Swamy

Twin Cities Marathon. Oct 2nd 2011

2011-10-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

Team Asha Runner's Marathon story

Training Season:

I trained well this year and I thought of running San Francisco full marathon in July. But dropped out at mile 19 as the longest I ran before the race was 13miles..
Weekend after SF race, I ran 16 miles and I got confidence that I can do really well in the race this year. That confidence kept me going good in training runs and I did two 18 milers and 20miler. I had tight muscles and had trouble after 20 miler. I went to the Savior(SMI), Greg twice. I kept on consulting coaches and Srini every weekend on what I need to do that week. I went to backpacking trip on Sep long weekend. After that my right knee started bothering me. for even for weekday runs. Didn't do any considerable runs for whole September. Because I thought its good to rest the knee and save it for the race.
I picked TCM because my sister lives in EDINA (few miles from Minneapolis) and my younger niece birthday is on Oct 1st. My brother also planning to come for my niece Bday. Family reunion and race on same weekend.

Pre Race Day(s) and Expo:

I reached Twin Cites on Thursday night. Friday morning after debating between mind and heart I decided to run couple of miles and see how I do. I ran on Streets of Edina for 3 miles. It was a bummer. Weather was cold and I felt my legs are not good for the race. I was disappointed, cameback and worked remotely till evening. Somehow not in a good mood as my legs were saying, "we don't want to run". I went for Shooting range that night with my brother and Brother-in-Law.

Saturday morning I took my nieces to run the kids race near Capitol. It was well organized and it gave me some +ve energy. Expo is near to that place. Picked up the bib. At Expo, I saw Rock tape stall, The people there looked very experienced on how to and when to use rock tape. I explained them my problem. They said "you should try taping today itself so that it will work better tomorrow". I did use rock tape earlier but I wasn't sure trying a new thing on the race day. I told them that, I need to think and moved on. I went to other stalls but I was still thinking about rock tape. Given my situation I thought its worth trying. I went back there bought rock tape. They helped me in Taping my calf. I came back home and taped my right leg all the way. It took one more day to realize that it worked perfect on the race.
I reached home from expo around 2PM and did all the regular race stuff (Bib, Chip, Sweat Check, Gu, Waterbottle, cash).

Attended my Niece Birthday party in the evening. My sister made yummy Pasta before she got busy with party stuff. I had my dinner (Pasta) and left in the middle of the party and slept at 10PM.

Race Day:

Alarm started ringing at 5:30AM. I sw lazy thought of waking up in 10 mins and went back to sleep. Thank god, my sister came and woke me up at 6:15AM. I quickly had my breakfast ( Oatmeal and Banana) and started to the race. My Brother-in-Law (BIL) and brother dropped at the start line and left.
I tried to reach Naresh/Tony. I couldn't reach them. Weather is nice and perfect for the run. It is the 30th year for TCM race. Race is very well organized.
I started slow with clear mind and no plan on how to do, what pace, how to split, where to use porta potty etc.
Only one thing in mind. With my past experiences with TA training I never failed. Moreover this years training and fitness, some corner of my mind I am confident (little bit)t hat something will happen for me to finish the race smooth. That attitude worked. :)

Miles 1-10:

I bumped into Naresh in first mile 1. I told him not to wait for me (@finish line). I missed mile 1 marker. I assumed I passed it as I was already running for 15 mins. First 3 miles are in city roads and cheering from crowd is Awesome. Afterwards slowly it started getting near lakes. Trust me, It was very scenic. Fall colors, Mild Sun, Lake, Awesome crowd to cheer, music bands, what else I can ask on a race? :). I got the rhythm set by all these. I guess it is all around mile 4 onwards. I met one of the Chicago Asha runner (Tara) at mile 3, We both almost at the same pace till mile 17. Afterwards she took off.
My family came at mile 7. I was in good rhythm by then and don't want to stop to talk to them so just made eye contact and moved on. I saw them at mile 10. I went near to them to give a High 5, again I didn't stop.I know I was so mean not talking to my niece when they are shouting loud saying "Go Somu Mama Go"

Mile 10-20:

I met my family again at mile 12. This time I took a picture with my niece(s). Later moved on. It was pretty cool and nice running on the bridge across Mississippi river. I finshed half Marathon by 2:48:24. I got confidence that I can do sub six and around 5:45/5:50.

