Week 32 – UltraMarathon prep (August 09 – August 15)

I had an awesome last week number 31. Let us see if we overturn any major milestone during week number 32.

Day 1 – Sunday, August 09, 2020 – Quarantine Day 146
An awesome way to start the week and Sunday.

I didn’t have any major plans for Sunday, so getting a 5K run under my belt for the day helped me better position the rest of Sunday.
From a personal front, I have been looking for some roommates to sublease my current apartment, so that I can save some rent money as I have been staying with my friends, Monika & Anupam, for the last six months. A couple of guys have shown a positive interest and I hope this works out. Fingers crossed for the day.
From a professional front, many things are happening at work & waiting for some good news at work, let’s see. I will keep you posted once I do.

Day 2 – Monday August 10, 2020 – Quarantine Day 147
Welcome to the first day of the work week.

For the last few days, I haven’t been able to wake up at my usual time, so I had to be creative to find some time to go out for a quick run. Today was a real challenge to find the time, but I was glad that I could find a short 30 minutes window during a busy work day and completed a quick 5K. This came around 11AM and post which I was welcomed by a flurry of emails and meeting notices.

I didn’t even realized when the day went by. By the time I realized what time it was, I was accompanied by my friends Monika & Anupam to finish a 30 minute HIIT workout. The workout almost killed me due to heat and so many things to handle. What was a surprise for me was that we had a plan to go out for a bike ride after the HIIT workout. Sure, it was a surprise, but a pleasant one and I didn’t mind a bike ride with Jinx.

In the end, it turned out to be a really awesome day!

Day 3 – Tuesday August 11, 2020 – Quarantine Day 148
One more day and one more awesome run under my belt. The work has never been this busy and I could feel the strain on my eyes that caused because of staring at my laptop screen for more than 12 hours. This is the first time in my life that I had issues with my eyes under stress due to too much screen time – I guess, it is safe to say that I am getting old and will hit the 30 year mark next year. I am starting to realize the kind of changes my body is going through and hopefully running will help me keep my body healthy and fit.

Talking about the run, this was the third run of the week for the three consecutive days. I don’t remember running for three consecutive days before during this ultramarathon preparation and it felt like a big achievement to me. I am at this point in this running journey that running a 5K doesn’t mean a big thing to me, but still, running three days in a row meant a lot.

Anyway, getting back to the run, I went to my now favorite spot to run and that’s the NHS. I had a great time running there and glad that I learned from yesterday’s run and carried enough water for the run. After finishing every mile, I had a few sips of water, enough to keep myself hydrated and keep the pace constant throughout this short run. I was sweating profusely due to 85F temperature. I was glad to finish the run and call it a day!

Day 4 – Wednesday August 12, 2020– Quarantine Day 149
It really feels like an ecstasy as I am continuing this running form for the fourth day in a row. Today also was the same location and the same distance covered with a few seconds less for this run. The distinction was the follow up fuel that I always have whenever I crave for it. This run made me crave for BnB and I had to make one a quick one myself before heading out for an hour of soccer practice with the kids.

The most outstanding part about this run was that it made me a “Local Legend on Northville Tracks” on Strava as I completed the most number of segments on the Northville Track for the last 90 days. It is a big achievement for me and surely the first one in a long time. Let’s see when’s the next one will be.

Day 5 – Thursday August 13, 2020– Quarantine Day 150
Man! I am on fire. I have never ran these many consecutive days in my life. Running five days in a row is not a big deal for many, but it is for me and I am certainly happy to experience that. I wasn’t sure whether I was going out for a run today due to work and other things, but I squeezed in 30 minutes after work and was glad to finish 4 miles under 40 minutes.

The run started as usual at NHS. The NHS kids might be sick of me now as they have witnessed me for that many times when they are also practicing football. I wasn’t bothered by it and continued my run. One special thing about this run was that I sprinted the last 0.15 miles as I thought I could last for that much distance, sprinting with almost 6’ pace. Turned out, I could last only 0.13 miles and had to return to my normal pace for the last 0.02 miles before stopping the run. I wish I could have gone through the rigor of those 0.02 miles, but, anyway I will have many chances to correct that mistake and I am sure that I definitely will.

The day ended with an hour of soccer with the kids and some delicious food.

Day 6 – Friday August 14, 2020– Quarantine Day 151
The streak has finally ended! Gosh, I felt so bad that I couldn’t go out for run, but as always, I knew it is one of the ways my body is telling me to take some rest and recharge and come back stronger.

Instead of being sad about it, I told myself to come back stronger and better.

Day 7 – Saturday August 15, 2020– Quarantine Day 152
And boy, did I come back stronger.

Today, I finished the 8th Half Marathon of my life and it was a PR run.

Before I start with my running and other fitness activities, let us wish my home country, India, a very happy 74th Independence Day. I am not a big fan of celebrating festivals, so apart from this small wish, I don’t know what else to do!

With that, let us start with my Half Marathon update.

The best thing about this run was that I wasn’t going for a PR time, but, the NHS track and the weather played a huge part in achieving this feat. I started the run at around 6.30AM and it was dark, rainy, and cloudy at that time. The temperature was around 60F, so I felt a little cold when I was stretching before the run. It was so cold that it took me more than 3 miles to get my first sweat drop. The weather helped so much that I took the first sip of water after finishing 5 miles of running. Though I stopped for a quick drink, I didn’t lose my pace and continued with the same pace. Everything was going smoothly and according to the plan. And then came the moment when I realized that I could be achieving my PR time. The last PR for Half Marathon came in 2 hours 15 minutes, so when I saw my Apple Watch for the first time during this run, I had covered more than 10 miles at around 1 hour 40 minutes mark. It was this moment when I realized I could go for my PR and that’s what happened at the end.
I finished the run at 13.15 miles. The time taken for this distance was 2 hours 8 minutes 15 seconds with 9’45” pace, which is way better than I expected.
After finishing the run, I was overjoyed and clicked a few photos before heading home. Take a look.

After the Half Marathon, thanks to my friends, I got to devour the lovely breakfast. It was awesome and loved every single bite of it. After finishing the breakfast, it was time to head to our normal Saturday Hiking plans and this time, we decided to revisit the Proud Lake State Recreational Area. The last time we were here, we couldn’t check out the other part of the hike, so this time that was the goal for us.
The only downside of this hike was that most of the hiking trail was not covered by the trees so we were exposed to the Sun most of the time, causing us to fatigue more and frequently. If the trail would have been covered with trees and other medium, we would have gotten more shadow, elevating the entire hiking experience. I am not the one to complain, so went ahead with it and we could finish the 6.5 miles before devouring the 2 large pizzas. Take a look at the photos.

& that brings us to the end of this week. Gosh, such an awesome week with so many things. Here’s the overview.

See you next week!

Week 31 – UltraMarathon prep (August 02 – August 08)

After a disappointing last week, it is time to take matters into my hands and smash some running records. So, shall we start?

Day 1 – Sunday, August 02, 2020 – Quarantine Day 139
Still recovering from yesterday’s 7 mile hike at the Proud Lake Recreational Area, I decided to take a rest day before heading into a busy week. This was an ideal Sunday, giving me enough time to recover and prep my body for some rigorous activities that I was planning for the week.

Day 2 – Monday August 03, 2020 – Quarantine Day 140
Starting the work week in the right spirit!

