boora.ca » Featured

1000 logged kilometers

Raj — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 18:33:08 +0000

They say that the gift of 1000 paper cranes is supposed to grant the folder a wish, or to grant long life or recovery to the recipient. If, to do well, folding a crane would take me 4’45″, then I would have now put in the same amount of time to fold all those cranes as it has taken me to run 1000 kilometers since Aug 14, 2009. Why that date? Well that is the date that I actually started “investing” in running. Getting gear that was for running first and other things after that, rather than getting things that could be used for running.

I must say, that over the last six months, all those cranes/km have helped me heal some – and I’m hoping that the karma from this can help others around me who are hurting and myself heal further as well – and perhaps, it will help with a wish as well. Some might say that this is bunk, but I’ll retort that the running or the folding may have nothing more to do than to demonstrate dedication. If one can focus energy for that long on one project, it is likely that other projects will be achievable with greater ease.

Canadian Derby Half Marathon

Raj — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:22:36 +0000

Well I finally have an officially clocked half marathon in the books. Coming in with a chip time of 1:44:03, gun time of 1:44:09 and a watch time of 1:44:04. I would say that I did not too bad. I had some hip issues for some unknown reason – they never really bothered me before, and I may have been able to do a few other things to help my time, but for a first time out at a race with all the adrenaline, I’d say I did not too bad.

Now that I’ve moved from Nike+ to Garmin, I can do more than share the graph, I can essentially share the entire experience, so here it is… my race:

You may have noticed that I no longer have Nike updates going out and my little Nike running avatar isn’t gracing my pages anymore, having been replaced by a Daily Mile widget. I’m liking Daily Mile, in part because the community aspect is more active and also because it is cross platform, being able to suck in data from Nike and Garmin. You can also add in other activities manually.

With this race done, and some photo gig bookings, I’ve got the majority of my New Year’s resolutions done. I’ve got gigs outside direct connections (two friends that I’ve yet to meet in my LBR post parlance), I’ve completed the two races that I wanted to and the third item on my list I have forgotten… so it’s either one of those that can’t me milestoned or it was just tossed in. Either way I’m pretty happy all things considered.

If you want to see the official results, I’m number 201 on the list.

Almost there!

Raj — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:29:51 +0000

Courtesy of sunface13

Well there are two things that I wanted to to do as part of my New Year’s resolution. One was run an official 10km, and the second a Half Marathon. Well the Little Big Run is in the bag, and the Canadian Derby Half Marathon is coming up this weekend. I’ve looked high and low for a good map (they have one on the site, but it isn’t really “portable”, despite it being a PDF), so I cooked one up via gmaps-pedometer. You can download the gpx file or you can also take a look at the map here. The file and link are approximate, so keep that in mind when/if you use them.

Up in the Air

Raj — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:40:55 +0000

Courtesy of sebr

Well it seems that things are still up in the air. I’m still disrupted, but I’ve got a short term contract in the VPIT’s office doing some really interesting work. I haven’t been sitting still over this involuntary break, I’ve been working on a PhD application as well as my running. I’ve managed three long runs one 19k and two 21km. So I think I’m on track for a good first race half marathon in August.

Happy Birthday!

Raj — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:36:49 +0000

Well, all of Aishani’s parties are done -first birthday wise. It’s really been interesting to see “who” was there a year ago and who was able to make it out this time. Not to say anything bad about the people who were busy, because they would have come if they could have – but the quotes being there to suggest that we’ve all changed so much over the past year. It really does feel like it was yesterday. I remember not knowing what the time was, I remember making sure the girls were asleep before passing out on my hospital bench waiting for Aishani to wake up so I could pass her to Neelam. Today, she can walk on her own and she would like it very much if she could feed herself thank you very much. Of course she’s not free of us just yet, but this little girl we’ve been blessed with is certainly helping me see change and appreciate things that I never thought would have ever really been there to consider.

TCI Check… Flame… nope…

Raj — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:59:11 +0000

Well I took the girls to TCI and had a great time. You can see the full gallery here and read my Trip Advisor review here. It was quite something to say the least and it is a place that now rivals Disney in my heart. If I want a “do something” vacation, I’ll hit the Parks, if I want to do nothing, I’ll hit TCI. Finally, as the Flame has passed Edmonton now, I don’t think I’ve got a chance this time around to run it… maybe the next Olympics that come by… I should be 50 something by then.

Topcase Repaired

Raj — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:03:22 +0000

This is kinda what it looked like before

This weekend, my 3 year old Macbook got a new lease on life. The topcase was cracking all around and it seems that it is a known issue. The repair was quick and easy and all I needed to do was make an appointment with the Genius Bar and in less than half an hour, everything was cool. This sort of thing shouldn’t have happened on Apple’s part, and it’s sad that it took them so long to figure it out, but at least they are doing right by their customers now.

Timeraiser 09 in the bag

Raj — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:15:19 +0000

Well it’s in the bag. It was fun to get out there and meet all sorts of people. I might have also lined up some more volunteer photo gigs with some of the charities in the city. You can check out the gallery here.

Turkey Trot 09

Raj — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:43:55 +0000

Well, I did the 8km run in 40:02 on my watch and 40:07 according to official timing (I think it’s funny that the U of A doesn’t have the results yet). I forgot what a pain it is to to the corral start, but it does let you get limbered up for the rest of the run, so I guess you make up the time. The 8k route has a massive hill – Emily Murphy – that kills just about everyone who doesn’t do that hill all the time.

Rock’n Run

Raj — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:53:14 +0000

Courtesy of sunface 13

Well, I did it. After being one of those kids who hated running, now I’m one of those crazies who runs for hours (well 1h 49min) just for fun. I was hoping to do this last year, but when all was said and done last year, injury and baby prep, combined with a massive amount of yard work were not really letting me line up for Disney Half Marathon that I was planning to do since 2006. But in the scheme of things, a year off isn’t that bad as you can’t ever really plan for things that will change your life. I don’t think I’ll be making plans for LA next year, but I certainly want to be able to do the Edmonton 2010 Half and I am still hoping to be a torch bearer this winter. I just hope I don’t get my chance when I’m returning from the Caribbean, hopefully it will be a couple days after that – cutting it short I know.