Antartica Marathon 2024

How did it start ?

• What really??  A marathon at Antarctica?  Is this even real, those were some of the questions that people ask when mentioned about travelling for a race at Antartica
• I was at least aware of the fact that such a race exists, which learnt about from my fellow runners from Hyderabad India and have heard first hand information of all those ambitious runners who were way elder than me and that instilled for the fact that It was doable.
• I never took it serious to go try do these races, obviously for couple of main reasons, primarily being the cost involved around the whole saga and secondly on the logistics involved right from getting a visa, expenses for travel, lodging and more so which follows.
• Though I let go of my thought from this race, I was focusing on the world majors, I got lucky with two back to back races which I got into with lottery, berlin and tokyo and timed entry to chicago, I learnt the art of trying to do the necessary stuffs to make it a successful completion in all respects from visa, travel, racing, touring and back.

Old time buddy with new goals

• While I was churning the daily grill and training for random races, just focusing on sheerly trying to get another qualifier after two failed attempts to get through the cut after no having enough buffer time to register for Boston, and obviously not getting lucky to get a spot in new york or boston, trying to do random races
•  That is when one of my old time running buddy, who was really fast and more serious into running, who was one of the reasons I continue my running habit after the first few races, came up with unique plan stating about the marathon at greenland, i.e Polar circle marathon, which I have covered with detailed report HERE.
• During the tenure of the stay at greenland for post race activities, was hearing a lot of concerns on people waiting for to get into Antartica marathon and randomly hopped on to marathon tours and travels site to find out if they have any spots open for future years.
• To my surprise and to many others who were complaining about having to wait for few years before one could get a spot in the antartica marathon, we found open spots for Voyage 1 and voyage 2 for antartica(Mar1-14 / March 15th-30).
• With really no hope many of us did submit our request for the open spots and to the surprise after few weeks passing by after returning home , got an confirmation email from the marathon tours of available options and had to choose fro amonst them.
• Given that we had a brutal/crazy weather at Greenland and having been able to run a full and Half marathon on consecutive days there at -19C, weather wise Antartica did not feel overwhelming at all.
• Knowing for the fact, that the logistics play a major role and with having travelled enough countries with Visa work and reservations around in places of non-native speakers of English, had enough confidence to be able to do with a tour operation.

Eagerly looking forward to another break

• After being continuing to work without taking any breaks from work nor from the parttime gig of yoga instruction, was eagerly looking forward to yet another break for this race, though with lot of unknowns.
• With the heights of procrastination, kept postponing the whole process required to be done to really late in the cycle, realized that I need to get my Argentinian visa stamped due to a layover at Buenos Aires. Applied with all particulars to the Argentinian embassy, with a unique way of getting interviewed over a WhatsApp video call for visa interview :)
• Managed to get my visa stamping done by March 8th or so for a travel due by March 14th, was really a close call.
• Managed to only find any time at all to pack my bags for the travel with just shy of 16 hours before departure. Finally got dropped of at airport by one of my friends , starting my long travel with multiple hops and various modes of transport

Buenos Aires and India

•  After a short hop to Atlanta from seattle , managed to get some of my assignments completed nad completed reading a book "Eat the frog" which has been pending for long time.
• Somehow I feel that I am able to totally focus and complete reading books during the flight time. I wish I could get this level of isolation in normal life, which will let to complete tasks without any distraction.
• Managed to get couple of written assignments complete, putting pen to paper and writing pages over pages has been the first time in last 15 years, good push of motor skills and allows mind to eye co-ordination with unused areas used extensively
• Hopped on a flight to Buenos Aires from Atlanta and that was almost a 10 hours flight, as usual crossing multiple time zones and keeping the mind super confused, managed to get some sleep during that leg, with utmost content of finishing reading book yet again.
• Unlike the other races where I manage to take all the effort from registering, booking tickets and plan on accomodation and transportation myself, along with lanugage barrier in some countries, here we had the marathon tours and travels folks, taking care of every single aspect end to end more importantly dealing with vegetarian food.
• Had a charter bus pick us and drop off at the hotel after a 4 hour long city tour , visiting musoleums, cathederal, museums, I should say that a lot of emotions that come from the folks is about how low they are paid and overall on a lower enconomic state at the lower end of the spectrum.
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• Explored the city with a 5k run on all 3 days of stay at Buenos aires and walked around more than 7 miles trying explore the city by foot
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• Managed to end up in a big handicraft market on Sunday, which had a lot of specialities, right from Matte- a green leaf based tea in a small pot carved from Squash , leather products, local paintings and what not, it’s almost more than 2 kms of stretch on a single street where the whole market is set up.

