Wisdom at last?

They say that nothing can buy experience - true in several instances. Youngsters do tend to have the brash - what do they know about people in their 40s like me - well, I'm sure I did the same back then. In today's race though, I think I think I finally gained a little wisdom six and a half years after running my first half marathon and six years after running my first marathon.
I might have said this several times before but running gives me immense pleasure - maybe the only thing that comes close to that with any physical activity is when I am hiking in a beautiful patch of land. However, I think that exhilaration I feel when I am running on an empty road or up a hill cannot be explained.
Just two days ago I contemplated whether or not to run my fifth half marathon - well, it had been a year since my last race and I was itching to do one. 10Ks don't give me as much pleasure and a full marathon does require a fair amount of training - I am not quite ready for my next. So, even though I hadn't specifically trained for this one, knowing that I had been running fair distances regularly enough that I would not bomb that I decided to go yesterday and register for this race. Why this one? Several people had told me that it was fun with all the bands along the course. So I went ahead and paid what I thought was a ridiculously high price for a half marathon - I think I paid around that much for even the Nike full marathon last year - but then I was looking forward to the experience.
The last few mornings have been chilly and this morning was no exception. It was expected to be sunny though and having been sunburnt badly during my first marathon, I decided to apply my sunscreen even though it was dark leaving home. I liked that I had to drive only 15 minutes to the start, that parking was really easy when I arrived and that there were zillions of portable toilets. I did not, however, expect to pay another $7 for convenient parking. Oh, well, all for the experience.
I delayed checking in my gear till as late as I could because I did not want to brave the morning chill longer than I needed to - my racing tank would be freezing. At 7:40 I decided to take the plunge, checking in my gear with two like-minded women I had met while waiting for the opportune moment.
Off I strode looking for my corral - I had given a random end time of 2:20 - that I think was my time for my first half marathon. I knew I wouldn't do worse than that because even though I am maybe 10 pounds heavier, I feel much fitter than I ever have. As I was entering the corral, I met this dear, old friend of mine - I first met him 20 years ago when I used to do my usual runing back and forth on Marine Drive in Mumbai and he used to play cricket and we both worked at the same place. When we reconnected a few years later, both were married and he was way more into running than I was. He ran my first marathon with me at my tortoise=like pace just to give me company - and he came all the way to San Diego just for that. I have yet to see him not go out of his way to help another runner. Anyway, I knew that he would be there today, I just didn't know where and it turned out that he was one of the pacers for my kind of pace - so that really made my day.
I then met with another woman who was fairly local and who was running on her own. She and I ran together for a little over half the way and she then told me that she was going to slow down a bit. Initially, I kept just a little ahead of my friend and his pacing sign - thereafter, I decided to up the speed just a bit and I kept increasing it. Along the way, I saw several interesting signs but the one that inspired me the most was this one on a woman's back that said "Running for my almost 3 year old and my 13 week old" 13 weeks - I could barely get my body back together and here was this woman running a half marathon - of course, I had to compliment her - that was awesome. There were lots of people running in memory of children, friends, family members, others attempting their first half marathon and yet others like me who just ran because they liked to. Want inspiration next time? Go volunteer at a race or run/walk/bike as part of one - it is simply amazing.
The bands - almost one at every mile - kept up the spirits as did several local folks who came out on Sunday morning just to cheer us, some enjoying their drinks, others, giving food to the runners, yet others playing music for the crowd and cheering us on - even little ones. That, along with the 12,000 strong participant number kept up the level of excitement.
The medal is probably one of the nicest I have received in my races and I was sure glad that they gave a real banana instead of the packaged health foods - they did give a couple later. The funniest was the volunteers cheering when someone decided to get a bagel - almost nobody wanted one.
For the first time since I started running distances, I felt like I had the pacing in my control; not only did I start out a little slower but I also had ample energy and finished my race in 2:08 which was only 2 minutes slower than my fastest half marathon time 5 years ago. I seemed to want to increase my speed at each subsequent mile, didn't need much water, used just one gel pack because I felt hungry. All this made me feel even more inspired - who says that speed cannot increase beyond 40 - its all in the mind. I'm not really sure but I certainly felt that way today - and with one of the bands playing "Doors" at mile#12, who can ask for more?