Around mile 16 onwards, I started getting calls from Balu/Shashi, to know how I was doing.

All the way, the crowd support is awesome. Music Bands /loud music along the course gave extra boost for running. Moreover people calling out names to force to running. All over Cheering Squad saying "Nice legs!!". It all needed at those miles.

At mile 20, I got a call from Naresh, he said he is waiting for me at the Finish line. It gave me extra boost too finish quicker.

Miles 21-25:

It was a breeze. No game plan in mind and I am confident that I'll have a PR People on the street started serving Champagne, Pretzels, Candy, fruits. I had oranges at mile 22. They never felt that good before. I started picking up pace around mile 23.

Mile 25-Finish:

I am around 17 mins short for 6 hour cut off. I had 1.2 miles to go. I felt very happy that I was going to do sub 6. All of a sudden I felt like I couldn't move my knee. I stopped, stretched and started. I decided to finish without time goal in mind. Around 25.5, God sent Naresh, (Trust me that was the feeling I got when I saw Naresh), He ran last .7 miles and pushed me hard to finish the race strong, smiling before they close the race officially. I completed TCM race in 6h:05m:39s.

Post race:

First things first, got the Medal. Naresh took me to the food stall . We chated little and we took pictures and picked up my T-shirt (Its a finisher Tshirt not given @ expo) and later he left. My family started following me just before finish line and I went to Caribou coffee to get coffee. I bought ice on my way back home, had a nice Icebath.

I had a the nice yummy home made lunch with GuttiVankaya (Stuffed Eggplant), Sambar and Aavakaya (Cut Mango Pickle). Lunch with these dishes became my post race lunch tradtion :).
I know coaches don't recommend this food (pickles etc) after the race, but sometimes you know.....

I can't imagine running with out support of many people in different ways. Let me tell you my secret of energy. Its not Boost/Horlicks :)

Whenever I think of long distance Running, the first person comes to my mind is Sandip Borle. I used to joke with him (before joining Asha) that, "I can do so many things in 4-5 hours which you spend for running every weekend. I am not crazy". After joining I got the taste of running. Thanks Sandip for Introducing me wonderful Organization AfE.
Thanks to Chakri, Mouli and Raman who ran/walked with me last 10 miles in my first marathon in 2007. I got injured at mile 13 and was limping last few miles. If I wasn't able finished, I wouldn't had been running marathons or been part of great organization AfE.
Thanks to Coaches and Special Thanks to Srini for checking my knee , giving quick massages and suggesting tips every weekend.
Thanks to Coach Char for all the mentoring and inputs he gave on every drive back home from tracks. Coach, you really helped me to get positive energy.
Thanks to Coach Raman for preaching me about body and mind working together for being peaceful all the time. You called me after my race, it made me feel proud about my accomplishment.
Thanks to TA coords and volunteers for doing all the effort in the background which runners can't even notice, to have an amazing running season every year. I don't want to take names because I'm afraid I may miss someone.
Thanks to all my fellow TA runners for supporting me and tracking me while I was running.
Thanks to Durgesh, Manju and Somnath for running with me on my Weekday runs. Of course I was not regular to join them, but their emails pushed me to go to Gym, whenever I missed the run.
Special Thanks to Naresh for pushing me the last leg. Thanks a lot Naresh!!!
Thanks to all my donars for helping me in raising funds for the noble cause.
Thanks to all my friends who wished me good luck before the race.
Thanks to Ganesh who was a colleague and now well wisher of me. Thanks for giving me ride to and from Airport.
Thanks to all the extended Asha family who became lifetime friends for supporting me. Without you all I can't imagine being energetic and optimistic about life.
Thanks to Raghu, Sudhakar and the friends I met through them, who became my regular hangout buddies. Raghu, You are the one kind of +ve attitude guy I came across in my life. Thanks for all the support during the season. We missed you at TCM. I love to run a race with you sometime soon.
Thanks to Subhakar, Syam and Jyothi and their families for their support in all means and being my dedicated donars for my fund raising efforts every year.
Thanks to my sister's family and brother for supporting me in all the time.

