Winter Has Arrived

We got the first winter storm of the season on Saturday.  I wouldn't care if it broke the record for the amount of snow accumulation, but it was pretty bad.  We were at a friend's place on Saturday night, totally caught off guard.  I tried to wait out the storm, got impatient, then drove my Honda Civic in a pile of snow. Luckily we had a bag of sand and a good shovel.

We saw 6 inches of snow near Worcester, and the heavy snow downed many trees which still had a lot of green leaf on them.

At home, we lost power for a few hours but many still do not have power.  The snow has started to melt already, and almost half of it is gone.  October snow never stays for long here.

I never miss a run due to weather.  If it is too hot or cold, I will run on my treadmill.  But I prefer running outside, and this winter storm was not going to stop me from my planned 10 mile run on Saturday.  The storm had not started when I left for the run on Saturday morning, but It was cold, near 30 degrees. Three layers, tights, gloves, wool socks, and a beanie was all that I needed.

Sudbruy schools are closed on Monday due to the Saturday snow storm. Kids could not be happier because Monday is Holloween. Maheen is all ready and excited for trick-or-treat fun. I always take her out for collecting candy, but this year she will be at a Halloween party at one of her class fellow's, and will trick-or-treat there with Zain and mom.  Since I am not invited, I will be at home missing the fun :(

There were no donations on the weekend for Boston Marathon Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Please donate here and make my day special. Thank you so much for your support.  Please click here for donation:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk

How to Motivate Your Spouse

You could be in my league where the significant half hates regular exercise. Let me keep it simple to two things that you need to do, and the other two that you will never do to motivate her to work out.

1. Do the dishes, and laundry regularly
2. Help her find free time.  Take the kids out.

But do not
1. Tell her that she needs to work out, because you know the topic will change immediately to "Do you think that I am fat?", or she will abort immediately by saying "OK wise guy!!!".
2. Tell her that you are tired after the work out, especially when it matters

In my experience, you cannot talk your spouse into working out.  You just hope that one day she is going to have an enlightenment (hopefully not through a serious health condition).  Or she may never, so live with it.

The fund raising for Boston Marathon is going strong.  I have received $1400 in pledges and donations so far.  Today's honor roll includes Tariq Qureshi and Hassan Wahid.  Thank you so much guys.

Please keep donating as I have long ways to go:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk

We received our first snow of the season yesterday, but it melted away quickly.  I need investment in cold weather running clothes.

Back to Running

I ran 5 miles yesterday after 9 days rest. I am going to take it easy till early December then start working on my training.
Sadly, its been raining a lot outside, and its getting colder and darker, so most miles will be put on the treadmill. I have a Netflix TV in front of my treadmill and "The Walking Dead" provided enough entertainment during the otherwise boring run.

It was an outstanding fund raising day yesterday.  People contributed generously from all around. It started with a contribution by Qasim, a long time close friend, living in Toronto area.
Ali, a good friend from Boston, made a generous contribution.
Then I received an anonymous contribution by Donnie Funch. I think someone got the word out to their friends, which is a very good sign.  Usman, my brother-in-law contributed from Baltimore, and Ling, my colleague at D2 Technologies contributed from Seattle.
An extraordinary pledge came from Dave, CEO of D2 Technologies, from Santa Barbara.

Thank you all for your help.  You are on the honor roll as the first day contributors.

Please make the roll grow:
http://www.rundfmc.org/2012/zubairk

Fundraising for Boston Marathon Starts

I know that the training part to run the Boston marathon under 4 hours will be easy.  The hard part will be raising the funds for Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI).

I am hoping to raise close to $5000 for DFCI, but the minimum requirement is $4000. It will be a shame if I cannot raise that much for a cause.  I hope to get most contributions from Boston area because I live there, am running the Boston Marathon, and am raising the money for a cancer hospital located in Boston, but there are good people all around the world.

I got my fund raising page up at DFCI marathon challenge website yesterday.  I posted my appeal to Facebook, so did my wife, and was hoping to get about $100 donated the first day after the announcement.  This morning I woke up to find that no one contributed.  There is a big zero laughing at me.  You are welcome to verify it here:

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

Please donate now. Its a very good cause.
Donations are tax deductible.


My appeal:
Cancer can devastate any family.  No matter how much money you got (Steve Jobs died of cancer, and all his money could not save him), no matter how healthy you are (Lance Armstrong), no matter how good you take care of yourself, no matter what, cancer is a stones-throw-away from you.  Lets join hands to find best cures for cancer through research. Please donate to Dana Farber Cancer Institute for yourself, your family, your community, and the world. Even a small donation will go a long way.

Here are the 16 selected research projects directly supported by this donation:
http://www.rundfmc.org/faf/home/ccp.asp?ievent=484862&ccp=116881

Flying to Springfield, Vermont

I flew to Springfield, VT (KVSF) on Saturday with my daughter (Maheen).
Since I am new to flying in the Northeast, I always fly my planned route first on the Microsoft Flight Simulator (I have CH products flight simulator yoke and pedals with a decent video card).