Travel to Ushuaia and boarding

• On the third day, we had to start early at 6:30 AM to catch our flights to Ushuaia, the southern most part of Argentina, from where we board the cruise ship.
• It was a 4 hour chartered flight with all 170 odd runners in the flight along with the tour organizers, flying out from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia.
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• Once we landed we had around 1.5 hours to have our lunch and roam around the streets of ushaia.
• We managed to grab a decent lunch and rushed to the visitor center where you get stamped for your visit to Ushuaia. Honestly that is the first time ever I managed to stamp myself on my passport, a stamping for a visit.
• Rushed back the tour company's office, for having us dropped at the harbor.
• I was overly excited , since this was my first ever sailing and curious on what to expect for the next few days to come.
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• We had to surrender our passports with a declaration form signed, and collect our expedition jacket, which we were to use for all our ventures outside the ship and were directed towards to our cabin, which was in the lower deck, with each cabin being shared with yet another individual, which is yet another avenue for mingling and getting to know and share diverse thoughts, bouncing back ideas, which is a great avenue to know diverse cultures around the world.

 Sailing, Drake proofing and navigation

• As much as warned by many folks, about the potential sea sickness that can hit folks, with me not having any experience with it, I wasn't sure on what to expect.
• Since I anyways managed to get some scolpomine patch(a small round plaster which has some medication) to be stuck behind the ear, which will take 4 hours to be to start taking effect.
• We were set to hit the drake pass(one huge section of water body, between the short of ushaia and moving south, which has a heavy wind currents, which usually causes the water to be really choppy). That in turn makes the vessel to oscillate too much, causing weird experiences in passengers.
• Soon the vessel set off to sail and once we settled in our cabin, we had a emergency drill which was explained in advance, we had to dress appropriately along with life jacket from the cabin, and literally mimic the process to walk up to the top level.
• After the drill, we a quick orientation on the itinerary from the days to come and introduction to the crew staff, right from the chef, facilities team, the whole support team in fact.
•  Was really surprised to see a bunch of Indian crew members part of the kitchen, which gave me good hope to find some vegetarian food
• We were served with dinner at 7 PM , pretty much every single day, and was really surprised to see spicy Indian food, including, rajma, dal makhani and what not, pleasantly delighted to get those, in comparison to my struggle that I had to find a basic vegetarian food back in Greenland in October last year.
• We were briefed that the forecast of winds and the probability of rough weather was really low, and it was indeed not so bad as it was explained by some of the previous year runners, it was still quite a movement during sleep as we sailed past the drake pass overnight.
• With all stuffs set on ground, we had enough sounds coming through the night, since anything loose and dangling was pretty much making noise with the enough movement while we crossed the drake's pass.
• We did sail for next two days and pretty much similar routine, with some sessions covered around what to expect in antartica, details about ocean, winds, wildlife

Pre-Race Day and preparation

• The day before the race, around evening, we were anchored near the King george island, in a bay, from where we were boarded on to Zodiacs(rubber raft, specialized to handle 12 people), we were taken on ride on water and getting close to the shore, for the first sighting of penguins on land and cute little moves of them.
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  It was a great pre-cursor to understand on what it felt like being out there with the amount of wind and temperature, which have a good sense of how we would want to dress for the race the next day.
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• Over the course of sail, managed to get few runs on treadmills on board, which was an unique feeling, the ship is sailing laterally, and we are running perpendicular to that, with the dangling move, which was unique experience of running on the treadmill.
• After all the experience on the zodiac ride, we got back to the ship, where there were bio-security checks done on every item that we plan to take it to land for the race.
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• Based on the rules or IAATO(Antarctic tour operators Association) and Antarctic treaty, with all intentions to keep it a bio secure zone, every single item was inspected, vacuumed, cleaned up. We had to bio-clean the running shoes and also set up with the boots, which is what we used on our rides on Zodiac to shore.
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Race Day

• With all the preparations done, ended up following my usual pre race routine of setting up everything from head to toe needed for the race.
• It is more important here since the weather changes so fast, and should be prepared with supplies needed for all the situations possible.
• With all my experience from running in a crazy cold weather at Greenland, I was mentally convince that it is not anywhere cold here and obviously not needing any spike to run.
• We had to label our water bottles and fill it with water and bring it along with us on a dry bag. With all set hit the bed for an early rise at 5 AM for break fast.
• There were two legs planned, since the number of members allowed on the russian base was limited by some number and also to avoid crowd during the run.
• The time limit for full marathon was 6 hours 30 minutes and half probably had at 4 hours 30 minutes. Since the time limit was set in place, the really slow runners were put up in the first leg and half marathon runners and reasonably fast full marathon runners were put into second leg
• First leg started their race at 7:00 AM and second leg started at 9 AM. I managed to get myself in the second leg and had some more time to think, plan and worry about the race :)
• I hit the Zodiac with all that I need for the race, including the dry bag which pretty much had all supplies from running gear, nutrition, water and water proofing gear.
• We had a glimpse of the runners when we hit the shore. 
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• It was kind of two loops to be repeated 3 times for full marathon. Starting from the russian base, we went towards the great wall of china base(2.4 and back, There is truly a small piece of great wall of china placed at the boundary) and pass via the start line and go the opposite side towards the urugay base(2.4 out and back), which is totally 9.6 miles X 3 times to finish full marathon distance.
• Start and Initial hour
• Second leg runners started right at 9 AM along with the whole group of half marathon runners.
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• I started to set out quicker not knowing what to expect along the course. We had to carry out water bottles and drop it at 1.2 miles on each direction if we need to use it for later loops.
• Went up to 1.2 right behind the lead vehicle, by the time we were around 1.2 miles where we dropped our water bottles, we had already hit 3 hills, only to realize that it is going to recur through the course.
• That pretty much made the runners humble and slow down significantly, with the first loop around china side looked daunting, only until we hit the urugayian side which was even more brutal.
• There was snow the previous night, which made the whole course white, as opposed to typical trail set up with gravel and rocks.
• Since there was no plastic allowed, I had to empty all the gel packs into a gel flask and carry it along to be able to be consumed along the way.
•  Managed to drop a bottle at 1.2 at china side, so that I could get water every 1.2 miles and also had a bottle left at the start point, which we cross every loop, so two water stops was set.
• I was supposed to carry the bottle to the 1.2 miles on the uruguay side, but was too cold with the metal water bottle and didn't end up taking it along.
• Snow and Rest of the race
• After I finished my first leg on both loops covering 9.6 miles, it started to snow again with flakes on our face and wind picking up which kind of made it more difficult to re adjust all our gear to handle the cold winds.
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• Unusually, I managed to use a single base layer of merino wool glove through the
  