Monday was all about enjoying the early morning run. I woke up at my usual time and headed out for run. I really wanted to go to NHS, but was too lazy to drive and go that far on foot, so I ended up running around the community area and was really focused to keep the pace below 10’. Before going out for the run, I told myself to run for at least 10K as I had missed my last week’s goal, so I was glad when I ended the run at 6.5 miles and just under 10’ pace. Enjoyed the breakfast which followed.

Day 3 – Tuesday August 04, 2020 – Quarantine Day 141
Continuing the moment from yesterday, today turned out to be the best day for my PR run.

Due to an early morning meeting, I didn’t get a chance to go out for a run. But I made sure to put some efforts for my daily running goal. I got a chance to go out for a quick 1 hour run after I shut down my laptop and did surprise myself by running the PR for a 10K. The best thing about this PR was that I was getting messages from friends and colleagues and had to reply them while running. I surprised myself by multitasking while running and managed to respond to some of the messages as well. I think this is one of the reasons I don’t take my phone with me for a run.

After the run, it was time to go through hell with a 30-minute HIIT workout. I must say, it was not easy to go through those 30 minutes especially after running for an hour.

I wasn’t expecting to go out for one more run after the HIIT workout, but, my friends and kids wanted to run, so ended up finishing a 5K in the evening. The day turned out to be better than expected, finishing with almost 10 miles of running and still ample time to go for the weekend!

Day 4 – Wednesday August 05, 2020– Quarantine Day 142
One more fantastic day and run! This one happened after work.

I couldn’t go out for a run in the morning, reasons I don’t remember now! But, after wrapping up work at around 4.30PM, I went out for a quick run. I knew my target was at least 10K, so I needed some company in the 80F temperature, so I convinced kids to bike while I ran. It worked like magic. For the first time, I crossed my community and went far ahead than expected. The kids were extremely careful and made sure they stop for me before crossing a busy street and they made sure that I was around all the time before they wander off in the distance.

I took more time to finish the 10K distance but it was worth it. The run followed one of the most delicious dinners and favorite of the kids – Tomato Soup and Veg Grilled Sandwiches. I gulped four of those and had a wonderful sleep after that!

Day 5 – Thursday August 06, 2020– Quarantine Day 143
Ah! Thursday, finally! This was the last workday for me as tomorrow I have taken a personal day. Tomorrow, we are planning for an 11 mile hike at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We have done this hike last October, and loved the trail and the extraordinary scenes around the trail, and not to mention – Lake Superior. I want to experience the same thrill and would love to see how the Upper Peninsula (UP) weather treats us during the summer time; apart from the fact that UP is my most favorite place in the entire world.

Anyway, getting back to today’s update – I took kids out today to NHS and it turned out to be a slightly longer distance than 5K. Kids were tired due to the high temperatures and opted out of running after finishing 3-4 laps. I told them to wait for 5 minutes as they wanted to go home. That 5 minutes wait extended to 20 minutes as they were busy with their new obsession – cubing. I managed to finish 4 miles by the time they asked me one more time to head home, which I could not refuse again!
By this time, I have crossed the weekly target and let’s see if I get one more run for the week!

Day 6 – Friday August 07, 2020– Quarantine Day 144
What a feeling! What a moment! What a day! Many thanks for friends, family, nature, life!! Grateful!

Words are not enough to tell you how happy I feel whenever I visit UP. There are many things I am grateful for in my life – living in Michigan and visiting UP whenever I get a chance is certainly one of the top things I love about my life. Obviously, when we started planning for this, it was very hard to imagine if we could really go through this 21 hours of adventure. Due to COVID, we decided to not stay at UP and just drive between home and Pictured Rocks.

Keeping the description short, we woke up at 4AM. We left the house at 5AM. We reached Pictured Rocks at around 12.30PM and started hiking at around 1PM. We enjoyed
– River Walk
– Lake Superior
– Chapel Rock
– Mosquito & Chapel Trail
– Aaloo Puri by Lake Superior
We left Pictured Rocks at around 7PM and were home by 2AM. It was a 22 hour day for us on the road and loved every second of it. When I was mentally prepping for this trip, I told myself this trip will tell me whether I can run for 24 hours straight or not. Turned out, I can and hopefully next year, I will be able to achieve that feat.

Enjoy the IG gallery till then. A couple breathtaking pictures there!

Day 7 – Saturday August 08, 2020– Quarantine Day 145
After spending almost 24 hours on the road, it was time to take a rest day. Though I really wanted to go out for a run, I controlled my urge and excitement and took care of some of the things that needed attention. It was great to spend some time just relaxing and giving enough time for my body to recover, so that I can bounce back with more strength.

This week turned out to be a good one and I am happy with the progress.

Showcasing the week’s highlight and my running journal here.

Let’s continue with same energy next week!

December 03, 2016 – First time ice skating, Hartford, CT, USA

Boy, did I have fun during this!

Experiencing my first ice skating was one of the perks of living at the 55 Trumbull St. By December, the Connecticut winter was showing me what it meant to live through the actual winter. My cricket activities were entirely shut down, which was a bummer for me. Also, I didn’t know how to drive, so there was nothing much to do, to socialize, and to explore.

That’s when I saw some activity at the Bushnell Park from my apartment window. I wondered what was going on in the park at the same field where we used to play cricket. This was my first year experiencing the cold North American winter, so every time I had to go out, I had to make sure I am covered from all spots and there are enough layers to protect me from an unexpected gush of wind. This was one of the reasons my walks and trips outside had reduced significantly once it started getting gold.
But, the sort of activities going in Bushnell Park intrigued me and I quickly got layered up to check out what really was going on. I was glad to know the preparations were going on for putting up a ice rink for some ice skating fun. I was tremendously excited for that and was looking forward to when it was about to open.

I didn’t need to wait many days as they could put up a fully function ice rink in just a couple days and it was December 3rd when they opened it for the public. I could grab my roommates, Shlok & Roushan, and Kokila & Prithvi, who were living in the same building. I was happy that there was someone to capture my video trying the ice skating for the first time & failing numerous times.

Here, have fun!

Before this day, I couldn’t imagine myself doing ice skating. Back home, I hadn’t tried skating on the streets, so ice skating was a distant dream for me, and honestly, just close to impossible. I remember when I was going to the Bushnell Park to try this thing, I had many moments of self-doubts, asking myself whether I can do it or not or is it possible for me or not. I told myself, there was only one way to find out answers to all those questions and that was to actually go ahead and try it.

The moment we reached the spot, we were greeted with a huge crowd and some big monkey mascots. I am not sure what they were doing there, but, went ahead anyway and stood there to click a picture. The next thing I had to do was stand in line for the ice skates. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I stood in that line, I just went ahead and got the skates for myself and told myself we will figure out later what to do with those. By this time, I was really accustomed to the North American culture, so I didn’t find it hard to put on those skates, but boy, it was harder to stand in those skates. The one thing that I could have done better was to wear those skates near the rink instead of far away as I wouldn’t need to walk much distance to get to the rink.

I struggled a lot just walking to the rink and as soon as I reached the entrance from where I was supposed to start skating, I knew this was the moment of truth. This moment will tell me how bad I am exactly at ice skating and which body part I would break attempting this. I gave my phone to my roommate and asked him to capture my first time at the rink. Boy, I failed miserable as you saw above.

