Traveling to NY

Its finally come to this. I've been avoiding traveling to the US. Its a particular client I need to visit and I do not welcome it. There are some people who you can never win over. They find faults in success, make good look bad and are generally distrustful of everyone. My client is one such customer.

I've been managing this account for 2.5 years now. I'm the longest serving manager for this customer in my company. The client is a reputation destroyer.Several managers came and then left. Their reputations soiled, their dignity destroyed. I've survived till date but now I think my time is up too.

This is not how I wanted to visit NYC. But then that's how things stand today.

I'm losing sleep over it. Had a bad week. Another one stares me in my face.

2 Hr Half Marathon

Its not Yipee Ye Ye yet, but its close. A month ago I ran 22 kms on treadmill in less than 2 hours and last Sunday, I ran 20.4 kms in 1hr 55min on the road. That leaves 700 mts in the last 5 min and per my calculations I could do that in 4 min. So, by extrapolation I've made it to doing the half marathon in less than 2 hrs.

I know its not official timing and I was 700mts short, but yes, it gives me hope that if things go right on 20-Jan, I can do it.

The gear has had an impact. I can say that. I did not get blisters I used to get earlier. Thanks to shoes that are 1 size bigger and socks that breath more air, get less soggy. Dry Fit Nike socks.

Another good thing is that I did not hurt my knees. I've been hitting the road, every week for the last 3 weeks and my knees have held up.

Hope they carry me across the finish line within 2 hrs when it matters.

Post#17 Live!

It's 12:08 am at night and I'm live and alive! 3 days of struggle to set up env etc. came to fruition today. I'm off to sleep now.

End of the Road for Gold Gym

My 2.5 year membership with Gold Gym came to an end yesterday. Its still a great place to work out but then I had my reasons. Gold Gym works on Franchise model. Different gyms at various locations have different price points. Mine was Rs.14,000 for a year.

About a month back, a colleague of mine got himself enrolled in Andheri East Gold Gym, for Rs. 8,500 for the first year. Now while I understand there might be differences in price, I could not reconcile to a 60-70% premium.

My community gym is well equipped. It has 2 treadmills, an elliptical and host of other equipment good enough for an amatuer like me. The only constraint is that it gets too hot and stuffy. No AC. For a while now, I've been using my community gym for weight training, while preferring to go to Gold Gym for running. With the onset of winter, it will get cooler and running on community gym's treadmills might just turn out okay.

Still I wanted to hold on to Gold Gym membership. So, I went back and tried negotiating for Rs.10K renewal. Alas! they did not agree and finally my membership ended yesterday.

My last day, I ran 8 kms in 42 min or less. That should count as my best 8Km run so far. I ran at 11.5 kmph for about 6 kms and at 12kmph for 2.

The only way to stay motivated is to keep improving, you need to beat yourself and pushing just a little ahead every time. As years take their toll on me, I'm not sure how long I'll have the motivation to run. I think, I may still have another couple of years remaining in me.

I know that once I've past the best I can be, my motivation will plummet and I'll give it up in no time.

Get better or Die.Death is certain. Its about  how long is the chase...