It's a Bird… It's a Plane… It's...

So its been a while since my last Blog, mainly because my social life has taken a small nose dive of late and I didn't want to blog about everyday boring life.  However this weekend saw me fulfil a life time ambition!!

Ever since I can remember I have been infatuated by Superheros, it started with He-man, my Dad decorated my bedroom floor to ceiling with He-man wallpaper, beddings and accessories.  I quickly moved on to Superman the minute I saw Christopher Reeves flying in the Superman films.  All my life I have wanted to fly like superman and the closest I was going to get was a parachute jump.

Me and superbaby

For my 30th Birthday, back in December 2013 my Mum, Sister and Brother-in-Law bought me a parachute jump, I hoped it was because they knew it was an ambition of mine and not a hint.  I have not had much luck performing the jump, firstly 2014 became very busy, by the time I got round to booking the jump, the British weather kicked in.  Back in October 2014 I booked in for my jump, due to high wind speed it was cancelled before I even got excited, it was booked again in earlier November.  I was offered 2 time slots 8.30am or 2pm.  Skydive Northwest informed me they work on a first come first jump basis and that usually the weather is better in the morning.  So I picked the morning slot.  Me, my Mum, my pregnant Sister and Brother-in-law set off at 6am to Flookbrough near Grange Over Sands. We arrived early and I was nervous and excited, it was cold but sunny it was a good day to jump! Unfortunately the wind was blowing 2 knots higher than the maximum they allow for safety.  The jump centre said we could hang around for a while to see if the weather improved, so we did,  I started talking to a lady who was on my pre-jump training, she had taken the day off work on the Friday, got on 2 trains, and a taxi, then spent the night in a tent to be on time for the jump on Saturday morning, I felt really bad for her as the weather seemed to get worse. We decided to call it quits at about 1pm and heavy hearted drove home.

I booked it again 2 weeks later but when my Alarm went off at 5am Saturday morning we were in the middle of a storm, so I didn't even bother driving unto the Lakes.  Attempt 4 saw me book it for early May 2015 it was the first slot after the winter shut down.  This time me, my Mum and Varsha set off at 6.30am, we arrived nice and early, but the minute we signed in I knew there was no jump, the wind was faster than my first trip.  This time however we got to see the plane in the hanger.  We had some breakfast, re-booked the jump for 13th June and drove home.

FIFTH TIME LUCKY?

Mum, Varsha, Me, Aaryan, Kushal and Sheetal

So this time I decided I will go a little later and call the office when it opens at 8.30am to see if jumps were going a head.  They said the jumps were on!!! Me, my Mum and Varsha set off to Flookbrough, Sheetal, Kush and Aaryan met us there.  It was brilliant the weather was warm with a slight breeze, over head people were parachuting, I was amazed by how soft the landing were, I was getting excited again.  I went to book in and they already knew my name, I had spent enough time at the centre that the staff knew me by name.  As we waited for my pre-jump training again I could see it the wind was increasing and it started to rain slightly.  

"Hi all, due to the low cloud and wind we are suspending the jumping and grounding the flights" 

Not again!!!! We went to the little on sight cafe and decided to have a tea and try some of there amazing home made scones.  Like the previous failed attempts I went for my training.  After the training I had the same feeling as last time, by this point I had lost any nervousness and excitement, what would it take to just jump?!  Finally we heard some good news, the group before me were called to get ready, jumping had resumed!  I was relieved! 

Me, Kush and Sheetal decided we would go to the front of the fence to watch the plane take off and the see the landings.  The cameramen always land first to film the tandem jumpers landing, so the first 2 cameramen land.  As I was watching the tandem jumpers float down I saw a cameraman land out of the corner of my eye, as he landed we heard a massive BANG!!  My attention immediately went to the cameraman, he was lay on the floor flat on his back not moving.  The ground marshal went running over, then 2 more staff member went running over.  The lady on reception went running to her car and came back 5 minutes later followed by an emergency doctor.  A few minutes later an announcement went out that all flights and jumps have been cancelled due to the incident and a air ambulance was on its way.  It looked bad, people were frantically running back and forth and the cameraman still hadn't moved.  The emergency ambulance and the air ambulance arrived at the same time.  They worked on cameraman for about 40mins before they put him on the stretcher and carried him to the helicopter.  I spoke to one of the other jumpers and they told me that his parachute failed, anther person told me something went wrong with his harness.  Either way it did not look good for the poor chap.  As they put the cameraman in the helicopter they called out:

"Rosh Fakira please come to the instructor area to kit up"

Gulp!!

