Quo Vadis?

The story of my second race. I completed my second half marathon yesterday. This was part of the Chennai Trail Marathon 2014 held near the Chembarambakkam lake. This event is different from other marathons because it is a trail marathon and by trail it means you run where there may be no road just a trail. Having signed up for this run, I was determined to train for it and I managed to complete a 21 two weeks before the event. As it was a LSD I was not looking at the time;  I did a strong first half and took it easy on the return, however I felt that I was in good form for CTM despite never running on the trail before. Few of the others in my team had done a practice run on the route earlier but I missed it for various reasons. Work and travel ensured that my training took a backseat and then when I least expected it I got a viral infection that forced me to rest just before the run. So on the eve of the run I was out of practice and the illness had left me drained. ...

You may have seen this badge worn by folks and you may have fallen for the weight loss product that the badge wearer is selling.  Chances are that the product may have worked a little for you; chances are that it may not have but the person who sold it to you has definitely become a little richer off you. I am no expert on these magic formulae that will guarantee that you lose weight but I do know that there is a way to lose weight and if you were to walk up to me ask me how just like the gentleman who has been noticing me for over a few months now and observing the changes in me over the past few months did today, I will be glad to share. (I guess I do look lighter than I did in March and so I guess I don’t need to wear a badge.) Weight loss is not a rocket science. It comes down to a few simple things that everyone knows and yet they tend to look for the magic formula. Weight loss happens by burning fat and by responsible eating. I have shared posts on both but sinc...

Runners are a weird breed, they do so many funny things and if you are not a runner you will find them a trifle difficult to understand. But here are some pointers to identify a runner Their day begins when the rest of the world is still in bed or at least pressing the snooze option in their alarms for another few minutes. They wear bright neon colour clothes that others would not be caught dead in and lace up shoes that will cost nearly an arm or a leg, well not so much but enough for others to arch their eyebrows sky high. Then they set out from their homes to set the roads on fire. Look out for some folks wearing bright clothes and funky shoes running in the dark. You will observe the hyperboles being thrown about quite frequently in this post but I will ask you to bear with me for with runners everything is above average. They run distances that will make others swoon in shock; distances like 21 kms, 30 kms, 50 kms are regular conversation staples and note that these d...

This post has been published as a part of 'The CBC Tablog - 2.' Read previous post by Lakshmi Venkatraman  here ... If you do not know about CBC, Chennai Bloggers Club is simply the Most Happening Blogging Community of namma Chennai. This tablog is a group blogging activity where each blogger posts on one topic and passes the tag to the next. So here goes... One aspect I want to change in Chennai? The list of changes can be long but I will stop with one phrase that should cover a few, “civic sense”. So what then is civic sense? It can be    A sense of taking pride in Chennai  and keeping it clean    A sense of awareness that spitting or defecating in public is a nuisance and can be extremely disrespectful to others    A sense of community living where sweeping ones garbage into the neighbour’s courtyard is avoided    A sense of ownership of the utilities provided for community good and protecting and preserving ...

One look at the profile pic and you will know what is to follow. However it is a story that merits a telling, so here goes… After just three months of running and a rather ambitious decision to run a half marathon I was having a lot of self- doubt s on the eve of the race. There were only two objectives for the next day:  1. To complete the race  2. To complete within three hours Simple as they may sound, for a beginner like me who had only done 17 kms as the highest distance in the three months and with no previous race experience this was a sizeable challenge. My excessive weight, weak knee, a history of a slipped disc were some of the deterrents from my running but having run for three months I wanted to challenge myself. Another minor detail was my dislike of running by the beach, in my limited experience the route by the beach tends to be more humid than the routes I am used to running regularly. However there was a bridge to be crossed and I decided to c...

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?” Simple and even silly as it may sound, pause and think -when was the last time you really did something for the first time. I noticed that these days I am doing new things and I am really happy that I could do them planned or otherwise. Having done some new things now I look forward to doing more and it all started with a head ache. Sometime in February I woke up early one morning with a splitting headache. The usual response would be to pop a pill and get back into bed but on that day I decided to go for a walk. I still am not sure why I decided to walk but that became a landmark moment. I returned after the walk with a clear head and felt very active. I started walking regularly gradually increasing the distance, and slowly started running. I was warned that with my bulk, running was best avoided yet I took small runs by myself. I came across Chennai Runners on Facebook and searched for a chapter in Anna Na...

These days I am getting used to people commenting on my weight loss.  I had mentioned in an earlier post that running played a big part in my weight loss and has become a part of my weekly schedule.  What annoys me is that some people believe that weight loss will come easy. It may be true for some with fantastic metabolism for others it is a combination of diet and exercise. You can read an inspiring weight loss story by another blogger here . This post is about diet and how to go about losing weight with the aid of a better diet. I am not a qualified nutritionist nor do I have any other experience in suggesting a diet except for some common sense steps that worked for me. These may not work for you but if you are willing to keep them as part of your weight loss plan do read on. The first point I must clarify is that diets do not work for me. My last memory of a diet was a failed attempt of a GM diet where I pulled out after the third day. I have received enough ...