Training Update

My foot injury is almost cured with rest, icing, and change of shoes. Took a couple of months.
I did not go to a doctor as it never got so bad as to require a serious look. It was just a nuisance, rather than debilitating.
I met some nice people at Marathon Sports in Wellesley.  They looked at my foot and recommended a wide sole shoe. They said that I have a low arch, and my foot was pushing against narrow shoe walls, causing pain on the side of the foot. The pain subsided after I started using the new shoes with wide soles, and lots of cushioning. I highly recommend Marathon Sports for your running shoes.
It was not only the narrow shoe to blame. Thick wool socks were taking up available space in the shoe. I switched to thin nylon socks to give more space to my foot when in strikes the ground and expands.

A couple of weeks of Bronchitis helped get me some needed rest from running. I missed first week of training, but that was an easy week. I ran a strong 12 miler last Saturday with little foot pain.

I would like to thank my friends for contributing to the Dana Farber Cancer Research, and to my Boston Marathon goal.  Amer Husain Syed, Nadeem Shakoor, Sam Merra, Imran Iqbal, Femina Ali, Ather Khawaja, and Bill Burk contributed. There were two anonymous donations from PAGB (Muhammad Mumtaz, and Nahdia Pirzada).  Total to date is $1250.

I have not received any donation since December 14 :(
Please help!! This is a link to the donation page:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk

Flying over the Mansions in Newport, Rhode Island

We are lucky to be flying in mid December here in Northeast this year, without a need to shovel the plane out of snow, and without a need to fly over the runway to inspect for black ice before landing.  Its inevitable that the crappy freezing weather, and piles of snow will keep the most aviators inside, wishing for an early spring.  

Today the weather was great for flying, with density altitude at -1100 (yes minus) feet.  This means that the air is thicker than it is at sea level at room temperature, and standard pressure.  Thicker air means better plane performance.  This morning when I got to Lawrence airport, the temperature was much below 40 degrees (F).  Wife chickened out, so once again I flew with Scott.

I planned for a flight to Newport, RI, with an intention to fly a thousand feet above the famous mansions.

Plane engines need to be heated up when temperature is below 40 degrees. There is a scientific explanation for that (or at least that is what the club requires).  You drag a propane tank heater to the plane, light it up, and direct the warm air from it to the engine.  Its an excellent device to warm up the hands as well.  Took off at 1100 EDT.

Here we are close to Newport, approaching from the North, about 10 miles from the airport.

It was a short 45 minute flight from Lawrence/Lowell. We were with the Providence approach before we 

knew it.  This is the Newport bridge heading into the city.  On car, you always get stuck here in traffic. Not today!

While setting up the approach to land on runway 34, I saw this interesting building (which I thought to be a prison).  Later I looked it up on Google, and found that this is a park.  Its Fort Adams, a popular summer concert arena. 

Here is a close up shot of Fort Adams. http://www.riparks.com/fortadams.htm

I  landed at Newport, added some fuel, then took off to check out the mansions.  I let Scott fly the plane, and let him circle around Newport, while I took some shots.  We are getting close to the mansions.

Here is a view of the Newport coast line with a few mansions, but Scott is going to get closer.  A view at 1500 feet.

Getting closer.

A much closer view.  I remember this mansion from when I visited it last year.

Another view.

Third view.

Just before heading back out to Lawrence, I saw this mansion that my friend Salman got us into, through his connections :)  And this is how it looks on the ground:

Flying at Sunset

I reserved the NEFC four seater Beech Sundowner, and planned to fly to Portsmouth NH. I was going to take Zain with me. Everything turned out to be as planned, except that Zain woke up sick with cold. When I pushed Maheen to go with me instead, she cried because she had a play date with her friend! When I was a kid, I could have skipped a hundred days of play just to get one ride on a Cessna. I did get to sit in a Cessna once, when I was in grade 2, and I still remember that day 30 years later.  But my kids think its no big deal. I drove to the airport alone.  Luckily I did not have to fly alone, as Scott, who was at the airport to give me introduction to starting the planes in cold weather, agreed to accompany me. 

The weather was perfect with no clouds, very clear, and warm near 60 degrees. We changed the plan to get to Nashua NH, eat at a restaurant there, then head back in the smaller 100 HP two seater skipper.  That was a drastic change in the plan but Scott acted as a navigator, and we had some great views of the sunset.

