Halloween Wishes

Happy Halloween!

Thursday

• I have a cold. It sucks. I had chills and a runny nose and lots of sneezing yesterday. I skipped my track workout because I felt so lousy. I went home instead, donned sweat pants wrapped myself in a blanket and ate chili dogs in front of the TV and watched the Giants KICKED ASS!!!
  
  
• I have another 18 mile run this weekend. I'm a little scared. Not for my hip, but because the weather prediction is once again, RAIN. Ick. Jackets make me too hot but I still need a rain repellant before I get really sick. Suggestions?
  
  
• Thinking a lot about next year's races. I want to do 3 triathlons, 3 centuries, 3 half marathons, and maybe 2 marathons. That's a lot of racing. And a lot of MOOLAH ($).
  
  
• Unfortunately, MOOLAH($) is more like moolah($) these days. I have champagne race tastes but a Coors light race budget. Especially since RR#2 is wanting a car soon. Eeks.
  
  
• Phone call at work today from a District Superintendent who DOESN'T WANT ANY OF OUR DAMN MONEY. By the way, this is from one of the poorest districts in the state. But they don't want money from us crazy government folks on principle. Nice, I hope the kids there enjoy working at McDonald's since you are short-changing their educational opportunities based on political ideology.
  
  
• I've been reading Athena Diaries and I'm intrigued about Javelina Jundred. Misty makes it sound so, AWESOME. Someday. No, not next year but maybe in a couple of years.
  
  
• I started taking a yoga class. It is given at work for **free** by one of my co-workers who is getting her yoga teaching certificate. People keep looking at me while I'm doing the yoga, like they expect me to be really good at it or something. We did Crow Pose and afterward I heard, "Well she's indian--she should be able to do it easily." Nice. If I was that 'bendy' my husband would be a lot happier I think. :)
  
  That's it for now. Hopefully the 18-miler will be ok this weekend.

For the days when we need a little reminder about how lucky we are

This is a great story for the days we need a little reminder about how lucky we all are.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/01/cnnheroes.krishnan.hunger/


Madurai, India (CNN) -- Narayanan Krishnan was a bright, young, award-winning chef with a five-star hotel group, short-listed for an elite job in Switzerland. But a quick family visit home before heading to Europe changed everything.

"I saw a very old man eating his own human waste for food," Krishnan said. "It really hurt me so much. I was literally shocked for a second. After that, I started feeding that man and decided this is what I should do the rest of my lifetime."

Krishnan was visiting a temple in the south Indian city of Madurai in 2002 when he saw the man under a bridge. Haunted by the image, Krishnan quit his job within the week and returned home for good, convinced of his new destiny.

"That spark and that inspiration is a driving force still inside me as a flame -- to serve all the mentally ill destitutes and people who cannot take care of themselves," Krishnan said.

Krishnan founded his nonprofit Akshaya Trust in 2003. Now 29, he has served more than 1.2 million meals -- breakfast, lunch and dinner -- to India's homeless and destitute, mostly elderly people abandoned by their families and often abused.

"Because of the poverty India faces, so many mentally ill people have been ... left uncared [for] on the roadside of the city," he said.


Krishnan said the name Akshaya is Sanskrit for "undecaying" or "imperishable," and was chosen "to signify [that] human compassion should never decay or perish. ... The spirit of helping others must prevail for ever." Also, in Hindu mythology, Goddess Annapoorani's "Akshaya bowl" fed the hungry endlessly, never depleting its resources.

Krishnan's day begins at 4 a.m. He and his team cover nearly 125 miles in a donated van, routinely working in temperatures topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

He seeks out the homeless under bridges and in the nooks and crannies between the city's temples. The hot meals he delivers are simple, tasty vegetarian fare he personally prepares, packs and often hand-feeds to nearly 400 clients each day.

Krishnan carries a comb, scissors and razor and is trained in eight haircut styles that, along with a fresh shave, provide extra dignity to those he serves.

He says many of the homeless seldom know their names or origins, and none has the capacity to beg, ask for help or offer thanks. They may be paranoid and hostile because of their conditions, but Krishnan says this only steadies his resolve to offer help.

"The panic, suffering of the human hunger is the driving force of me and my team members of Akshaya," he said. "I get this energy from the people. The food which I cook ... the enjoyment which they get is the energy. I see the soul. I want to save my people."

The group's operations cost about $327 a day, but sponsored donations only cover 22 days a month. Krishnan subsidizes the shortfall with $88 he receives in monthly rent from a home his grandfather gave him.

Krishnan sleeps in Akshaya's modest kitchen with his few co-workers. Since investing his entire savings of $2,500 in 2002, he has taken no salary and subsists with the help of his once-unsupportive parents.

"They had a lot of pain because they had spent a lot on my education," he said. "I asked my mother, 'Please come with me, see what I am doing.' After coming back home, my mother said, 'You feed all those people, the rest of the lifetime I am there, I will feed you.' I'm living for Akshaya. My parents are taking care of me."

For lack of funding, the organization has been forced to halt construction on Akshaya Home, Krishnan's vision of a dormitory where he can provide shelter for the people he helps. Despite the demands and few comforts his lifestyle affords, Krishnan says he's enjoying his life.

"Now I am feeling so comfortable and so happy," he says. "I have a passion, I enjoy my work. I want to live with my people."

Long Road

Obviously, I've been AWOL for a few weeks now from Bloggy world. After my half ironman, I just couldn't write about exercise for awhile. But don't fear-- I have been running. A lot. Really. Almost 50 miles per week. Yeah, I almost fainted too.

So for the 4th time I have registered for a marathon--California International Marathon. I have yet to get to the start line. Last year, my MD discovered an issue with my hip that always seemed to cause pain right around mile 17 on my long run. Year after year, by the first week in November (if not earlier) I would start my 16 mile long run only to have it end in tears, clutching my hip and the side of my knee.

For the past year, as perscribed by my MD and physical therapist, I've been doing strengthening exercises for my hip, butt and core, to help stabilize things. I've been dilligent, I've been good about it but a little tentative. What if it didn't work? What if I really could NEVER do a marathon?

I've been building up my mileage for weeks. For the last two weeks I did a 16 mile long run. No pain in the hip. Good news.

Yesterday, in the rain and wind, I completed an 18 mile long run. Really. I did it! The bottom of my feet are achy. I have a huge callasus on my left foot, but my hip DOES NOT HURT!!!

Could this be the year? After such a long road, can I finally complete a marathon?

I am certainly going to try. Again.