I failed many times. The video above shows me falling only once or twice but if I recollect it correctly, I fell almost 15 times before I got hold of skating. Skating first time in the ice rink, the only thing I knew was to face my fears and accomplish them. Same principle which I have applied to almost everything that I had done in my life to get to the US. If I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the ice skating, I am not sure the next time I would have gotten a chance to try it one more time, so I was happy that I got to do it and enjoy it before heading home.

I think I was at the rink for almost an hour and was sweating profusely due to number of times that I fell attempting the ice skating. You can see in the picture below, it was a hard earned sweat and I celebrated with a cup of tea after going home. Needless to say, my legs and thighs were hurting a lot, but I went to bed with a smile, realizing my ice skating experience!

Next trip are some of the special ones!

November 21-28, 2016 – Thanksgiving Holidays, West Coast, USA

Before we begin,
Day 1 is here & Day 2 is here.

Now, let us begin!

After spending a couple of days living the American dream, it was time to head to the Golden State, California. I had heard so many stories about California from friends in just a couple months that I was excited to see those things in person and experience what it felt like to be in Cali. I must say, I wasn’t disappointed. We enjoyed the drive from Las Vegas to Fullerton & had to bid goodbye to our friends who accompanied us during this drive.

After arriving at Fullerton, the next few days were loosely planned as we had almost a week to explore and see many places. Don’t need to mention, being on a budget living the student life made us limit the number of place that we wanted to check out but there were a few exceptions which we ended up visiting and had a really great time.

Black Friday Sale
Before coming to the US, I had only heard about the thanksgiving celebrations and the Black Friday Sale that they have here. It was my first time to experience those things in person & it was a special one as I was in California for this. I was not sure what I would have done if I were in Connecticut during this time.
We chose to ride 30 minutes to get to a shopping complex and stood in line for a good hour until they open the mall doors. As soon as the doors were open, we were in different lines outside each shop. I found it strange that people stood in line, standing, just to spend money. But, as I was experiencing this for the first time, I had an open mind and went ahead with the flow to experience what the fuss was all about.
Turned out I liked the Black Friday feels. I didn’t mind standing in line for 1 hour and spend my parents’ hard earned money on stuff that I might not need in a couple years, but, I think, I wasn’t thinking at that time and went ahead with the flow. Slowly, I was morphing into a Black Friday shopper as the night progressed.
We shopped a lot and I was paying close attention to the weight of the purchase as I had to carry those back to Connecticut, which was a positive for me, as I ended up spending less than I originally thought. Win-Win situation for us.
There were many cultural changes that I was seeing and funnily I was observing my surrounding from the sidelines and noticing it changing drastically. I was loving the new life and that’s when I feel completely in love with Panda Express. It was during this trip that I got to know about this food chain, as I didn’t see any of its stores back in CT. I loved the concept, the food, and the fact that you didn’t have to wait for your food – one of the perks of living in the US. I didn’t keep track of how many times I ate at Panda Express, but loved every single bit of it, oops, I meant bite! 🤪

The Broad
If there was one place in California that I really needed to visit, it was this one! I had been fascinated by The Broad museum since early childhood and for one simple reason – their display of the GIANT CHAIRS. I don’t exactly remember when I saw those chairs for the first time (may be on a TV or on Facebook), but early on, developed a liking and urge to actually see those chairs in person. When I realized that with education and some hard work, I can get to the US, visiting the Broad museum was one of the things I had on my mind and this dream was slowly becoming a reality.

As the museum is in the heart of the city of Los Angeles, we had to leave early morning from Fullerton to get to LA and then head to the museum as our first stop of the LA exploration. There was a huge line outside the museum with more than an hour of wait, but, I didn’t mind waiting as I *really* wanted to check out this amazing museum. Anupama & I waited in the long line for our turn to get and the good thing was that the entry was free, and that’s why it was so crowded. We ended up reading while waiting and clicking so many pictures.
Upon entering inside the museum, I remember getting awed by my feelings. It was too much to cope up with and I was taking each moment individually. At last the moment arrived and I couldn’t believe that I was standing *literally* under those chairs. Those chairs and table are so huge that you get the idea *only* when you see them in person.
I remember posing in front of them for a long time and clicking so many pictures, unfortunately, I couldn’t find any to post here. It was an awesome feeling though, one that I can’t seem to get enough of.
The rest of the museum was a gentle reminder of the display pieces that I saw when I visited Goa, bringing fresh memories. I chuckled and were out of the museum just in time for the lunch.

USC Campus
After the Broad, it was time to meet a fellow SGGS Alumni, who was a student at USC at that time. USC had been a place which was so close yet so far for me. It was one of the universities that I really wanted to go for my masters, but due to cost of living, tuition fee, and long duration of their courses, opted out of this decision and chose UConn instead. Reflecting back after so many years, I must say I made the right choice. My life would have been better if I would have gone to USC, but I have come a long way post my time at UConn & am really grateful for all the connections that I made during my time there.
Anyway, it was nice to hang out and have some delicious food inside the campus itself. I think it was the first time I was having Indian food in California and I must say, it didn’t disappoint. I am not a big foodie, so it is very easy to appease me with some good food, not too fancy, just enough to fill my appetite. It was a nice hour and a half to hang out and talk before continuing our day of exploration.

Santa Monica
This was the last stop for the day. I was amazed with the spots that my friend had picked up. Going to Santa Monica beach at the end of the day was a perfect end to the lovely day that I could have imagined. I never knew that the piers in the US were so beautiful and well maintained. It was my first visit to the pier and was glad that it turned out like that. Santa Monica is one of the most famous hotspots in the state of California and I was glad that I got to see it in person. It had not only the good board walks, but an amazing sunset too. We reached just in time to witness the sunset and click a lot of pictures. There were many seagulls trying to steal the fishes caught by the local fishermen and getting away with 1-2 fishes, if they were lucky. There were countless teenagers rocking their skateboards and hoverboards, which was a new thing back then. I also saw so many people enjoying the cold water during this time of the year and tried staying away from the water, because I didn’t bring any change of clothes and we were like 30 miles away from Fullerton.
I remember watching in awe all the rides and different attractions that they had to offer and spent about an hour gazing at the seagulls and people enjoying their boats and jet skis. It was a perfect spot to end the day.
Once we were done with this spot, it was time to feed ourselves before heading back to Fullerton. It was around 10PM by the time we reached home and called it a day, which was full of all the amazing places LA had to offer.

CSUF
I spent the next few days at the Fullerton area, exploring different amenities at CSUF (California State University, Fullerton). My friend, Anupama, had to work a couple shifts at her university. As I was studying at UConn Hartford campus, which is a satellite campus of UConn, roughly 30 minutes away from its actual campus which is at Storrs, CT, which I had never been to before, so it was the first time I was checking out an actual campus of an US University.
When I visited CSUF for the first time, it was a grand feeling & I never knew we were missing out on so many things, not being part of the actual campus. But, I guess there are both pros & cons of being on a satellite campus. The biggest pro for me was that I was away from all the distractions that the actual campus has and could focus more on my studies. Well, I didn’t study that much, so not sure how I feel about it. During my many visits to CSUF, I checked out their football field, department buildings, and whatever they had to offer. I had a nice time checking out almost everything I could see in 2-3 days.

Back to Las Vegas
After enjoying more than a week in Las Vegas and Fullerton, it was time to head back to Hartford, CT. It was a hard feeling, especially after enjoying so many beautiful moments and checking out so many memorable spots. This was the first time visiting the west coast and I sure made so many memories during this trip. The most amazing one was my time at the Stratosphere. I will never forget those couple hours, facing my acrophobia and doing what I would not have done. Thinking about those rides at the Stratosphere brings smile to my face and elevates my mood.
So many things accomplished and so many memories made, I would love to return here and live those moments again!