We took off at around 2:40 PM frorm Lawrence, and were landing in Nashua at 3:00 PM.  The skipper is a great plane, and much lighter in control. The performance was not bad.  Although it was a cool day, you can see that we got good 600 FPM climb rate with two people in it.

This is the Lawrence VOR that we intercepted to get to Nashua. 

In the way I saw a familiar apartment complex near freeways 495/93.  I have a feeling that I have driven to these before. Anyone of my friends lives here? 

We landed at Nashua.  I am looking at the airport from the landing pattern.  When we landed at around 3 PM, the restaurant had already closed.  We were so hungry that we debated about eating at Keene airport, about 30 miles west, but then decided against it for we were not feeling like flying at night (we were 1 hour from Sunset), and headed back to Lawrence.

The sun was about to set when we flew over Lowell.

The sunset was very orange today as we landed at Lawrence on runway 23.

I fueled the plane using this truck. Pulled the plane right up to the truck, started the truck, and trned on the fuel pump, then dragged the fuel line to put fuel in both tanks. Even fueling can give you a rush. 

By the time the plane was tied down, it was almost dark.  I was able to take a snapshot of a helicopter about to depart in the shadows of night.  Scott nudged me and remarked, "Be careful, people get suspicious if you take pictures at the airport".

Boston Marathon Update

I am back in action after about one week of rest from an injury of the foot, probably caused by improperly designed running shoes.

I ran about 5 miles on a trail in Weston with Waqar, and 5 more on a treadmill the next day.  Trails are abundant in suburbs, but they need to be explored.

My training plan is up, and the formal training starts from December.  I will not increase the distance, but will increase the speed for long runs.  This will train me to run the Boston marathon faster than the MDI marathon. The goal is not lofty. Anything under 4 hours is acceptable.

So far I have $1820 in pledges and donations for the cancer research.  I thank my friends for supporting me in this cause. Special thanks to Mauzzam Ali, Chris Garrido, Farshad Ghazi, Charles De Cuir, Mark Paul, Macksood Aftab, and Zeeshan Nazir.  I need $2180 more to meet my fund raising goal.

Please click here for donation:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk

Flying Over Boston

Last week I took Zain to flying.
The goal was to explore Logan's Class-B airspace. I wanted to navigate around it, but to my surprise, the Boston approach cleared me through the Logan airspace, directly over Boston.  We were treated to some great views of the city and the Logan airport, on a clear, sunny day.
The plan was to fly at 3000 feet from Lawrence to Bedford to Norwood, and land at Playmouth, then head back over the same route.

I do not have a good camera for aerial photography so took all the pictures using my cell phone.
 
Took some shots at Lawrence airport before climbing into the club Beechcraft Sundowner and heading out.  Here is Zain posing with a Helicopter. 

The outgoing leg was boring as I flew mostly along route 128, flew over Bedford, Norwood, and then landed at Playmouth.

There were some clouds near Playmouth, but clear otherwise. Zain's head is in the frame.
 
Then on the way back, just after taking off from Playmouth, I asked the Boston approach for clearance through class B airspace, and they granted it at 5500.  I was cruising at 5500, the ATC asked, "18Z, you have city in sight?".  Since I could see Boston (although barely), I replied "affirmative, city in sight, 18Z".

Then the fun started, as ATC replied "18Z, fly directly over Boston to Lawrence".  Took some amazing pictures of the city.  The cell phone camera does not do justice to the views we were presented with.

Logan airport runways

Boston

  Another view of the City

City and a Runway

Shape Ups

I recently bought a pair of Shape Ups at a Ross Store and I hate them.  The marketing rant behind these shoes is as silly as they look:  "The rounded sole will give you killer calves and a firm behind".  Who could be more suitable for conveying this message to the unsuspecting public than Kim Kardashian as shown in this ad.

I always buy my running sneakers at Ross in Santa Barbara because the shoes there are half the price.  But then you lose the selection and variety offered by a running shoes store.  I had to buy the shape ups because there was no other good option.  I paid $30 (as compared to $70 retail).

They make my foot unstable.  And hence... my first foot injury.  I am off from running for a week and these shoes are going to become my gardening shoes.  Maybe I will build Maheen a see-saw with them.

One reviewer says, "I have been thrilled with these shoes. Since receiving them, I have noticed that my legs are toning up."

To that reviewer, I say that your mind believes what you tell it.  Shoes never tone your body unless if they are made of cast iron.

http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk