During this cold start to the year I also had the great fortune to meet up with Shukla Bose, the Founder of the Parikrma Humanity Foundation (less you should forget the fantastic cause I am running for). She was over from Bangalore for a few days and we discussed plans to raise money and awareness for the charity. Apparently the kids are doing great. The main aim of the foundation right now is to get together enough funds to set up a college for the kids to higher part of their schooling before university. This institution would bring together kids from all the Parikrma schools in Bangalore and be a significant step towards achieving more of Parikrma's very ambitious aims!
Running. Well no, that was on a brief hold at the end of January as I took a trip to Israel (and Jordon for a day). That is a story for another forum but an relevant reference here would be just that. Lashings of hummus, constant walkin
g through the twisting old city of Jerusalem, trekking up Masada and through the canyon defences into and around the wonders of Petra, some all night dancing at Kibbutz party and diving into the red sea were positive steps. On my final day though, I strapped on the shitty old trainers I had on me and just ran. My location was a peaceful and beautiful moshaf just outside of Modiiin and my word it is a place to run. A boulder encrusted landscape of hill and tree. The combination of rain, arduous ascents jumping from rock-to-rock, over thorn bush and into mud that caked so thoroughly that my shoes tripled in weight, gave a rocky'esque training collage feeling as you hit the top of the hill to stare out to the sea in the far distance - only difference being I am comparably tiny, not in that good a shape or rippling in any way and did not quite make it to the top of some of those hills without stopping. A cracking experience none the less, but painful!So back from holy land and some pretty good training. Two to three runs in the week and a consistently good long run at the weekends. Since then Dave and myself (and Jules on occasion) have done Clapham common, Wandsworth common, the central parks and perhaps my favourite run so far - Greenwich.
We managed a full half-marathon in not a completely shabby time (well ok a couple of hours) without killing ourselves. Was just one of those days when the sun in shining, the legs are bouncing and there is no real motivation to stop. From the millennium dome (sorry now the "O2" the hell they want to call it), up and over and around all the Greenwich parks an to the observatory. For anyone who ahs not been there, pick a clear day and go see what I believe to be the best outside view of London you can get - breath taking. Plus, for those of us who chose to spend most of our time not in East London it gives a great new view of the city - from Canary Wharf, over to the City, the West end and up to the hills. Then a whim, a bit of coercing of Dave and we ran all the way back to Waterloo. Good run, but not such pretty locations if anyone can work out the obvious route.Add a weekend of careful dieting in Budapest (wild boar, stag, goulash and dumplings)
and another great run last weekend from Waterloo to Notting Hill and back again and I am just about here and now.Just over two months to go and a lot of hard work to do. I have done a lot of talking to people about the cause I am running about without collecting cash so far. This will have to transist and I just hope I have some success. Then we have a stepped up training routine, the more than regular double figure days at work and another wee trip away to a mate's 30th in Deutschland and I think I might just have my work cut out!Double figure hours a day I am having to pull at work at present.Circa:240 km run
$310 raised (now to start raising seriously)
and a desire to now write this blog on a weekly basis as all the interesting stuff is still to come!
