Running Diaries etc...

Training for the Training
Training for the training, is not as easy as i expected. Marathon is many months away, training program that i intend to follow isn't. Its expected that my fitness is at a certain level for me to start the training. While i would be cheating a bit on that, given that i have not been running as regularly as i should, i seem to have extended it by not running the entire distance as i promised myself for the week. I fell 4 kms short. But that's about all the negatives that there is to it. Rest of the picture is bright, as i see it. I have come through the first week of training for training. In five weeks, i should be ready enough to start a marathon training program.


Hal Higdon will be my virtual coach. Not that i have signed up for his one-on-one training program, but i have after certain deliberation decided that his program as against Jeff Galloway is what would suit me better. I am told by a trusted source that these two are the best that are available in the online world to train you for the big 42. In this i also ordered my first book online - Marathon : The ultimate training guide, by Hal Higdon himself. Like any other American, he does a good job of promoting himself. That apart, i like what he has to say. My journey to work every morning now has a regular dose of tips and thoughts and experiences on running as narrated by Hal. Not something i can recommend to all. They may seem boring to most, not a leisure read you see. Though the book is running faster than my training pace. I should expect that, given the one discipline i had developed in past few years is reading, not running. Running, i had left that behind, 11years ago, in BHEL Bhopal. The exceptions were past four years, those few days and months, that i trained for 21km. As much as i thought i would not need a reason to hit the road, it took Standard Chartered and Procam to give me one, as commercial as it sounds, but what the hell. It is doing some good. I am not sure if i would have been doing this had it not been for me staying in this city itself. Some luck is a must.

The Bet
My last run was on Saturday, 9 km, longest in this leg of training. This was a mid morning run, between 1100 & 1200 hrs. The pride of it is the heat i managed it in. I mostly run at nights, almost always. The thought of running in the heat of day is scary. Which does not strike you till you have hit the road and into your 2nd or 3rd kilometer. Its too difficult to stop though, for your working against a goal. The mind keeps making it tougher to go on, while still with-standing enough to not stop. Imagination runs its own race. This time i could think of wind and sun, betting on me. The bet was on whether i would finish 10k or give up midway. The patch on road that climbed was where the sun had set its traps, releasing heat that was beyond what my running generated (one reason why i don't like running day-time). Wind would pep me hard with the most encouraging gust when i ran the flat patch of road. They had both placed themselves so strategically well that it was almost impossible to call it a coincidence, or to say that this cant be happening. The sun stood right at the starting point of the 1.45km road, the point where i decide on whether or not to run "one more". This is also the point from where the ascend starts, the hill patch, where i feel most tempted to give up. The wind on the other had took the flat road patch before the end of one round, the part where i am generally the fastest, most confident and clearly contemplating running one more. The sun pulled me down every time i climbed the hill at the start of every round, and the wind pushed me with a smile and a clenched fist, asking me to hold on. This went on for every round i ran. I would want to give up and still not do it entirely.


At the sixth round, when i touched 9km, i decided that this was all the heat of the day i deserve. A distance of 9km in heat meant at least 11km in normal temperature. Anything more could have given me the high for the day and injuries for the night and beyond.


I cant say for sure if Sun won the bet, for it was not entirely convincing, i did not give up mid-way. Neither can i say that Wind won it, i did not finish convincing.


What i think i did was give them a good time and a chance laugh it over a beer .

Kingdom of Goat
When i run , I pass a quiet part of road that has small hill patch, part of which is cut to make the road. Whatever that remains of that small hill is steep (almost vertical), covered with little green plants with light green leaves that almost glow during the day . The hill, that patch, is also covered with a net. I guess both are done to protect against a minor land slides.

This time when was running by, i noticed a goat, a white goat, as uninterested yet as active as they look, roaming around the area. By the time i passed by again, running, i noticed the goat trying to climb the hill. I have no clue whats with goats and hills. What is it that makes a goat want to climb? We have heard and read endless inspirational talks that try to inspire us with this act, but no one knows why a goat does it at the first place. That was not what i thought then though. I was too busy running and could only afford to notice. I would notice this goat everytime i passed by. Once i saw it roaming on road, then i saw the goat trying to climb, and then next time i see the goat was struggling to come down. And finally it disappeared, don't know where. Didn't search that hard. My fascination to the hill was clearly beyond the goat. I just liked the fact there was such a picturesque little patch close to where i live.

The hill as far as i can make out, does not lead to anything. Not another building or structure starting from where the steep surface makes way for the flat surface. So i was a bit puzzled when i saw a small line of iron stairs rising from the foot-hill all the way up, winding and curling a bit, negotiated with the hard rocks that refused to make way for it. The stairs simply ended at the top, to a trail, after its 30 feet journey. The trail ran parallel to the road, appearing like a thick line from 30 feet below, where i stood. After my 9km run, during the walk i took to cool-down, i passed the patch and noticed the watchman coming down the stairs. This chap is silent observer to my runs as he mans an odd building labeled as Municipal Corporation Training Center. I rarely look or smile at anyone when i am running. Small talks or gestures are not for me. But this time, given the leisure of walk and the power of curiosity, i asked -
Me - what does this stair lead to?
Watchman - Nothing. Its just a cage there.
i notice a small iron cage in the middle of the trail on top
Me - what's in that cage ?
Watchman - the goat, i put it back in the cage.
Me - Why do you have a goat
Watchman - its not mine, its company's.
Me - Company's goat!!? what does Municipal Corporation Training Center keep a goat for!!

No reply.

The lone goat in its kigdom of small hill.

And he spoke..

"Welcome to rickshaw MH-04 1425 .I will be your captain for today. Please be seated. You must wonder why i call myself that, captain, and not driver. Let me ask you something. Have you ever wondered why we drive as fast as we do? I can tell from that look on your face that you not just have, but worried to trauma over it. haha! You know, we rickshaw-drivers believe that at some point, if we continue breaking speed barriers, we will fly........... you must think its stupid, but then you know a dragonfly cant fly, it just does not know that it cant. Now if you think Rickshaws have never flew yet they continue to think they can.........i will call it your good humor, and carry on believing.

Is that a book that you took out to read. Please don't, its not recommended. Your focus should be on the road. Ya i know you may think its my job, but you would be surprised to know how its yours too! Well, you see every time you are not looking at the road, you tend to not be prepared for that sudden swirl i make to overtake or to negotiate that pot-hole i saw 30 meters ahead but did not tackle it till we were a meter away from it. Notice the "we" here, :) , this implies your as responsible for a safe ride as i am. Actually i am not , i am only responsible for my fun ride...hehe, just kidding. Coming back to the unprepared swirl while you are reading. It jerks you to sides, needlessly, spraining your neck. Price you pay for unpreparedness. And when i brake, yes, you would not know when, not that you will know otherwise, but imagine how your unprepared reading head will come and hit the back of my head when i break...haha......that would be funny. And if you still insist on reading then your really pushing your luck. This is not a plane, i mean it is, i mean i wish one day. But no, you cant read, or even listen to music, because you wont enjoy any of that. These rickshaws are not made for those. I don't think you have ever wondered why Bajaj, our providers, never took the little trouble of fitting those springs over the wheels called shock-absorbers. Either they did not want you to do your thing, or they simply understood our boredom and did this to ensure you and me have more conversation. Do you realise the only time you speak to me is when i hit a pot-hole or speed or brake? Ya, we need that conversation. It lets us know that we are special too :) . So don't be surprised if i speed at least three times in spite of your demands to not. The reasons are two - a.) i want to fly & b.) i want to talk.

There is much more that you would need to know for a happy safe ride. But i guess we will leave that for later.

Welcome aboard! "