FRIDAY
Friday was my 38th birthday. I woke up early, ready to run. Much to my surprise, when I walked out of the bedroom, I saw that I had just received a message on my phone. It was a running buddy, checking to see if I was heading out for my usual 6am run. I quickly replied that I was and hurried downstairs, eager to have someone to accompany me on my birthday run.
After a warning that he didn't want to run one of my "quick runs," I proceeded to follow him for the duration of our three miler.
The route was the Statues 3 Miler, one of the first routes I created on my MapMyRun account. It leaves campus and passes what is alternately called the Salt March Statue, The Dandi March Statue or the Gyarah Murti. This image depicts Gandhi's march to the sea to protest the British tax on salt. From there, it progresses to Teen Murti, another statue that gives the name to the complex containing Jawaharlal Nehru's residence, now a museum. After that, the route turns back to school for a quick 3 mile loop.
Thanks Keir for the surprise and a great start to my birthday!
RUN STATS:
Distance - 3.02 miles
Time - 23:42 (my sixth fastest time on the route-must be out of shape!)
Soundtrack - The Beatles, Revolver
SATURDAY
Saturday morning I headed out for a group run at 6:30am. Over the last few years, several teachers at school have dropped in and out of our informal running group. Many parents have joined also. Saturday morning it was three parents, a local ultra runner and I.
I arrived to the gate in the dark with two different shoes on, one street shoe and one trail shoe. After establishing the fact that no, I wasn't gettting dressed in my sleep, I produced their partners and we decided whether we were hitting the pavement or hitting the woods. A six mile street route was decided upon and we headed out to Sarojini, a local market (in my street shoes, the trail runners stayed behind). It's a fun route, so I was excited to get started. See this post from last year for more info about the market and the route.
The first leg of the route had us cutting across Nehru Park. For the past five years, I have been running, playing ultimate frisbee and hanging out in this park. On Saturday morning, I came across something for the first time in the park. It was a suspension bridge! And it was painted in rasta colors. Each slat was painted red, yellow or green. I was so giddy upon finding the bridge that I actually let out a goofy scream! The five of us hit the bridge running and as you could expect, it was a bouncy trip. Our strides went crazy and the bridge was all over the place. We loved it. The guy that was walking across in the opposite direction though, he probably thought something else.
It was a cool start to a run that would continue along the theme of discovery. Instead of sticking exactly to the route, buoyed by the excitement of Thursday's run, I set out to find a secret back way to Lodhi Garden. We found two locked gates, a secret escape route from a plant nursery, a row of hidden shacks and ended up on railroad tracks. After dismissing the possibility (for now) of a secret way to Lodhi, we set back on track and finished up the route.
I love running with this group, everyone's really nice and of course, it's great to have company.
Friday was my 38th birthday. I woke up early, ready to run. Much to my surprise, when I walked out of the bedroom, I saw that I had just received a message on my phone. It was a running buddy, checking to see if I was heading out for my usual 6am run. I quickly replied that I was and hurried downstairs, eager to have someone to accompany me on my birthday run.
After a warning that he didn't want to run one of my "quick runs," I proceeded to follow him for the duration of our three miler.
The route was the Statues 3 Miler, one of the first routes I created on my MapMyRun account. It leaves campus and passes what is alternately called the Salt March Statue, The Dandi March Statue or the Gyarah Murti. This image depicts Gandhi's march to the sea to protest the British tax on salt. From there, it progresses to Teen Murti, another statue that gives the name to the complex containing Jawaharlal Nehru's residence, now a museum. After that, the route turns back to school for a quick 3 mile loop.
Thanks Keir for the surprise and a great start to my birthday!
RUN STATS:
Distance - 3.02 miles
Time - 23:42 (my sixth fastest time on the route-must be out of shape!)
Soundtrack - The Beatles, Revolver
SATURDAY
Saturday morning I headed out for a group run at 6:30am. Over the last few years, several teachers at school have dropped in and out of our informal running group. Many parents have joined also. Saturday morning it was three parents, a local ultra runner and I.
I arrived to the gate in the dark with two different shoes on, one street shoe and one trail shoe. After establishing the fact that no, I wasn't gettting dressed in my sleep, I produced their partners and we decided whether we were hitting the pavement or hitting the woods. A six mile street route was decided upon and we headed out to Sarojini, a local market (in my street shoes, the trail runners stayed behind). It's a fun route, so I was excited to get started. See this post from last year for more info about the market and the route.
The first leg of the route had us cutting across Nehru Park. For the past five years, I have been running, playing ultimate frisbee and hanging out in this park. On Saturday morning, I came across something for the first time in the park. It was a suspension bridge! And it was painted in rasta colors. Each slat was painted red, yellow or green. I was so giddy upon finding the bridge that I actually let out a goofy scream! The five of us hit the bridge running and as you could expect, it was a bouncy trip. Our strides went crazy and the bridge was all over the place. We loved it. The guy that was walking across in the opposite direction though, he probably thought something else.
It was a cool start to a run that would continue along the theme of discovery. Instead of sticking exactly to the route, buoyed by the excitement of Thursday's run, I set out to find a secret back way to Lodhi Garden. We found two locked gates, a secret escape route from a plant nursery, a row of hidden shacks and ended up on railroad tracks. After dismissing the possibility (for now) of a secret way to Lodhi, we set back on track and finished up the route.
I love running with this group, everyone's really nice and of course, it's great to have company.
Also, this route usually looks like Marvin the Martian, but on this given Saturday, the lines were adjusted a bit.
RUN STATS:
Distance - 6.28 miles
Time - 54:10
Soundtrack - De la Soul, Buhloone Mindstate and the Clear Lake Auditorium EP (more goods from the Valentine's Day free download!)
SUNDAY
Damn Google Maps. Sometimes your run just gets 3 miles longer.
On Sunday, I decided to continue my exploration of Delhi and thought I'd try a new direction. There are relatively few options of "which way to go" due to the railroad tracks, the airport and the closed roads around the presidential palace. After studying the maps on Saturday night, I decided to try a new six mile route on new roads. I knew it would be a risk based on the fact that I didn't know what the road would yield and sure enough, as soon as I got there, I found that it was in fact a closed gate into military land. That's also typical for this part of town. I decided to keep going, but I knew that it would lengthen my route.
The adjustment route was supposed to be about six miles. I headed up through the ridge to a new section of Delhi that I've never seen. It was fun to be in a new part of town (Rajender Nagar) and I saw some cool new things. However, the route is along pretty busy roads so I'm not sure that it will become a regular feature.
Like I said, it was supposed to be about six miles. At one point during the route, I wasn't sure which way to go. I guessed, and guessed wrong. It added another three miles to my route. Like I said, sometimes your run just gets 3 miles longer.
In any case, it was nice to go for a long run and to know that I can do it. It's also fun to think about which parts of town I can explore when I start my longer runs (16, 18, 20 miles).
RUN STATS:
Distance - 9.33 miles
Time - 1:14:13
Soundtrack - Danny Brown, Old and CVRCHES, The Bones of What You Believe
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