Truth is stranger than fiction

No matter how many times you race on a familiar course, the experience is different every time. Probably that’s why I never get tired of doing events in Santa Cruz, especially triathlon events.     The views of the ocean during the bike ride and the run are just spectacular. Enough to lure me time and again.   Not every triathlon is a smooth sailing ride, Irrespective of how strong you are, there are bound to be occurrences that are beyond your control. This is what makes it eventful and most importantly humbling.  The Santa Cruz triathlon experience was certainly an eventful one and in short, I can sum it up as a roller coaster ride.  Having done 3 back to back races, I had planned on taking this easy and an opportunity to try out my new tri-suit and swim goggles.  Race day morning:  Santa Cruz was a 40-minute drive from my place. Listening to some 80s music that was playing in one of the radio stations, I managed to ease my nervous bouts which usually oc

Title: Trinity by the Horns: A tale of Gods & Bolts Author: Prana Natarajan Genre: Science fiction 'Trinity by the horns' is a story about 3 youngsters namely Brammy, Balaji and Shivpal who head a start-up that creates bots for space exploration missions. They face difficulties especially when their board,which governs their funding,loses faith in their idea.  They appoint a new CEO named Shakti to take charge of their project. The rest of the narrative showcases a roller coaster journey comprising of oneupmanship, ego clashes and errors.  The book is an interesting blend of the start- up world and science fiction consisting of characters with mythological references. The author cleverly weaves out this eclectic mix into an interesting story. He brings out the complex dynamics that tends to exist in a team working on a project.  Themes of artificial intelligence, leadership and power are largely dealt with here. Witty and light hearted, this futuristic sci-

Book Review Title: Viriah Author: Krishna Gubili Genre: Biography Viriah is the story about the author's search for his great grandfather named Viriah, who went to South Africa as a laborer to work in Sugar plantations and died in tragic conditions.  Curious to know more about his ancestral history, the author spends a large part of his adult years trying to gain various sources about his family roots. When he finally stumbles upon some information, he is horrified to find out that his great grandfather was an indentured laborer.  Due to the increasing demand for sugar in the late 1800s, 1.3 million Indians were shipped to work on sugarcane plantations in South Africa. The indenture system is largely explored in the book and showcases the appalling working conditions of coolies. They had to toil for long hours, were subjected to cruel treatment and faced psychological consequences of being separated from their families.  The author describes the intricacies of life on

Book Review  Title: Running Home Author: Katie Arnold Genre: Memoir Running home is a beautiful memoir about how a woman takes up running to feel alive and overcome her grief of losing a parent.  Katie Arnold is introduced to adventures and the outdoors through her dad who is a photographer for the National Geographic. After her marriage and motherhood, Katie ensures that she exposes her daughters to the outdoors too.  However when her father loses his battle to cancer, Katie is plunged with post traumatic stress disorder and begins to question her own mortality.  In order to overcome her anxiety and grief, Katie seeks solace in nature and running- a sport that her father introduced to her when she was 7 years old. Katie starts with an ultra marathon distance of 50 km, 50 miles and then 100 km amidst those mountainous trails and wilderness.  As she clocks those miles which tests her endurance, Katie slowly learns to overcome her grief, pain and anxiety.

                        The journey to my 2 nd Ironman 70.3 was literally a seesaw battle right from the time I signed up for the event until I embraced the finish line. Probably that’s the reason why this is more memorable than my first Ironman 70.3 which incidentally was in the same place-Santa Cruz.  When I signed up for Ironman 70.3 Santa Cruz in December 2018, I was confident that I’d be able to train for it better this time. I was looking forward to joining the Team Asha program and training with them in the peak season from April to August.  While I was able to make it for most of the open water sessions on Saturdays, I couldn’t accompany them on the bike rides on Sundays due to some personal commitments at home. Balancing my time with training and entertaining family who were visiting, was proving to be quite difficult with no time for recovery.  To do or not to do: When I did manage to go on a few rides in July, I covered not more than 20-26 miles. I deci