  
  race for the majority sections, even when it was snowing.
• Around the end of second leg, after it stated to slow down with the snow, it started to drop temperature , feeling numbness in the fingers, only to manage to get some help from the start point from some of the volunteers to help me put up my mitten on top of the liner gloves.
• For a majority sections of the race, I was having this unique feeling of the area around me where I was running was all moving in unison, probably the feel of rocking from the ship for the past few days, which was carrying into the run.
• That gave me a weird feeling, only to realize that when I opened up my ears to open air, it felt better. Managing to keep my airpods on without the support throughout flipping the support of the beanie on and off.
• Since there were series of hills, people started falling trying to climb up and running down the hills, to the extent, the race organizers had to bring hiking poles to allow for people to safely navigate some of the hills, which was turning out to be really slippery with close to 150 runners running up and down through them 3 times in a row.
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• With all the runs running on top of the rocks and trying to control the foot movement was really really demanding on the lower extremity, right on quads, hamstrings, lower back, but the most of the brunt were taken by the plantar fascia and the arch of the foot, due to the kind of hard landing we were having on the rocks along the course.
• After all the hustle around managed to drag myself to the finish in 5 hours 4 minutes with a moving time of 4:54, which was much slower than what I thought that I could accomplish. Couple of thoughts which made me think that I could do better was since I figured out the layering and temperature was in great control, but the never ending undulating hills, with later started being really slippery, derailed the whole time, forcing us to be really slow and cautious after a time.
• Post the race, managed to quickly change back to the boots and hopped on the zodiac back to the ship to get a quick shower and head out for the really late lunch at around 4:30 PM.
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• I felt hungry the whole time during the race, to the extent that I started eating the Cliff shot blocks like a piece of candy, which was the only solid stuff that I was carrying with me.
• Had a hefty lunch and post-race orientation done by the race organizers , announcing the overall winners and age group winner information published.
• It was soon to be followed with dinner at 7 PM, which we manage to have it at the top level of the ship, where we managed to witness the moon raise, with the glaciers and mountains in the background.
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 Mikelson Harbor and Brialmont Cove 

• With really early raise in the morning at 5 for the race and a brutal racing condition, was super tiring to be dozed off within minutes, had a good night sleep only to be woken up by the daily wake up announcement done at 7 AM.
• We had to take up to a quick breakfast and followed up by a quick zodiac ride to the first ever landing on a island for sighting the penguins in close proximity.
• The ship had cruised away from the Kind George island to the Mikelsen harbor overnight and anchored there at 7 AM, right in time when we had to head out to the breakfast.
• We were able to capture the penguins in all forms, particularly Gentoo Penguins, which were ample in number along with different kind of Seals comfortably napping on top of the icebergs on the water.
• There was also a huge collection of whale bones in close sighting. The huge colonies of penguins and their cute ways of walking and feasting on krills and their unique way of swimming is a delight to watch in really close proximity.
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• We get to sail right after lunch and moved to Brialmont Cove, where we set out on zodiacs trying to explore the sighting of whales in a large quantity.
• The expedition team managed to find a spot to anchor the ship around Brialmont Cove, where there were at least 20 to 30 humpback whales.
• We had one of the humpback whale circles around our zodiac for quite some time, demonstrating its acrobatic skills, was able to snap and record from a 2 feet distance right underneath our zodiac.
• That was one of the closest encounters we had and good captures for memories and stories to talk about.
• Every single day there were one of the lectures about krills, types of penguins, A23 A, Colors of iceberg etc…
• There are highly qualified and diverse professionals from the field of oceanography, wildlife, study about weather and what not, who are on-board sharing their knowledge and experience for everybody onboard.
• We managed to retire with at most content and tiredness from all the activities through the day and that too the day after the race.

