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November 26, 2017 – Chicago, Illinois, USA

Welcome to the second day of Chicago exploration.

After exploring Skydeck, The Bean, and Little India yesterday, it was time to tick off some of the other items on our bucket list.

The day started quite lazily. We got up a little bit late and just laid in bed for some time before realizing it was getting late. After hurrying through the checkout process from our Airbnb, we dumped our bags in the car and started welcoming the day with open arms.

The first thing we wanted to do was have a good Indian breakfast and there was/is no better place than Little India for this. We found a small and cozy (not so clean, though!) place just around the block and went in there. As it was still a morning time, we were the only customers there and after looking at the menu and the prices, we knew that our tummies would be happy at the end of the breakfast. We tried tasting everything that we could and gulped more than one cups of Indian Masala team. It was tasty, amazing, and soul quenching.

The next order of business was 360 Chicago. When we were planning for this trip, 360 Chicago was the must-visit place for me. I still remember when I was back in India and was Facebooking, I watched a video of 360 Chicago and how funny and scary it looked at the same time. I promised myself at that moment that one day I would treat myself with this awesome architectural figure and experience the same thrill and adrenaline.
Fortunately, the CityPass included the access to the 360 Chicago but the thing that I really wanted to experience was Tilt 360, which was not part of the pass. It was just a $7 extra and I didn’t want to go away just because of this extra fee, so we went ahead and experienced it.
To be honest, I think I had made a big deal of it in my mind. I have set so high expectations of this place over the last few years that this place didn’t live up to those expectations. I must admit it was fun and something that I hadn’t experienced before, but, it was just not that thrilling – like those rides at Stratosphere, Las Vegas. Anyway, I was glad that I could experience this and ticked off one of the items we had on the list for the day.

The second place we headed to was the Adler Planetarium. I wasn’t a big fan of checking out indoor attractions when the weather was so beautiful and the city had many outdoor places to offer, but my friend wanted to check it out and I complied.
Though I wasn’t thrilled at first, the place turned out to be an amazing experience. I learnt so many cool things that I hadn’t learnt in my school.

The most amazing thing that I found out was the reason why the American flag still waves high on the surface of the moon, even though there is no atmosphere. And I know, I should have been smarter than this. The simple reason was that they had a metal rod going through the flag so that it doesn’t drop and wave high. It was such a simple thing, yet, my mind couldn’t register it.

Anyway, apart from this fact, there were many other things to check out here and we ended up having a blast at this place. After the Adler Planetarium, we saw the Chicago skyline and didn’t want to miss the nice weather and the wonderful backdrop for the pictures.

After the pictures, the last stop on the list was trying Chicago’s world famous Giordano’s Deep Dish Pizza. Having explored many food scenes at Little India, it was time to taste some authentic Chicago dish and what was better than the famous deep dish pizza. We knew the craze around this dish, but didn’t know that it would take us almost 20 minutes to find a place which didn’t have a long wait line and could allow us to sit so that we can rest while our pizza was in the oven.

We finally found the place and it took us 20 minutes to get there and additional 5 to find the parking spot. Damn, we were hungry and the parallel parking in Chicago didn’t help much. But, at last, we were sitting in the restaurant and sipping our Coronas and waiting for the pizza to arrive. When it did, I didn’t fathom the quantity. Man, it was big. By the look of it, I knew both of us wouldn’t be able to finish it and we were right. We barely finished a slice each and took rest of it with us.

The day was filled with many moments and memories. At the end of it, all the fun and experiences brought a smile to my face!

Next stop – my hometown – Patansaongi, Maharastra, India.

November 25, 2017 – Chicago, Illinois, USA

After the Frankenmuth trip, it was time to explore the state just west to Michigan – Illinois & what a better city to visit in Illinois other than Chicago.

The idea of visiting Chicago was special. Chicago has been one of those cities which I knew even though I was a small kid from Patansaongi. I remember whenever I used to hear the news from west, I used to hear stories about big cities like New York, Boston, LA, and Chicago. So, obviously, this trip was a special one since I was visiting the windy city for the first time.

We had booked a cheap Airbnb right in the heart of the Little India. It was a small cozy apartment and we had a bed and bath to ourselves.

