A lil' bit of speedwork and rain

The beep of the alarm clock going off at 5:04am really pierced the depths of my consciousness and jolted me awake. My instantaneous thought, after putting off the alarm, was to say, "To hell with the workout. Go to sleep!". Nonetheless, I lay in bed, my chest heaving from the sudden spike in my heart rate; courtesy the shock of the alarm clock. I looked out the window and saw that the dawn was just about breaking. I dragged myself to the kitchen and the strong aroma of coffee did me more good than the caffeine kick.

I took off, thundering on my motorbike and reached my start point to ease into a gentle warm up. I hid the bottle of orange juice I'd carried, to stave off the hypoglycemia that has often struck me. I have been losing too many bottles of my favorite drink to mischievious school children, that revel in taking them away. The moderate speed workout seemed to flow easily at first; however, just as I was feeling the strain, the heavens broke open and I felt relief at the sudden and unnatural cool down. The orange juice helped me stem the loss of glycogen. I reached home exhausted and just as I plonked myself on the floor, Dojo came trotting over for a customary tickle under the chin:-) Not a bad start to the day.

Karla - MTDC

It was the 2nd Saturday of the month and my long weekend. I was scheduled to drive to Karla (Lonavala) and spend time with my Company team. While, they had gone ahead, early in the morning, to visit Kamshet Dam, I thought I'd keep them company over appertiffs in the evening. Accordingly, I got enough time to put in a medium long run that stretched my limits a bit and I also had a nice cool beer to rid myself of dehydration.

I drove to Lonavala, listening to my favorite songs; Santana, Bread, Eagles, Cliff Richard and yes, Lorna' Goan songs:-) It was a nice relaxing drive and I felt at peace with my thoughts. The verdant landscape as I neared Lonavala was reminiscent of my times with Catholic friends in Pune, in the late 80s. It felt heavenly as I drove thru' a ghostly fog that rolled down the Ghats, making visibility a tad difficult on the expressway. I finally arrived at Karla resort and settled in with my team to some shots of whisky and a typical maharashtrian non-vegetarian dinner. I had fitful sleep that night as I was kept awake by the incessant drumming of rain on the roof of the cottage I'd been put up in. It also felt very eerie to hear the rain drops pitter-patter outside and a ghoulish wind howling all night long.

The next morning I woke up and as I went about my ablutions, I thought of all the friends that might have assembled at the i-Race in IIT. I wished I could have somehow woken up earlier and driven down to join them in time for the race. I realised that even I did, I would be in no condition to do a 10K, given that I had just done a long run 24 hrs back! Well, I'm sure just being there would have been enough. I had a nice breakfast of hot coffee and egg omlette with buttered bread - its nice to spoil yourself sometimes. Besides, what the heck, I can easily burn off the butter:-) I then drove back at a cruising speed, breathing in the crisp mountain air in the Lonavala Ghats, as I wound my way downhill, this time. Glad to return home to the family and Dojo and some delectable "Caju Fenny" sent by Joe, my bro-in-law. Simple pleasures:-)