Danco Island and Neko Harbor

• The usual schedule followed was to anchor the ship at around 7 AM and starts the day with buffet breakfast followed by some activity on Zodiac at 8:30 AM for couple of groups and other couple groups get to listen to one of the lectures onboard.
• Similar pattern in the afternoon after a 12-noon lunch and yet another external venture with an activity and back
• We were anchored near Danco Island where the key attractions were big colonies of Gentoo Penguins
• It is also a viewpoint on Erera Channel and good to take a split zodiac cruise to sight more whales and ice.
• Danco islands are breeding ground for Gentoo penguins and gulls. Some sights of Weddell seals were possible and walked around the island with a steep hike using some hiking poles which was also slippery to come back down after a hike
• We managed to get out on a cruise with zodiacs to sight some of the fur seals and some sightings of whales as well.
• The afternoon venture to the Neko Harbor which is a inlet of the Antarctic Peninsula on Andvord Bay, Situated on the west coast of Graham Land.
• Neko Harbor was our first Continental Landing (landing in the part of land which is part of the main Antarctic Continent)
• Here again we had photo opportunities with the huge colonies of Gentoo penguins along with the continental landing boards.
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  Managed to spend time with a 1 mile hike up and down witnessing the Feeding pattern of the Gentoo penguins and all acrobatic and funny maneuvers of the penguins.
• We also managed to sight 6 big fur seals seated close enough, happily putting on weight for the breeding season ahead in summer.

Enterprise Island and Portal Point

• We ended up with an anchorage at Enterprise Island which is 2.4 kms long at the northeast end of Nansen Island in Wilhelmenia Bay, off the west coast of Graham Land on the Antarctic Peninsula
• The islands became well known to whalers operating in the area in the early 1900s and the names North Nansen Island and South Nansen Island were used to distinguish them.
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  We managed to visit the Wrecked ship remains of Guvernoren, which was built in 1891 in the UK, initially operating as Cattle carrier between London and New York.
• In 1907 transferred to Atlantic Transport Line and renamed Mobile, in 1911 it was sold to Norway, converted into a whaling factory ship named Thoger. Sold in 1913 and renamed Guvernoren.
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  This was destroyed by a Fire triggered by oil lamp spill on 27 January 1915 with 16.615 barrels onboard (around 400 whales). They were making oil by killing whales and boiling it in some form or so.
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  Once we were back from the outdoor zodiac excursion, we were back to the ship.
• There was the first in lifetime opportunity to do a "Polar Plunge" (Jump into Antarctic Waters with all icebergs around and water temperatures around -6 Degree C
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•  It was crazy cold and was inspired a lot, watching the senior and old folks over 70 trying to do that.
• I assume it to be the truly once in lifetime opportunity to do that and will remember for the rest of lifetime for having to attempt such a task.
• We did our polar plunge near the portal point where we managed to sight few more humpback whales.

Fournier Bay and awards ceremony

•  The next day morning, we woke up to what that can be said to be a truly Antarctic spectacle.
• We were anchored at the Fournier Bay which was covered by more than 2000 ft high mountains all around with thick sheets of ice and we had a chance to sight multiple wildlife.
• It was a sunny morning, which was getting rid of the fog as we ventured out on the Zodiac along with few other runners.
• We had close encounters to the distance of 20 ft from lots of Fur Seals, migratory birds and close views of various acrobatic efforts of humpback whales.
• All that could be said that it was the way for Antarctica with the best of weather and experience throughout more importantly the last day of excursion out.
• Around noon we had the Award ceremonies to felicitate 7 Continent finishes, top 3 finishes for full and half marathon.
• Was really surprised to hear that there are close to 11k runners who have completed the 7 continent races.
• After all the splendid locations and photographs with the background, we set back to lower decks for lunch.
• We had to take the scolpomine patch again on the return, which typically takes 4 hours to be effective, we were welcomed by rough weather with decent number of winds, starting to get motion sickness and after throwing up and managed to get some sleep to be woken up by the dinner announcement.

Trip back to Ushuaia

•  We started at around 2:30 PM from the Fournier Bay and started heading towards Ushuaia, which almost a 2-day long sailing with high winds, to the extent that we were walking on board worser than a potential drunken person. 
• We were provided with the ample lectures around the size, lifespan and length of whales, detailed lecture on Antarctic treaty and all the history around it.
• With some music trivia done at the night and trying to bring in some folks out of their room to be more lively and enjoyable experience.

MORE PHOTOS HERE - https://1drv.ms/f/s!AqP61Zyje9Vkkusap09GaUMX3FYGhg?e=cGqtwz

Road Trip Experience to SFO With Brand new Model3

After coming back from the road trip  to SFO with my new Model 3, thought of blogging about the drive experience from 2 dimensions, one from the perspective to what to expect and plan to drive with Model 3, relying just on superchargers for a long road trip, secondly from anybody who would want to do a road trip otherwise to SFO with two kids on board.