I met my instructor Peter Connor and my cameraman Gary Turner at the board and they were very quick to reassure me.  It turned out that Gary lived in Horwich and Peter was from Manchester and used to live in Lowton.  We went to the hanger to suit up just as the helicopter was lifting off.  For some reason I wasn't feeling nervous, I was getting excited and couldn't wait.  I went back to meet my family and have a few pictures then we went to the plane.  I met the people who I was jumping with and there was a lady I met in my training earlier in the day who was getting very nervous by the second.  The instructors decided the jump order and we squashed into the plane I was jumper 2 and sat next to the door.  As the plane set off the door was closed.  There was no turning back!  We slowly climbed to 12,000ft, the views up were amazing, Peter went through the briefing again on the way up, constantly telling me "don't forget to breath out when we fall" and he clipped my harness into his, as we got to 10,000ft he tightened the straps and we were ready. The cameraman for Jumper 1 climber out and stood on a ledge just outside the plane, Jumper 1 climbed over me to the door, she was dangled over the edge and then off they went.  

I get the tap on my shoulder… I'm next.  Gary climbed out first and held on to handle, me and Peter slid over to the edge.  As I hung over the edge looking at a carpet of clouds Peter was giving me instructions.  All I could think of was how cool it would be if I could walk on the cloud.  Then with no warning off we went!! GO GO GO! 18 months after my 30th Birthday I was finally flying… or falling depends on your point of view.  We instantly did a back flip and then went upside down, I couldn't breath the air was rushing into mu lungs so fast but I couldn't get a breath, I remembered Peter telling me to remember to breath out.  By this point I didn't even know which way I was facing.  Peter shouts look at the camera!! He then pointed it out.  I was like superman! I was flying! I didn't want the feeling to end!  

SUPERMAN

Just as I was getting used to the feeling the parachute was deployed.  The harness went tight and the brakes went on, even though I know you don't go up you carrying on falling it felt like I went up.  I then adjusted my harness to move the straps behind my thighs so I was in a seating position.  Peter then gave me the controls and showed me how to make direct our decent.  We started to do spirals firs to the right then to the left.  I started to feel really dizzy, Peter then said lets do it one more time.  So we did, I started to feel travel sick at this point and we stopped.  The feeling didn't go away as Peter lined up the landing.  I put my legs in the air ready for the landing.  As we touched down I was still feeling disoriented, the ground marshal came over shouting "Rosh you did it!" I was buzzing with adrenaline and I was shaking.  It was BRILLIANT! It's a dream come true and I hope I get to do it again someday.  

Big thanks to my Mum, Sheetal and Kushal for the present and it made it more special that Varsha and my little Aaryan was able to share the day with me.

Avengers! Losing my IMAX virginity

On Friday 1st of May I went to watch the Avengers: Age of Ultron.  I had already seen it on opening night but since I have my Cineworld unlimited card I thought I would go again.  I loved the film the first time round and thought it was better than the first.  I am no cinema critic and to be honest I don't watch it in the same level of detail as my cinema buddies, Dave, Danny and my cousin Dipendra.  I am a film fan, on the premise that a film is a way to escape from your own life for a couple of hours and immerse your self in a different world.  Anyone who knows me will tell you I have a slight obsession with Superheros.  Since I was a 3 year old I have been obsessed with the world of super humans.  It originally started with He-man then quickly moved to the heroes of the Marvel and DC comic universe.

I got to the cinema and there was a showing in the IMAX or a showing 30mins later.  I have never been to see a film in IMAX before so I was very excited and decided to pay the premium price tag.  especially after the guy in the box office told me that it had 2 projectors and a team of mad scientist with laptops in Japan monitoring the sound a picture quality… shhhh I know he's only joking but I would like to imagine it to be true.  I got my popcorn and Coke Zero and head in to the screen with the giddy excitement of christmas.

WOW!!!!!

That was my first thought when I walked in.  The screen was huge! I got in my massive seat and put on my 3D glasses.  This was a downer on my experience, I don't particularly like 3D films as its bit of a novelty and doesn't really add anything to the experience, if anything it detracts for me.  As it got to the trailers I sat there stuffing my face with popcorn, I have already seen these trailers.

Then BOOM!! 

The best 3D film trailer I have ever seen came on.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens… I thought back to how Danny (big Star Wars geek) thought the trailer was going to be screened with the Avengers film... but it wasn't screened.  I was gutted for him when it didn't show, as he waited to watch it. Me and Dave did our best to ruin it for him.  We told him half truths like how the Terminator has a light sabre fight with Darth Vader… I'm not to sure if he believed us.  The scale of the screen with the crashed Star Destroyer towering out of the desert made you feel like you were seeing it in real life.  Then the 3D kicked in… I have been to many 3D films and never have I felt like it did anything, sure the background looks further away, but I want to feel like a kid, I want to be moving around and trying to catch images flying towards my face.  Finally the trailer made me feel like that, I was in a Galaxy far far away!  There were fire ambers flying towards my face I was trying to bat them away, I was sat next to a robot and I was flying through space! The trailer got me more excited then the actual film.  I only have one big request from JJ Abrams.  Please make the rest of the Film as good as this trailer, if you cannot make it better.  I will be watching it in 3D IMAX.

