The Happy Gardener

I should have written/be writing about an absolutely amazing, fantastic vacation that I came back from a couple of weeks ago but I shall put it off for later. Some of you who are reading are thinking: "No, you shouldn't be writing at all". Well boohoo - it's my blog and so I will. :-) Autumn is upon us. Fall is here. I like Fall. I equate it to the Sunday mornings of our lives. All the excitement and eagerness surrounding the end of a long winter(week) is done in Spring(Friday) and the happy, carefree fun Summer(Saturday) is over too and we come to Fall(Sunday). And this is how one beats an analogy to death and back. Anyways, Fall and Sunday mornings. Both happy, content times. Time to get over the madness and excitement but not time yet to start fretting about the coming winter. The only thing that bugs me about it is that sometimes we have all this rain(like now) and all that gorgeous color is just washed away onto the pavements. On to the next topic. What does it t...

It has come to a point where I am not sure if I have used the title already.. I should probably have a list of titles somewhere.. Will blogger complain if I try to create another post with the same name? Coming to the actual topic of the post or the non-topic. I ran 6.2 miles today. Ok - so I walked a few short stretches in between but still. It was fun. I had spent most of the day at home and realized around 5 pm that surprise, suprise! - I really wasn't that productive as I'd planned on being. So I pulled up my socks, pulled down my cap, pulled on my gloves and stepped out to run. I haven't run in a while but I've been looking fwd to running here - in the city - since my move. Anywho - around an hour = 15 songs = a kabillion steps in tune with my wildly swinging plaits = one really red nose later, I was back at my apartment. It was cold but not too cold and the run kept me reasonably warm so it was a pretty good one for the most part. Except for the last leg where I w...

I am in dog tired heaven. What is dog tired heaven? It is the best kind of heaven there is. This is what you need to get to DT heaven : You need to be dog tired - really exhausted. Add a hot shower, air dried hair, a couple of aches and pains, some mindless tv and a home cooked dinner and you are there. I feel so at peace with everything right now... I am not even sure if I am not high. How came this to be, you ask? And 'tis a wise question, my dear reader. Looking at my blog these last few days and weeks, you could easily be excused for thinking that I am in no danger of exhaustion in my daily routine. Granted. Today, however was that day. That day when I got tired of it and said - "What the squash! I need to be in the gym". So off I went and spent an hour on the old faithful treadmill. 6.5 miles and several calories later (I must admit my body was seriously ready to quit once I hit mile 5), I stepped off the treadmill and realized ...... that I looked like a beetroot. I...

Had a couple of indifferent 4 mile runs over this week. My shin splints are back. It is becoming increasingly clear that I won't be able to do the half marathon in mid October. What is my plan? Do exactly what I've been doing and my shin issues will go away and everything will fall into place. Denial is the key to happiness. After watching some ads for upcoming movies and new seasons of some TV shows, I have decided that the future of TV programming is bleak.

I signed up for the Bay State half marathon this morning (58 days to go) I've been thinking of this since I randomly ended up running around 12.5 miles a couple of weekends ago and today I went ahead and registered. Now that I'd done it, I figured I should train. I haven't really been running lately except for a 4 miler, 6 miler and 12.5 miler on three consecutive weeks. And that was 2 weeks ago. I know - not really a consistent schedule. So I went out today and ran 6.34 miles at a pace of 8:21/mile. I pushed myself a good bit and was pretty happy with it overall except that now I think I have a blister coming up - serves me right for running without socks. Yeah, that's right - I figured making the blog boring isn't enough so I turned to my other skill, making it gross. In other news, I love my downstairs neighbors. I usually end up dancing at least for 20 minutes every day. Either practice or just jumping around to some happy music. And they never complain. Even wh...

So I am back. I should have written earlier, at least to say that I finished the marathon but after going over it so many times on email and phone and conversation with folks, I couldn't get myself to write it up again. I know - that probably sounds cocky but that's the truth. Suffice to say I took longer than I thought I would, the experience was different from how I thought it'd be, my injuries made a big difference and all in all, I was really glad to cross the finish line. That said, what have I been up to in the last month and more since I wrote? Nothing much really - I've been working most of the time and not working the rest of the time. I know, I know - but c'mon - it's close to midnight and this is my blog. So I really should be allowed to say anything I want to :) Jokes apart, there's been a lot of work, though. Interestingly, after grumbling abt it for a week or so, I've sort of had an enlightenment. I've realized that this is basical...