The journey kicked off with a road trip to Chicago. This was the first time I was driving so far and definitely gave me chills just thinking about it. Having said that, I made sure to be safe and confident in myself to carry on with the journey without any “incidents”.
Fortunately, that’s exactly what happened. The journey was uneventful, which is extremely pleasing when you are driving more than 200 miles for the first time.

I still remember the “Aha” moment when we took the I94 to Chicago and found that we need to drive on the same freeway for the next 208 miles. It was something that I never had experienced and was overjoyed with the idea of driving on the same road for longer duration, which would reduce my panic levels of driving and paying attention to the directions at the same time.

Anyway, we reached our Airbnb and fortunately, found a spot to park our car. Chicago being a transport friendly city, we thought it would be good to park the car at one spot for a couple days and using the public transport to roam around Chicago.
After finding a parking spot a couple minutes from our Airbnb, we got ready for the day that was ahead of us. As it had been more than 3 hours that we had our breakfast, we thought it would be good to start the day by having some Indian food, for which we were craving for.

One of the biggest advantages of booking a place in Little India was that we could find so many places famous for Indian food within 2 minutes’ distance and staying in Little India turned out to be a brilliant decision.

After our belly and heart full of delicious Indian food, it was time to head to different spots that we wanted to visit. We took a tram from Quincy Station and headed to the popular Michigan Avenue in Chicago. As we had a Chicago CityPass, we wanted to cover as many places as we could in a couple days before heading home.

The Skydeck Chicago was the place we really wanted to check out since we thought it would be beautiful to click pictures especially during the evening time surrounded by the spectacular Chicago nightlife. We had to wait at least an hour to get to the spot, but it was totally worth it. I loved the idea of putting the glass cage on the outside the building, giving you the feeling that you are *literally* floating in air. This was one of the most exhilarating experience for me, since I do get acrophobia sometimes.

After the Skydeck Chicago, it was time to head to Millenium Park and witness the famous Bean. As it was the night time and very dark, we couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the park or the Bean. However, the light was just enough for us to see it from all angles and click so many pictures. We tried getting good look at the Bean, before we saw many people surrounding the ice rink that they had put at the heart of the Millenium Park.

I was tempted to go and try ice skating but after realizing the crowd and the long queue for the skates, held my thoughts. After seeing a few people fall many times, we were hungry and wanted to taste the world famous Chicken Biryani at Gareeb Nawaz. We ordered a couple Chicken Biryanis the moment we arrived at the place and devoured it in no time. We were surprised to learn how cheap and good the food was and couldn’t resist ordering some more and Chai to top it off.

It was a good day and definitely loved every part of Chicago exploration.

Next up – second day at Chicago, Illinois.

Week 48 (November 29 – December 05) – Running 1,000 miles in 2020

Week 47 was slightly awesome. Let’s make this week even more.

Day 1 – Sunday, November 29, 2020 – WFH Day 258 – 107 more miles to go
What a wonderful day to start the week and Sunday, off course. This was the last day of the long Thanksgiving weekend and we wanted to make sure to use it to the fullest.

Monika, Anupam, and I decided to turn it into a “running” Sunday. Anupam wanted to finish a Half Marathon and Monika 10 miles. As I had already finished a Half Marathon last week, I was flexible with my running distance and that would have helped me spend more time with the kids. Anupam got a head start and left early for the run, whereas myself, Monika, and kids headed to NHS for our respective run. The run started well and I felt extremely comfortable to finish the Half Marathon distance. As I was about to finish the 10K distance, kids demanded they were hungry, so I stopped my run right there and drove them to Tim Hortons for some grilled cheese sandwich and donuts. I told Monika to continue running as I would be back in a few minutes.

As soon as we were back, kids were busy finishing their delicious food and I decided to accompany Monika for the last couple miles. It was worth the effort as we took almost 25 minutes for the last couple of miles. It was an amazing feeling to see Monika complete the 10 miles distance as this was the longest she has run so far. In the meantime, I finished 8 miles for the day. It was such an awesome weather and loved every bit of it.

Day 2 – Monday, November 30, 2020 – WFH Day 259 – 107 more miles to go
Today was a big day for me, professionally.