Idea and planning

this random thought of going on a long drive came as a suggestion from my wife with the awesome drive feel both as a driver and passenger with the New Model 3 that we took delivery in the early week of December. As obviously the thought of the jargon "Range Anxiety" came in thoughts and started exploring options with the location being decided as SFO. I stumbled upon the trip planner provided by Tesla, second option is to just navigate on your console which will include the supercharging stations stops along the way, based on your current battery levels. That is solid enough to give a convincing feel to confidently take on the drive. Based on that had a planned overnight stop at Grant Pass OR, and second day to reach SFO. Here is a sample onward journey suggested by the navigation console

Pre-Trip Preparations

• Plan for charging stops
• Reserve hotels along the route (onward and back)
• Reserve hotels at destination
• Purchased Snow socks - Since Tesla has low clearance between wheels to put in any chains, had less time to place order and receive in time - though there are some snow chains at tesla store - Model 3 Chains
• Planned food for the 18 month old along the way
• Planned Purchase of SFO City pass at one of the centers once we arrived SFO.

Key Things to Focus on the planned trip

• Duration of charged suggested at each station
• Expected % of battery when you reach each station
• Rest of the factors like distance, time and location is as in any GPS route

Day 1 - Seattle to Grant Pass OR
           Overall trip was 435 miles with projected 9 hours of drive of which charging sessions were around 1.5 hrs, which allows a break every 2 to 3 hours during the 9 hours drive. Leaving at 6:30 AM with 99% battery, skipped Centralia and took Vancouver WA supercharging Station as first stop, second being Springfield OR, third at Grant pass OR where i was anyways taking a nights stay hence the long charging at  Grant pass was less noticed.

Drive experience on the freeway for the longer drive being the first time, i must say it was the best and first every luxurious drive till date i ever had, much understanding the fact that i am getting spoiled by the luxurious feel and drive the vehicle offers. Each of the supercharging stations in WA and OR had 80% vacancy, and always had a peaceful and quick recharge.

Observations at Super Charging Station

• All of the stations that i used in WA, OR, CA were all placed near prominent places where one could spend their time usefully as the vehicle is getting charged, mostly near food joints or outlet malls or any areas where you get some refreshments, right along the free way
• Observed the fact that the majority of the Tesla owners that i met at supercharging stations are senior age group folks, who seem to experience the seamless travel much appealing
• Stations at CA are near at 95% occupancy as there are possibly many Tesla users in the state compared to WA and OR.

Day 2 - Grant Pass OR to SFO

             I expected to have severe tiredness driving 450 miles with a 18 month old kiddo in the car and a youth along with my wife, but neither at the end of day 1 nor at the start of the second day, did i feel of any tiredness or soreness, partly maybe due to extreme physical exertions that i am used to with my workouts and majorly to do with the luxurious drive experience with silent EV drive enhanced with awesome technology support, with much cooperation from the family particularly with my younger one(18 months old).

 Started at 7 AM, there was heavy fog reported, did not quite observe much at Grant pass, though started to experience that heavily as we approached Mt Shasta, much before the supercharging stop at Mt Shasta way. With Fog lights switching on automatically, it was a drive through the dream road with less than 10 feet visibility level right on top of high road across the Shasta river, feel was as if going through a virtual video game experience but on the real road with the silent EV cruising seamlessly even at 85 to 96 MPH.

Took 3 charging stops 1. Mt Shasta way, 2. Corning, 3. Vacaville

drive was much through less traffic until we hit Sacramento exits, where i experienced the driving experience with enough traffic as much in India, no indicators used, seamless lane changes, zig zag zipping through lanes, i got tuned to that mode of seamless lane changes with the awesome acceleration coming from the electric motors, it was a commanding drive experience, i must say compared to any of the previous vehicles that i have driven so far. Reached at 5:15 PM safely, with a tireless riding experience.

Drove to the downtown to experience the Muni Cable service from Powell St to Fisherman's wharf, its a typical old style wagon operated with a lots of mechanical support climbing the steep streets and going down as well, a must try experience

Day 3

With two kids, the plan was to stick to less physical activity, ventured to

• California Academy of Sciences - Elder one enjoyed and learnt a lot from all the exhibits, must admit, its similar to everything that we have at Pacific Science Center, but with some diverse exhibits and Planetarium with diverse topics covered

 

• Golden Gate Bridge - Conventional drive along Golden gate brige with a stop and snap at vista points and walk across the bridge to get the feel of it.

