story of how the Pittsburgh Pirates signed up two 20 year old men from India as free agents to be part of their farm. These two guys never touched a baseball in their life!! Other than pitching at a reality show called “The Million Dollar Arm”.

Imagine.. it is the bottom of the ninth, The Pirates are leading by a run and the opposing team has all the bases loaded. 1 strike and 2 balls.. The manager calles in Patel as a closer.. the crowd goes crazy yelling “Patel.. Patel..Patel..” LOL :). Cannot wait to see that..

November 25, 2008 by Fun Sports Uncategorized 1