Please check out the instagram gallery from these days!

What next?

December 21, 2016 – Meeting *her* after many months, New York City, NY, USA

Gosh, I have been waiting for this day for so many days.

The last time I saw her glowing face was at Mumbai Airport. She was resuming her work after spending a few weeks at home, enjoying her brother’s wedding. That was a hard goodbye as we knew our lives will not be the same once she gets on that plane and leaves India. She was heading to Europe, and a month after that, I was supposed to head to the US.

She was going to be in Europe; I was in the US; our families in India. It sounds so much fun while saying that, but to go through it, day in and day out, it was a struggle, at least for me. I had never spent so much time away from my family and her, so it was hard to manage that communication while studying full time at UConn.

After that airport goodbyes, we remained in constant touch. We used to talk so many times during the day and night; but, it wasn’t the same as having face to face conversation with her. I missed the way she used to facepalm all the time, listening to my stories. I missed the way she used to get dimples whenever I used to tell her a joke. I missed how she used to encourage me whenever I felt down or was too frustrated with the way things were going. I used to miss all of that and her more.

When I told her about how I felt about spending so much time away from her, she was extremely encouraging and told me to focus on my studies. It was her idea to visit the US for a couple weeks when I would be on Winter vacation. I was on cloud nine hearing that and started romanticizing things. Containing this excitement, I read many articles and talking to many friends to better know the process of getting a US visitor visa for an Indian citizen living in Europe. It was a weird setting, but the research and talk helped a lot and she could secure the visa. I was overjoyed to know that and had a good couple of months to make all the travel arrangements and accommodation.

Looking back at this, the only thing I regret now is I should have know how to drive. I came to the US in August and she got her visa in October and was going to land in December, so even though I had a good couple of months, being a newbie, I lazed out of learning how to drive (which is not at all difficult, let me tell you). If I would have know how to drive, her trip would have been so smooth and more enjoyable.

Anyway, keeping all the distractions and blabbering aside, let us focus on this day.

I was living in Hartford during this time and she was landing at JFK. That meant I had to take a bus to get to New York City and then take a subway from NYC to JFK. This was all new for me and I was learning along the way. As a student in US, the most important thing for me was my finances, so I made sure I book the cheapest bus from Hartford to New York City and cut costs while traveling. When I got off from my bus and stepped out of the bus terminal, I knew NYC was crowded, but didn’t expect it to be so much. It was a moment of epiphany to me. I didn’t know that “Times Square” could be a bus stop or metro stop too. That one single realization just blew my mind. I just shyly chuckled and tried enjoying the view before it gets too late. I still had a couple hours before her flight was supposed to land.

I roamed the entirety of Times Square. I could literally see the entire world convoluting at a single block. There were people from all parts of the world. There were people everywhere, ranging from kids to elderly. There were street performers, trying to earn their honest living. There were people wearing cosplay costumes of Marvel Superheroes, posing for pictures with tourists. If you have been to Times Square, you know what I mean. I spent roughly an hour there. It was time to catch a subway and meet my special person at JFK.

It was a struggle for me to make sense of NYC’s subway system. I had to talk to many people before this trip and those conversations helped tremendously. With luck and some help from the fellow passengers, I somehow managed to get to JFK and tried looking for her flight and arrival gate number. I was at the gate in no time and that’s when the actual waiting game began for me. When I was in Times Square, I was lost in my thoughts and having fun at the moment and the wait didn’t bother me that much, but at JFK, there was nothing much to do, so waiting for her was really a test for me. But, as an obedient boyfriend, I waited and waited.

Her flight status changed from In progress to Landed to Immigration and what not. I was dying to see her smiling face and thinking about how I would greet her. I had a good 30 minutes to myself to think about how far we have come and how we were adulting. I remembered the first time we talked. I remembered the first time we held hands, the first time we went out, the first time we went on a date. Over the last couple years, we grew from two people liking each other to two responsible adults who were working hard towards their respective dreams and also harder on their relationship and not giving up. I was excited for the next couple weeks as we had already planned our places in US to check out and have fun!

When I was lost in all these thoughts, I was suddenly awakened by the sweet realization that I would get to see her in a few minutes. I tried calling her, her phone was still switched off. I tried again after a few minutes and that’s when she picked it up. I cannot tell you the awesome feeling I had when I heard her voice and told her that I was waiting for her outside. She said she’ll be out in a couple minutes. I was just waiting for that moment. 

& there she was!

I couldn’t believe my eyes! There she was! She looked tired for obvious reasons, but even then, her face was fully radiant and I lit up after looking at her smiling face and her dimples. I still remember the first thing she said. It was not “I missed you” or “I love you”. Those first words were “Abe tu andar kasa ala” (How did you come inside?). It was so funny and still brings a chuckle to my face. It was a moment in the making for the last couple of months and I was extremely proud of us that we were working on this relationship and making sacrifices and appeasing each other.

After catching up for a few minutes, it was time to head home. I told her the arrangements. From JFK, I had booked a shared shuttle as I didn’t want her to go through the same ordeal that I went through while coming to JFK. The shuttle was both convenient and cheap and we desperately needed that due to the cold December weather in NYC. We were in luck as we didn’t need to wait that long for our shuttle. As soon as we got inside the shuttle, she dozed off, trying to catch up on her sleep and I was still coming back to the reality that I had her hand in mine. It was cute!

We were home within a couple of hours and I told her to freshen up while I heat up some food for her. As it was her birthday on December 10th, I had put some decorations and gifts for her in my bedroom which she loved and gave me an exciting response that she always did. I wasn’t a great cook, but my roommates helped me become a decent one over the last couple of months, and I had learnt how to bake a cake too, so that was one more surprise for her and glad that she loved it.

It was a good day and what started for me to just receiving her at the airport, fulfilled me with joy and helped me realize how much I missed her!

Enjoy the pictures from that day!

Looking forward to the trips in the coming couple weeks.

Week 30 – UltraMarathon prep (July 26 – August 01)

What an awesome week I had last week. It gives me happiness whenever I plan my runs and try to stick to it and achieve it. Last week was similar to that. Will this week live upto the expectations? Let’s find out.

Day 1 – Sunday, July 26, 2020 – Quarantine Day 132
I am not sure if you noticed or not, I changed the title from “Detroit FreePress International Marathon” to “UltraMarathon prep” as this year’s Detroit Marathon has been scrapped due to COVID-19 concerns and has been made entirely virtual. I have decided to postpone my entry to the next year and I know, I will be just as excited for it. Also, I got an extension on my current visa, so I will be around here for at least next three years. So, it will be a while before I mention “Detroit FreePress International Marathon” again.

Starting the week in style – NOT!

After spending so much time outside on Friday and Saturday, I decided to take the official REST DAY today. I could feel my body telling me to slow down and give it some rest. I complied and didn’t go out for run. However, I did go out on long walks twice on this beautiful Sunday. The first one was when I was talking to my parents on the phone and the second one was after dinner in the evening with friends and their kids.

Nothing more appeasing than a relaxing Sunday, am I right?

Day 2 – Monday July 27, 2020 – Quarantine Day 133
The first day of the work week and it could not have been better. Well, it could have been if I would have gone out for a quick run, but I didn’t. You can call it my laziness or too much work load for the past few weeks.