Omaha Trip for Annual Meeting 2009

2009-05-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

The moment I was waiting for, from past 3 months, came true Yesterday.

I attended the Berkshire Hathaway Share holders Annual Meeting on May 2^nd 2009.

Here is a small write up about the my experience about the trip.

Friday:

I started from Sunnyvale and got flight on Friday afternoon. I reached Omaha by night 11:10. My friend picked me up from Airport. We checked-in at hotel and had brief chatting as we are meeting after few months. We got all the stuff together for next day’s meeting like Shares purchase proof, Shareholders invite, Passport etc.

Saturday:

The meeting was at Quest Arena in Omaha. The doors for the Quest Arena were opened at 7AM and there was an animated movie at 8:30 AM. We reached there by 9:15 and got into the Arena. Surprisingly the area is full and we were asked to sit in the ballrooms where there were only big screens. We wanted to get into arena and see Warren and Charlie so we went into Arena and stood for the whole morning session of 31/2 hours.

The words of the Day from Buffett and Charlie:

We live with it, we deal with it - Buffett
I hope you listen to me, I know you are smart, but I am right. - Charles Thomas Munger
I always like low price and I know you all do like it – Buffett
I don’t believe in Efficient Market Theroy – Buffett

High lights of the day on the Annual meeting:

There should always competitive advantage to for grow our business.
There were lots of questions on the successor Warren and he didn’t announce it. Warren mentioned, to become a CEO, its not only the skills to run the business, another important factor is to maintain relationships, look for business opportunities and growing relations where we can grow business.
The holding period is forever valid as far the company won’t change the business what they were doing when we bought the stock.
Berkshire Stock is available for low price doesn’t mean we lost our stock value,
Wells Fargo is a Good Investment and one of the good financial institutes in the current market situations
On Bonus pays: I missed this question and looking for this question and answer on the web.
Loosing AAA rating from Moody’s is not a problem. We are still a AAA company from S&P. I am sure Moody’s soon change their way in Rating BRK.
There were questions on new investment in rechargeable batteries.
Today stock prices are not like 1970. Now they are expensive compared to 1970s.

The memorable Moment

There is a tradition that Warren spends One-and-Half hour with the shareholders who are outside US & Canada. We were lucky to get entry into that and got WARREN BUFFETT’s autograph on the Benjamin Graham’s Book “The Intelligent Investor”. It was a nice experience.

In the night we had dinner and spent sometime in the Omaha Downtown. Later we drove to Casio in Iowa and spend few hours there. We had good fun @ Casino.

Sunday:

The tradition is the next day the board of directors play bridge with the people who gave their names. We reached there by 11:15AM and waiting for Warren, Bill Gates and others.

At Borsheims, Buffett came to Bridge game 1PM. In few minutes the Re-insurance Manager Ajit Jain also came to Play Bridge. After 20 minutes, Bill Gates came and joined the Warren to play Bridge and They played couple of games. It was a nice moment to see all of them playing bridge and same place on different tables. Afterwards Bill moved to table, where Ajit Jain was playing. After 10 mins, Warren left the place. After few minutes, Ajit Jain also left the place. My friend got the Autograph of Ajit before he was leaving. We waited for another 2 hours to get Bill Gates Autograph. We stood for almost 5 hours on Sunday for watching the bridge and to get Autographs from Ajit and Bill Gates.

Later, We went to see Warren Buffett’s house and then came to Airport.

Overall, its an amazing experience and very memorable.

My friends comments on marriage, savings, investments

2009-01-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

Once a wise man said, "Marriage is an agreement between two insecure individuals, to live life securely."

on that context, its a general thought that marriage brings stability for a man and a support for woman(irrespective of house wife or working). This is old school. Until last generation, people looked at job as an everlasting(u get paid until u retire and u get pension after u retire, if the man dies then, wife gets pension .. so in this aspect its everlasting) source of guaranteed income.

families decide their standard of living and comforts based on their so called income.

