Push, Push....

Push, Push, Push…is what I tell to myself while running long distances. Legs move pretty freely for 22-23k, but from there on it’s purely a mind game for me. While running, apart from concentrating on my breathing, I also have to consciously make an effort on stopping pessimistic feelings creeping into my mind along with lot of self talking. Controlling my thoughts when my legs are tired and weak is a tough job. When I am exhausted and feel like stopping I try to think about people like Carol (a normal person who started training for triathlon at the age of 40 and went ahead by participating in competitions) and fellow runners from my running group who push themselves hard to keep myself going. But one thing is guaranteed, during long runs I get ample time to think about everything and anything. All my pain would vanish when my mind wins against the body and when I achieve the target I have set to myself.

I am planning to do 30k runs over next three weekends and a 36k on fourth weekend (which also means waking up at 3:15AM on Sundays). If I manage to complete the 4th week run then it won’t be a great task for me to finish the Singapore marathon. I also have 3 months time to increase my fitness level too. Ahhhh, this month I am shelling out some money and joining a good gym which has got 7-8 treadmills and spacious enough for circuit training. Wanted to try out a 30 day schedule shared by a running partner Shumit. Nowadays I think more about running than anything else, at least 5 to 6 hours in a day. Hope it doesn’t become an addiction like depicted in this article to me.

How Big & How Small

Last weekend I watched a program in Discovery channel on Planet Earth's evolution. Became bit curious and was surfing the net for some related information and accidentally found the pictures below. Check out the size of Earth and Sun in the 3rd, 4th and 5th pictures.

Virtual World

My Sify broadband internet connection went down for more than 24 hours and I felt handicapped without the net connectivity. After repeated follow-ups, at last today evening the Sify guys fixed the problem and I got the connectivity back. Major time of my browsing goes in reading blogs and few running sites. Reading blogs with personal experiences and information feels like spending time with friends. It is bit sad that I spend more time in virtual world than the real world, but that’s the case in many other lives too I think. Happiest part is we at least keep track of friends through social networking sites, thanks to orkut, facebook, myspace…. After being part of the runners group, I have started meeting more people than usual from various fields sharing one common interest “Running”. I feel rejuvenated when I interact and run along with them challenging my mind and body for few hours in a day.

What about you, do you meet your friends regularly? How often do you meet your friends?

Is Your Personal Corporation Growing?

I read this article and found quite interesting. It made me ponder about my effectiveness at work. There were days when I used to slog and work for 14 to 15 hours everyday six days a week with lot of determination and hungry to achieve something. But in recent times I often get distracted while working and my concentration level has also decreased. After every thirty mins I had to consciously make an effort to bring my focus back to work. This article says a person can increase his or her effectiveness anywhere from 50% to 100% and more within 30 days. Read on..

Is Your Personal Corporation Growing? - By Earl Nightingale

Every person is, in reality, in business for himself or herself in that each is building his or her own life regardless of who happens to write his or her paycheck. So for the purpose of this message, think of yourself as a corporation. You hold the office of president of this corporation, and you're responsible for its success or failure. You and the members of your family are stockholders in your corporation, and it's your responsibility to see that the value of the stock increases in the years ahead.

If your company is growing, it will have a tendency to continue to grow. In other words, you're doing things right. Conversely, a company that is going backwards or shrinking has a tendency to continue to go backwards or shrink until acted upon by an outside force. All responsible company officers know that unless the company is growing, it's developing the first signs of death. As the head of your personal corporation, you must realize that this same law applies to you as well.

However, a person has a tremendous advantage over even the largest corporation. Think of any large multinational corporation. Can it double its production in a single day? Of course not. Can it double its sales in a single day? Of course not. It would like to, but its growth must be gradual and steady because of the interconnecting complexities of operating such a large organization. Yet a person can double, triple, quadruple his or her effectiveness in a month or less. It's like comparing the movement of a single scout to the movement of a great army.

Can you grow and improve as a person at least 10% a year? Of course you can. In fact, experts estimate a person can increase his or her effectiveness anywhere from 50% to 100% and more within 30 days.

History is filled with people who exceeded their previous performance to an almost unbelievable extent. People in management and in production who multiplied their effectiveness many times. Students who moved from failing grades to straight A's and the Dean's List. People in sales who found they could, through the proper management of their abilities, minds, and time, sell as much of their company's products in a single month as they had previously sold in an entire year. Think about what that means.

If you waste even an hour of productive time every work day, it adds up to 250 hours a year. That time wasted could shut your corporation down! You can earn nothing with the doors closed. What is your time worth an hour? Multiply this by 250 and you can see what you're throwing away. Now whether your employer pays for this wasted hour or not is unimportant. Life will not pay for it.

How much are you worth right now, today, as a corporation? What's your value today, to yourself, your family, your company? If you were an outside investor, a stranger, would you invest in this corporation? A company growing at the rate of 10% a year will double in size in about eight years. What attention are you giving to the growth of your personal corporation?

Singapore Marathon

Yesterday I have registered in Singapore Marathon which is scheduled on Dec 2nd . Though it’s quite expensive, I didn’t take very long time to decide. Heard it’s organised very well and wanted to complete a Marathon at any cost. Chennai Marathon is also organised at around same time but didn’t want to take a chance and get stopped by the cops after running for 3 painful hrs. Around 9-10 guys from Chennai runners have already registered and it would be fun running along with them in Singapore. I have been training quite hard for the past few weeks combining cycling-running workouts and controlling my diet to shed some weight too. Let’s see how it goes..

The Boss

At last I watched the movie Sivaji. Even after hearing average reviews I was quite desperate to watch the movie for the publicity and obviously Superstar.

What did I like?

1. Background score by Rahman. It’s awesome. The music should have also made wonders for the movie success.

2. Mottai Boss. Rajini was looking great and different.

3. Shreya’s abs. She has amazing abs. You seldom see in South Indian movies.

What didn’t I like?

1. The screenplay. First half was patchy and felt bit boring. Other than songs and few comedy scenes the rest was pretty ordinary.

2. Climax stunt scene. Instead of copying the stunts and special effects from movie “The Matrix” they could have picturised differently.

In general I found the movie to be quite dragging. But watch the movie at least once.