• Muir Beach/Muir Woods - Small drive down from Golden gate bridge, to a small beach with less crowd, was good feel to end the day

Day 4

Again it was centered around using the allowances on City pass, with planned visits to

• Exploratarium - Pier 15 - Youth would enjoy and learn a lot, much like pacific science center with scientific exhibits with lot more diversity than at seattle, one floor exhibits can spend enough of 5 to 6 hours if kids stay motivated and interested.
• Parking opposite to Exploratarium at Pier 15, with a 12 hour parking pass for $15 with the input of concession code which is available at the payment station, or if you could drive few streets up, you might find good street parking.
• Aquarium Of the Bay - Pier 39 (ride muni train or walk from Pier 15

• two floor aquarium, with the hassle of mandated to take the Elevators and no stairs to the 2nd floor
• first floor is very minimal with nothing compared to Seattle Aquarium, second floor has good long over the head see through experience, much better than Seattle one, good enough to spend maybe an hour inside in there.
• Ghiradelli Square
• No activities, just walking around the square in the night, with awesome ice cream and chocolate treats from Ghiradelli, a long queue to get a order placed for ice creams, not so much for chocolates

 

• Walk to the fisherman's wharf to experience the cable car experience in open air

Day 5

Lightly planned with couple of activities and then head to friend's place at Mountain view later in the evening

• Blue and Gold Cruise to Golden Gate Bridge and Alcratez Jail - Good 1 hour cruise heading from Pier 39 to Golden gate bridge, slightly past it , then circling around Alcatraz jail which is a island in the bay with enough history to it. Good audio explanations throughout the trip

 

• Muni train trip to Ghiradelli Square, Wharf to Powell and back to Pier 39
• With the intentions to the only left out pass to use on any muni transportation, took the train to fisherman's wharf with finishing lunch around a different cusine from default

 

• Took 2 hours to board the Powell/Hyde Cable, but was definitely entertained by the street side musicians, who are still passionate at their 70s playing by the pure passion of it.

 

• Half hour ride from Hyde Road to Powell station, stopped for a quick snap at the lively Macy's center decorated for Christmas
• With christmas vacation around the wait times at the muni stations was around 3 hours for return trip, took a train ride back to Pier 39 to get back to the parking to get the car

 

• Drove to our friend's place at Mountain view around the end of day and was a nice get together after quite some time, kids had great time so did we speaking about various topics getting to know the life at SFO with kids and other areas of interest.

Day 6 - Mountain View CA to Grant Pass OR - 426 Miles

      After spending a memorable night with discussions and tons of sharing of memories, we planned to start early around 7 AM so that we can hit road back to Seattle, but we ended up starting only at 10 AM, not bad, it was Christmas eve and the traffic wasn't too bad

It was an all energized day, with the content of spending quality family time together time, started driving easy, and the sight of empty roads and the seamless acceleration with so little feedback to the car, we were cruising at an average of 96 MPH for over 40 miles and then did i realize that i was draining down the expected battery range at the Vacaville Charging station and all the time i spent speeding and saving 15 minutes is going to be spent in charging the vehicle. still was enjoyable speed cruising the freeway, a driver's pleasure driving so i believe.

As mentioned earlier, the occupancy at the super charging stations was over 90% within CA, there was just one spot left and i see another Model S trying to get to the charging area, had to take a short cut and reach the available spot earlier to get a good 40 minutes of charging time, could barely find any shop open to get some food.

walked in search of some food, while handing over the phone to the family to use it as key card, little did i know that they accidentally hit the stop charging button, which had caused an idle condition for over 19 minutes, for which i see a mail saying there was an idling fee charged and its waived since its the first time that is happening. Pay attention to such accidental stuffs, to save few dollars going down the drain. Tesla Idle Fee Details

Wanted to wind the day's activity with the near close incident with battery drain which i wanted to emphasize. As i did on all other days, was acceleration at least 20 MPH over speed limits, we were en route to Mt Shasta station, 35 miles ahead it was snowing hard and glad that the ODOT was deicing the whole I5 stretch around the area and roads were in so drive-able conditions, little did i have to even slow down. With excessive acceleration since morning and cold weather conditions with temperature being around 34-32 F, in the last few miles to charging stop, i noticed that i had only 20 miles of range left with 10 more miles to cover, that was one moment that i felt so nervous with a 18 month old onboard along with family in snowy conditions, that would the last thing to want to stop in the middle of road, glad that i noticed few miles ahead, switching off the heater, slowing down considerabally and i managed to reach the super charging station with 2% battery and  6 miles of range left. 

It was a conservative driving from there on till grant pass until i felt comfortable speeding, managed to reach grant pass by 7 pm, only to realize that there were barely any food joints open to get some dinner for the family, luckily we had some food with us with which we survived the night.

Day 7 - Grant Pass OR to Seattle WA

  Finally the last day of the trip and we were equally as rejoiced as the first day and as fresh as the first day with least tiredness.

the final stretch to start with on a foggy day, had a heavy breakfast from the hotel, knowing the fact that we are barely going to find any food joints open to eat along the route, started on the foggy morning with a late start of 10:15 AM. The drive was casual, was conservative the first part of rides to any supercharging station, with the second half speeding to get the same feel and reaching safely to get charged again. Once we reached Springfield, it was our usual route which used to feel so long enough, seems now too close after driving those long miles.