This generation is forced to take a radical route. One needs to understand that stability is an individual perspective. when money becomes a measure of your stability and success, its upto the individual to grade it.

Like in every theorem we try to equate Left Hand Side(LHS) = Right Hand Side(RHS)

if the woman side of it fails to understand this or does not have any confidence in this theory, a degree of ambiguity exists.

With such a feeling neither the woman nor their family are willing to share life with man.

why did this insecurity in life has occurred in the first place.

when people fail to understand the fundamental difference between an investment vs saving. things like this happen. When u convert your saving into investment and the day investment loses its value, u r screwed.

buying a home in India is treated as a saving and asset, however here it is falls in a different angle. different components drive and decide your home value. when your investment is the mercy of several factors, your savings converted investment is now at risk. If u don't think wise and cash out the profit u make on house, the day u lose y'r job, u are no better than jobless and homeless. No matter what you do always believe that CASH IS KING(even though i don't buy this fact 100%).

Even cash is also vulnerable. if u save it dollars, it might lose its vale against rupee and vice-versa. but still this is okay.

strive hard to plan on how to get constant income, or be prepared to keep changing lifestyles based on your income levels.

do not do anything for pride sake. it will hurt you, not others.

Looking Back... (2008)

2009-01-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

2008 is a mix of good and Bad. The bad part was common for every one not just for me. i.e. Market Crash.

Last Year with Livermore Temple Trip.
Jan & Feb just past by. Mid Feb went to India. The trip was pleasant. Visited many places in the order, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Aynavilli,Nadipudi, Tanuku, VM Banzara, Kotta Gudem, Bhadrachalam,Hyderabad, Bangaluru, Chennai, Tadepalledudem, Tanuku, Nidadavolu, Kanuru, Marteru, Kovvuru, Bezavada Hyderabad.
Came back in Mid march. April interviewed with Juniper and then joined there in June.

Visited sister's place in July. Visited Duluth there and had good fun.
Visited Reno and Tahoe with Aditya, Phani and Ravi in September.
In October finished the Chicago Marathon Successfully.

Mom visiting me for a month thanks giving time. Brother also came here same time. We three went to LA, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon and Had good fun.

Chirstmas time busy with Work.

What I learnt/Gained 2008:
1. Dont worry about issues as it stops thought process for solutions. Developed this skill little bit.
2. Be with the good people who cares/thinks for you, than who just maintains relationships just for the heck of it, as these people don't worth my time.
3. Calculate time every day basis. 2008 was a good year as less time spent in junk chit chatting or too many social gatherings. Spent more time for carrer and office.

The suggesstions or experiences I heard from people around me who are successful:

Be optimistic in every moment.

Put your sincere efforts and forget the rest. Every thing comes to you.

Be ambitious and hard-working to be successful.

-Swamy.

Moving to a Apt.. Big Pain with lots of excitement

2008-10-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Mandate action items to do immediately moving to new APT:

1. Moving PG&E account on your name.
2. Changing USPS forwarding to the name
3. Changing the DMV address for License/photo ID and Vehicle
4. Changing of Bank accounts billing address
5. Changing of Credit card billing address
6. Changing of IRS address
7. Changing the insurance account address (Car, Life, Medical, AAA)
8. Changing of membership accounts (Blockbuster, Macys, Costco, etc)
9. Changing of Default address in GPS, Google maps and map quest.
10. Changing of the office intranet address
11. Sending AR-11 form to USCIS
12. Informing friends and relatives about the new address.
13. Informing in old apartment so that they communicate to new one for further communication
14. Not but not least Chaging the NRE address in India (accounts and other organizations).

Praja Rajyam or "Me and My Praja Rajyam"

2008-08-26T08:20:00.000-07:00

The following is the question came to me from my friend who saw the video and don't know much about Andhra Pradesh. I answered him and thought of putting my answer on my blog:

Question I got:

Chiru launched his much awaited party named Praja Rajyam. Much is expected out of him but would Indian political system let him stretch his thoughts and motives and allow him to serve the society? Only time could tell. I hope Praja Rajyam achieves its mandate.