I woke up in the morning and grabbed my running gear and sat myself down to have a glass of lemon juice. While I was sipping on lemon juice, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t gotten a chance to read in the last few days, so I thought I would read while sipping on the lemon juice and then head out for a quick run. My love for reading had different plans in mind & I ended up skipping the run for the day and read for a good hour. By the time I was done with a chapter from the book, I realized & looked at the clock, which shouted “You are too late for your run, lazyass!”. I just looked at the clock and told myself to get some shower and start with my office work.

The was a little bit too much today so I didn’t realize how fast it went by. By the time it was 5PM, me and my friends decided to do a HIIT workout almost after 4 months. This was the first time we were doing a HIIT workout as we have stopped going to our CrossFit sessions to avoid risking ourselves exposing to COVID-19, so it was a little difficult to start off with this workout, but YouTube helped a lot and we went ahead with the following 30 minute strength training workouts.

At the end of this workout, I was dripping in sweat so much that the kids thought I just took a shower. It was so so fun doing this workout and would definitely recommend it.

The workout was followed by an hour of soccer with the kids, followed by some lovely dinner. My body shut itself down after dinner, so I didn’t even realize when I went to bed!

Day 3 – Tuesday July 28, 2020 – Quarantine Day 134
Awesome day!

The day started with an early morning run. If you are keeping track, I am trying to run at least 23 miles every week to finish 1,000 miles by the end of this year. Also, I have been reading Grit by Angela Duckworth, one thing that I really liked so far in this book is to accomplish small goals, which contribute to the one big goal in the end. Therefore, for every run, I am trying to keep the distance just a little bit more than 3.3 miles, and I was glad to know that this run turned out to be longer than 3.3 miles, totaling 4.3 miles with around 10’ pace. Though, I would have loved a little faster pace, my goal is to focus on the distance, more than the pace.

It turned out to be a one more busy work day for me, giving me just enough time for a 30 minute HIIT workout and 1 hour of soccer with the kids in the evening. The kids are really getting better with their soccer skills, all thanks to their perseverance and constant practice.

Day 4 – Wednesday July 29, 2020– Quarantine Day 135
After yesterday’s HIIT workout, I knew my thighs were tired, but after waking up this morning, I knew that something was really wrong. I couldn’t walk properly due to shooting pain in both the thighs. This forced me to skip the run for the day.

On the professional front, I do have a big thing coming tomorrow, so today was spent in preparing for that, details of which, I will reveal once the dust settles. That’s what I was busy in the whole day.

Though my thighs were hurt, I knew I could undergo the 30 minutes HIIT workout, excluding some of the activities that include my things such as squats and lunges. I made sure I don’t hurt my thighs and took the legs exercises quite lightly. After the workout, we decided to skip the soccer for the day & head out to bike. We were biking after a few days, so enjoyed spending time on the road.

Day 5 – Thursday July 30, 2020– Quarantine Day 136
Took the official rest day today. The tired thighs and the big thing at work made me skip the run for the day. Apart from the run, I didn’t go out for biking and didn’t exercise also, so a complete rest for me.

Keeping track of my miles for this month, I am still short of 5.6 miles from the 100 miles mark. If my thighs allow, I would like to run at least 5.6 miles to accomplish this goal and it will be the first time for me to accomplish something which looked such a mammoth task to me when I started this preparation.

I am excited for tomorrow.

Day 6 – Friday July 31, 2020– Quarantine Day 137
The final day of the month for me and the one thing I knew that I had to finish 5.6 miles of running, keeping the 100 miles distance in my sight.

The day started well. I was contemplating a little whether I would get to run in the morning or not for a couple reasons. The first being I had to head to work (physically) to grab my belongings as Ford Motor Company extended the work from home order until further notice. I feel lucky to be a small part of such a wonderful organization which keeps people at the top of the priority list and do enough to make them happy. The second one was that we slept in the tent last night, which makes me wake up a little later than my usual time of around 5AM.
Fortunately, none of these two things delayed my wake up time and I got some room to go out for a quick 5K. I finished the 5K in under 30 minutes, enough to give me confidence and get along with my day.

The work day was filled with many things lined up before the week ends, so I made sure I finish them one at a time. Also, there were a couple friends expected to show up at around 7PM to have dinner with us, so I knew, I would have a small window to go out for run one more time to finish that 100 miles milestone. Fortunately, I got 30 minutes of free time to go out for a quick run and I managed to finish the required 2.5 miles under 25 minutes. I was so glad with this accomplishment.

Before I started running seriously, I never knew, I would cover 100 miles within a month, but as I practiced more and gave running more time, I have improved upon both pace and stamina when it comes to running and it is the sweet fruit of this continuous practice and the “never give up” attitude.
Here’s how July looked for me, as far as running is concerned.

Day 7 – Saturday August 01, 2020– Quarantine Day 138
I knew I wouldn’t get any time to run on Saturday, as we had plans to go to hiking. I love hiking, but after experiencing sore knees and tired thighs for the last couple of days, I knew I won’t be able to finish the 23 miles of running for the week.
I am not sad because of this one failed goal. I know I should have gone out more for running and should have accomplished that goal, but I must listen to my body as well, and that’s what I did this week. I made sure I give enough rest to my body and prevent further wear and tear.

Saturday has been a hiking day for us for the last few months now and this time, we decided to head to Proud Lake State Recreational Area. The biggest advantage for us was the weather. The weather had been cloudy since morning and there was no sign of sunshine throughout the day. That worked in our favor and we didn’t need to drink throughout the hike, which lasted for good 4 hours and we ended up completing more than 7 miles.
After Holly Recreational Area, I would rate this hike as the second most favorite for the season, because of two reasons. The weather was nice, so couldn’t complain and the second reason was the canoe facilities. This recreational area is blessed with so many spots for the canoe riding and we instantly fell in love with it, just by looking at it. I haven’t had a chance to canoe yet, so it will be interesting to see when I get to do that and this recreational area is surely on our radar for canoe. Fingers crossed.

After finishing this not so strenuous hike, it was time to have our regular pizza and head home. The day was filled with many memories of the rain during the hike and spotting a few frogs throughout the hike. Loved every single part of it. This is how the hike looked like.

Grateful for one more week, could have been better, you know!

Let’s see what next week has in store for me!

November 20, 2016 – Thanksgiving Holidays Day 02, Las Vegas, NV, USA

Welcome to the second day of the thanksgiving 2016 trip to the west coast. If you haven’t, please check out the first day here.

The second day started off by waking up quite late in the morning, but before this morning, there was a long night of exploration for me and friends.

Throughout the night, we explored almost all places the Vegas strip had to offer. We saw the mind blowing water fountain Bellagio had to offer. It was the first thing we started out Vegas strip tour with, so I must say, the expectations were set quite high for the strip, and I must say, the strip didn’t disappoint at all.

Here’s what we saw! Please excuse the poor video and audio quality.

After being mesmerized by the wonderful water dance at Bellagio, it was time to head to the nearby casinos and one the most awaited place for me was the Caesar Palace. Man, I had never seen so many beautiful people in my life before. Just walking on the strip, crossing things and people, I just realized the definition of “having a good time” people have in the developed world and the free country that the US is. I was overwhelmed by the emotion during this tour, that’s why whenever we were looking at something or someone, I was always in awe of the grandeur of everything. I remember saying “Wow” so many times that I lost the count of that after a few minutes.
I remember telling my friends, “Man, this is life!”. I was so mesmerized by the “dream life showcased by Vegas” that I wondered, why don’t people just move here! Then, again, I was still new to this life, so it just might be the cherry on the top of “something”. I would like to leave it at that!

