Jay Khimani
22/03/2015
Thrilling 30
So as promised in our introductory post, here is the (ir)regular update post on how we have been training. Just for the records, 2nd post doesn't mean this is our 2nd training walk. In fact this is our 6th walk as a part of our weekly team training schedule.
So this week's target was 30km. Our individual day started at 6:30am to complete our daily routine, hog some nice high energy breakfast, prepare some on-the-way snack for our ever hungry belly and some energy drink - traditional Nimboo Sarbat (Lemonade). So for instance here is how preparation looked for Sunil
Plan was to meet at Hoofddorp train station and then travel to starting point of the hike. Location this time was Amsterdamse Waterleidingduinen. This place is really good for trail walks because of its location and geography. It has nice sand dunes (ideal for purifying drinking water for whole Amsterdam) and proximity to Zaandvoort beach also gave some nice trail along the beach side. As a side note, this area is spread across 3400 hectare and provides 50 million cubic meters of drinking water. So we all gathered at the Oase entrance and get down from the comfort our cars and get ready ourselves with some stretching and warmup exercise.
Waterledingduinen has many trail walks marked, but none matched our 30km target, so we just thought to walk all around the periphery which makes it upto 30kms and it covers different terrain - dunes, beach, flat roads etc. To start with it was really not a nice day or say a normal Netherlands day dull overcast with boisterous winds blowing and if that was not enough it also started showering. But none of this was enough to stop us. This is what our map looked like for the whole trail
As we started walking weather started improving. First the showers stopped and then wind got less intense. Also the dense trees protected us from the chilling wind. This made us little more comfy and once our body warmed up, it was all fun. After walking around 7kms and crossing a dune, we hit the Zaandvoort beach. Climbing dune was exhilarating as it was against the wind with sand hitting our faces. It was nice experience (for little while)
We walked for 9 kms on the beach enjoying the early morning breeze, listening to nice soothing sounds of waves. It was amazing that how a simple long walk can help you relax and enjoy and admire the nature's beauty. Irony to what most people try to find in today's ever fast moving life to achieve and enjoy the material things in world.
Anyway after finishing the beach patch, we again turned towards the dunes. By this time we completed little more than 50% of the route and were hungry like dog. So we took a small break and took out some sandwiches and crackers and drank some lemonade. This break with much needed food and lemonade and some rest gave us boost to continue. By this time weather was quite good. Saw glimpse of Sun, it was not much windy. Sky was blue and while on the walk intermittently will get to see deers and stags.
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As we kept walking, we discussed a lot of things - specially in this period of Cricket Woldcup, pre-post match analysis, what went wrong, what was the best part, how those top-of-the-class batsman/bowler should bat/bowl etc. Another big topic of discussion is how we can improve our stamina and the place for the hike for next week. So next week we'll be going to Maastricht for another 30-35km hike. Apart from all these serious talks we have some fun moments and click some photos also.
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And of course we have selfie moment too. :-)
Well this is what we do over the weekend training and pushing ourselves. Please leave us your comment, +1, likes, suggestions. We would really love to hear from you.Cheers !!!
Team Random Walks
Jay Khimani
28/02/2015
The Journey Begins
Introduction
This is the first post which will be followed by different journey which our team - Random Walks - will embark upon. Intention is to capture the memories while we as a team train ourselves for a Oxfam Trailwalker 2015 programme.
So who are we?
First of all who we are? We are a group of 4 friends coming from different walks of life with a common interest - well 2 common interests. First is to hike in nature and enjoy what this beautiful world has to offer and second and probably more important is to make this world a better place to live. We believe an individual can make different, but as a team it can make a bigger difference. This belief and interest for hike introduced us to Oxfam. All thanks to Team Random Talks and good friend and hiker Sunil Kulkarni.Why the name - Random Walks?
To be honest we didn't find a good name and also we are not a serious regular hikers. We hike when we can get sometime out of our busy couch potato schedule, sitting behind our computer, developing some software solutions - yes we are those software engineers. So basically we got introduced to this trailwalker program by Team Random Talks on while having some random talks on a random day, having a random walk in the city of Amsterdam. After two pints of beer down one of our friends randomly blubbered lets name it Random Walks and everybody agreed unanimously - largely because no one else wanted to brainstorm for a better name. :-)
The Challenge and the Cause
Main challenge is the daunting 100kms in 30hrs in the hilly terrain of France. But this is for a good cause. As most of us already know about Oxfam and noble work they do all over the world in about 90 countries with a one goal. Fight the world poverty and make the world better place to live for one and all. Very good idea right? But as we all know in this world there is nothing called free meals. So how do you eradicate poverty from this world? Simple answer is you need money and how do you raise it? By the means of donation and charity. This is the main goal of this Trailwalker program. Raise fund by informing and educating people around on what Oxfam is doing and raise funds for them. How Oxfam does this can be found in more details over here http://www.oxfam.org/en/explore/how-oxfam-fights-poverty
How can you help?
In current time where everything is available online at your fingertips, helping for such a noble cause is very easy. One way is to enrol you and your team for this Trailwalker program and raise fund by yourself OR you can help support our team by donating some money. Making donation is very simple.
- Visit our team page - http://events.oxfamfrance.org/en/projects/random-walks
- On your right you will find a green Donate button. Click it
- On the next page, fill in the amount you wish to donate, your details and pay securely using your credit card.
For now and this post this is enough I guess. Please support us. We'll keep you posted every week with our hike and training. Will also post on which gears we are using and where we are buying and like that in case you are interested. If you would like to hear anything specific from us, we are hearing. Just follow/buzz us on twitter @TeamRandomWalksCheersTeam RandomWalks
Oxfam France est membre de la confédération Oxfam, une organisation internationale de développement qui mobilise le pouvoir citoyen contre la pauvreté. Nous travaillons dans plus de 90 pays afin de trouver des solutions durables pour mettre fin aux injustices qui engendrent la pauvreté. Votre don nous aidera à poursuivre nos actions et contribuera à la construction d'un monde plus juste pour tous. D'avance, merci.
Pour en savoir plus sur Oxfam France : www.oxfamfrance.org