Back to the film.  I don't really have a review apart from.. stop reading this waffle and go watch the film  if you haven't already. I have seen it twice you idiot! what does it tell you!  For those who have seen it I have a few questions that the film didn't really answer for me.  In Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D fell and everyone scattered, how are the Avengers still a team? Why is Hawk Eye an Avenger? And seriously Bruce Banner would never pull Scarlett Johansson in a million years… he doesn't even comb his hair.

The films storyline is basically about retrieving Loki's sceptre, it is continuation of all the marvel films that had come to past, not just the previous Avengers.  The opening scene was brilliant and I thought that the film was just going to be an other Hollywood, fight, fight, exploding build, slow motion shot, hot girl, more exploding buildings, kind of film.  But that was not the case.  The film had fast high octane moments with slow sections to let you catch your breath.  It had a story line, it had comedy and it even fit in a car chase.  I believe someone reached into my brain and pulled out a film that I would make.  This time round I feel there was no need for character introductions as we already knew the team, this time round they were a team and there was some chemistry, even Captain America (who for some reason is dressed in the Puerto Rico flag) was cool.
My favourite fight was the Hulk vs Iron man.  It may have just been an excuse for mindless violence but it was great fun.  The concept of Ultron was brilliant, I would say Tony Stark needs to watch Terminator… dude what do think is going to happen if you make AI?  Hollywood has shown us that no good can come of it.  The best line of the film belongs to the most pointless superhero ever, Mr Hawk Eye, he gave a great speech to the Scarlet Witch. At the end things were going nuts and he dives into a building with the Scarlet Witch, she is wimping out and he tells her how non of this craziness makes sense. Even though I am not a Hawk Eye fan, possibly because I am a big fan of the Green Arrow (watch the TV Series, thats how you should be an archer superhero with no powers) he definitely stow the show.  In the last film he was sidelined but this time he was more of a leader, the glue that held the team together.

The film ends on a bit of a low for me but there is going to be another film and hopefully my favourite Avenger, Iron Man will be back.

If some invents a Iron Man suit and needs a guy to test it… call me!!

Half Marathon Runner

Sunday 26th April 2015 will be the day I completed my first half marathon… it will be a day I will never forget.

The half marathon weekend started on a very, very big high for me on Saturday morning, I woke up to the news that 2 of my best friends had a beautiful little boy, little Josef William Shea. The event started at 10am sharp on Sunday morning, but you could register early to to save some time and stress on Sunday.  After writing my previous blog "Running Eve" I decided to have a rice and 3 before heading off to Blackpool to get the early registration.  

I got to Blackpool and drove straight to the Hilton Hotel to pick up my race pack, this had my number, some safety pins and my timing chip.  I then went to check into my B&B.  

I checked in to the Langroyd Hotel www.langroydhotel.co.uk on Station Street, near the Pleasure Beach.  I wasn't expecting anything good just a rubbish room in a B&B used for stag do's.  I was wrong!!! I arrived at the hotel and rang the door bell and a friendly face invited me in. I went to the bar area/reception and I told them I was here to run in the half marathon, the owners John and Jane were instantly supportive.  Jane offered to open for breakfast at 8am rather than the 9.30am usual slot.  She also offered to make me a healthy omelette to start my day.  I asked John and Jane if it was possible if I could pay for a later checkout so I could have a shower before I went home and they were completely supportive and said don't worry about it and that I could leave when I was ready.  I can't say enough nice things about John and Jane, they made me feel really welcome and part of their family.  Even when I left Jane gave me a hug.

Saturday evening I met up with Danny and Claire who were only staying a few doors down in another B&B.  We went for something to eat and a walk up and down the Golden Mile.  We saw the sun set in Blackpool and surprisingly it looked really beautiful and romantic even with all the stag and hen groups being loud.  

Sunday Morning…  I could hardly sleep Saturday night I was nervous (see the last post) I woke up, showered and got into my running gear and bounced downstairs.  I had my early breakfast and met up with Danny.  We arrived at the Hilton early but there was not any parking.  We drove round for what felt like hours until we found a spot.  This was it no turning back now! we gathered in the holding penn and I met up with Kat from work who decided that if I was going to run the half marathon then she was doing it.  She had little training but fancied giving it a go.  I like to think I inspired her… she claims she was planning on doing it anyway she just left it until last minute to sign up….

