Adidas Sundown Marathon 2011

I beat the sun!!

Atlast the day came-May 28th and the time 10:00PM , the starting time of the much awaited marathon.My first marathon.The starting point was at Changi Expo, we took a shuttle bus from Singapore Expo at 8:10PM but the bus reached the location only at 10:35PM..oops!! I was upset, now i had to start alone may be with 2 or 3 other runners.So i did not see the flag off!

I started the race exactly at 10:50PM briskly.Ran in a consistent pace.Before the race i had planned to split the 42KMs into four 8KMs zone.So for the first 8KM i was reaching the target time and felt very good and the second 8KMs was also good but the third one was very tough.I saw flights taking off and landing at Changi airport, great scene!I did not feel any pain in my legs or any other parts of the body but felt very tired.I ate the Power gel every half hour.I took more time to reach the third 8KMs than the first two but i felt good when i gone past 21KM i.e half marathon distance.

Marathon route

I took 2 minute to stretch my body after 25KM , i was running almost half the pace of my usual pace anyhow i was not pushing myself. I saw runners vomiting ,lying down on the ground and some even smoking!!After 21KM i played songs in my iPod - music really helped me to focus more on the run than looking at the people camping in East Coast Park.I walked for a minute inhaling the fresh air from sea and felt rejuvenated.

As i mentioned earlier my 8KM zone splitting did not worked.Gradually i ran slower and slower till i reached 34KM i,e still 8KM to run.But after 34KM i started to run briskly but unfortunately i was running out of Power gel,again i waked for a minute.Luckily at the dehydration point i took a banana and ate, that gave me strength to complete the race.

Last 3 KM i ran like i used to run in my practice, straight road with without any blockade always makes me to run faster which i did this time also.When i saw the  board which showed 41KM... tears rolled from my eyes.. sense of satisfaction.. sense of achievement.. I finished the race without any injury.My first marathon gave me lot of confidence in myself that i can achieve anything if i set my mind and move towards the goal steadily.

Finisher T-shirt.. very proud to wear it for the first time

Thanks to everyone who supported me through out the training as well as in the race.Special thanks to my wife who inspite of  all the difficulties she came and stayed till i finish the race.Thanks to my parents and my friends and the volunteers.. you were all great! A special thanks to my boss who always encourages me to run and gives lots of tips on running.I need to train even harder for my next marathon.. hopefully Standard charted Marathon Singapore.

Great day and a great race!! Congratulation to all the fellow runners ..

Sailing Alone Around the World

I bought this book in Popular Expo some months back, never heard of the author name as well as the book name.I select  some books randomly among them "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum was one.Luckily once again my selection was on target - great book!

This book is the experience of the author when he traveled around the world alone in a boat called "Spray".As i read the book i was entering into the world of ocean and creatures living in it.Author's detailed description of everything he encountered made this book - a gem!Before starting the voyage he lost everything he had.First he lost his first wife, his beloved one then the he lost the much loved boat-Aquidneck which was the only asset he had.

Single handedly he remade the sloop/boat Spray.He did all the measurement and did everything on his own,it was like his child.Full of hope and energy he started his journey from Boston on April 24th 1895 at the age of 52.Check out the below Google Earth which shows Joshua's journey,click and check it out.



He did not use any chronometer to find time and longitude, he used a simple clock that too was broken in the middle of the journey.He used well known method called "dead reckoning".Most of the time in the journey he did not touch the helm since Spray was capable of self-steering due to its design.

He met different kind of people along his journey ,the natives of the Caribbeans,people Brazil and Argentina ,Australians etc and he describes vividly about them.Seems to be observant as well as good observer.His description of animal life was something i cherished reading.

His passion for ocean/sea , his love for voyages made this amazing journey possible.On June 27,1898, after three years ,circumnavigating the world he returned to Newport,Rhode Island.He traveled more than 46000miles(74,000Kms)!!what a feet!Hats off to this great traveler. He was the first man single handedly sailed around the world.He disappeared with Spray while traveling towards West Indies on November 1909. Seems to be a fitting end to his wonderful life.He was officially declared dead on 1924.

A travel classic! Must read for all!

More info:
Sailing Alone Around the World

Kandaen -கண்டேன்

A feel good entertainer.One reason why you should watch this movie-Santhanam.Gosh!this man has been outstanding in recent years but this movie will stand out!What a performance by him!His timing comedy made me laugh like anything.Rashmi looks good!Now come to the hero of the movie(of course Santhanam is a real hero of the movie) Santanoo , he has matured when compared to his previous movie.

The age old love story but given modern timing comedy by Santhanam and Santanoo.Santanu pretends as a blind man and earns the heroine's love.She finds the truth and started moving away from her.what we expect, the same thing happens i.e Hero explains everything to her and wins her heart back!!(How many movies we have seen this!) but the twist is the hero became really blind at one point and now the heroine explains the difficulties in marrying a physically handicap!So hero has to act like a normal person.. now the fun starts... 

Santhanam's playground

Predictable climax but still we can watch.Watch it for Santhanam.

Santanoo as Vassanth has done his role neatly,Rashmi Gautam as Narmada is good.Another highlight of the movie is Ashish viyarthi's performance , its nice to him to play a good guy.Music by Vijay Ebenezar is good, this his first movie track.Gautam menon's Photon Kathaas Music launched the audio track of this movie,their first.

Passion Run 2011

This is my second Passion run after 2009 ,once again had a great run.The event was bigger, more categories and more runners.The race started exactly at 5:30PM , i started with first wave.Since i had not ran for 9 days i felt little uneasiness for the first 2 kilometers but i met a consistent timing for every kilometers.After the first 5 kilometers , i started to run little faster and maintained the same pace till the end of the race.I was really surprised  at my timing.
I did not stop anywhere though i drank 100 Plus every 2 kilometers.I was amazed at the pace of some of the veteran runners, hats off guys!They motivated me to run little faster after 5 km.It was a perfect race.My body felt better particularly my legs.

Race route, ECP

The race route was one of my favorite place in Singapore the East Coast Park(ECP), running near the sea is something we can not express in words,amazing!Seen many family spending their weekend playing volleyball , skating and swimming, they were our spectators, in this regard Passion run got more spectators after SCMS.
Great after race events, a movie show and lots of activities..PA had done a wonderful job!.

The journey of Smoke the donkey

Smoke

When Camp Pendleton based Marines were in Anbar Province,Iraq nearly three years before, they befriended this donkey and they called him Smoke because of his color.He became something like mascot for this Marines ,everyone loved him,infact Smoke was given his own care packages and cards. But when they left Iraq they have to leave Smoke there itself due to immigration procedures.Till they get it back to US, Smoke was given to an sheik as a care giver.

One of the Marines,retired Colonel John Folsom thought that it seem not right to leave Smoke there for ever, so he with his friends and Society for the prevention of cruelty to animal's international's "Operation Baghdad pups" decided to get Smoke to US, but it proved more difficult as sheik demanded USD30,000 initially , then he dropped that demand.But to transfer the Smoke from 11,000KM away it cost between USD30,000 to 40,000/- .

Smoke was transported through cargo jet from Turkey to New York and was quarantined for 2 days.Now its in Omaha,Nebraska where he will the part of Wounded Warrior Support Organization and he would also help in rehabilitation of injured soldiers.

Hope Smoke would help and comfort the wounded soldiers.I was amazed by the kindness showed  by the marines.Hats off to them!
 

Smokes' facebook fan page
follow him on twitter : @SmoketheDonkey.