Running on Empty

Just finished reading Marshall Ulrich's book "Running on Empty" - his story of love, loss and a record setting run across America. This guy is a true ultra marathoner nut in the sense that he has incredible feats under his belt like finishing Badwater Marathon 18 times, winning it four times, and then doing the Badwater route solo i.e. without any team, but only with all his supplies in a cart that weighed 200 pounds, Badwater Quad which is like utter crazy - doing badwater four times back to back. Who can attempt such crazy ultra running feats. His ultra running or rather his running started with the loss of his first wife to cancer when he used to run to escape the depression and thereafter running became a lifelong passion. He has also some mountaineering feats up his sleeve like summiting the tallest summit in each continent and also ascending the Mount Everest.

So it was to be a culmination of his running career by running across America, starting from San francisco to New York a total distance of 3063 miles in 46 days at the age of 57. The previous person to have covered America thus was a 27 year old Frank Gianino about 28 years ago. It involved Marshall running 2 marathons plus 10K every day across terrain and weather that varied from state to state from heat to cold, snow, rains and all. It led to a process of discovery within himself and brought his family close together. The daily travails of running coupled with diet, nutrition, injury, illness, exhaustion, plus the logistics of daily runs are not given in much detail but the reader can very comprehend what it must have taken for the crew to get this runner across America. At the beginning Charlie Engle who ran across the Sahara desert accompanied Marshall during his run but somewhere approximately half way through a fight broke out between the two and Charlie quit and then came to crew and there were recriminations with the original crew which included Marshall's wife. So it is a kind of an eye-opener as to what really transpires in all these multi day ultra marathons. Read it to see whether he manages to break the record of Frank Gianino. Nice read for running fans. There was a movie made out of it “Running America” but could only find a trailer on youtube for it. 

Licensing Regime for restaurants and food business operators

Another regulator has quietly emerged in India without much hulabaloo. It is the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. They have a website FSSAI.

It has got its teeth from the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. click here for the act. As with all regulators, regulations have been issued one of which is the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations 2011(click here for regulations) which apparently seeks to introduce some kind of licensing regime in the food industry. One look at the definition of "food business" in the act seems to indicate an all inclusive and pervasive definition - it means any undertaking whether for profit or not, and whether public or private carrying out any of the activities relating to any stage of manufacture, processing, packaging, storage, transportation, distribution of food, import and includes food services, sale of food or food ingredients. This definition brings within its ambit all the restaurants, cafes, canteens, road side eateries, hawker stalls and by including distribution of food in it, also includes malls, kiranas etc.

The Licensing Regulations requires the food business operators to obtain license from the Central/ State licensing authorities - The central licensing authorities come into play only in case of food business specified in the annexure I to the regulations which are basically large food operators, or multi state food business operators or food business operators in railways, ports, airports etc. In all other cases the license has to be taken from the state licensing authority.

A time period of one year from the notification of the regulations was given for obtaining the license. This time period expired on 4th August 2012 and thereafter vide an advisory dated 25th July 2012 this time period was extended by another six months from 5th August 2012. Therefore the six months period expires on 4th February 2013 before which the license from the relevant authority needs to be obtained. Failure to obtain license obviously poses some kind of problem for the business operator and he has to stop conducting his business. click here for the advisory

There are conditions of license which the food business operators have to comply with such as appointing one technical person to supervise the production process, maintain factory's sanitary and hygienic standards and workers' hygiene, place of storage of food items should be separated from privies, urinals, drains etc., temperature control etc. in the premises etc. There are specific sanitary and hygienic standards to be maintained for food business operators, food manufacturers, processors, handlers in schedule 4 of the regulations.

Issue of equity shares under FDI regime -

RBI has vide its notification click here revised the conditions for issue of equity shares under the FDI scheme in government approval route against import of capital goods/ machineries against a proper valuation to exclude the second hand capital goods/ machineries. While earlier circular click here specifically allowed issue of shares even against import of second hand machineries the new notification expressly prohibits it.
 

MUSTRun 10K

Ran the last event of 2012 the MUSTRun 10K in December which was organised by the Bandra H West Federation. They had quite a few sponsors but the inside knowledge was that big sponsors were shying away from the event, probably due to economic recession. Anyway, the event is being held for the 2^nd year and this year they added a half marathon to the 10K which started last year. The route was to pass through the western suburbs of Mumbai, starting from Bandra and going all the way to Santacruz before winding back to Bandra. The start and finish points were at different locations.

The added significance for me was that i had somehow coaxed my daughter Nikita to take part in the 10K race and she had agreed to come for the event. The race was to start at 6.10 a.m. but when we reached the venue we were informed that the start has been delayed by 30 minutes due to late arrival of the volunteers.

That was fine because much shouting, encouraging, back slapping followed with most of the Mumbai runners descending on the venue. The 5Kers started first and then we set off. The race started at Bandra Hill road, went to S.V. Road all the way to Khira Nagar in Santacruz went back to the Link Road all the way back to Bandra via Carter Road Promenade.

Since it was her first race, we started slowly and got into a run-walk-run mode early on itself and kept at it all along the route, walking for exactly 30 seconds and taking off again. i was not sure if Nikita would complete the entire 10K, but she started showing strength and determination to go the distance so i kept on encouraging her all the way. By around 6K i knew that she needed pushing and would definitely make it to the finish line. We kept at it but by 9K or so, she started showing signs of immense fatigue and was repeatedly asking me “how much more to go”. Finally we reached the finish line together in 1.21 hours but there was chaos as usual at the finish line. Later on we came to know that the distance was more by 1.6 kms so we had run 11.6 kms instead of 10 kms. Her 10K timing was 1.15 hours approximately.

