So what's new since your last visit ...
Oct. 2007: I'm running for India! Ive been training since this summer for a 26miler in Jan. '08: runforindia.org/runners/jyoti. Last month I was in India and took a totally fun family trip to China. So now I can say Ive been training around the world - San Diego, New Delhi, Beijing! It's been a blast - of course with some pain involved! Running through a foreign country is definitely one of the better ways to get to know its idiosyncracies. Last week I was down n' out with the flu but managed to get out of bed on Saturday for the 13 mile training run. Miraculously the week long congestion disappeared while I ran and the wind swept across my face like it always has on the best run days.
Honestly, there are some moments of discouragement during long runs just coz its soo long but often there are also random bursts of enthusiasm when I float into internal reflection mode and think about what Im running for - some kid in a village who'll get a chance to go to school; some mother who has spent her life as a housemaid feeding her children with paltry earnings who will now have hope that her child won't have to do the same job as her; some villager who'll be introduced to new sustainable technology so that he can choose to be self-sufficient. And the smile that I imagine on these faces makes me smile while I run. Passerbys on the road must think Im crazy, yeah, I am - crazy about India :) If you are reading this and would like to support my cause, I'd be thrilled. Visit runforindia.org/runners/jyoti
This is what Coach Dan says about the day of the marathon:
"You wake up long before you want to and mostly because the anticipation is killing you. Before long you find yourself meandering amongst a mass of crazy people just like yourself. Chilled by the morning air and clearly shaken by the nervousness. You manage to find your way to the start line crowds and do your best to relax while absorbing the anxious energy of all the marathoners around you.
As the minutes tick by and the start gets close; the helicopters begin to fly over the Elite Runners. But wait, You're in the same crowd and in the same race. WOW! This is so cool!
Realizing it's all about to begin, it all hits you. The hair on your arms stands up, as if at attention with goose bumps. "ALL RIGHTY THEN", you say to yourself, "This is why I trained so hard. This is AWESOME! Let's Go!!!"
Take it all in people. Why would you want this moment to get away from you after training for 26 weeks! Stay with it, your race is coming and you too will test your nerves as you stand on the start line. From here on out, there will never be Barriers, Only Challenges in Life!"
Love
it,
love it, love it - am rearing to go :) And acutally I already got
a taste of some of the fun when I just completed the San Jose Half
Marathon as a practice run on Oct. 14th. More race pics here.26.2 miles here I come!
Sept. 2007: Its been a year since my last update, and its eventfulness can be effectively summed below :
1) I realized Im not a blogger - there's always too much to do and not enough time to document the mundane that usually turns out pretty exciting.
2) never finished 'Money driven Medicine' - I tend to prefer optimistic reads: books that suggest solutions to social concerns, even if they are too idealistic, rather than those that harp on the apparently dismal state of current affairs. In the same line of thought UDAI launched NGOpost - 'a peoples' platform to share and discuss various social welfare initiatives' - am very proud of it and excited to see it develop.
3) went through an upheaval period questioning my interest in science and my passion to be a researcher. Options I considered were as varied as non-profit consulting (which was hard to give up after being interviewed at a top consultancy firm) to RAND to WHO to commercial neuro-feedback to science writing ... It lasted about 6 months but then I happily boomeranged back to 'I do indeed like what I do', with a stress on 'happily'. People like me dont love anything more than the flexibility of time and the creative freedom that science provides and above that the opportunity to be unique. Now I think 'what was I thinking when I didnt want this near perfect job!' I'd also attribute the return of enthusiasm to my recent favorite reads Nobel Prize Women in Science - a fascinating book about women scientists with stellar achievements, but who also struggled with acceptance in the male dominated scientific community and the tricky art of balancing the love for work with family life. It makes you feel science was way harder in the ol' days, so what's there to complain now!
One tip - if you ever feel you are the only one going through similar identity crises in grad. school, it's not true - all of us do, and to believe me read the adventures of Micella Phoenix deWhyse (god knows where that pseudonym came from!) at sciencecareers - its a crack up - and you'll be amazed how much you can identify with some of her experiences.
Sept. 2006: Currently reading Money Driven Medicine, a revealing book about the US healthcare system (and all that's not right with it).
While Im on the topic of books my recent favorite has been SYNC - its amazing how much sense one can make of the seemingly chaotic world around us through synchrony. Also if you are looking for a good popular neuroscience intro. page-turner, I like Quest for Consciousness - not so much a quest into the unknown rather a good grounding on what we already know. I also enjoyed On Intelligence, about how it makes sense to think of the brain as a predicton machine. My favorite fiction author is Haruki Murakami, if you have a thing for absurdities that make sense and imagination gone wild Hard-boiled Wonderland... is the one to get.
UDAI introduced me to Tedtalks. If you want to get some jump-out-of-the-seat inspiration listen in.
5th Sept. 2006: Site
upload