Having worked for Ford Motor Company as an agency employee for the last 3 years, I was finally hired as a full-time employee and it was an amazing feeling. It was something that I wanted to make a life here in Michigan and was glad to know that it was finally happening and I am living the American dream.

Being this big a day, I couldn’t go out for a run, and ended up taking a rest day.

Day 3 – Tuesday, December 01, 2020 – WFH Day 260 – 104 more miles to go
Today was special. It snowed heavily for the first time here in Michigan and I wanted to celebrate it by going out for a quick run outside.

It was the first time I was running in snow and to make sure that I don’t slip while running on the icy surfaces, I bought a pair of Shoes Grips from Costco and it was time to test them out. The run started out in an awesome way. I was giggling ear to ear just at the thought of running in snow and was taking the beautiful scenes in while I was running.

To talk about my outfit for the run, I was wearing the 32 Heat Body warmers (both pants and shirt), a long running pant, a short sleeve T-shirt, topped by a light sweater, a neck warmer, a beanie, and not to forget the heavy hand gloves. That sounds like a lot, but as someone who feels colder sooner than later, this entire outfit seemed to be just enough to keep my body warm and helped me maintain a good pace throughout the run. The only thing that I did change during the run was taking off my neck warmer from my face to breathe easily. I found that after removing the neck warmer, I could run faster with ease and was extremely happy with the decision.

At the end of the run, I pushed myself for the last 0.2 miles and it was totally worth it.

Day 4 – Wednesday, December 02, 2020 – WFH Day 261 – 100 more miles to go
What an awesome weather to go out for a quick pre-lunch run. The one thing I knew that I had to do during the run was completing 4.3 miles as it would enable me to complete 900 miles of running for the year 2020.

Having set sight at a 4.3 mile distance, I didn’t feel tired at all when I finished 3.1 miles, which is usually the case. It helped me realize the power of mental health and setting eye on the bigger goal than you are capable of. I had realized it in the past, but lost sight of it over the time & I was glad that I was re-introduced to it.

Just 100 more miles to go for the year.

Day 5 – Thursday, December 03, 2020 – WFH Day 262 – 100 more miles to go
After two consecutive days of running, I took a rest day and had fun with it.
Took care of some official work and then worked on some personal stuff. The day was extremely busy and I was exhausted at the end of the day. Good day!

Day 6 – Friday, December 04, 2020 – WFH Day 263 – 100 more miles to go
Friday turned out to be the second rest day in a row. I took care of some stuff along with the work. Never went out for a run!

Day 7 – Saturday, December 05, 2020 – WFH Day 264 – 99 more miles to go
I, finally, got out for a quick run at NHS after a couple days’ rest. Kids were with me during this. When I was on my second round of the track, I noticed the Mr. Arnav was not wearing his gloves. This reminded me that I forgot to do a mental checklist before leaving home. It was cold and I didn’t want him to catch cold during this time, so I told him that we would head home as soon as I finish the next round.
I could run only one mile, ending a pretty boring (run-wise) week to a close.

I would have loved to finish more distance, but couldn’t and that’s okay. It is just a part of the process.

Please check out the weekly highlights before you go.

& the countdown
weeks to go: 4
miles to go: 99

See you next week!

November 19, 2017 – Frankenmuth, Michigan, USA

This short drive 70 miles to NorthWest from my place kicked off the long weekend for Thanksgiving 2017.

In 2017, we planned to celebrate Thanksgiving in Michigan as this was the first time I was going to celebrate Thanksgiving here and I had lovely people, Monika & Manju, to celebrate this special festival with. I have started liking Michigan only because of the many people that I have met so far here and the lovely relationships that I have built in the short 3-month period here.

To kick things off, I was looking for a nice spot in Michigan which was not that far and at the same time not too close and Frankenmuth fit the bill perfectly. I used to live in Westland back then and Frankenmuth was roughly 70 miles away from home.
For those of you who haven’t been here, it is a German town near Birch Run shopping outlet. It is an extremely well kept and relaxing place to visit. The best time to visit this place is in Summer and they are famous for their Chicken Diner and Cheese house.

We were visiting during the Thanksgiving break, so it was definitely chilly to say the least. This was the first time I was visiting this place, so had an open mind and was ready to embrace whatever this place had to offer.

