Put in a couple of miles by myself before Mr. Discipline Samaresh showed up at 8 sharp. And then Surajit joined. Put in another four miles – which felt like a lot more since Mr. Long Strides Surajit was pacing me at 8:30 min/mile. The trail was pretty desolate in the below freezing temperatures this morning.

The idea was to put in 8 miles. But the weather was great. Put in 2 more and then topped up with another 2. Took an hour and 55 minutes.
Somewhere around the tenth mile, ran into Arup and Bishan!

First time in my life.
The run in downtown Atlanta streets started rather innocuously with pouring rain. Then the strong winds kicked in. And the tall buildings on either side was creating a tunnel effect. So much so that I kept losing my running cap. The third time, it flew into the wet road and a car nearly ran over it. That is when I realized I needed a solution.

Found an underground parking lot nearby. Picked a desolate part of the lot – it was a quarter mile stretch and finished off the run in safer conditions. First time in my eleven year running career, I ran in an underground parking lot!!

Seemed like as good an excuse as any to go put in an 11 mile run. Today was a little faster. Took the same time as last week’s 10 mile run.

Perfect running weather in the hills. Took me about an hour and fifty minutes..

I can assert, with some level of shivering, that on a cold evening with completely wet dirt roads, each and every muddy puddle is concealed by the sleet accumulating in your glasses. I do harbor some doubts since I have a nagging suspicion that towards the end, I missed stepping into one 🙂 Aargh!! My carefully cultivated sartorial sense was unceremoniously compromised as I trudged back home in my blue running jacket and what to any eyes with unsleeted glasses would appear as dirty brown shoes.