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