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First half marathon of 2008

I succesfully completed my first half marathon of 2008 yesterday. And to top it off, it was my first official cross country trail race. Although I signed up for multiple half marathons this year, as part of training for the Chicago Marathon, I was not able to run any of them due to conflicts with work.

Sri and I signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge on a whim a couple of months ago. Looking back, it sounds crazy :-). Why would anyone want to run a half marathon, 2 weeks after running a marathon and that too in the woods. But I am so glad we did it and that I got to finish it.

Sri, Hafsa and Joy came along with me to cheer me on during race. We took off at ~6:00 AM in the morning and had breakfast at a small diner along the way. The drive to Kettle Moraine state Forest, where the race was held, was senic. Esp with the fall colors. I never realized that Wisconsin was such a beautiful state. I guess that is what happens, when the only places you visit in a state are the touristy places (Wisconsin Dells).

The weather was perfect for the run (~40 degrees) and I got time before the run to warm up. Joy ran the first 1.7 miles with me to the first aid station. The first mile had a killer hill. We had to elevate ~1000 feet in a matter of 200 meters. We started off strong up the hill, but then got our senses and walked the second half of the hill :-).

The race had two loops of ~4.9 miles. The first loop was not as hilly as I expected (or maybe I wasn’t as tired 🙂 ), but was slushy and had a lot of barriers. The second loop was a lot more hilly. I never trained in the trails or hills this year. So this was a new experience. But the beautiful scenery around me kept me distracted and moving forward.

Joy joined me again for the last mile. I switched to “Supreme Hero.. Sweet Heart” 🙂 for the last half mile on my iPod and sprinted to the final. It was a photo finish ..

Some pictures from the race

Warm up

Take Off

The easy part of the trail

Fall Colors

More pictures can be found here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157608376845295/)

P.S : I came first in the race. i.e. in the desi category :-).

October 26, 2008 by Running Sports Uncategorized 1

Supreme Hero.. Sweet Heart..

I came across a compilation of songs from Chiranjeevi‘s (Cinema Actor in Tollywood) 1980s movies. And I forgot how much I loved these songs :).. Esp this one (https://kudithipudi.org/patalau/Yamudiki_Mogudu_Andam_Hindolam.mp3) from the movie Yamudiki Mogudu.. I guess I was in middle school then.  And this was the kool aid we used to drink :).

What can I say.. I love disco :-).. and I am not ashamed to say it..

I wish I can find the video for this song. Chiru was cool in those days :).

Sri found the video for this song on youtube.. the quality is not good.. but you can enjoy the tight pants and shiny shoes 🙂

Even if you don’t know who Chiranjeevi is and what telugu is. Go ahead, download the song and listen to it. The music is discolicious :).

October 22, 2008 by Fun Music Uncategorized 1

Is this the end of affordable flying in India?

The Indian airline industry went through explosive growth for the last 4-5 years. Not long ago, Indians had to deal with only one state owned airline (Air India) to fly around India. With the free market reform of the Indian economy by Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, back in the late 90s,  a lot of private air lines opened shop.

Flying has historically been relegated to the rich and influential in India. But with the opening of these private air lines a lot more people could suddenly afford to fly. These air lines initially offered cheap rates to grab market share. They were so successful that the state owned Air India had to start getting it’s act together and a new air line was opening shop ever day. There was King Fisher, Air Deccan, Go Air, Indico, Sahara and the list goes on..

Cheap Rates, Explosive Coverage Growth, Competition.. what more could the Indian customer ask for? Life was good :-)..

The Government finally got off it’s back end and started building new airports (they should have done it back in the 70s) and privatizing them.. India was going to enter the group of “developed” countries.

And then came the fuel cost increases of 2007/2008 and the credit crunch that is currently affecting every economy on this planet. These airlines have started to raise prices, merge with competition and lay off people (gasp!!) And customers, being the fickle ones :), are going back to the cheaper and trusty railways [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7669301.stm]. This is a crucial period for this nascent industry in India. They just showed ordinary people the joy and productivity of flying. They created a new customer base. But if this economic slowdown continues for another year or so, I am afraid, we are going to go back to the old way of high prices, bad service and monopoly..

P.S : I followed this interesting story about some lay offs at Jet Airways and wonder if we are are moving back from capitalism to socialism in India..

While I am happy for the folks that got their jobs back.. I don’t know if this will allow the company to tighten it’s belt and survive the economic slowdown.