Today's run

This morning was one of those - woke up determined to run the two rounds of "The Dish" I had planned - no aches and pains, no time excuses, having rested the previous day it was one of those days where both the mind and body were working in synch.. Of course, there have been other similar days and those when the mind wants to do it but the body is groaning. I did enjoy my morning cup of tea as almost always - there is something about the silence of the early morning which I have enjoyed from early childhood and continue to do so - there is a sense of peace. Not having received the newspaper in time to do my Sudoku did throw me off a wee bit because I really enjoy that time of day to do my puzzles and awaken my brain.
Having eaten a slice of toast with butter (for some reason I was really hungry even after my tea) I got ready for the run (I always have my workout clothes ready the night before and have become an expert operator in the dark). Just as I was leaving the house I realised that the sun might be out soon because it didn't look like there was any fog which meant that I would certainly need my running visor - I have this special one - special only because I think so - and it must be filthy and sweaty but I prefer it over all my race freebie hats. The ten minute drive just before 6 a.m. was very uneventful as it normally is and I would much rather keep it that way.
Incidentally, I often get asked what is "The Dish" - basically the dish is a real satellite dish which is part of SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). Stanford has got built a walk/run trail around there - the trail is a 3.6 mile loop (it also has an extension if you choose to do it). I often like to do two rounds of the dish or one round with the extension. Now 3.6 miles doesn't sound a lot at all and doesn't give you the true intensity of the trail - it is like doing interval training - steep hills - both up and down. One could go either way on the trail and do more or less the same number of hills both ways and one has to actually run/walk it to experience the thrill. It is one of my favorite places to go for a run - it is very safe so I don't have to worry even if I am there at 6 right as the gate opens.
I started out feeling good with the slight chill in the air. There were several people on that first hill which I always dread before I get started. By the time I was at the top of the first long uphill stretch, the view was brilliant. The sky was getting ready for the sun to emerge - the bay was resting with the water at low tide and the hills looked like purple silhouettes. In a few minutes I saw the sun, nice and bright, big and orange emerging from beyond the hills. There is something about just seeing the sun emerge like that - makes me feel like I have boundless energy for the day.
Soon thereafter, I came to the foot of what I call my recharge hill. This hill is almost exactly halfway through the loop, is short and steep enough that I get a thrill from running it. That hill seems to give me just the right energy to sprint down the subsequent hills - of course, I might think it is sprinting until I come across one of these young students who are truly sprinting and bring me back down to earth level. Today there were two such young ones who I crossed three or four times because they also did two rounds. One of them I think was on her third when I left. I keep thinking - that is my goal - to be able to truly sprint not just down but also up those hills.
At the end of the first round I was feeling really good but my mind seemed to say - are you stupid to have decided to do two today? Well, I dumped that thought and plodded up the first hill at the start of round#2. By now the sun was way up in the sky and I knew this round had to be hot. I had all these thoughts going on much as I tried to tell myself - focus on your immediate goal - should I have brought water? How silly not to bring some gel, what if.... The stronger part of my mind blew away those thoughts and I plodded on. At the top of that first hill I seemed to gather strength and charged on. At about the time one woman who was superspeed walking seemed to have started running and was almost at the point of overtaking me. At this point I was determined not to let her ahead - I mean there are times when I know that a person is way faster and with my level I will not be able to stop them and then there are times like today when I was just set knowing my limitations. For most of that round I heard footsteps within seconds of me and then stop - she seemed to be using me as her pacer - that felt oh so good - of course, only until I would see of those two students dashing past. The recharge hill kept its name and despite the heat and the intensity of the sun on round#2 it was go, go, go. The downhill at the end felt exhilarating and boy, was I glad I did it.
Not only the run but I would do this again and again just to see the sunrise. Now back to a regular, kid filled day.