I used VOR navigation and the route of flight was KLWM->EEN->KVSF->KLWM on a Beechcraft BE23, generously offered by New England Flying Club. I was with Boston Flight Center for entire flight, and I obtained a flight plan from Duats.

I made a full stop landing at KVSF.  Its a beautiful airport and the fall foliage made it perfect fall getaway.  Weather was nice with ceilings at 4000 feet.

Went through couple of rain showers and Maheen was excited to see the rainbow under her feet. She thought that rainbow appears up on the sky, unreachable, but now she knows that it can be under your feet if you are ON the sky.  Same concept applies to the stars.

I tried to take her through a rainbow but it disappeared when the angle of light falling on the droplets became so that the light wont split into its constituent colors. Thats a harder concept for me to explain to her though.

There was glider towing in progress at the airport and gladly there was only one active glider, and one tow plane towing it.

Here are some picture of my daughter at Springfield VT airport.

Its my plane, says Maheen.

And I choose to sit on the right side seat.

But I can pose too cause those gliders are interesting.

Boston Marathon

Today I got accepted to a charity entry for Boston Marathon. So I am running the 2012 Boston Marathon Yaaaaay!!!

The application process was quite simple.  You have to find a charity that you like, and then apply on their website.

I applied to two charities.
1. Dana Farber Cancer Institute

2. Boston Medical Center

Dana Farber accepted my application today.  This gives me a chance to raise money for a charity that treats cancer patients.

Cancer can devastate people of all ages, in all healths, and there are no social boundaries (think Steve Jobs, and Lance Armstrong).
 
My mother died of cancer when I was ten years old. This gives me a chance to raise money to help people and families, as I can relate to the suffering they might be going through. Cancer was a death sentence when my mother died, today its very curable. Thanks to all the research.

I need to raise $4000, but I will try to raise more. Plus I get to run the most prestigious marathon.

I have not heard from BMC yet, but I feel the decision is close. Sadly, I will have to reject their offer if they make one.  BMC is an excellent medical organization.  I was amazed to hear that they treat patients regardless of their ability to pay.  This is so important in the tough financial times we are going through these days.

I am just about done with my week long rest from my last marathon. I will start running again, while the proper spreadsheet based training starts in December.

Training for a marathon in winter will be a challenge. Think about cold weather, kids coming home with all sorts of viruses, and short days. But challenges is all we live for.

Gu Gels

Gu Gels are popular among long distance runners.  People say they delay the onset of the "wall".  A "wall" is a state of the body after it has run out of fuel stored in the muscles.  Most people who run a marathon hit the wall at mile 20 mark (more or less).

I have run about half a dozen long runs of distance more than 20 miles, and I have hit the wall in every single one of them near the 20 mile mark, even though I was eating bananas, and drinking sports drinks.

I decided to try the Gu Gels in the MDI marathon first time ever, and I still hit the wall at mile 20.  I was running at my training pace.

I had the first Gel at mile 8, the second at mile 12, the third at mile 16, and the last one at mile 20.

I felt pretty good about the Gels (I love Coffee flavor so I used Espresso Lover flavor) initially, but after I had the 4th Gel in the race, my tummy told me "no more" with a feeling of a stone sitting in my tummy.  I lost appetite for anything sweet for one full day. And as I said before, I still hit the wall near mile 20 mark.
So I do not know of any advantages these Gels offer over plain bananas, other than they are easier to carry.

There are other alternatives to Gu Gels which I have not tried yet.

MDI Marathon

This blog starts with the finishing of my first marathon...

On 10/16/2011, I completed my first marathon (MDI marathon) running through beautiful scenery at a comfortable pace.  I finished in 4:07:07 which is a little slower than my goal, but to me it was a very satisfying experience to run 26.2 miles along with one thousand other finishers.

There is the usual wall at mile 21, but the feeling of being so close to the finish line is what carries you through cramps.

I have been running regularly since April 2004, for fun, and health. I have run several races and I am a below average runner.  But being an elite runner is not my goal... my goal is to enjoy the experience.

Attached is my picture 100 feet from finish line.

It was a windy day, but unusually warm for Bar Harbor.  I had headwind most of the way, and the course was challenging because of the hills, some of which were after the "wall".

MDI is an excellent marathon though. You run through parts of Acadia National Park, which in my opinion is the most scenic place in Northeast (If not East).
The supporters were excellent, and there was water and Gatorade every 2 miles, well staffed with volunteers. They offered Gu Gels at mile 16 which I tried for the first time.  More on Gu Gels later.

I started training for the race, 18 weeks ago in June, with a plan on a spreadsheet.

My next marathon is going to be Boston Marathon.
I live in Boston Metro West and it will be very convenient. However, I will have to raise money for a charity because my PR does not qualify me for the race.