The drive to this place was quite peaceful and enjoyable. The only thing that went wrong was that I missed an exit while traveling here and had to drive 4 miles more to get back on the correct track. During this time, I had gotten my driver’s license only for a couple weeks, so I was still not well versed with the way Google Maps worked and that was the reason I missed that exit. Looking back at it, it sounds both funny and weird, and has stuck with me for these past days.

Reaching Frankenmuth was itself a big thing for me as it was the first time I was driving a long distance after getting my driver’s license. When we were planning a trip here, I didn’t know about the Bronner’s Christmas store and was blown away by the beauty and grandeur of it.

I realized it was truly a German styled village in Michigan. As soon as we entered the main street, we were greeted with the Thanksgiving and Christmas decoration and loved the different attractions that they had put together as a part of these decorations. It gave us real German feels just seeing different buildings and store staff dressed in traditional German clothes.

After parking the car, it was time to take stroll through the streets of Frankenmuth and experience different food and places to visit. The first thing we did was to go to the famous Chicken Diners. This was the first food place that I wanted to try as we were starving for our lunch. The catalyst for us to visit this place was the traditional German dress that the staff was wearing. It made us really curious how the place looked from the inside and how the food tasted their. Turned out, it was too much food for two people to handle, but we somehow managed to devour it as we were hungry and the food turned out to be quite tasty.

Post lunch, it was time explore the chocolate shops, the fudge stores, and the famous cheese place that Frankenmuth had to offer. We spent considerable time at the cheese place as I was both curious and cheese is something that I really like to taste. Post touring the cheese place, we clicked a few pictures by the famous cheese mouse statute that they have outside the store, which acts as an attraction for tourists to come inside the store and check it out.

After the cheese place, the next stop was at the Frankenmuth winery. I had heard a lot about the wine tasting at Frankenmuth and frankly, having never done it, I was extremely curious to find out how it goes, so there we were, sipping different kinds of wines and enjoying the moment. After a round of almost 5-10 different types of wines, we liked a couple and ordered those to go. I was an ardent fan of the alcoholic beverages back then, so buying those wine bottles was a no-brainer decision for me.

Now, as I talked at the beginning of this post, we did see the Bronner’s store while heading to Frankenmuth, so it was fitting that we would check this place out on our way home. And, I was so glad that we did. I wouldn’t have believed in my wildest dreams that this place would really be that big and would really turn out to be the biggest Christmas shop on the planet.

Frankly, I was quite overwhelmed. There were so many things to check out and so many attractions put there that I couldn’t decide and buy anything. Even after spending a good part of an hour in that store, I didn’t go for anything to buy for decorating my apartment. The best we could do was check out all the amazing things that the store had to offer, click hundreds of pictures to show to friends and family back home and experience something that we would hardly get to do.

In summary, this visit and day turned out to be a perfect getaway from the busy work life and I was glad that I got to do it.

Next stop: Chicago, Illinois.

October 30, 2017 – First (leased) car, Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Now, I would definitely get this question – Why would I go for a competitor’s car when I was working for Ford. Well, to answer that question – I would simply say that being not a big car enthusiast, choosing a car wasn’t a big decision for me. Plus, facing all the student loans and the new responsibilities, my focus was on saving more money than ever, and that’s why I went with the cheapest SUV I could find on the market and instead of buying it, I leased it so that I won’t need to maintain it that much.

Now that we have the answer of that question out of the way, let me blabber more about the day I signed papers for my first vehicle in my life – 2017 Nissan Rogue.

Leasing this vehicle was more of a necessity than luxury for me. If you have read my previous posts about my life at Michigan, you would know that I didn’t have a driver’s license back then and had to rely entirely on Uber and Lyft to get me to places and Monika was gracious enough to carpool with me and I was and will be forever grateful to her for that.

The day started quite usually. When I left for work in the morning, I wasn’t planning on leasing this SUV. The day went by without much happening at work and I saw myself staring at the clock at around 3.30 PM. I think that was the moment I decided I was going to the nearby Nissan Dealership and sign the papers for whichever car they had in stock and drive home in it.

I ordered an Uber and requested my Uber driver to take me to the Nissan Dealership on Michigan Avenue in Dearborn. While I was on the way, I called one of my friends to join me at the dealership as I needed someone by my side to decide on the vehicle I was going to lease for the next couple years. My friend was graceful enough to accompany me to the dealership but he had to take off as our sales representative was taking longer than expected.

& as I was thinking more and more about it, I was becoming more anxious by every single minute. During the entire process, many thoughts crossed my mind and at one point, I even thought of just going home and coming back to the dealership next day or not at all. I think the car leasing/buying experience for the first time car buyer was definitely not pleasant and if they could have appeased me in some way, I would have loved to go for a higher version of the car or would have spent more money. Anyway, I was taking one of the biggest decisions of my life, so you can imagine the kind of panic I was going through at that time.

After many back and forth, my sales representative and I came to a common number and I knew I was paying more than I should have, but I was just tired of the entire process and wanted to get out of the dealership and drive in my new vehicle.

I must admit the first ride in the new car was something I was craving for ever since I came to Michigan and I was finally realizing that dream.

If you missed reading in my older posts (which I am sure you must have), my American Dream and the reason for coming to the US was to drive on the US roads and experience the kind of freedom that people from the developed countries experience. So, this day definitely was one of the most memorable days of my life and I won’t forget this day until the end of my time.

I remember when my sales rep was walking through the basic functions of the car, I ignored him as I was just waiting for the moment for him to hand over the keys to me so that I can drive it off into the distance. I will not forget the moment I put the SUV in the DRIVE mode and took to the streets of Michigan. It was such a surreal moment, which is etched in my memory forever.

I must admit the drive back home was extremely stressful and nerve wrecking as I didn’t want to cause any accident to my brand new car. Fortunately, the 30-minute drive went without any glitches and I took a breath of relief when I finally parked it outside my apartment.

That night, I remember waking up in the middle of the night and looking out the window to make sure the SUV was still there. I looked outside, found the SUV unmoved from its parking spot, chuckle a little bit, and went back to bed.
It was a memorable day and night!

Next stop is taking a break from the travel for 2-3 weeks and then exploring Michigan and nearby MidWest area during the Thanksgiving break.

October 22, 2017 – Brea, California, USA

Yesterday was pretty cool when I explored the Long Beach.

Today, we focused on exploring the nearby Brea Mall and grab a quick lunch before I head off to Michigan in the evening, catching the red eye flight.

We stayed near the CSUF, Fullerton campus, so it was a quick Uber ride to Brea mall. This mall was famous among my friends as most of them used to work there to earn a few bucks to support their lifestyle in the US.

For me, it was just like any other mall, as I have never been a fan. Having said that, I didn’t mind spending time with my friends, so agreed to tag along. We explored a few shops and my friends shopped for things that they wanted to shop. When it was the lunch time, we decided to check out some restaurants that the mall had to offer. I don’t remember now what we ate there and what we did after that, as it was such a blur.
The only thing I remember is chatting with my friends and having a good time.

After this short outing, it was time to head back home and carry on with my life at Ford. I always have wonderful time in California and this time was no different.

Until next time, Cali!

October 21, 2017 – Long Beach, California, USA

What an awesome day.

After celebrating some Diwali festivities yesterday, it was time to roam around LA area and explore some of the beautiful scenes that the Orange County had to offer.
For this, we decided to visit Long Beach area and soak in some beach vibes.

We decided to make a day out of the outing and planned to watch a movie before heading to the Long Beach area. I don’t remember which movie we saw that day but the experience of dine-in movie theatre was unforgettable. As I mentioned in the last post, I didn’t have a driver’s license back then, so we had to rely on Uber many times to get to locations that we wanted to visit.

One of my friends forgot to bring her ID with her and we got IDed at the movie theatre, resulting her to drink soft drinks, while I sipped on my beer. It was the first time I was experiencing dining while watching a movie in the movie theatre and simply loved it. It goes without saying that I loved the dining part so much that I simply don’t remember the movie that we watched that day.

The movie was over and our tummies were filled with some delicious chicken wings and beer. It was time to head to the Long Beach area to have some fun watching the sunset and clicking some pictures.

Before visiting the Long Beach area, I wasn’t aware about the popularity of the place. I had heard about the place, but was completely blown away by the beauty of it. I couldn’t fathom the number of boats and small ships that were parked at the Harbor, not to mention the tall lighthouse that we discovered after walking hundreds of steps. Upon arrival at this place, I started appreciating the tall trees present at this spot and that immediately brought back so many memories from the songs that show these trees in the background. I was giggling like a small child when I realized that those were the exact trees that I witnessed on the TV and I was looking at those in person – another sweet realization that I was in the US.

We clicked many pictures here and then walked to the lighthouse. The lighthouse appeared a little small from distance, but as soon as we reached it, we witnessed the grandeur of this amazing yet simple architecture. It was pretty hard to get a picture with it though, but someone we managed.

After walking through this beautiful scenery and taking in views, it was time to just sit back and relax. We had some awesome talks and reminisced so many beautiful memories. I will be honest, I don’t remember what we exactly talked about, but it gives me soothing feeling just to think about it. After enough blabber, it was time to head back home and spend more time with other friends, before I start packing my bags to head home the day after tomorrow.

It was an awesome day, surrounded by beautiful scenery and Cali weather.

Tomorrow is the last day at California.

Week 47 (November 22 – November 28) – Running 1,000 miles in 2020

Week 46 was super awesome, completing 30 miles of running for the week. I will try to repeat the feat going into week number 47. Let’s see if I can do it or not.

Day 1 – Sunday, November 22, 2020 – WFH Day 251 – 136 more miles to go
The first day of the week and it couldn’t have been lazier. The weather wasn’t suitable for running outside, so I stayed in and enjoyed the home cooked food.

Day 2 – Monday, November 23, 2020 – WFH Day 252 – 136 more miles to go
Monday was a repetition of Sunday. This was the first day of the work week. As the US is celebrating thanksgiving this Thursday, most of my coworkers are out for the entire week, so I spent most of my time at work helping other team members and taking care of some stuff.

The weather wasn’t great today too, so I skipped run.

Day 3 – Tuesday, November 24, 2020 – WFH Day 253 – 136 more miles to go
One more work day and one more day to rest my legs. This week, I am not high on confidence about achieving my weekly running goal.

Having said that, I will look for some opportunity for the weather to comply with me so that I can go out and enjoy my run.

Day 4 – Wednesday, November 25, 2020 – WFH Day 254 – 136 more miles to go
Wednesday was the last working day and it couldn’t have been busier. My friends were done well before I could shut down my laptop, so I annoyed them with my “busy” schedule one day before the thanksgiving break.

Long story short – I didn’t go out for run today as well and ended up taking the fourth rest day of the week. The remainder of the week looks dull to me.

Day 5 – Thursday, November 26, 2020 – WFH Day 255 – 128 more miles to go
The first run of the week came today. I was so glad that I got to go out for a quick run before the breakfast.

I really wanted to finish the Half Marathon today but as we planned for a hike later today, I kept it short at 7.2 miles and returned home just in time for a yummy breakfast.

After the run at NHS & consuming some healthy and delicious breakfast, we went to one of the spots that we visited in the past – Pinckney State Recreational Area. We loved visiting this state park as it had many trail choices, which allows to scale either up or down depending on our energy levels.

Today, we decided to finish only 5.4 miles of hiking, surrounded by plenty of waters. The weather turned out to be absolutely gorgeous and we loved hiking here again and again.

Day 6 – Friday, November 27, 2020 – WFH Day 256 – 115 more miles to go
As I couldn’t complete the Half Marathon yesterday, I made sure that I finish one today.

I was so happy to finish the 13th Half Marathon of 2020. This was the longest I ran in the last month, so at the end of it, I was completely exhausted and was just chugging glasses of water. I needed to sit down, take some deep breath, and drink lots of fluid. Monika was kind enough to prepare a quick veg paratha for me and it was delicious.

This run was special and I definitely surprised myself by completing a half marathon. The special part about this run was that I didn’t look at my watch until I reached a comfortable spot before heading/walking home.

Day 7 – Saturday, November 28, 2020 – WFH Day 257 – 115 more miles to go
Saturday was spent at a new metro park that we hadn’t checked out yet – Lake Erie MetroPark.

