Our trip to Texas

We took couple of days off and visited V and family in Houston last weekend. We had a great time - enjoyed awesome food, good company and warm weather. We also managed to do a one day road trip to San Antonio from Houston. It was a little more than 3 hrs drive, one way from Houston.

We visited Alamo, roamed about along the river walk and had lunch by the river.

Alamo

San Antonio River Walk

I would have liked to spend more time there - shopping and walking but we had to hit the road again pretty soon to make it back to Houston in reasonable time. It was a little hectic but felt good to be on the road - grabbing coffee on the way, talking and just hanging together as family.

Tamil Concert - 'Geetanjali'

Geetanjali is non-profit Tamil music band that performs yearly for ASHA's cause in the Seattle area. I find it to be great way to entertain and also raise money for a good cause. This is my third year attending their concert and this time I was completely blown away with the way the event was organized and executed. Hats off to the Geetanjali orchestra, ASHA team and all the volunteers. And boy, was it entertaining. The singers were all so brilliant and the band amazing! They also had a kids orchestra, playing instruments like - violins, saxophone and guitar. It was so wonderful to see and hear the young talent.

I have concluded that I am a great fan of live performances.

My weekend mornings

My Bharathanatyam classes on Saturday mornings - I thoroughly enjoy my classes on Saturday mornings. Everything about the class is just PERFECT! I love the timing and I relish my 15 mins slow drive to the class on Saturday mornings through inner roads - the roads free of traffic, my car playing my favorite SPB melodies and me soaking up the morning freshness and scenary.

I have new found appreciation for this dance - its sophisticated and impressive style. Also, I adore my teacher - her talent and her way of teaching.

My group long run on Sunday mornings - As a part of my half marathon training my long runs are on Sunday (early) mornings. And that is the only run in the week that I do it with team ASHA runners. I have missed it couple of weeks only on unavoidable circumstances. The first day I joined them was a 3 mile run, the next week was a 5 mile run and both went well. The 6 mile run has been the hardest one so far - I had severe shin splints for the first 3 miles during the run. The only thing that kept me going was the 3 runners who were running about 20 feet ahead of me. I kept my eyes on them and just kept moving. The other half was much easier once my shins eased up. It is one of the toughest but yet one of the fulfilling runs I have ever had. I am sure that I made 6 miles in 72 mins only because there were other people doing it along with me. So group runs really do work for me. The 7 mile run was also great and since I have 3 other ladies running in my pace, I make it through the runs and am actually having some fun. Tomorrow it is going to be a 8 mile run.

I do struggle to make my 3 weekday runs that I do by myself in a nearby gym. Some weeks are great and some weeks I slack. But I have got my stamina back! I am able to run 5 miles/hr all through the run. I manage to even hit 5.4 miles/hr in between but not for more than 10-15 mins continuously.