Amit's Ramble on October 14th, 2005

The rambles are back albeit a bit late.

Kindly excuse the tardiness, the fall quarter is slowly grinding me to academic dust. The fearless leader has been fighting a losing battle with my academic lords and masters. But today, Friday the fourteenth, the rambler raises his head and taps on the keyboard again. So here we go, the pent up rants and raves from the last two weeks.

The Saturday runs are going great and this Tuesday the hill repeats were fun. Manoj gave a war cry of `nail the ba*****d' and charged on the last fifty yards. That was a great moment.
Intrepid leader and Yogita slacked off on the hill repeat day. Ha!

On Sunday, Oct 9, our very own half marathoner Manoj Isaac and Yogita made some really delicious tea at the staged reading of "Sangharsh ki Oar" at ECC Theater (UW). Lubdha Khandelwal (House Manager for the reading), Asha, and Tarun helped out also.

The booth brought in $125 as profits. You can check out the pictures at the miles4smiles website. OK, onto business…

First, Runner of the Week… David Salesin has been very consistent and could easily turn out to be the fastest runner (Sumanth may give him some competition though!). His consistency, determination, and discipline are definitely exemplary. Well, he still needs to send his profile though ?.

The Absentee of the weeks and weeks are… Snigdha and Lavanya. Please wake up on Saturday morning before it's too late ?.

The Actress of the week goes to… Tulsi Keshkamat. She is not just a runner but also an actress. And Tulsi was in the "Sangharsh ki Oar" that was on Sunday, October 9th 2005. Cheers!

Another Asha event coming up… Asha is doing another major fundraiser, AllGoRhythms, a
Bollywood musical night. It is not something that you should miss. More details can be found at Asha's website.

And the updates on the website are…
Profiles are up for Team Casha, Lubdha, Vikas, and Scott. Check out your picture on your profile page and let us know if you want to get the picture changed. Also, check out Vikas's runner journal on miles4smiles runner's discussion page. Those who have not sent their profiles so far, your pictures are there. So, random people may remind you to send the profile to Tarun (tarun.bhalla@gmail.com).

See you all tomorrow, Saturday, Oct 15 at Madison Park.

Amit's Ramble on September 25th, 2005

Hello everyone
The rambles, with due nods to gracious Chuck of the ramble fame, are back. This is Amit, and I am here with Tarun, our intrepid fearless leader and co-author of this
newsletter. And we are going to rant and rave.

The first point of digression, please watch `The Constant Gardener.' It is an amazing movie and is beautifully done. I was beautifully done yesterday in the cold while getting to Madison Park. And I was very happy to start running, and keep running as a way to keep warm. Hey Chuck, is that actually part of the plan? Ha!
Chuck also gave a nice little talk to a bunch of us about the race day running.
He emphasized the importance of running together as a group on that day as that
will be like a `billboard moving through the race.' I agree. Also discovered, courtesy Theresa (hope I got the spelling right,) a dollar fifty for a pair of gloves at the Red Apple grocery store.

Very useful for running in this cold. The Dollar Store at Ballard also has them.
I bought couple of pairs yesterday and as they are super cheap, they can be discarded on the long runs.

In order to help out with Katrina relief, Art of Living Youth (an international
humanitarian non profit organization) is organizing a 5K run on October 9th, 2005 in
Greenlake. If interested, you can find more information at http://www.artoflivingyouth.org/run/. There will be a link for the same on miles4smiles homepage. Given the nature and organizational structure of Asha for Education, we cannot direct funds to Katrina Relief or anywhere else apart from India. So, we have decided to help out this way (by promoting other orgs on
our website who are working towards the Katrina relief). OK, onto business…

First, Runner of the Week… well actually now we have multiples as this ramble is
two weeks late so here they come. So from last week, it goes to Vibhavaree Gargeya
for running consistently and hard! No matter how hard it rains or how warm/cold it
gets. And from this week, it goes to Vikas Khandelwal and Rohan Shetty. Chuck is pretty hopeful that they may be able to upgrade from half to full. Let's see what they decide! And from my side, it also goes to one and only Tarun for going dancing dandiya after his 17 mile run. Woohoooo!!!! Party animal!!!