Winter Trip - Las Vegas and New Mexico

Lying down and reading with my daughter in complete silence, each of us absorbed in our book, is one of my best memories of the trip we undertook this winter break. While at home, there is hardly a moment when I can actually put my feet up, drop everything and read, leave alone read with my daughter. I have to scramble for time to read for pleasure, normally a few minutes before bed or really early in the morning. These days I have found a way to read while working out at the gym - my new found getaway. That is why I really treasure that time. Also, the boys had gone out that evening so she didn't have to deal with my constant - don't be mean to your brother bit or the boys making noise. In fact, she commented that it was so peaceful and quiet without them around.

To begin with I didn't want to go anywhere - I mean, everytime we go, I have this humungous job of cooking and packing all my son's special foods. This is no easy task, a few hours worth and I wouldn't be able to start till the evening before we were supposed to take off. My husband did the job of getting the car serviced and booking the hotels at the last minute after going on about the fact that we should go someplace, that he had a two week shutdown and that this was crazy that I didn't want to go. I finally relented. Working right till the last afternoon before leaving didn't make it easy at all but then I wanted to come back no later than the 1st, I wouldn't come back on the 31st - historic superstition dealing with my son's health, which is why we decided to come back on the 30th. Packing, cooking, cleaning, closing shop at home, making sure my babysitter had details of when to come in to put out the garbage, water the plants, feed the hamsters. It all seemed too much to deal with. In the end, it was all worth it because we got to spend so much quality time together, which we almost never get to do on a regular basis at home. I am busy with school and the kids and their routines, while my husband is almost never at home on weekdays and makes up for his sleep on weekends.

             Our final destination was Santa Fe, New Mexico, about 1,100 miles from home. This meant that we had to stop somewhere along the way. Of course, my husband planned it that way, given that he jumps to go to Las Vegas at the drop of a hat - I call it our annual pilgrimage. I kind of like it and don't. I mean, its fine once or twice with the kids but n times - that is really stretching it. The two of them know now that they get to inhale loads of smoke and each time we pass through the casino areas, they hold their noses and don't talk at all. This time the smoke seemed worse or its just my older age. We had a fairly uneventful drive to Las Vegas other than taking a different route, thanks to a new GPS which my husband bought, during which we saw loads of snow in southern California, a very rare occurence indeed.

            In Las Vegas, for the second year in a row, we were able to go to a show as a family, thanks to our son really growing up. We enjoyed a magic show - it was really very well done. Keeping in mind the audience as mostly kids, the show was also scheduled at a very reasonable time. We shopped, walked a great deal, went to the dolphin habitat and the secret garden. Not to miss ate at California Pizza Kitchen - as soon as the kids saw the restaurant they said they were hungry - like they don't get enough of that food at home. The kids and my husband went to the video game arcade in the hotel and came back with a cartload of stuffed toys. The irony is that when my son met a Santa in the hotel lobby after this and Santa asked him what he'd like for Christmas, his response was "A stuffed toy!!!!!" Oh, well, my highlight of the stay was using a sauna for the first time.

            Driving to Santa Fe from Las Vegas took way longer than we had anticipated. Even though we left Vegas at about 8:00 and there wasn't a lot of traffic driving through Hoover Dam and getting onto I-40, the main connector, it was slow, being a single lane. We reached a totally snowed Flagstaff, where the kids spotted an Olive Garden, so guess where we ate lunch?  By now, my son had discovered chicken salad as his standard fare, with all of his dietary restrictions. It would be given to him minus croutons and dressing and he would have that with milk. We weren't quite dressed for the weather in Flagstaff and were really freezing. Thereafter, going downhill was alright and by the time we got to the continental divide, it was cold, dark, snowing, the roads icy and traffic moving really slow. It was kind of scary because the road was unfamiliar as were the road conditions. We had a very late stop for dinner at Albuquerque and then made it to Santa Fe at about 9:45 p.m.. Driving in, I was really surprised to find that such a small town had a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods - well, I had no need to worry for my son's food.