The biggest mistake that I did while hiking here was underestimating the coldness of the Michigan weather. I just wore a T-shirt and a sweater along with my shorts for this metro park and gravely regretted it. Throughout the hike, I was shivering and cursing myself for not checking the weather before stepping out.
Thankfully, the weather got a little bit hot by 2 PM & I could hike without shaking my body. The metro park is beautiful with so many wooden bridges to check out. It is definitely a must visit during the Summer time.

This brings us to the end of the week. But, before you go, please check out this weekly highlight.

& the countdown
weeks to go: 5
miles to go: 115

See you next week!

Week 46 (November 15 – November 21) – Running 1,000 miles in 2020

Week 45 didn’t live up to the expectations. What about week 46? Let’s find out!

Day 1 – Sunday, November 15, 2020 – WFH Day 244
Michigan weather didn’t help much during the gloomy Sunday.
It was windy, cold, and not sunny throughout the day, so couldn’t go out for a run.

Kids were bored at home, so I had to take the out for a 8-mile bike ride. It was too windy for the kids and we had to be very cautious against the gushing wind. Fortunately, we made it back home without any accident or injury and had a cup of hot chocolate each.
Loved it!

Day 2 – Monday, November 16, 2020 – WFH Day 245
Finally I got to kick off my running for the week number 46. I can’t believe the end of the year is just 6 weeks away and I still have more than 150 miles to go.

Keeping this goal in mind, I knew I needed to get at least 4 miles of running today. I was glad that I stuck to my old route and could finish 10K. The more important thing for me was that I took just 4 minutes more than an hour’s time.
At the end of the run, I could see myself getting tired and just waiting for the run to be over. I was surprised to feel like this, but didn’t want to think too much about it.

Overall, it was a good run at the end.

Day 3 – Tuesday, November 17, 2020 – WFH Day 246
After running 10K yesterday, it was time to give my body some rest. It was partly because of the bad weather throughout the day. It was raining heavily and constantly throughout the day, not allowing me to go out for a run.

I made my peace with it and took a rest day.

Day 4 – Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – WFH Day 247
Wow! So much work today.

I was swamped throughout the day, with meetings and deliverables. It was around 3.30-4 when I closed my laptop and decided to go out for a quick run. I had Monika, Anupam, and kids accompanying for the run, so decided to head to NHS for a quick run.

I think it was after a couple weeks that we came to NHS for the run. I didn’t know the distance we were planning to run, so kept my pace slow in the beginning and as my body started to warm up, picked up pace a little bit. I wasn’t going for pace, and focused mostly on the distance. I was glad to finish 3.7 miles, getting myself a little closer to my running goal for the year 2020.

Day 5 – Thursday, November 19, 2020 – WFH Day 248
Awesome day! Awesome Michigan weather.

I couldn’t believe when the weather app showed 62F on my screen. I knew immediately that I had to go out for a run and enjoy the lovely weather while I can.
Today’s run was going to special too & for two reasons. The first reason was that I was running in my neighborhood for the first time and the second one was that I was running with my new Reebok FloatRide Fuel Run shoes. I had to link out to the Women’s shoes as I couldn’t find the link for men’s. Anyway, I nicknamed them “Varan“. The noun “Varan” in my mother tongue (Marathi) stands for lentil soup. It is something I love to drink/eat and plus it has the word “run” in it. So, just went with it.

The run was absolutely beautiful. The first mile felt a little difficult but after the run when I looked at the pace, it turned out to be the fasted mile I ran during the 6.5 mile run. I checked out new places surrounding the neighborhood and the Downtown area too. It was a good run and I sweat a lot.

Do let me know how Varan look like.

Day 6 – Friday, November 20, 2020 – WFH Day 249
What an awesome day!

I could finish the distance more than a Half Marathon distance, but in two runs.
The first run came just before the lunch. I wanted to get a quick 5K under my belt, but the weather was so good that I couldn’t stop myself from extending my run beyond the 5K distance. Though, I would have loved finishing a Half Marathon distance, I restricted myself to 9.5 miles to be back in time for the lunch. The run turned out to be a great one and I loved running this much after a long time.

The second run came after the work day, we went to MMMS and finished a quick 5K there. As I continued for a couple more laps after finishing the 5K distance, I could finish 3.8 miles, totaling 13.3 miles for the day. It was a good feeling that I could run for longer distance after such a long time.