The only place that we could find anything at all to eat was all the starbucks joints and not any other single place. We tried stopping at a sushi point and we being a vegetarian eaters, we could only get some steamed veggies and some rice rolls, the roads were all empty up until tacoma, we managed to get some fries or shakes at Arbys around centralia, all otherwise it was deserted roads and a peaceful ride back home reaching at around 7:15 PM.

Conclusion and key learning(s)

Overall it was a much unplanned last minute trip, which ended up being so successful, enjoyable and memorable one, and need to say it was indeed a luxurious drive all along. There are already thoughts in mind planning for the next trip on. here are few take away from the trip as learning or dos or dont's

• a longer trip could be planned in less than 3 days with reasonable logistics taken care
• Carrying a instapot and few grains along helped us manage the food for our younger one without a hassle
• lookout on the temperature along the route helped us carry gear for all weather.
• Using the charging stops as your food time helped us use the time wise and not take any additional time beyond charging time.
• Set your start time appropriately so that you reach the charging stations right around the meal times, which helped
• Observation on charging was, first 10% charge is done around 40 KWH, 11% onward to 60% was done at around 116 KWH and then it declines to 16 to 20 KWH towards the end. essential means with first 20 minutes of charging at any station, you will have 60% battery filled up
• All the additional energy spent in excessive acceleration got me 15 to 20 minutes between each charging station, which is 50% of charging time spent and the reduced range, helps speedy charging as well, overall it was a win win
• Don't speed beyond limits and set high on heater if you are driving  in near cold conditions, the deviation from the projected Vs Actual range was 30%.
• Pay attention to the % of battery expected to be left out at the next charging station, if that range falls so exponentially down, then its time to start being conservative to safely reach the next charging station.
• In the worst case, we have tons of destination charging stations in between supercharging stations even in the remote areas like mt Shasta with last resort to call out Tesla Road Side Assistance.

Finally if in case you are out on a purchase a new Tesla, you could use the referral code to get 6 to 9 months of super charging free

Hope this jotting down of events would be of some help to anyone planning for a road trip to SFO. Happy holidays!!

Tokyo Marathon 2018 - Second World Major Experience and Learning

The Quest continues, this time just a completion

After getting through the lottery process for Berlin, I was greedy enough to try out other majors, started to look up other races and found Tokyo registration in time and put in an application with very less hopes of getting through. After I did finish my Berlin marathon and got back to the room and saw the confirmation mail from Tokyo Marathon adding to the delight of finishing my first world major race. With a failed attempt of targeting near 3 hour mark for berlin, wanted to take a conservative approach and try for a 3:04 which would also give a dual benefit of a sure shot Boston registration and qualifier for London. With only a 1.5 minute buffer beyond qualifier timing in Berlin I wanted to get another race to get a qualifier time.

Training started right one week after the berlin race and started well. As it works out as winter sets in my ankle starts to behave and takes time to get to more mobility which eventually means a longer warm up and to complicate things unpredicted sleep cycles with young kiddo at home kept getting the training a bit more complicated. Weekend long runs being shortened over extended weeks over winter months was making it tricky. Majority of the workouts around race pace mile repeats was going great giving some level of confidence yet the very thought of shabby long runs was still at the back of my mind. With no so contended training put in by me hesitantly applied for the Visa with only 2.5 weeks left for the race and booking the tickets and setting up for accommodation at Tokyo.

Travel Adventure and Pre-Race expo 

With the nearly last minute booking was on the lookout for a cheaper tickets and ended up booking with a transit through Canada which had necessitated a transit visa which I realized only after reaching the airport and had to do a last minute reschedule and book via LA, which caused me a 12 hour lay over at LA and an overall 20 odd hour travel time and finally landing in Tokyo the day before the race with just few hours left for the expo to close. The very first impression after landing in Tokyo and seeing how the folks behave i was astonished to see how humble many of the social workers were and neat enough in spite of highly populated as opposing to other developed countries.

Took the airport limousine bu from Narita airpot and hopping on to a taxi reaching the expo only to realize that there was very long queue to get into the expo hall. i was already exhausted with couple of my back packs on was in the queue for almost 40 minutes, it was cleared off fast enough in spite of the huge crowd, and finally stepping out after picking the bib and t shirt, Srini gadde was waiting in the expo for quite some time to meet up, quickly wished and handed him my baggage to step into the expo hall to buy a bib holder which i couldn't figure at the last minute before my travel. Quickly went through the stalls to find something and another 20 min wait int the queue to get it billed. The biggest learning on how well the locals adopted to the local language big time on top of English, i could only ridicule on how our schools fine our kids for speaking in local language or their mother tongue over English. Much to appreciate about many of their behaviours.

