My half marathon – 2 December 6, 2008
Posted by imthat in Thoughts.Tags: charity, marathon
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As resolved, I completed my half marathon. I took 2 hours 11 mins ( chip time) to complete my half marathon. The last 2-3 miles were particularly tough for me, since the last part of the course has a lot of hills and I felt tired by that time. I felt like walking most of it, but I kept motivating myself and pushing myself to run. The encouragement I received from the spectators was also one of the reasons I could keep running. A couple of places, complete strangers came and gave me words of encouragement. Some of my co-runners also pushed me to it. It is interesting that in those times I remembered some of the motivational words from my friends and family and that made me push harder. It was a great feeling of achievement to complete it. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me during the running, and who came all the way to the venue just to encourage me.
My wife got inspired by all the energy and enthusiasm for half marathon, and she decided to do that half walkathon. Without prior training she completed it in 4 hrs 15 mins, just on sheer determination. I am proud of her.
This was my first half marathon, and it taught me a few things. I cut down on my training a lot in the last 3-4 weeks. I thought I should rest myself, but maybe I cut down too drastically. Practice, and understanding your body is the key thing in completing a marathon. I will take these lessons to now aim for a full marathon. Right now I am taking a few weeks off before I get back to training again.
Thanks to everyone who donated for my half marathon. If you still want to donate please visit my page at MyMarathon.
My half marathon November 29, 2008
Posted by imthat in Growth.Tags: charity, running, society
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From my profile page on Asha’s website – http://www.ashanet.org/seattle/events/marathon/profile_head.php?pol
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I am running 13.1 miles this Sunday, November 30th 2008. I have been training for the past 4 months to get ready to run this half marathon. Why am I running? I intend to write about my intentions to run in this post.
Whenever I look back, I know that I had fairly good schooling and some extra-ordinary teachers who impacted my life. Though I do not come from a rich background, I had decent enough economic conditions at home for me to pursue my interests and also further education. I have loving parents who encouraged and supported my studies and my education.
I am grateful for all these blessings, but not everyone has these privileges. Primary education, I believe, is a basic right for every child. But there are millions of children in India who are deprived of that basic right. Parents cannot afford putting their child through school, children have to start working at an early age, and some are even subjected to prostitution. Many towns and small cities lack the proper infrastructure to provide the primary education for these children. I personally have visited schools where there are no proper toilets, or no toilets at all. There is lack of transportation system for these children, lack of teachers, lack of blackboards. It is surprising that even a small contribution from our side can make a significant difference for these children.
I have commited to raise 500$, by commiting to run a half marathon this year. As one of my friends has written, marathon has nothing to do with fundraising, but it is a way of commiting to the cause and hoping that you find my efforts to be sincere and commited. It is also to raise awareness. Asha is a non-profit organization with a very open structure. Their financial statements are published on the website. For example you can review some of the projects for formal schools here – Formal School Projects . They have biweekly meetings open to the public where different projects , their fund allocations in the past, the impact the funds created and their future fund requirements and justifications are reviewed. Many volunteers in Asha, go and visit the schools/institutes being sponsored. These people present site visit reports during these meetings as well.
I have the above writeup at my Asha’s profile page (shorturl – http://mymarathon.shorturl.com) as well. Please visit and contribute any amount you deem appropriate.
Pretending to be asleep September 1, 2008
Posted by imthat in Growth, Thoughts, alma mater.2 comments
Mahatma Gandhi once said that you can wake up somebody who is asleep, but how do you wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep?
There are so many scenarios in life which are blocked by some questions. The answers to these questions lie in my own head, but then acknowledging it would require some actions. Hence I delay it. I pretend to be asleep. No words can wake me up. I must read some books, but that requires giving up watching my movies everyday perhaps. So I close my eyes and do not seek solution. Instead I say I do not have time – I pretend to be asleep. I must exercise everyday. That requires pushing yourself a bit in the morning, sleeping early or not watching TV in the evening. I will instead say I am too tired in the evening to do anything, or I need 8 hours sleep - I pretend to be asleep. There is light on my path, but I choose darkness by closing my eyes. I pretend to be asleep and no one can wake me up.
I always wonder why is there such a pull towards inaction? ( Of course this post is not for the people who are enthusiastic in everything and very action-oriented.) I can blame the weather sometimes, or the work load sometimes? But when I sit down and look deep inside there is no concrete reason for inaction. The real reason is, inaction is just the most easiest thing to do. It is the pleasure-pain equation for human being. What is pleasurable in short term is usually painful in the long run, and what is painful in short term is usually pleasurable in long term. Wasting your time watching movies, eating a lot of sweet is pleasure right now. But in the long term it is not the most useful activity is it? Exercise generates a bit of pain, but it generates pleasure in the long term. The only thing to make inaction unpleasurable is to associate pain with it somehow, and to associate more pleasure with action. It really works wonders. The human mind is programmable, and I have programmed it in the wrong way in some scenarios. I don’t like going and just running on treadmill. So I go run on tracks & trails, and I run with a group. I play squash with someone. I do weights. I do things which I enjoy and hence look forward to. I involve people with it. It also puts a pressure on me to do it. I am not saying you should not sometimes do things pleasurable like watch movies or eat sweets. But not always at the expense of the greater good in your life.
This week I am going to identify things I have closed my eyes on, and identify how I can change my attitude towards it. I am going to open my eyes and seek action, and seek a way to enjoy that action.
Our body is a temple of God July 20, 2008
Posted by imthat in Spiritual, Thoughts.Tags: fitness, physical, Spiritual
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There is a beautiful Marathi poem by Sant Tukaram – Deh Devache Mandir. It means “Our body is a temple of God”. He explains with the help of beautiful analogies and in poetic words that God really dwells inside our body. If we really treat our body as the temple of God, we will take care of it accordingly. We will make sure that this temple of God is maintained properly and is clean. We will be more aware of what goes inside the body. We will be more fitness conscious and start exercising regularly. I am on one such journey as I am training to run 13 miles for Seattle Half Marathon 2008. I am doing it for two reasons – for improving my personal fitness and raising money to educate underprivileged children in India through Asha. I will post more details on my marathon training – how I am doing it, with whom and what are my goals.
Excuses or Reasons July 12, 2008
Posted by imthat in Books, Growth, Thoughts.Tags: Books, deception, excuses, Growth, leadership
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Realizations dawn upon oneself while conversing or just out of observations. I find it very enriching to converse with different people. Different perspectives are revealed. One such thing that I came to realize out of such a conversation is the distinction between an Excuse and a Reason. As you might have already guessed, an excuse is something made up to hide an inaction or wrong action. An excuse could be given to other people, but surprisingly enough it is given to oneself more often than others. Reasons are actual things that prevented one from doing a thing, or from doing a wrong thing. If I am able to differentiate between an excuse and a reason, it will make my life so much more productive. There is no reason for not going to the gym, for not getting up early, for not making it on time, for not calling up people, for not completing your work. There is most of the time excuses. We are not only deceiving other people with our excuses, but deceiving ourselves as well with the same excuses. How many times have we realized we have wronged but not accepted it even to ourselves. I am reading this book currently which talk about self deception and how it is related to leadership. I would highly suggest this book. The question to ask every time we are explaining – is this an excuse or a reason. It should be asked especially more when you are explaining yourself than to others.
 Leadership and Self Deception |