After exploring Caesars Palace, it was time to explore some other casinos the strip had to offer & I am not able to recall all the places that we visited. But, we tried covering almost all casinos and touristy places and stopping at McDonald’s for food and Starbucks for some coffee, again, keeping in mind spending as less as possible, being we were students.

It was around 3AM when we headed to our hotel room and my friends were kind enough to book the room for us, as we were still students. After the good night’s sleep, it was time to head out and enjoy the scenes at the Hoover Dam.

Before visiting this place, I didn’t know what to expect of it, as it was not in my itinerary, so I went ahead with an open mind while visiting this place. Upon reaching there and seeing the scenery that you can see in the pictures, I quickly realized that I had seen this dam/bridge before in a Bollywood movie. That’s when one of my friends confirmed that it was part of Dhoom 3, one of the biggest Bollywood movies ever made. I could relate to that kind of information.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to think of it, because of the scale and grandeur of this dam. This was something that I had not seen before in my life, so it was a lot to take it in. The one thing that I tried over here was to spill some water directly in to the dam and due to the high winds, hoped that it would defy the gravity but my luck wasn’t that great, and it just fell straight to the ground! 😆
Anyway, after that facepalm moment, it was time to take stroll through some of the other attractions that this place had to offer.
After spending at least an hour or so and clicking hundreds of pictures, it was time to continue our journey and head to Fullerton, which was the next place in the itinerary. This is where my friend, Anupama, used to live and was my hospice for the next week and half. I was looking forward to meeting her friends, checking out her university and a few places surrounding the Orange County in California. The details were uncertain, but one thing was for sure that we were going to have a lot of fun!

Next few days in California, baby!

November 19, 2016 – Thanksgiving Holidays Day 01, Las Vegas, NV, USA

This one was a special trip.

This was the first trip I
- took the first plane ride in the US
- took the first bus ride in the US
- visited West Coast for the first time
- visited the magical place called Las Vegas for the first time
- had IHOP pancakes for the first time, which my roommate Shlok highly recommended

This trip turned out to be so much more than I had initially thought & it all started with a comment on a Facebook Post.

A little background – One of my fellow SGGS batch mates, Anupama, was planning for her masters in the US during the same time I was applying to US universities. We were from the same Alma Mater and were applying to similar kind of courses (Data & Analytics) in the US. During the good old Facebook days, we used to be a part of this global Facebook Group where students from across the globe shared their visa interviews. I happen to read her visa interview and found it really hilarious. I commented on it and we immediately bonded. What started as random phone texts and conversations grew into such an amazing friendship and understanding. I ended up coming to UConn in Connecticut, whereas she ended up at CSUF in California. We managed to keep our texts and conversations going on and used to talk for hours throughout the day. Our rapport grew multifold during a short time so much that I ended up planning a trip to visit her in West Coast, and tried killing two birds in one stone – meeting her and seeing what the life in West Coast is like.

That brings us to this day.

The journey to Las Vegas was no easy. Living a student life in US is not as glamorous as it sounds like. The most important thing for a student in US is money and that’s why you have to be creative to save money through various ways. I was no exception.
To get to Las Vegas, I couldn’t afford a direct flight from Hartford, CT. The nearest and cheapest flight for me was out of Boston, MA. So, I ended up booking my flight tickets from Boston, MA to Las Vegas, NV.
After booking the flight tickets, I had to look for transportations between Hartford and Boston, and between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as my friend, Anupama, used to live in Fullerton, which is near LA. I must tell you figuring out how transportation system works in the foreign country was not easy and glad that I was a student and had enough time to look for some of the cheapest deals to get from one city to another. After scrolling through countless travel websites and consulting with some of my friends, I ended up booking bus tickets for the remainder of the journey. I cannot tell you how happy I was when I booked all transportation arrangements and was just waiting for the day of my flight.

Looking back, now all these efforts seem so meticulously planned. Unlike old time, now I just take my car keys and move to whichever place that I wish like. Anyway, let’s get to the journey and how the first day unfolded.

The morning started off with weighing my stuff down. I knew I wouldn’t get any wiggle room like India, so I wanted to make sure my bag weighed precisely for the weight capacity of the aircraft, plus, this was my first intra-US air travel, so didn’t want to take any chances with it.

Hartford, CT – Boston, MA
I boarded the bus from Hartford. Good that I was staying in Downtown Hartford. I just had to walk like 10 minutes to get to the bus stop. So, to avoid spending money on the road, I made sure, I have ample food in my tummy before I head out. The bus drive from Hartford to Boston was quite uneventful. The only highlight of that bus ride was the shocker I got when I got to know that I could sit on any seat in the bus and they didn’t have a “reservation” system like India. It was a big shock to me, having grown up around the reservation system back home. One more thing that I remember was checking out the grandeur of the Boston bus station. It was definitely bigger than Hartford’s bus stop and was the first time I was looking at a big city station. It was Boston South Station.

Boston, MA – Las Vegas, NV
This journey went like a whisker & I know the reason why that was the case – because I like to sleep on planes. I still remember how excited I was during my first flight. I think it is human nature to get bored of things that become mundane after certain time, and flying in an airplane has become a task for me by this time, so I preferred (& still do) sleeping on the plane instead of savoring the views from my airplane window. Anyway, I don’t have much for the plane ride, but the one thing that I distinctly remember is that I knew I had to buy something for Anupama which was from the East Coast (as she had never been here), so I when I was walking to the boarding gate, I saw a small stand selling newspaper and Boston themed goodies. I quickly browsed through everything that they had to offer and chose a small teddy bear with a Boston T-shirt. I found it cute and hoped that she would like it.

I remember when I landed at the McCarran, I found it weirdly strange that people were gambling at the Airport itself. This was the biggest cultural shock for me. For someone, who came to the US just a couple months ago, gambling out on the road (in front of everyone) was something hard to digest and I remember laughing at myself for thinking like that. However, this feeling was short lived as Anupama was waiting for me outside the airport with some of her friends, who were kind enough to drive her to Vegas from LA to spend a weekend with us (& gamble, off course!)

The Vegas Strip
The ride from the airport to the Vegas strip was something to remember by as I saw the landscape changing more than I imagined and ranging from a few people to a flock of people within a matter of minutes. I had seen videos of Vegas on YouTube, but never imagined I would get goosebumps just looking at the Vegas scenes. It was an amazing feeling and I remember telling everyone how happy and awesome the city of Las Vegas was.
Having explored *only* Hartford by this time, I always had this imagination of how the Vegas lifestyle was and I was actually living it.

The friend who had drove us from the airport to the strip dropped us near Bellagio and told us to meet him after a few hours as he would park the car and go to a couple casinos to try his luck. Being a student, I didn’t want to gamble mine and my parents’ hard earned money, so I stayed away from the Slot Machines at all the casinos. Also, I didn’t know how to play card games back then, so I had to stay away from them too.
This trip was all about exploring West Coast while spending as little money as possible, so it was a logical choice for me. Anyway, we started exploring all the casinos and attractions that the Vegas strip has to offer, which I will pen down in details in the coming blog posts.

One word for the Las Vegas first visit – A-Awesome!

Enjoy my Instagram gallery!

Looking forward to the next few days!