Took up the train along with srini, discussing they whole adventure of travel and potential plan for the next day and reached Shinjiku station around 8:15 PM. that could have the most exhausted travel for any race done by me till date. Walked around 2 miles to the home accommodation booked through airbnb, luckily was able to fiind a Pakistani restaurant to suffice with the dinner and hit bet late at 11:30 PM

Race Day

With a late start at 9:15 AM for the race, and being put up so close to the start point, i had some time to sleep, wake up little early and be ready with the typical pre race nutrition, with no much of choice stuck with couple of slices of bread and a banana and ventured out to the start point in the cool breezy weather, though it was a perfect climate to run, it was not so much to walk around in the singlet and racing short. ended up walking around 1.5 kms with so many security checks enroute, ended up depositing the bag and soon ventured to the start coral just next after the elite runnres. it was a white themed start point with the same aura as any other event. Absolutely not understanding a single word that the race folks are announcing, patiently waited for 15 minutes before the start, with still confused minds on what to expect from the race and how would my left ankle fare out, started off strong, with a target of 3:05 in mind, which is either a hit or super miss target given my physical condition. With 7:01 constant pace in thoughts and with the course being really flat, i was more positive to hit the target with the cardio conditioning, but still doubtful on how my ankle would behave.

Mile 1 to 13

With absolute ideal conditions in all forms(weather, flat course, stunning volunteer support, manageable run crowd) i honestly wished that i make the best out of it. started off strong. first mile was slow at 7:06/mile and then on until mile 13 was keeping it between 6:50 and 7:00 min/mile, not realizing the fact that my HR has hit 180s in the very second mile and i have sustained on it until Mile 17. Cardio felt comfortable though my ankle was hurting on and off, with a relatively new shoe of a different form being tried out on the race was bothering a bit as well. With all the variations in the pace was so close to on target at the half way mark at 1:31:57.

Mile 13 to 20

Just a little few distance of 14th mile, i started to feel my left calves tightening up, obviously i was altering my stride so that i avoid any major break down ;) to my left ankle. the pace started to dip and slide towards 7:30s , though the HR stayed constant hovering around 180s and no signs of any improvement. No changes in the fueling strategy along the race route as in previous race, a Gel every 45 mins and water and electrolyte sips along the route as provided on the course, beyond a point it was nothing to do with carb surge or any supplements that came from the gel mattered, i could evidently see the decline in strength and started to feel my ankle behaving so odd, i event thought of quitting the race at mile 18, but the very thought walking the remaining 8 miles and all the efforts taken to train and reach the international location crept in my mind and wanted to keep up to my records of no DNFs(Did not finish/Do Nothing Foolish) either of the cases and kept pushing as much i could knowing the limits of how much i could.

Mile 21 to Finish

by the time i hit mile 20 i was so sure that i am not finishing if i tried to push any further to keep up the pace, from that point on, i accepted the defeat and went into the mode of not to do anything foolish, yet try and complete the race. I cannot take the daunting thoughts of getting a DNF in spite of all the efforts put in, from that point on i was just enjoying the hospitality and humbleness of the volunteers along the course and observing how clean the course was kept with literally volunteers running towards you to collect any trash along the route. Pace started to hit 8:30s, creeping into 9 min mile though i totally know that i am losing an ideal race conditions to my ankle pain, i had no choice at that point. Started to see the lead runners at around mile 22 and with all the encouragement from the volunteers was making my way step by step. As i reached mile 25 i still had doubts as to if i would finish and ended up slowing down as much that i was running my warm up pace of hitting near 10:30/mile and final mile pushing with anything that was left out. Finishing with a shabby time of 3:27:05. I was just glad that i finished at that point and no other thoughts in my mind.

 

Self Consolation and think forward

at the end of the race the only satisfaction and the self consolation that i had was that i was able to finish and with it my second world major race experience which was equally good as Berlin. With this shabby finish i have almost nil chance of getting to register for Boston 2019 with my qualifier time of 3:08 from Berlin marathon. With high hopes that the previous year buffer margin reduces and if i get to register with 3:08 qualifier i would be glad, if not my quest would continue to get a better time in near future.

As i write this 4 months later than my race experience, had to take a 6 weeks forced rest due to Plantar issues and slowly starting to get my base building now , i a still struggling to cope with the stress my ankle gets to. With India vacation, get my ankle subjected to all Ayurvedic procedures hoping to get a break through and get going with my target.

Looking forward to the outcome of London marathon lottery and Chicago marathon in October for which i have a qualifying time, need to figure if i would be in any shape to even run a slower race if not a qualifier. Though i feel this to be the low light of my running habit over 10 years, mentally strong enough to get through and see through the other end of the tunnel. Hope/Confidence and right efforts and sticking to habits seems key at this point. With all the support that i receive from my wife and family, friends and coach, i wish i get back to optimal capacity in near future

STATS

GRAPHS

SPLITS
 



GARMIN ACTIVITY

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/2519561071

SOME TOURING THERE AFTER 


CITY TOUR PHOTOS - PHOTOS

to beat out the failure blues went out for a city tour for a day along with srini, must say that the humbleness and the inculcation of every quality right from schooling has definitely made japan a place of people with the best of character and conduct in spite of the population.