My answer goes like this:

Its all myth..

Party is for more attention.

If his aim is only social service why he need to spend $1.25 millon just for a party meeting.

He achieved a lot in his life ( he him self told his Biography on big stage, so no need to mention again), only thing pending for him be a power i.e. CM to a state. If he succeed, he will be CM.
If not, he comes back and does movies or gives support to his Son, Nephew and brother.
Anyone with that stature and influence will try to become CM. I think its a good idea decision. He may need more power to Serve, but this service aspect will be next. First priority is to become CM.
One interesting thing to watch is how much money he is going to spend from his pocket and how much is from people (i.e. the leaders who robbed public in the past from other parties).

He is highly political. If he not, he won't be in this influential position in film industry where many people has strong foundation and if they would have thought to stab him it wouldn't be a problem. He is trying to grow as a leader to the low income people and instead of projecting him as a wealthy man coming from a big community.
Many communities which is not given preference in other parties are going to support him. (these communities contribute more than 50-60% of Votes).

He is going in right direction. But the path he has to go is tough one. Lets see how it goes.

We sitting in home or city/abroad, watching TV/Paper we can judge nothing. we can just share our opinions/thoughts. That's all. Its a battle so success or defeat is decided by his destiny.

As indian mythology "Yudda neeti" is different than "Raja neeti" and "neeti". Yudda neeti tells you to kill other person to save you in the battle. Raja neeti says to kill others and other kings to make your kingdom, both of them are wrong as per ordinary neeti. Lets wait and see how he will play the game using his own "Raja neeti". I mean I won't be surprised if he plays some weird steps to get into power.

Because if I make tons of money, I would like to try to start company on my own and try my luck. For people I look like a dumb person as I am spending all my money for a stupid thing. But it is a wise thing for me. Lets say If I succeed, "I am the News", if not I lead my old life style. In the same way he is trying his luck. Even though I don't want to involve politics, as a person I wish him ALL THE BEST for his new career he is planning to build using his success in the past.

Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavanthu.

San Francisco Half Marathon, 03-Aug-08

2008-08-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

This year season is good and I don't have any confidence to keep good pace like last year (last year pace 12:30min) as I put on more weight than last year. But after the long run in Crissy Field with Satyan, I started running 4+1 ( 4 min run and 1 min walk). It is pretty comfortable, so decided to do 4+1 for SF half marathon and Chicago Marathon.

I planned to collect the bib on Saturday, but Somnath went on Friday to SF, so he picked my bib too. Friday I did little run for 3 miles with Somnath and Durgi. I decided to drive instead of taking a shuttle to Marathon. Both of them also ready to join me.

It is Aug03-Sunday, the day started at 2:30. Woke up had a bagel and picked up Somnath and Durgesh. We reached SF by 4:30. Did a little warm up and started in wave 5.

From start we are doing 4+1 and completed mile 1 in 12mins. Somnath wanted to use restroom so he got separated at mile 1. After 5 miles run we reached Golden Gate. That day’s weather is awesome and we can see peak of GG bridge. We enjoyed running across GG. We saw Chakri on the Bridge and he took pictures of us. we fished 10 miles in 2:10 mins. We got some confidence that we can do under 3 hours. We kept running in same pace at mile 11, I was left behind because of the pace changes between me and Durgesh. I completed 13.1 miles in 2:47:20 i.e. at pace of 12:46.

All the way of the Marathon, asha folks cheered us, it was awesome support. Finally at the Asha tent had good fun.

Quotes

2008-07-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Quotes I Like:

Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present.
The Wise Man Learns from the Mistakes of Others, The Fool Has to Learn from His Own.
To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
We promise according to our hopes and act according to our fears.
Broken clock is also correct twice.
If you fool me once shame on you, if you fool me twice shame on me.
I have two watches, one Rolex and one Timex, Both show accurate time. Times is for me and Rolex is for YOU.
Risk is other side of opportunity.

