SeaFair half marathon next weekend

some of my TNT teammates and I are running the bellevue seafair half marathon, in preparation we're planning to do part of the course tomorrow morning at 7.

We're planning to meet up at the intersection of 4th and 100th NE in the bellevue square mall parking lot:



course map here: http://www.seafairmarathon.com/images/Marathon_Map_2007.gif

"just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in"

Back from the hiatus, the show went supremely well even with the mistakes. I thought after accomplishing the marathon and the "Show", life would be peaceful, but it looks like there is more action up ahead. Bellevue half marathon in 2 weeks, 15 minutes show at the Seattle downtown guitar center this weekend and then an open Mic on the microsoft campus in another week. I think I/we are prepared for it all. I just hope my band mates dont find out about my half marathon and my running partners dont find out about my gigs :) As they say the best way to keep a secret is out in the open. This way I will know for sure who reads my blog anyway.

Back to the show, we had a good lineup of songs, including two of our original and very dark numbers. We decided to cut Aitebar, somehow its our Achilles just like Floyd. I'm still waiting on the videos, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, I'll shamelessly copy some unflattering pictures here

The concert was held for a school that Mona and Umaimah are working on setting up in Akri with The Citizens' Foundation. Its a great cause, please check out www.thedreamfly.org for more details.

pictures courtesy of Waqas Ahmed and Atif Gul

Nauman - drummer

Me - waiting for my cue

Take a bow

Do Pal
bla bla bla
more bla
Adil - singer

Alvi with his strat

Concert coming up!

If anyone out there is interested, my band will be performing next weekend on the Microsoft Campus for a charity event for a school in Rural Sindh (province in Pakistan). It is $25 a person to attend and 100% of the money goes to the charity. I'll add some more details about the school, how to get the tickets and the organization we are partnering with (TCF - The Citizen's Foundation) tomorrow. Meanwhile you can check out the videos to the right or check out http://www.youtube.com/tmbrocks

Bashira in trouble

I just rediscovered this clip :) For those that dont know about this, this was a sketch comedy show in pakistan in the 80s (?) (called 50-50) at par if not better than snl. unfortunately, the standards have since fallen. This clip is about a typical punjabi film shot in english. The results are hilarious

12 year old boy

Some of the race stats

Chip Time 5:14:22
Clock Time 5:20:13
Overall 10194
SexPl 5874
DivPl 985
Age Grace 39.7%
pace 12:00
total division 1267
total sex 7731
10K 1:06:28
half 2:17:07
21 miles 4:03:13

As you can see I was bringing up the rear :) oh and they were diong a fitness test at the expo, here is how i measure up:
- weight 158.2 pounds (my home scale tells me 148 so its obiously wrong)
- Body Fat 12.3 %
- % Total body Water 60.4%
- Muscle Mass 131.8 lbs
- BMR (how much I should be eating) 1832
- Metabolic age: 12 year old :)
- Bone Mass 7 lbs
- visceral fat rating 2 (?)

pictures!

sun sun sun...

working on my tan

finish line

Stop staring at my a$$ - san diego marathon part I

I am now officially a marathoner! Thank you everyone for your support and loyal (hint!) readership. I'm still waiting for some pictures so I thought I'd do a piece meal update.

The plan ride there was very unique. I have never known so many people personally on a plane (alliteration coincidental but doesnt make me any less cool) on a single day. With the exception of the first class seats, pretty much the entire plane was ours. There was a lot of ra-ra-ra and everyone was chanting "go team!".

trivia: how can you tell if a plane is carrying marathoners? As soon as the captain turns off the seatbelt light, everyone makes a bee-line for the loo. oh and when you're done, you just get back in the line :)

Sitting next to me was Ilana, a tnt mentor and a good friend. We talked Dave Matthews and the conflict in the middle east. It was a very enlightening conversation until my happy pills kicked in. Everything is a blur beyond that :) I think I dosed off for a bit.

Cut to the day before the run. I discovered a little late that I had been given a girl shirt. The plunging neckline and the form fitting shape still causes uncontrollable laughter amongst the fellow runners(namely Fawad) The only replacement was a triathalon shirt (sleeveless). Thanks to my macho-men-dont-need-sunscreen policy my arms are like crispy strips of bacon (turkey and halaal)...

We woke up at 3 am to get to the course before the city woke up. Didn't get a whole lot of sleep but that was too be expected. The run started out fun. As the clock started, the gun shot echoed and they began playing U2's "Its a beautiful day" and it was (initially!). There was a lot of energy and a lot of excitement. I was just done with my 4th of a total 9 restroom breaks on the course so everything looked set.

Now the rock 'n' roll marathon gets its name from the fact that there is a band almost every mile to pump you up (re: hanz und franz). The first band was appropriately dressed in boxers pyjamas and bathrobes and with coffee cups in hand (this was around 6.30 am) they bid us good luck.

The first couple of miles through the city (downtown area) went by pretty quickly. I tried to absorb as much as I could. San Diego welcomed us with open arms and a hearty cheer. It looked like everyone was out rooting for us. I had noticed the restroom lines were growing progressively longer so i decided to christen the bushes with my 5th.

Up until now I was running with Fawad, Sam (my mentor), Melodie and Claire. My servicing nature's call cost me around 15 - 20 minutes (this number may be different depending on where I tell this story - detail embellishments are a necessary evil). I caught up with Sam twice after this one. I think I should probably drink a little bit less now :) I saw Sean (tnt mentor and responsible for tntmarathon.com - thanks Sean!) a few times as well.

Runners are pure geniuses when it comes to T-shirt slogans, some of my favorites:
- stop staring at my ass. and naturally you have to start staring in order to stop
- wine bottle - 26 ounces, marathon - 26 miles, coincidence? I dont drink but it sounded funny :)
- superman and flash were also running putting to rest all doubts that superman although invincible and a veritable super-man still has his ass handed to him by mr. speedy. its the cape that does him in
- there was a guy without shoes dressed as tarzan. paaainful
- winning is a habbit
- front [SYN], back [ACK]

Stay tuned for some more updates, heroic stories, pictures and the exciting conclusion!

Here are some numbers:

- 20,000+ participants
- 6,000+ team in training people who raised a whopping $ 12 million for LLS
- The washington/alaska chapter raised over half a million buckazoids

aaaaaaaite?