             Santa Fe is what held the greatest surprise for me during this trip. Several people at work had told me about what a beautiful place it is and how I would really like it but it was when I actually set my eyes on it the next morning, I was stunned by the beauty. The snow made it even more beautiful than it would normally be and I went crazy taking lots and lots of photos.  The contrast of the blue sky, the snowy mountains, the bare trees, the adobe structures and the snowy terrain was completely fascinating. None of us had the right footwear but we decided to walk anyway. My son had come into the car with crocs on and we clean forgot to pack his shoes. As a result, we spent the first morning, just walking around the plaza, looking for a decent shoe shop. The plaza stores have lots of art, jewellery and leather products, and really expensive footwear. We weren't going to spend $100 on a pair of shoes for my almost eight year old who would outgrow it in no time. Finally, having asked someone in a store that had some excellent music playing, the man at the counter gave us a super map and showed us a sports store about four blocks down. In the meantime, despite the breakfast buffet, we were hungry at lunch and had found this French cafe while walking, walked in and were in for a treat. I almost literally gobbled down my nutella crepe, while my son discovered turkey rolls (the cafe had no chicken) and between the two children, they came up with this new turkey roll salad recipe that became a big hit. Given my son's highly limited food options, this was a welcome. He was thrilled with his new shoes. While walking back to the hotel to relax for the afternoon, we found this antique store going out of business. My husband loves picking up curios everywhere we travel, especially the native american ones. So we got these masks and dreamcatchers.

                This was on the 24th of December. Being Christmas Eve, there was the special walk at Canyon Road to view the faralitos - weighted brown paper bags with candles that are a New Mexico tradition. Canyon Road is the artists road - where you probably find more art galleries per capita than most places in the world.  We had picked the hotel location such that we could walk to any location, plus of course, the breakfast which had to be part of the package. So it was convenient in the evening to walk to Canyon Road. On the way, we found this cafe where we decided to eat dinner - Gaudalupe cafe. Dinner was absolutely delicious. Given the below freezing temperatures outside and our bodies still acclimatizing to the same, the hot chilli - both in terms of temperature and spice was more than welcome. Of course, I am now paying the price for all of those meals. The walk was amazing - so many people, so many faralitos - it was fascinating.

                Whenever I go to a new place, I take the first day to get used to the surroundings and the roads,and I am off on my run on day 2. There is something thrilling about running in different locations around the world. If I did have the money, I would set my goal to run in every city of the world. As always, I had packed my running shoes and accessories but after seeing the icy pavements and really cold weather, I had second thoughts on this second day. Plus I had to take photos - I was so captivated by the natural beauty. So I decided to do a long walk, carrying my camera, stopping almost every minute because I spotted a great view. I walked the second day as well and ran on the third day with my camera in my backpack.  This was Christmas day and we found that almost everything was closed. Much to my daughter's chagrin, we went to another French cafe for lunch - it was really close to the hotel and happened to be open on the day. Again, the food was delicious. No matter which restaurant we went to, the food was really good. It does explain all my excess pounds.

                 One of the best memories of that day is  of the kids playing in the snow, and of my son making up his snow walk song - "Nobody knows me, oh yeah, oh yeah". He sang and danced this all day while we walked around town. Playing in the snow was not as easy as I thought it might be. My son wanted to build a snowman and we were helping him. After several minutes of bending and lifting and sculpting the snow with all those layers on, I was really tired. My daughter liked the snow so much that she sprayed snow all over her long tresses. My son would keep building something in the snow, call it his sculpture and carry it with him while we walked. All along that morning it was snowing. It was probably our first time playing in the snow while it was snowing and I have to admit we really had lots of fun.