The Quotes I wrote with my Knowledge

Hard work is key to Success.
Two kinds of people you never forget, First the most hated and the second most loved.
To like a person it takes a moment, to love it takes a while, to forget it takes a life.
Don't work hard, Work Smart.
Your qualities and capabilities makes your enemies.
To enjoy full-moon, you should wait for 30 days.
Success and failure never know each other.
Life is full of S, Sex (it is the root cause of birth) Satisfaction, Success, Supremacy, Sorrow, Sympathy and Sorry.
Reward always related with Risk.
Today is yesterday's future plan. Tomorrow is today's plan execution. Plan today accurately to make future as you want.

My Marathon Story

2007-11-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

First of all, thanks to Sandip Borle for introducing me to the Asha Program and to Tilak for pushing me to register for full marathon when I was having second thoughts on participating in it.

When I joined the program in April, I had no confidence in completing a full marathon, so I registered for SF Half. The SF half went pretty smooth for me because of the training. After SF half I got confidence to go for the full Marathon.

While training for full marathon I had injuries starting with the Shin, Ankle and finally the KNEE. I used to feel bad after each long run especially the 18, 20 and 22 milers as I was not able to complete a single long run as per schedule because of injuries.

Finally the race day came up. I had doubts in my mind, “can I finish?”, “Will my knee give up again? Is it good idea to push hard to complete more miles before my knee gives up..?” Before I started the race I told Sandip & Tilak: “I am not sure what I’m going to do and what the result will be, my goal is to finish”. They motivated me and Tilak said we can both run together all the way.

I started with Tilak. After 10 minutes of running, I started getting shin pains. I thought I was running fast, and so I reduced my pace. In a few minutes, Tilak was much ahead of me. Around mile 1, Rahul coming behind me cheered me up saying “swamy 25 more to go”. Around mile 2, I started running with Durgesh and Sathish, We were doing 7+1. As my shin pain went off, I felt happy seeing myself in a good shape. Mile 3,4….11 went pretty smooth around a pace of 13 mins a mile.

Around mile 12, Durgesh moved ahead of me. I was with Sathish and he was running slowly that time. I told him: “my knee pain is showing up so I want to run as much as I can before my knee gives up”. I was able to run and moved ahead of Sathish. Around mile 14 my knee pain starting hurting me badly. I think it was mile 15, Asha Waterstop, when I saw many Asha people. Char asked me “how are you feeling” I told him “little pain, but I can manage”. After few miles I saw all the Asha runners whom I crossed in the initial few miles crossing me and going ahead of me. I remembered all my long run days at that moment and felt that I might not be completing the Marathon. After a few more miles I saw Char and Pooja. Char once again checked whether I was doing fine.

After few miles I was thirsty, no water in my fuel belt. I was not sure that I would get water as on my way I saw all water stops getting closed. I remembered that there were few fountain water places in Campbell park. Once I entered the Campbell Park, I saw fountain water and filled my fuel belt.

I was walking slowly on the Campbell trail. My right leg was also getting hurt. My pace became really slow. I saw people walking with their pets on the trail. They were walking faster than me. I felt really bad when everybody started asking me “Are you OK? Do you need any help?” Once I came out of Campbell Park I was alone on the trail, with no one around. It’s about 6 hours since I started. All my thoughts are negative.

I called up Chakri. I was not able to tell him which mile I was on as there were no mile markers. At the same time, Raman called me to check where exactly I was at. Sometime later, a San Jose fitness volunteer came in a Car and informed me that there were no waterstops, and checked whether I need any help. After a mile Chakri, Mouli and Raman met me. I felt they were god sent for me to complete the race. I was thinking of dropping off as I was not able to walk properly. With their company, the last 3 miles became smooth. They gave me nice company talking about post Marathon Celebrations and Next week Party time and other stuff.
In the last few miles Satya called and checked whether we have enough water and gatorade.

When I was about to reach the finish line Raman asked me to run for few yards but I was not able to. Coach Martina tried to egg me on by using a Samosa as “Carrot to a Donkey”, to make me run, but I was not able to.

Thanks to everyone in Team Asha,.
I can say that more than me completing the SVM, it was TeamAsha, Asha People who inspired, motivated and supported me to in completing it.

Thanks to TeamAsha....