5 July
2018
12 June
2018
After the bike ride…
31 May
2018
Desert Run!!
Run in 21st country!!
6K run in the vast nothingness. Winds were howling but the sun was pleasant. Running into the wind was exhausting. Had to come back to the ger camp once to refill water.
You might notice me running with my head down. First off, every time I lifted my head, the scenery was not changing much. But more to the point… there was horse poop, camel poop, cow poop, sheep poop, the-guy-who-never-quite-made-it-to-the-outside-toilets poop all over….
19 May
2018
In case you thought I run only when it rains…
16 May
2018
Run in the rain!
Have you ever heard the constant pitter patter noise of rain drops falling on the wet leaves in the forest?
Or the soft gurgling of the spontaneous rivulets of water hurrying by?
Or the wet bird tweeting as it flutters its wings and then preens them back in their position?
Or the huge splashing sound as you purposefully jump into a water puddle in an otherwise desolate trail?
Or the splish splosh noise of the wet shoes as you put one foot in front of the other?
No?
Then come out and run with me in the rain!!
That was a 4 miler in 37 minutes.
13 May
2018
Sunday morning run!
9 May
2018
Lost in green
29 April
2018
Interesting roadblocks…
Within half a mile of my run this morning, I came across this huge tree that had fallen across the trail. Was wondering what to do when two more runners cane along. One had a bright idea – let’s see if we can get around it. So, we entered the woods on the left and walked along the creek there for a few feet and then got back on the trail. It was pretty cool going into unchartered territories.
Couple of miles later, there was another roadblock – the trail was totally flooded. Those two runners had already sped off after the fallen tree and I never saw them again. My only conclusion was that they must have waded thru the water and proceeded on the other side. I was not up to that much of a adventure. So, I simply retraced my path and did a couple of up and down stretches to finish 6.2 miles…
29 April
2018
10K Sunday morning run..
21 April
2018
Every run is a negotiation game with him..
The problem every morning in Kalyani is that I do not finish off my run first thing in the morning when nobody else is awake and the temperatures are far more bearable and certainly there is no direct sunlight. Before I can get myself there, usually, my brother wakes up. That can only mean the first cup of tea will be soon to follow… And then sitting idly in the balcony, we just start having yet another cup of tea every half an hour or so. Finally, the sun would be up, it would get warm and I start regretting not having finished my run.
Today was no different. Since it had gotten hot, I decided to put in an endurance run. The heat and humidity had already conspired to make the temperatures feel like 107 deg F on the skin.
Then the negotiations began! Any which way I go for a run, I will have to get past my dad who will immediately engage me in a discussion that roughly follows the same pattern…
“Where are you going?”
“For a run”
“Why now?”
“Because it will get warmer later” (did you see how I dodged the obvious question of why I did not do it earlier? ha ha)
“How much will you run?”
“X km”
It really does not matter what X is. I have tried various variations – 10, 8, 6, 5, 2…. His inevitable question is
“Why X? X/2 is more than enough”. He immediately will halve it.
Even if I were to tell him – “Okay, I will do X/2”, he will wait for a few minutes and go “Today is a very sunny day. X/4 should be adequate for today”…
At some point I will leave the house and just go run.
First question today after I came back – as with every day – was
“How much did you run?”
“8 km”.
His response was again classic. I could have said any value and he would have said the exact same thing – “That is enough for this month. You do not need to run any more this month!!
That said, it was a 5 mile (8 km) run in rather oppressive heat and humidity at a sub-10 pace. Towards the end, I had to take a 30 second break to get my heart rate to come down from 170s. That was the penalty I paid for not carrying water with me.