For the wonderful award of the Absentee of the Week, from last week we have
Pooja Taskar. After showing up for two consecutive sessions, she is again gone in
oblivion?. Come back to us Pooja!

And from this week we have Snigdha and Lavanya. After showing up for the first few sessions consistently, they are busy with their work?. The fearless one will be talking to their bosses soon. Beware!

A big welcome from the Miles4Smiles family to Rick, Gwenn Forrest, Vikas, Lubdha, Rohan, Vishal, and Neha. Some updates on the website: Profiles will be up in next few days for Sumanth, Aki and Kathleen. If you have not sent your profile so far, send it soon to Tarun (tarun.bhalla@gmail.com). Pictures of the hiking trip shall also be available on the website soon.

And with this, we wrap up this ramble. And I am off for some hoppy brew forlunch. Hope you guys have a great week, good runs, and see you at training.

-Amit

Amit's Ramble on September 5th, 2005

Hello everyone

This is Amit, and I am here with Tarun, our intrepid leader and co-author of this newsletter. And will rant and rave, digress, and hope for your indulgence.

So the week has been mixed. The news from New Orleans, and still coming in, has been bad and likely to linger on for a long time. The disasters, in different forms, have made appearances with frightening regularity: wars, earthquakes, tsunami, and hurricanes. All the disasters, whether natural or manmade, have affected all of us globally. In these circumstances, it becomes more vital than ever to think deeply about what hope means to all of us. And being associated with our own hope, Asha, can help us in being more thoughtful and aware of the world around us. So back to Seattle, Greenlake, and Eastside…

First, Runner of the Week, is being shared by Manoj Issac and Yogita for consistency, and for getting better and better every week. However a moment of pause in this season of Asha, for here I throw in a dash of goody goody spice. Since Asha, Manoj's new bride is in town, hmmmm… let's hope for consistency. Keep it up Yogita! Keep it up Manoj! Make sure you get Asha to run for Asha .

For the wonderful award of the Absentee of the Week, I have had a hard time
deciding. So many of us to choose from, it is getting difficult week after week. The choices are overwhelming. Due to the long weekend, not many people showed up for training. Very understandable! However, for the first time runners, it's very advisable to get into training before it is too late. Half marathon training has already begun; make sure you are consistent throughout the training.

A big welcome from the Miles4Smiles family to Tulsi Keshkamat and Rajiv
Balachandran! They are the new half marathon participants. Rajiv is going to join Chucks' training session from next week onwards. However, Tulsi is taking the road less traveled, she is going to train all by herself on the Eastside.

And now some updates on the website:
The group-run picture has been uploaded on the website http://www.ashanet.org/seattle/events/marathon/updates.php The Webmaster team has been working very hard to get the profiles online and they would be able to get it online this weekend. Profiles of Yogita and Rahul shall be up sometime during next week (thanks for sending them through.) Further, check the events and updates page for more pictures of the run. If you have not send your profile to Tarun
(tarun.bhalla@gmail.com), please do it soon.

On the social front, we have a get-together coming up next weekend (Sunday,
September 11th). It will be a moderate hike (easy enough to do with family and kids.) Details have already been sent.

And finally Chuckit updates:
The training on Saturday, from next weekend, will be in Madison Park. A reminder
mail would be sent midweek regarding that. Some of the Miles4Smiles'05 runners are
going to run the Super Jock'n Jill Half Marathon as a preparation for their full marathon in Seattle.

These good people are:
Sumanth Donthi (thetallman63@yahoo.com)
David Salesin (salesin@microsoft.com)
Vibhavaree Gargeya (vibhavaree@gmail.com)
Amarpal Monga (amarpalmonga@yahoo.com)
Tarun Bhalla (tarun.bhalla@gmail.com)

Here is wishing them a good, strong, and steady run.

And with this, Amit and Tarun bid you adieu and leave you to your own particular
Labor Day activities. Have fun and see you at training.

