The Group

I think everyone aspires to be a part of some group at one point of time or another. Whether it is to be part of the cool group or the intellectual group or even the geek group, as social animals we want to be connected with some set of people. I always tried to create my own group and then include any one who wanted to enjoy being themselves.

Recently though, I have had this desperation to be part of a certain group. I have been on a weight loss regime since early 2011 and have taken up running as my cardio routine in my gym. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but I wanted to part of the group that can go on running for hours at a stretch without any problems. I remember the Nike Commercial in the movie " What Women Want" I would love to have that feeling when I am running. Easier said than done right! 

With the resolution of doing my best I got on the tread mill. A lady and a guy were on my side running nonstop for 30 minutes. I did my 3 minute warm up and started running at the speed of 5. In 2 minutes I was gasping for breadth and pressed the emergency stop. I looked around and the people besides me went on running like they were flying effortlessly on thin air. I was super annoyed. 

My trainer took me aside and told me,"Leena the more you will push yourself, the farther you will go." Sounds simple enough. Well not in the gym. I started running for 2 minutes and started challenging myself to increase in 5 minute increments every week. 

It was very painful and for a person with a short attention span, it can get very boring. I tricked myself into thinking that it was fun and coupled it with loads of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Disney Channel feel-good shows. 

Today I can run for 45 mins non-stop at the speed of 5 - 5.5. The feeling you have after finishing that long stretch is simply amazing. I look forward to almost going "WOOHOOO !!!" once I am done. Now I don't care if I belong to the runners' group or not. I am just glad I was able to experience that feeling! I hope to run a 5k soon just to see if I can make it that far. I have discovered my love for running and I am not looking back.

Cheers!

Leena --<@

Amazing Hike at Purisima

Tasked with completing our first 7+ mile hike, we set out to the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. Took the loop directions on a website and still lost our way :) Started at the foot of the reserve at 400 ft elevation and ended up at 2000 ft tip of the preserve. We did achieve our target distance of 7 miles but ended up 4 miles from our car. Sprinting the last 1 mile of the hike through the mystic mist(due to the elevation) we were almost dreaming of our comfortable car, only to find ourselves in the wrong parking lot. We found a ranger talking to some hikers and told her our sob story. She said," Oh, you can hike down to your parking. It is just 4 miles away." What.. we were ready to collapse on the ground.. What followed was another and more intense sob story of how tired we were. She finally agreed to give us a ride in her truck. How thoughtful! We were so relieved and so guilty at the same time :)

I was feeling.. hmm if this happened to us, others would have experienced the same. I asked the ranger," Do you get a lot of these cases where hikers get lost?" She said," Yes, we do see cases once or twice." Pause.. I hoped she would say 'in a month'. Instead she said," In a year." Bummer :( Being the outlier in this case did not feel good, especially since I think I have good directional sense. She told us about other times when people got lost. They were funny but scary at the same time. She mentioned that there are quite a few musicians living in the area including Tracy Chapman and Neil Young. She did warn us about trespassing, saying that people have a different way of dealing with people who invade their private property. Note to self: Don't go wandering in private property while hiking in a large preserve. 

We finally got back to our car and came home in one piece, thankful that everything was fine. We were tired but humbled by this experience. Learnt that nothing should be taken for granted at any time and we should try our best to be prepared.

Some tips when you go hiking:

1. Always carry water and some cereal bars

2. A flash light should be helpful on shaded hikes (it tends to get dark very quickly up in the hills)

3. An extra layer of clothes doesn't harm

4. Cap, good shoes and sunscreen always :)

5. Most importantly: Rely on the trail map rather than any website while deciding on the appropriate trail. (Note: Knowing how to read the map would be prerequisite)

Happy hiking!

Leena --<@

Why Tea 'n' Coffee ??

Finally I have gotten on the blogging bandwagon. The topic Tea 'n' Coffee is unique to my household. My husband has a lifelong desire that his wife(that's ME) would share a cup of tea with him in the morning.. Which I do not, simply because I am a coffee drinker :) and have no intention of leaving my coffee for tea. Interestingly, this is our favorite morning conversation. We call it a truce by me offering to make his tea in the morning and him not trying to convert me to a tea drinker. 


In this blog I will bring in the flavors of my life (personal and professional), my learning from life and derivations as well.


Please feel free to provide your comments and I look forward to speaking with you soon!


Leena --<@