10am… As they say in F1 the light are out… GO! GO! GO!  instantly me and Danny set off at a lightening pace for me.  I secretly hoped that with the hours of training me and Danny did together that we could at least run a small section of the half marathon together otherwise I would have felt disappointed.  The first mile felt great, there were over 2000 people around us and a bunch of people on the pavements supporting us and cheering.  We ran the first mile in 8.17.  I managed to keep with Danny for the first 4 miles, we ran from the Hilton, past the tower, down the Golden Mile (which is just over 2 miles), past the Pleasure Beach, and down to the giant glitter ball and round the loop.  About the 3.5miles mark I couldn't keep the high tempo and knew that this wasn't a small 5K sprint and I needed to pace my self so I slowly dropped the pace a little.  I was happy that we did the first 4 miles the way we trained.  I was even more happy with the time.  I covered the first 4 miles in 33min 48sec.  

I then tried to pace myself which was difficult without any tracking gadgets or the MapMyRun app telling me my pace.  I noticed I was running at a similar pace to another runner at the side of me and she had a GPS gizmo, I asked her what my pace was and it was pretty good, I decided if I stick with her then at least I know what pace she was aiming for and that I could keep up.  I introduced my self to Vivian and we started chatting, I was telling her that I was keeping a look out for my mum, sister, brother in law and my beautiful nephew Aaryan.  I ran the next 3.5 miles with Vivian at a good comfortable pace of about 9.15 per mile.  I did the first 10k of the event in approximately 53min.  6.5miles in to the half marathon I saw the site I had been waiting for all morning… My family! to my surprise they were helping the runners by handing out water.  Me and Viv ran over said hi and got a quick drink.  

About the 7mile mark I felt a sharp pain in my back, I felt like I was having a heart attack, I couldn't breath! I told Viv that I would catch her up, sadly that would be the last I saw of my new friend.  After a few minutes the stitch disappeared and so did my pace.  I went from running at 9.15 miles per min to 9.53, and to make things worse we left the party atmosphere of the promenade to the lonely section of the run.

Mile 9 was horrible, I hit the wall I wanted to stop, this section was uphill, it was running in the wind and I was all alone, I would occasionally see people running past me but that was it.  I had lost my pace tracker and I dropped down to 9.58 for the 9th mile.  I kept looking up for other runners on their return but I couldn't see them, then I saw the other runners running below me on the sea front.  I could see little cut throughs that would take me down there and cut a mile or 2.  The thought went through my head that I should cheat and end this pain, gladly I pushed through and I didn't cheat.  The 10mile mark came and it lifted my spirits and I picked up the pace a little, however by this time my new trainers started to rub my feet, my early pace was now a distant memory I was now running 9.46 miles along the sea front.  I still didn't have anyone to talk to or pace myself against and I was now in a mental battle with my inner self, all I could hear was my inner self saying "just stop, stop now!"  

I got to the 12th mile and threw my arms in the air and let out a little shout "PB" in celebration, I had never ran past 12miles. I got to the 12th mile in 1hr 51mins.  I took 3 steps past the 12 mile marker and I got stuck with a horrible cramp in my right calf. I stumbled around for a second and then tried to run it off, I knew if I stopped I wouldn't have started running again so I grit my teeth and ran through the pain.  I couldn't fully stretch my calf but I hobbled on.  I got to the 13th mile marker and I could see the crowd, this gave me a massive lift and my pass increased again but I was in agony.  As I got near the end I heard Danny shouting and then heard my family, it was great and I knew this was the final push.  I drew up my last bit of energy and ran the final bit of the course.  Unfortunately there was a horrible ramp that moved us from the paved area on the beach back to the road.  I imagined I was on Gladiators running up the final travelator, i got to the top, overtaking a bunch of people.  I saw some other guest from the hotel who waited to cheer me on and I was on the running the final 100m.  All of a sudden my cramp attacked me and I could not feel my legs, in slow motion I came crashing down in front of about 300people.  I was lying face first on the concrete floor 100m away from the finish.  I just wanted to curl up and stay there.  I forced my self to get up and finish the run properly.  I could not put weight on my knee properly so I limped over the finish line.  

I completed the half marathon in 2hrs 4mins and 53 seconds.  I am a little bit disappointed with the time as I aimed for higher, however on reflection I am proud I finished when all I wanted to do was stop.  I am proud knowing I gave 100% and I did my best with no regret.  I celebrated with my little Aaryan and a plate of fish and chips before heading home. 

Me and Aaryan at the finish line - poor little guy was tired after the all the running