The organisation of the race was chaotic with the distances mismatch for both the 10K and 21k categories. But it was a satisfying day for me and Nikita, although she was quite nonchalant about the whole thing and was probably wondering what the fuss was all about!!

Vasai Virar Marathon - a tough one to conquer

Vasai Virar Marathon – a tough one to conquer

It was a late decision to run the Vasai Virar Marathon on October 14^th. There were a few other commitments coming my way and by the time those commitments were cleared and i was free to run the Vasai Virar marathon, i guess the entries were closed. But thanks to Anand and Bruno Goveas who is the main organiser of the race, i got a late entry.

There were no butterflies in the stomach at the prospect of running a 42 kms race because i was intending to take this as a practise long run for the marquee event in January i.e. the Mumbai Marathon.

So bibs received the previous day we went by Raj’s car to the Viva College in Virar which was the starting point for the race. Alongside me were legends of running like Bhasker Desai and Raj Vadgama and young upcoming marathon runner Sandesh Shukla. Sitaram Meena another young and refreshing marathon runner was in another car.

Mani had arranged with his friend for a room near the starting point which was a blessing in disguise for us because we could refresh ourselves before starting off for the race as well as relax afterwards. The starting point arena was agog with activity befitting a city marathon with pandals, police barricades, scores of volunteers, announcements galore.

The race was to be flagged off at 7.00 a.m. but almost got off three minutes before itself in the enthusiastic melee surrounding the event. Ultimately it got flagged off at the right time and off were at 7.00 a.m. along the roads of Virar.

The first five kms wound through a village and it was amazing to see the number of people out on the streets cheering and rooting for us with all their might. People of all walks of life and all ages and many school children were cheering, rooting, shouting, exhorting the runners amidst a cacophony of live music, drum beats, bugles et al. The adrenaline rush was tremendous and never before in all the races have i encountered such a cheering enthusiastic crowd. The non-stop cheering just lifted our tempo and myself along with Sandesh were going at a fine clip of 6 minutes per kilometre with nary a struggle or effort. There were plenty of water stations along the road and the two flyovers were encountered on the way up was dismissed with the contempt that regular hill runners give to such flyovers.

Sandesh had set a target of 2.15 for the first half but we were well within that time limit passing through 21 kms in 1.59.32 seconds, a personal best for me and a first time that i had run that distance in under 2 hours. So one achievement already under the belt.

From 22 kms onwards the pace started dropping for me but Sandesh was going strong so i advised him to carry on nevertheless. A combination of heat and traffic started affecting the runners later on exacerbated by lack of water and medical aid in the latter part of the race. There was only sporadic cheering from now on, but whatever cheering brigade was there they were very enthusiastic and rooting for even one runner. It was very enervating to the tired legs. The traffic started getting denser and the heat was affecting the runners more at this juncture. I had one gu-gel with me which i thought i will take only at 37 kms when i need it the most. There was one gentleman who was providing glucon-d powder and it was like a manna from heaven. I got one small packet of parle-g biscuits at around 24 kms which gave me tremendous strength to push through another 3 to 4 kms comfortably. I was looking for a banana vendor along the way but looks like Vasai Virar is not a banana country because i could not espie even one such vendor along the route. But the people on the street were very friendly and encouraging and clapping for the runners along the way.

At around 35 kms i got talking with a young guy all of 16 who had run the 7 kms race and had come 22^nd in the event. He was pretty enthusiastic about long distance running but i advised him not to overdo the stuff. The toughest part was between 23 to 30 kms but after crossing that milestone i was pretty damned sure that i am gonna finish and from the time on my watch, with a decent personal best. After 37 kms we again enter the village belt but this time the sun was beating down mercilessly though the traffic was negligible along this route. The only worry was water getting over but thankfully there  were many good Samaritans along the way providing water at exactly the right stage. Mulraj Gala came at around 38 kms and gave some cold water which was a great relief. Finally the end was in sight and ran down to the finish in a personal best time of 5.07.00 hours.

I would say it was a gruelling tough marathon due to a late start and not sufficient water on the return leg. More volunteers on the return leg and especially when the runners were finishing would have been great but i guess the organisers would improve upon it next year. Their heart was in the right place though and the sincerity was evident along the route. This is one marathon which i feel is going to grow by leaps and bounds in the future. .  .

So that concludes my racing calendar for the year having run 4 events only during the year, three of which were first timers.  

Ultra Marathon Man

Just finished reading "Ultra Marathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner" by Dean Karnazes - an absorbing and overwhelming story of his early athletic prowess, loss of his sister to accident, his subsequent forays away from running for 15 years and rediscovery of running to running ultra marathons to running crazy distances and impossible feats like running the south pole marathon, running 199 miles non stop etc. His heroic attempt at running the Western States 100 miler and succeeding first time and the Badwater Marathon and failing first time have been very poignantly told. A very nice inspirational story with dollops of quotable quotes for keeping in one's mirror or desktop. The paperback edition has given details of his training plan, nutrition, strategy etc. at the end so that helps in people who are planning to run short distances like the marathon instead of crazy distances like ultra marathon and beyond. A must read for all running addicts. 

The Accidental Billionaires

Just finished reading the brilliant biography of the founding of Facebook "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. The book cover says "Sex, money, betrayal and the founding of the Facebook". Sex and money are definitely not connected to the founding of the facebook though money is all pervasive connection because of the greed factor. Mark Zukerberg is portrayed as a near genius programmer but with little flair for business. Business ethics and gentlemen's agreement is the basis on which betrayal is suggested. But i guess any business has to be founded on the blood and guts of somebody and it is blood of one person and guts of another. I hope young entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs do not get ideas on how to found their business upon reading this book. But Indian readers might as well say in Gujarati - "aa ma soo che, aa tho bhadha normal che na bhai!!" Nice narrative style of Mezrich makes for compelling reading.