                The museums which were closed for the past two days were now open. We had to decide which ones to see and not to try and squeeze in too many on one single day. It was snowing again in the morning and we had a snowball fight and snowball throw contest in the park across from the first museum we visited. By now, of course our bodies had got used to the below 30 deg Farenheit temperatures and didn't really bother with the cold. It was also the morning I had gone for a run and was feeling highly energetic. The Georgia O'Keefe museum was excellent and since my daughter paints, she really enjoyed it too while my son kept asking all sorts of questions about O'Keefe - so he was also fascinated. We went that afternoon to this chocolate drink place - where they make chocolate drinks that the native americans used to have - the mayas, the incas, etc.. Despite being used to spicy food, the chocolate spicy drinks were hard to stomach and I stuck to something that was more like hot chocolate - with cinnamon and almonds - but very potent. By the time we left this place, the snow and wind were intimidating. We had decided to go to Museum Hill to see the two museums which one of my coworkers had said were not to miss. The hotel staff recommended that we take a taxi up there and drive back in the bus. So we went in the taxi, enjoyed the two museums, which had a great deal of hands-on activities for the kids to do. At the pot holder weaving all four of us were so engrossed that we must have been there for more than 45 minutes. The kids play area was also fantastic with a huge play house, lots of wooden toys and shelves full of children's books. The view from the top of the hill was amazing - the snowy Rockies, the greens, the trees.

                  By the time the museums closed and we went down to the shuttle it was way more than freezing after all that snow and wind. It was 5:10 and the bus hadn't come - it was supposed to be there at 5:03. There was a British couple also waiting for the bus. The woman was really good at entertaining my children at how to keep themselves warm. In the meantime, I decided to call the number on the bus stop. The person who talked said that they had stopped the service because of the wind and icy conditions. I then asked him for the taxi number, we called the taxi and went down safely. We decided to eat at the Indian restaurant near the plaza, across the road from our hotel. It has become somewhat of a tradition, no matter where we travel, we have one Indian meal. We have done that in Tokyo, Europe and several places in the US.  After a great deal of grumbling, the kids actually enjoyed the meal; it was truly delicious.

                 The kids loved the hotel because we had a breakfast buffet each morning, we had three computers in the lobby with high speed internet access and a heated, outdoor swimming pool where they actually swam in 30 deg. Farenheit weather. I liked it because of the easy accessibility and my husband had decided that Santa Fe was too arty for him.  The Native American jewellery is really beautiful and we only bought at two places because Santa Fe is kind of expensive. We didn't buy any of the rugs or other artwork, just a replica of Georgie O'Keefe.

                 We drove to Albuquerque the next morning along the Turquoise trail which was scenic indeed. Cerreles  was a village along the way which had a house with several artifacts, a museum and a bunch of animals. We didn't really go to the museum, thought the artifacts were expensive and continued on our drive.

                 Our first stop upon reaching Albuquerque was a Subway for a late lunch. This was adjacent to the Old Town where we spent the rest of the day. At 37 deg farenheit, his was apparently the coldest day of the year in Albuquerque. However, after leaving Santa Fe at 22 deg Farenheit, it didn't seem nearly as cold. The old town is full of stores with all kinds of Native American arts and jewellery. Given the state of the economy, several stores had huge discounts and we bought several earrings amongst other things.

                 The next day we went to the two museums near the old town which were both fantastic – one is an American Indian museum and the other a children's museum. The latter was so engaging that the four of us could have spent a couple of days in there. We met a lady who said she has been to several children's museums in the country and this was by far the best she had been to. The American Indian museum has several interesting exhibits as well.

                 While driving back, we didn't take the Hoover dam-Las Vegas detour route, much to my husband's dismay, and went from I-40 to CA58, staying on the way at Barstow. I was so happy to see "Welcome to California" – it seemed like we had been away for ages.  On the second day of our drive, though we have done this route several times, we decided to stop a bit at Tehechapi, which we haven't done before. It was fascinating to see snow in the middle of the Mojave desert, and the greenery as well, which made it a treat for the eyes. I went kind of crazy taking photos along the way and my daughter wanted to learn so I started with photography 101 with her; the same age that I started almost (I was 11 and she is 10) – but with a big difference. I had started with an Agfa Isoly!II completely manual camera while she was starting with a Nikon Digital SLR. Times have obviously changed.