Sun Runs and Baby Steps!!

I started a new blog today... Sun Runs!!! It is going to be my chronicle for the next few months as I train with Team Asha for the Chicago/Silicon Valley Marathon.

Follow me there....!

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Here is my first post on Sun Runs.. {cross-posted here}
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In the world of Iron Men (refer Iron Man Triathlon), I am just a toddler taking my baby steps... and I just want to chronicle my first steps and my experiences as I train for the Marathon!!

I am sure I have not run 26.2miles in my entire lifetime put together so far. I am now going to run it in a single day... and multiple times over as I practise the next few months. And with my coaches and mentors @ Team Asha, I am pretty sure I am in good hands!!

So, here is to Iron Men and Women of the world(read coach Char's blog!!) and the toddlers!!! :-)

The Well-Read!!

I "Read" @ Stanford!!! ;-) :P

Off-beat Math & A Short Story

12 + 144 + 20 + (3 * 4^(1/2))) / 7) + (5 * 11) = 9^2 +0

If you are not gifted enough to decipher these simple codes, I will give you a clue: It is a poem!! Now, try looking at it from that angle...

...and if you are still having trouble with the poem, here you go:

A Dozen, a Gross and a Score,
plus three times the square root of four,
divided by seven,
plus five times eleven,
equals nine squared and not a bit more.

!! ;-)
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10**12 Microphones = 1 Megaphone
10**6 bicycles = 2 megacycles

2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds

1/2 lavatory = 1 demijohn

10**-6 fish = 1 microfiche

1 unit of suspense in a mystery novel = 1 whod unit

10 millipedes = 1 centipede

5 holocausts = 1 Pentacost

10 monologues = 5 dialogues = 1 decalogue

8 nickles = 2 paradigms
2 snake eyes = 1 paradise
2 wharves = 1 paradox

1 milli-Helen (of Troy) = amount of face that can launch one ship
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In a literature class, the students were given an assignment to write a short story involving all the important ingredients - nobility, emotion, sex, religion and mystery. One student allegedly handed in the following story:
"My god!" cried the duchess. "I'm pregnant. Who did it?"
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Thanks Venky (MP)!

Team Asha & Asha for Education

TEAM ASHA is a premier endurance sports program that trains people for half and full marathons. Team Asha gives one the chance to discover not only the magical benefits of running but also the supreme joy of affecting the life of a child with every progressive step.

Since 2000, they have trained more than 750 marathoners from different walks of life. 99% of them successfully completed a full or a half marathon. Train. Run. Educate.

Asha for Education is a non-profit organization on a mission to catalyze socio-economic change in India through education of under-privileged children. Of the 68 Asha chapters worldwide, three are right here in the San Francisco Bay Area: Asha Berkeley, Asha Stanford and Asha Silicon Valley.

Over the years, Asha has succeeded in touching the lives of thousands of children through its various educational initiatives and projects. Although the primary focus is on education, Asha also addresses issues affecting human life such as health care, environmental concerns and women's issues. Asha will continue to evolve in keeping with the needs of the hour and the needs of our country (India).

Asha for education is run by a diverse group of committed volunteers who take personal interest in researching and identifying worthy projects in India. We mobilize the needed funds and also work closely with the projects right from inception to realization.
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My grandmom used to say "Whenever you get a chance to share your knowledge or better still, help somebody learn - do that. That is the best gift you can give to not just him but his entire family. And it is equivalent to feeding 100 hungry persons." I think Asha embodies that spirit.

One of my school friends, who later went on to BITS Pilani and then to Univ of Wisconsin - Madison for her MS - she was one such volunteers who came back to India and was handling some of their educational initiatives in South India. (I am trying to reach her.. Lets see if I can find out what she is upto now.)

That is how I had heard about Asha. And now, in the bay area, I heard of Asha again and I took this opportunity to be a drop in the ocean. I am a part of Team Asha 2008 - training for the Silicon Valley marathon and also championing the cause of educating the under-privileged in India.

I have no idea how I am going to run 26.2 miles.. I have zilch idea how I am going to raise 2400 odd dollars for the cause. But, I am doing it. Whatever support you can give in showing the way to a kid in India - please let me know.