October 29, 2016 – Diwali, Hartford, CT, USA

Ah! What a beautiful evening to remember and cherish for times to come!

I made so many memories during my stay at UConn, Hartford and this evening definitely stands out whenever I reminisce over those beautiful moments. This evening was special because of so many reasons, but the most important one being my friends and roommates.

I have been blessed to meet so many amazing people throughout my life and UConn was no different. All of my roommates have been so kind and easy going with me (maybe because I was the youngest among them 🤪) that I never felt like missing anything. All of them were really good cooks and it was at Hartford that I really learnt how to cook and later on honed my cooking skills.

We were sharing a huge apartment among the five of us.

You had Shlok, who had and has been one of the most influential personalities I have ever met in my life. The best thing about Shlok is that he always speaks whats in his heart. If he telling you something, you must know that’s what is in his heart, nothing else. And, he never shies away from speaking his mind or helping someone out. I remember him helping me so much during my UConn days both academically and professionally. Learnt so many things from him and still continue to do so today.

Followed by that, you had Raghav. It feels so weird to call him Raghav. I am going to address him with his beloved nickname – Doctor Sahab. Over the one year that we stayed together, Doctor Sahab has showered me with so much attention, advise, and care that really showed how much he cared for me. The way Doctor Sahab used to ask me “Jagre, bol kya khayega breakfast me!” brings smile to my face even today and I can’t tell how much those words meant, especially when someone is ready to cook something for you! Love you, Doctor Sahab!

Next one we have – Roushan. Ye hamare group ka hero tha! (He was hero of our group). If I wanna talk about Roushan, the closest example that I can give is of a coconut. I know it is melodramatic and kind of cliche, but that’s what I have noticed when we shared that apartment together. To buttress what I just told – here’s an incident. I had told all my friends and roommates not to disturb me for the very important certification exam that was supposed to give. The certification cost was $295 and as a student, that raises the stakes so high. It was a pin drop silence during the entire duration of the certification exam and when I was finally done with it, I shut down my laptop, opened the door of my room, and came outside shouting “Bhai ka exam ho gaya” (I am done with my exam). I remember the urgency and serious look on Roushan’s face who was busy doing something in kitchen. That one moment showed how much he cared about my exam and wanted to make sure I don’t have any kind of disturbance while I am busy with it. These small moments define who you are as a person, and in that moment, I knew, how much he cared about me and my exam.

And last but not the least, you have Suvir. Suvir is our Punjab ka Puttar. The one year that we stayed together, Suvir made sure to keep things light hearted and always brought fun to the group. I remember enjoying endless sips of beer with him, especially by the window side of our apartment, soaking the soothing view of the Hartford Downtown and listening and telling each other plenty of stories. I miss those simpler times.

(L-R) Doctor Sahab, Me, Suvir. Roushan clicked this picture.
Kokila & I

Apart from my roommates, Kokila has been one of the closest friends I could make during my stay at UConn. I still miss our talks and hopefully, we’ll be able to catch up sooner.

When I was shopping for coming to the US, I knew, I would need at least one pair of Indian Ethnic wear and I was lucky I already had an outfit that I wore to my girlfriend’s brother’s wedding. I chose to wear the same outfit and glad it worked out well as you see in the picture above.

UConn had chosen “a hotel” (the hotel name that I am having a hard time remembering) to host this event and it turned out to be a good one for more than 200 students to enjoy carelessly and have some delicious food.

Once we reached the venue, all of us took our seats and the festivities started. UConn then-Dean Dr. Suresh Nair started the event. I don’t remember his exact words, as I was mostly busy clicking pictures and checking out what they had in food to offer. There were many UConn Huskies who had prepared well for some dance and singing performances. I was so impressed and pleasantly surprised by the sheer enthusiasm from everyone involved to make this event a success.
Informal events like these introduce you to the hidden side of your fellow colleagues.

You can get a glimpse of amazing dance performances down below.

After these wonderful performances, it was time for some photo op. I saw a bunch of my fellow huskies posing for the photo, so didn’t hesitate to join them, as you can see belowI am not sure where my roommates were at this time, I for one, tried to hang out with everyone that I could find, learning from the SGGS Alumni Meet in NJ.

And after clicking numerous photos, it was feast time. As you know by now, I was not the one shying away from savoring some good Indian food, so as you can see my plate, I filled it up nicely with generous quantity of chicken legs and “a pretentious quantity” of veggies. I threw a couple Naan slices in there, just in case!
Man, the food was delicious and I remember filling up myself on this wonderful food with a couple servings.

I mostly sat down with my roommates to devour this food, post which, they announced the dance floor was open to us and I started listening to some wonderful music. Back home, I have had similar experiences, where they let you have some fun once they are done with all the performances. This was just the moment I was waiting for, as I like to enjoy any event to the fullest; this gave me a perfect opportunity to dance (the way I want to) and with everyone that I want.

I managed to capture a couple videos, which are not of great quality, but, they sure are enough to bring a small (or maybe a big) smile to (at least) my face!

Enjoy! The first is with my UConn MSBAPM huskies.

& the second one is with Shlok and his UConn MBA friends (which later became my friends too). I simply love this video, running around a bunch of friends, with a camera in hand, literally transports you to that particular moment, and let you experience it. Funny, how human brain works, AMIRIGHT?

At the end of the event, I managed to capture this sweat soaked selfie with a few UConn MSBAPM colleagues. They look they sure had some fun. My selfie game was always strong, I guess! 😂

(L-R) Shatakshi, Kriti, Ishika, Jayasree, Me

The entire Instagram gallery is here.

Now, not many people know this, but I went to one more party after this celebration and it was the first “US party” that I was actually attending. My roommate, Shlok, invited me to this party that he was going to his friend, Nidhi’s, house. Having learnt my lesson to never say no to a party (at least in the US), I immediately complied, which meant, saying NO to my other roommates who were going to Boston for a day. I felt bad, but went ahead with open arms at Nidhi’s place.

This party turned out to be a complete “attitude makeover” deal for me. I learnt so many things just interacting with people at this party.

I got to know Nidhi better, who turned out to be one of the closest friends I could make at UConn Hartford, and we continue to be in touch almost every other week. I got to go on so many road trips with her, and it was awesome to see her happiness when she finally met her prince charming (that’s later).
After Nidhi, I remember talking to Kanika, who turned out to be the president of the Graduate Finance Club (GFA). I was pleasantly surprised to find that out as I was scheduled to interview for the VP position at GFA in a few days. She helped me with a few pointers explaining what they look for in an interview and wished me the best.
I met the other Milin in this party and had such fun discussions with him.
I remember Shlok giving me my beer (was it beer? I don’t remember now!). Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from this party, but, it is sure etched into my memory forever.

Many things learnt, plenty of new friends made, especially a few life lasting ones.
Grateful for everything that this great country has to offer!

Until next time!

Week 29 – Detroit FreePress International Marathon prep (July 19 – July 25)

Week 27 was like a mixed feeling. You can check it out here. With 450+ miles under my belt, let’s see how far I can go in this week.

Day 1 – Sunday, July 19, 2020 – Quarantine Day 125
First day of the week and I must admit that I started the week quite lazily. Having spent almost 12 hours on the road, driving and hiking, my body needed some quite time, so skipped the run for the day.
By the time it was evening, the weather was so nice that I couldn’t stop myself from going out for a 13 mile bike ride with Jinx. The bike ride was followed by a belly full of delicious food. Awesome Sunday well deserved!