It was a good day and I felt nice to have run 30 miles for the week.

Day 7 – Saturday, November 21, 2020 – WFH Day 250
Hiking Saturday is back!

Today, we decided to hike at Hudson Mills Metropark. It was a location near our subdivision and something that we hadn’t had a chance to check out until now.
When we looked up, we saw that it has only a 2-mile long hiking trail, so we knew we had to loop it at least twice to get a good hiking feeling. The hike was pretty normal, but had many picturesque spots, especially by the Huron River. There were many tree trunks which were about to fall in the river, which gave us good spots to play around and click pictures.

After the hike, it was time to have some Chipotle and enjoy the evening with family and friends. It was a good way to end the week.

Before you go, please check out the weekly highlight.

See you next week.
Number of weeks to go: 6
Number of miles to go: 136

October 20, 2017 – Diwali, Los Angeles, California, USA

After graduating from UConn, saying bye to Hartford, arriving at Michigan, joining Ford, and enjoying with work friends, it was time to head to California to meet some friends from my undergrad and celebrate Diwali with them.

During this time of my life, I knew how to drive, but I failed to clear the driving practical examination. For that reason, I had to rely on the Uber and other ride hailing services to get from one place to the other during my stay at California. Good thing that California had a good transportation system and it was easier for me to get to places and definitely had a great time checking out all the places.

If you remember, last year, I celebrated Diwali with my UConn buddies and Hartford roommates. This year, as I was in Michigan and didn’t have a family here, I decided to head to California and have some good time with some of my close friends.

Flights from Detroit, MI to Las Vegas, NV were always cheap and this time was no exception. Having said that, I didn’t want to spend 5+ hours in a bus traveling from Vegas to LA. So, I booked a flight from Detroit, MI to Los Angeles, CA.
My excitement knew no bounds the day I booked the ticket and started packing my bags. I was going to meet some of my closest friends and always loved to spend time with them. In my excitement, I didn’t even feel the bus ride from the airport to the orange county where my friends were living at that point in time.

My roommate, Ravi, was kind enough to drop me at the airport and that’s when my journey began. The flight felt short as I spent most of the time napping and resting. By the time, I deboarded, I could feel the time difference spreading its magic on my human body, but, that didn’t deter me to not enjoy myself that evening.

I waited patiently for my bus to arrive and took sit in the back. I didn’t know how long it would take, so I told my friends that they should carry on with their dinner and I would join them sooner. It took me almost an hour to get to my friends’ place and was so hungry by the time I reached.
My friends were kind enough to wait for me to join them for dinner. It was such a nice gesture and I loved it.

The night was almost over and I desperately needed some shut eye, as the next day was the anticipated Diwali night.

I remember waking up quite late in the morning and going through the ordeals of the day. We were to celebrate Diwali late in the evening, so we spent the entire morning procrastinating and cleaning a little bit. Looking at the mess at my friends’ apartment, it felt nice to help them out clean. BTW, cleaning is a mental relaxation for me, so I loved it.

Before we knew, the evening was upon us. Being a guy, it took me less than 5 minutes to get ready for the Diwali celebrations, and I spent good chunk of an hour waiting for girls to get ready for Pooja and celebrations.

When everyone was ready, it was finally time to get started with the proceedings. Being an atheist, I maintained safe distance from all the rituals and Pooja and just followed my friends told me to. I was the least bothered about Pooja and was more focused on food and spending time with my lovely friends.

What felt like more than 10 hours, the Pooja finally ended with an aarti for the Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu mythology and I made a point to make some goofy faces when everyone was paying their respect to the holy deity of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi.

After the aarti was over, it was time to head to other friends’ apartment as they were also celebrating Diwali. My friends just told me to behave as I didn’t know most of them, to make a good first impression. Before heading to their place, though, we clicked some thousands of pictures, because, you know!

Man, it was a long evening. I was happy that I could finally eat some delicious food. When I got my plate in my hand, I focused more on the food, rather than talking to people. I know it was bad of me, but I was just hungry and not too thrilled about attending many Poojas.

The evening was finally coming to an end, and I was tired. I just changed into my night clothes and didn’t even realize when I went to bed!

It was a good day to spend with friends.

Next day – exploring some scenic views in LA.