The Story of Higgins Lake

On the way back from Traverse City, since we had some extra time, we decided to stop at some random state park. Luckily, we decided to stop at this Higgins lake which looked quite ordinary on the map.

But when we reached there, we were confronted with this beautiful lake with the clearest water I had ever seen. Well you can't really make that out in the photo below (and it's not a particularly flattering pic of any of the three of us), but what you will notice is that the is a region closer to the photographer is light green/blue in color and it transitions abruptly to a deep blue color.



We swam almost to the edge of the transition and used our swimming goggles to check out what the color change was all about. And the sight was a real scary one. We could clearly see the lake bed for about 8-10 feet in front of us and then it seemed as if there was nothing at all beyond that. After some deliberation, I decided to swim right to that edge, and when I just about reached the edge, I saw the lake floor slant down at more than a 45 degree angle and disappear into the depths of the clear blue water. Of course, I immediately turned back and swam as fast as I could to safety.

Although I think I won't be scared to swim in the middle of the lake, seeing the lake floor disappear into the distance was very scary. It was almost like vertigo.
A similar comparison:
You won't be scared to view Chicago from the top of the 100+ storied Sears towers (from a safe glass covered indoor viewing area), but one would be much more scared to stand at the edge of a windy 10th floor balcony with no guard rails.

The image of the disappearing lake floor still haunts me. :)

p.s. Lake Higgins is voted the 6th most beautiful lake in the world by National Geographic.

Runs 05/26 - 05/31

05/26 - 6.25 miles (10Km), 51:08 in Traverse City.
A blazing 8:15 minute a mile pace. The course was very pretty, lake michigan on one side and cherry trees and cute houses on the other side. Running together with Yusuf was a big help, and not to mention the adrenaline boost from running with so many people.

05/29 - 4 miles, 39:00.
Was super hot and humid. Starting running at almost an 8 minute mile pace but had to give up after 2 miles due to the heat. Finished the rest of the run with alternating runs and brief walks.

05/30 - 5 miles, 54:00.
Very relaxed run with Wifey. Didn't want to strain myself this week, esp after the fiasco the previous day.

05/31 - 2 miles, 14:45.
Decided to push myself as it was a short run. Imagined myself running the last 2 miles of a half marathon and willed myself to maintain a blistering pace (7:23 per mile). I'm sure we ran faster than this in the last 2 miles of the Traverse City 10K run, but I don't know how we managed it.

BTW, did I mention that after a run, no matter what the distance and time, you feel highly elated. This is referred to as the runners high, and is particularly true if you finish strong.

Also, most of the information on these runs are for archival purposes. Don't feel obligated to read these posts. :))

Half Marathon

The Half marathon that we will run this weekend is 13.1 miles (21.08 Km). Just to put this in perspective, the distance from Mulund Station to Dadar Cenral Station is exactl 21.5 Km (almost exactly a half marathon).

Here's the proof

The distance from Mulund station to VT (CST) is roughly 30 something Km, which is much less than the 42 Km (Full Marathon) that kela ran at Travere City last week.

Suprisingly, all the roads (even the smaller ones) in Mumbai are labelled pretty accurately in Google maps. The only exception being that Mulund station is mislabelled as Thane.

My goal is to finish the half marathon in under 2 hours (less than 6 minutes per Km, or roughly 9 minutes a mile).

BBQ

Dasha Avataar

Jammy's dad made a very interesting observation today:

The Dasha Avataar closely resembles the natural evolutionary sequence.

1. Matsya - The Fish
2. Kurma- The Tortoise
3. Varaha- The Boar
4. Narasimha- The Man-Lion
5. Vamana - The Dwarf
6. Parasurama - The Warrior
7. Sri Rama - The King
8. Sri Krishna - The Cowherd
9. Buddha - The Teacher
10. Kalki - The Slayer

There are two arguments that can be made based on this observation.
1. Maybe we can learn something about our future evolutionary form by looking at the avtaar that is yet to occur (The Slayer!! Seems like a bleak future for Humankind, and probably obvious).
2. In those days when Science was not an established discipline, the only way to pass on scientific information is by making up stories and incorporating it into the religious texts.

So maybe our forefathers were onto something.

Travel Tales

There are a few interesting stories from our trip, which I'll post in the coming days.

At the shores of Lake Michigan

Traverse City

Off to Traverse city and sleeping bear dunes for the memorial day weekend. Will be gone from Friday through Monday. 4 days of fun on the beach (well, mostly).

See you all later.

Run 05/24

5 miles, roughly 47 minutes.

Ran in Gallup park. It was a very warm day, but it was fun.
Forgot to wear a watch, so don't have an accurate time.

Nice pic

Came across this pic on flickr. It's an old idea, but well executed.