-amit

Amit's First Ramble on Aug 29th, 2005

Hello everyone

This is Amit, and I am going to be your rambler for this week. I am running the Seattle Half Marathon, first timer, and slowly settling into my aches and
pains.

So before I start on y'all, let me vent out some of my aches and pains of the
week. First, drink lots of water during the day to avoid cramps. That is a lesson hard learnt after thinking that other beverages would do as good for dehydration. As our Coach Chuck says, `if you play, you pay.' And believe me, you do pay.
But, but… it is fun to play also.:)

Please compliment Chuck on his distinguished face fuzz. He is very proud of it.
Our compliments will enrich the luxuriance. Other than that, the Saturday long run was pretty good. A big thanks to Yogita, Manoj, and others for a good group run. Thanks to Kerry, assistant coach, for setting a good steady pace.

Ok, now on behest of our intrepid and fearless leader, Tarun, I am going to say
nice things to people.

First, Runner of the Week, goes to Vidyanand Rajpathak. Vidyanand is the lone warrior who is striding forth by himself. Congratulations! Slackers, absentees take heart and notice!

The, Absentee of the Week, hmmm… I am tempted, very tempted to do unto the
intrepid leader what the intrepid leader did to me. For reference, look at the earlier ramble from last week. But as I want to spread love around, the award goes to everybody who has not turned up for training sessions. Please do come, it is more fun, and nicer when everybody turns up.

A big welcome from the Miles4Smiles family to Kathleen, Maureen, Binu, Arul,
Pradnya, and Ritu. Great to have you guys!

The Slacker of the Week, goes to… yeah!!!!, Srijan and Tarun for slacking on going out and getting sponsorships for the run. Get going busters!! :)

And now some updates on the website:
Profiles will be up in next few days for: Vibhavaree, Amit Saxena, Vidyanand,
Lavanya, Pooja, and Rohit. If you have not send your profile to Tarun
(tarun.bhalla@gmail.com), do it soon.

And with this, I finish my ramble rumble for this week. Have a great week and
see you guys at training. :)

Amit

Rambles on August 22, 2005

hi friends,

So, finally it begins, like it or not, but as the member of this
group, you have to be at the receiving end of my running rambles..
depending on the number of hate mails I receive, the frequency will be
adjusted (currently its once a week).

What's new on miles4smiles'05 front?

1). Beneficiary Project status: Folks in Asha Seattle meeting
respected the runner's vote and both our choices were approved with a
small glitch. SUPPORT has been approved as a beneficiary project,
however, Muskaan is pending approval as a project itself (as all the
questions about the project were not answered), but we will have the
second project in the next Asha meeting.

2). HELP CHUCK: The only time Chuck is at receiving end is this :).
Come out support other half marathon runners on the labor day weekend
for SJJ Half Marathon. Chuck needs some volunteers to help him with
logistics of the event. You will have to volunteer for 2-3 hours,
contact Chuck for the same at chuck@runchuckit.com. In return, Chuck
would make you run 2 miles less ;).

3). Web profiles: Having close friends in the Asha Seattle webmaster
team, 'yours truly' has done it again. Yes, I am the first one to have
my PROFILE up there and hogging the limelight. So, if you want to
share the limelight or better still not want your email box inundated
with my emails, send me your profile asap.
Sample profiles are available at: File : /miles4smiles05/sample Profiles/

4). Runner of the week: Well, the award goes to Sumanth.. He came, he
saw and he ran.. with a maximum run of 6 miles to his account before
coming to the first training session, this tall man had a point to
prove.. he RAN 11.7 miles at a speed of 10 minutes per mile and is
getting ready for making smiles by running 26.2 miles.

5). Absentee of the week: So, you thought cold calling was only for
classrooms, THINK AGAIN! Since, the Half marathon schedule has come
up, the half marathon runners are no where to be seen... Well, there
were many deserving candidates for this, however, the Award goes to
one and only Amit Saxena for missing only one session so far.

Hope, you folks do not take my rambles too seriously, all in fun..

cheers
-tarun