Day 2 – Monday July 20, 2020 – Quarantine Day 126
This week is special. As I am done with half of the year (26 weeks), I reevaluated my mileage to maximize my running efforts to finish 1,000 miles for the year.
Based on the 15 minutes that I spent counting mileages each week, I concluded that I need to run at least 23 miles per week to finish with more 1,000 miles by December 31st, 2020. 23 miles per week translates to roughly 3.3 miles per day. So, I decided whenever I will go out for a run, I will try to run at least 3.3 miles, preferably a mile more than that, so that I will stay ahead of my target/schedule.

With this target in mind, I woke up at my usual time and went out for a run. By the time I finished a 5K, I could feel that I was a little tired, but went for longer distance just to keep up with my target. I was glad I finished 4.1 miles of running and then called it for the day.
The work was a little bit more as compared to other day, so in the evening, it was a 13 miles bike ride before having some wonderful food!

Day 3 – Tuesday July 21, 2020 – Quarantine Day 127
Trying to stick to the plan and keeping the target in mind, I went out for a morning run for the second day in a row. This one felt better than yesterday, since I could finish the same distance on the same route in lesser time.
Post run, I had some wonderful breakfast and Kheer after lunch, that you see in the picture below.

Day 4 – Wednesday July 22, 2020– Quarantine Day 128
I could not go out for a run today because of two reasons – the first one was I woke up late (& that’s completely my fault) and the second one was the I had an early morning meeting, which I couldn’t skip – so I ended up skipping the run for the whole day.
The day seemed quite long with some work and too many things to handle; however, I got a chance to go out for a 13 miles bike ride with the kids and friends. Loved spending time with them and Jinx got some much needed outside time too.

Day 5 – Thursday July 23, 2020– Quarantine Day 129
Ah! I have been waiting for Thursday and Friday for this week to get over and relax for some time over the weekend. Yesterday, we slept in the tent, so I woke up quite late today. After getting socks out from the wardrobe, I looked at the clock and decided to work instead of going out for a run.
The work seemed never ending to me, especially today! I was relieved when I was done with everything around 4.30PM and we finally got a chance to head to NHS to run on their track.

It was such a pleasant feeling to run on the track with kids. I was especially impressed with Mr. Aryan. Today was the first day I saw him actually putting as much efforts in running as he puts in other sports. I thought the kids would get tired after 2-3 rounds of the track and the adults would get to run on their own. Boy, was I wrong!
I was running with their pace to act as a pacer and for them to have someone to look after while running. The strategy of taking a break after alternate rounds worked for them and they never seem to get tired because of it. When I was at miles 2-3, I was so surprised to see Mr. Aryan still running and couldn’t help but be proud. At the end of the run, he managed to finish 10 rounds of the track, covering roughly 2.5 miles. It was such an amazing feeling and I am sure I will remember it for some time.

After finishing the run, we devoured some freshly made basil pasta and beer, which I had been craving for a few days. Sam Adams Porch Rocker is my third most favorite beer, and they sell it only during summer, so had to go with that!

Day 6 – Friday July 24, 2020– Quarantine Day 130
PR & 7TH HALF MARATHON OF 2020 & 500+ MILES FOR 2020

What a wonderful way to accomplish three things in one run. Yesterday, as I was tired staring at my laptop screen for more than 10 hours and having just one beer in the evening (which I did after almost 6 months) made me sleep sooner than my usual time. I remember going to bed at around 9PM, which helped me get up at around 4.30AM today. The moment I was up, I knew I had to maximize this advantage by finishing a Half Marathon today. Glad that I listened to myself and I was out the door at around 5.05AM.

My friend, Anupam, shared a good 5 minute video about kinds of stretching to do before a run, so I tried that and it worked like a charm, so, I think, I will do it before every run now. Here’s the link if you want to check it out.

Also, a few things special about this run – I think this was the first Half Marathon I finished without my knee cap – which is extremely good to know as I had been relying on the knee cap quite heavily, especially for longer runs. Also, I didn’t wear my compression socks for the run – which also didn’t seem to make a lot of difference to my running form and pace. The last thing that I did differently was not wearing a nipple guard. I have been wearing nipple guards for every run now to avoid nipple chafing. For this run, I decided to skip this part and wanted to see if the newly bought Under Armor gear helps prevent it. IT DID NOT!

As you will see below in the picture, you will be able to see a red stream from the ride side of the T-shirt. I didn’t realize that my nipple was chafed, until someone gave me a weird look, when I was walking home after finishing my run. I took a peak and was pleasantly surprised to find it out myself. Good that it didn’t hurt much compared to the last time and I could carry on with my day like any usual day.

One more special thing about this run – this was the first run that I didn’t check my Apple Watch at all. The last time I scored a PR for a Half Marathon, I went for it after covering a distance of 10 miles; but this time, I wanted to check whether my body can run for that long with a consistent pace and glad to know that it could. I must say the weather helped tremendously to run faster than my usual pace. It was cold throughout my 2 hours 15 minutes run and I didn’t have to carry any water or food supplies for the run. When my Apple Watch made a ding sound, telling me that I just finished 13 miles, I was so eager to look at the time, but, I calmed myself as I still had 0.1 mile to go. Once I knew I was well over 0.1 mile, I finally took a look at my watch and was so overjoyed to look at the timing. It was amazing feeling to run back to back PR for Half Marathons and not sure if I will be able to accomplish that again.

Let’s see I might just surprise myself. The evening was well spent with kids and soccer. The work hours stretched a little bit, but that’s a usual Friday for me, so no complaints there!

Day 7 – Saturday July 25, 2020– Quarantine Day 131
Ah! The last day of the week and so glad about all the things that I accomplished during this week.
Now, before starting with the regular updates for the day, a couple events that are worth mentioning.
The first one is kind-of a bad news, but I had already anticipated it – THE DETROIT FREEPRESS INTERNATIONAL MARATHON IS VIRTUAL NOW. This is such a bummer as I had been preparing it for some time and was excited to cross the US-Canada border on foot during this race, nevertheless, they gave us option to defer it to the next year, which sounds like a good deal to me, so I will go ahead with that.
The good news is – I got approval for my application to the work visa i.e. H1B. Those closer to me knew that it was a last attempt for me, so it was very crucial to score it this time, and glad that I did. With this approval, I got few more years of relief.

Anyway, getting started with the updates. After running a PR HM yesterday, I decided to skip the run for a day and we went to Highland Recreation Area for some hiking. After experiencing the best hike at Holly Recreation Area last week, I was not sure what to expect from this place, so went with some open mind. The one thing that I didn’t like about the hike was the Gravel trail. It was 88F and the gravel trail didn’t help as it stayed hot whenever we walked on it. I think, this was one of the reasons, my friends, Anupam and Monika and their kids, felt some pain in their toe muscles. Hope they’ll be better soon.
We anticipated a distance of 6 miles for the entire hike, but, ended up finishing 8.4 miles. At the end of it, I was super tired, so ended up having a pizza.
You can check the photos here.

And that brings us to the end of this week. It was an amazing week and I could successfully achieve my target mileage. I could cover 29.6 miles in 05:03:47 at 10’16” pace. At the beginning of this week, I had a target of only 23 miles, which I successfully completed and with some extra miles, keeps me ahead of my target.

I am hopeful about the next week and beating the target again! Let’s see.
Enjoy the weekly highlight, though!

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