13 more days to go. I ran today after 8 days. I've been resting my shin/calf over the last week (well, not completely - I did have a dance performance last Sat'day and had a couple of practice sessions for it over the week but still) and was getting worried if I could get back to running ok. I got on the treadmill, walked for abt 10 mins and stretched a little before starting to run. The walk felt ok so I thought the run would be good too. But when I started, my shins were still stiff and sore and I felt like I was just shuffling my feet. After a couple of miles though, they felt better. But my breathing was a little out of whack and I felt pretty thirsty soon so I stopped at 4 miles ( I had planned to do 5 initially). Anyways, it felt pretty good after the run. I spent a good half hour stretching and stopped by CVS and bought a knee support(have occasional issues with the left ITB) and a re-usable ice wrap after spending another half hour poring over all the details on all the...

Every since I started running, my list of favorite things has changed: 1. Having no shin splints. 2. The sweet pain that comes when you stretch your muscles a little further than the last time. 3. Crossing the finish line 4. The deep, deep, dreamless 10 hours of sleep on the night of the long run. 5. Cool wind in my sweaty hair. 6. The disconnected conversations of the runners after a long and tiring run. None of us can concentrate long enough to say something meaningful. 7. Running on pine needles - the softest surface on earth. 8. My running shoes 9. Spending 25 minutes in the shower after the run. 10. Eating ice cream with no guilt whatsoever. 11. The 1 hour drive back home from Boston after the run. 12. Flat stretches of land. 13. Lazy and languid Sat'day aft'noons .

Last Saturday was our 21 mile run. It was to be the longest run we would do before the marathon. Interesting tidbit for the non-marathoners out there : You never run the full 26 miles while you are training for the marathon - the wisdom behind that being you don't want to run the marathon twice. I didn't know that either. When someone explained it to me, I was like "Huh, of course, it makes sense!". I mean, really, it wouldn't feel the same way when you victoriously run past the finish line in the marathon and think "yeah, it feels the same as it did the last time on the practice run", right?. Coming back from the little detour and focusing on the last run again: As I was saying, the 21 mile run was on 29 th September. I had been having issues with my shins for the past couple of runs and my legs weren't really feeling all that great. But I knew I had to do this run 'cause this was it. This was as close as it can get. So I planned to get to Davi...

I just thought I'd write another quick post abt my running over the last two days. After last Saturday's 20 mile run, my legs were in bad shape. The ITB on my left leg was acting up and my right shin hurt - it really hurt. I came home and pretty much limped around all of Sat'day and Sunday. On Monday, I got myself a calf/shin support wrap - a Velcro contraption that goes around my shin/calf and started using it right away. I also started icing my shin. And I rested. I did absolutely nothing on Monday and Tuesday except go to work, come back and do some household chores. On Wednesday, my legs were feeling better and I decided to test them out with a short run. I played it safe and decided to run on the treadmill. This way, if my legs hurt after running a couple of miles, I was not a couple of miles away from my car :) I started out a little stiff and my shins hurt a little but after a mile or so, it started getting better. At around 3.5 miles, I was warmed up and feeling...

I just spent 30 uncomfortable minutes icing my right shin and my left knee. Icing is not a fun activity. Firstly there's all the mess involved in putting the ice in a plastic bag and trying to hold it steady over the injured area with one hand while trying to attach it to this area using some contraption with the other hand (in my case it was another plastic bag). It dripped - dripped on the footstool, on the couch , on the coffee table until I gave up and just let it drip over my carpet. And then there's the iceburn . They ( those very knowledgeable internet folks) tell you that the discomfort/burning sensation lasts only for a a couple of minutes and then the area becomes numb. I don't completely agree - it burns for quite a while. All in all, icing an injury is not a fun week-night activity. That done, I moved to step 2. Step 2 is applying a pain reliever/anodyne cream called " Eutheria ". My parents brought this from India and when I sprained my neck during o...