October 17, 2008 by Politics Rantings Uncategorized 1

I realized that I am not superman!!

I successfull completed the 2008 Chicago Marathon in 6 hours and 57 seconds. My worst time so far (2004 was  04:46:01 and 2005 was 05:14:41), but boy am I so glad to finish it. It was hot (lower 80s) and humid, two things that I cannot stand. Despite my lack of consistant training, I thought I could finish the marathon in < 5 hours. By the time, I got to the 14th mile, I realized that I wasn’t superman and had to start walking :-). It was all downhill from there.. my walks got longer and my runs got shorter. By the time, I got to mile 22, I was ready to give up.. but then I remembered why I was running the marathon and picked myself up. Not to mention, my personal cheering squad (my sis, brother-in-law, Sri, Hafsa, Ravi, Deepthi, Achi, Madhavi, Sujana, Byna and Joy) were there to keep me going.

Thanks to everyone that supported my cause and provided moral support. You guys are the BEST!!!

Although I might have come 28472 out of 45000 people that ran the marathon, I was the ONLY guy (as far as I could tell) who ran with the Indian flag :).

I have to thank the wonderful folks at Team Asha, for putting together a great program for a worthy cause.

Finally, thanks to the folks at CARA for running a great training program. I was confused througout the program on what my pace group was, I kept jumping from 12 to 11:30 to 11:00 to 12 to 11:30 :).. but that was my issue :).

This is how a grown man cries in pain after running 26.2 miles!! 🙂

October 13, 2008 by 2008 : Marathon Running Sports Uncategorized 6

Insipirational text..

Got this from a colleague

Subj : BUTTERFLY

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly! – So embrace those struggles that come your way, become stronger and soar higher.

October 9, 2008 by Fun OverHeard Uncategorized 0

Week 16 training and my first outdoor camping trip

After the rough 20 miler last weekend, I was not able to run any of the mid week runs this week. But I did manage to run the 12 miler weekend in the hilly (compared to flat arse Illinois) roads of Wisconsin. Looking back at it, I don’t know, if it was prudent to run on a county highway at night without any visual alerts (reflective dressing, LED etc) on me. It was a tough run, but I took it one hill at a time and I have two proud bleeding nipples to show for it!! :).

I was in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Dells to be precise) over the weekend on a camping trip with the good folks from Team Asha. It was great to see all the runners at one place and it was my first outdoor camping trip. I did stay in log cabins before, but this was the first time I had to pitch a tent. And for those that haven’t done it before.. it is NOT so difficult :). You just have to spend a hour of so, figuring out what the hell you are doing, or take a few minutes and read the instructions :).

Much fun was had with food, liquor and music!! 🙂

[The Gang]

[How many runners does it take to pitch a tent??]

[Cool new Asha Running Shirts]

[Important Stuff]

[Rohit showing off his volleyball skills]

[Sri getting ready to make killer omlettes]

[Is that fun or what??]

More pictures here..[http://flickr.com/photos/kudithipudi/sets/72157607569023137/]

September 30, 2008 by Fun Photography Uncategorized 2

Skyscrapers, McDonald's and weasels…

During dinner with a friend recently, we brooded on these three topics..

  1. Skyscrapers : My friend lives on the 34th floor of a 47(?) floor high rise and we were discussing if that constituted her living in a skyscraper. Both of us couldn’t remember how many floors a building had to have, to be designated as a skyscraper. Intrigued, I fired up my trusted friend, Google, and found out that there is NO precise definition of how many stories or what height makes a building  a skyscraper!! So in essence, if you are living in a 10 story building in middle of North Dakota (no offense intended to people living in this state), you are considered to be living in a skyscraper :-). Was proud to find out that Chicago had one of the first skyscrapers in the world!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skyscraper).
  2. McDonalds : The Rock N Roll McDonald’s at 600 North Clark Street in Chicago used to be one of the highest grossing McDonald’s in the world, before the one in Red Square, Moscow, Russia opened up..This used to be one of my favorite McDonald’s. You could always count on some fresh fries after a night of clubbing in the gold coast :). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_N_Roll_McDonald%27s)
  3. Weasels : Finally, we spoke abt Weasels and wondered why the weasels got associated with weasels!! :).. For an animal that looks so cute, I cannot for the life of me figure out why it got associated with such a bad meaning.. I haven’t been able to find the history of this yet. If any of you do, pls post a comment.
September 29, 2008 by Fun Rantings Uncategorized 0