14 and counting

Today I finish 14 years of working at a desk! I still remember my first job as a co-op at GE-Lunar in Madison - the first couple of days I was totally freaked out and wondered how I would spend the rest of my working life sitting within the same building for 8 hours straight! If I sat at the desk for more than an hour, I would feel fidgety and start to feel sleepy at the same time. It was a really nerve-wracking experience - and since it was the first couple of days (plus it was winter!), I wouldn't dare to step out for lunch, which meant 9-5 in the same building, on the same floor. I was zapped. I would never survive this for long.

And yet, life moved on. I adapted. I never thought I would survive in a techie role for more than a couple of years and yet, here I am :) Getting bored of just doing a management role and so doing something technical to "keep it interesting".

Who would have thought! :)

Athens!

We (me and three other colleagues) won the Puma Urban Stampede National Finale in March 2016 in the corporate women's category which came with a prize of an all expense paid trip to Athens. Since we were going all the way anyway, we decided to extend the trip and check out Athens at leisure.

The run itself was splendid. We all ran the 10K category as individual runners and it was a huge realization to see what a well organized run looked and felt like. It was simply an amazing experience. I did my debut 10K in 50:58 and was super thrilled. This of course set the pace for the rest of the trip - to be enjoyed thoroughly.

It was refreshing to travel without kids - I have done it after 8 long years! Sleeping well, eating well, traveling well and just doing nothing else. It was splendid. Reminded me of my Europe road trip with cousins, way back in 2001-02.

Small mercies!

Thank you to God for helping me survive the worst day yet in this year, yesterday. Started with me having a nasty fall at 5 in the morning. I've been running distance since 15 years and never once did such a thing happen. One second I was thinking of Ayana's technique, next second I was wondering why I was flying, and the third I was flat on a black top road on my right hand. The only silver lining being that I had no major injuries and was able to run 5k after the fall. But the right palm and shoulder were bruised badly and hurt like hell. I get to work thinking the worst is over when my worried mom calls after a couple of hours and suggests we take my father in law to the hospital. He had fever which was down by Wednesday only to suddenly recur on Thursday. After 7-8 hours at the hospital with him, I get home to find my older one running a temperature and throwing up whatever he ate. In all this, my right palm and shoulder continued to go worse..

Phew 😌 for all that, this morning went like a dream. I was able to run my usual today. I literally single-handedly, since my right hand was of no use and Subhash was at the hospital with father-in-law, got kids ready for school, and I was actually happy that both of them were healthy enough to even be going to school! Could've danced even with my painful hand, so glad I was.

Hope to not have another day like this ever!

Like the eternal optimist, I was happy waking up this morning that things weren't much worse, they could have been, I could have broken some bones, my father in law's diagnosis could have been a lot more serious, my parents might have been out of town, and I would have had to fend for myself etc etc. Thank god for small and big mercies and thank god for family!!