Missed workout

I am not sure what caused me to wake up at 2:52am but it made me groan in resigned dejection. I was on tour to Madurai and Coimbatore since the last 3 days and was looking forward to doing a long run today. Accordingly, I had set my alarm for 5am and I now realised that it would have to be called off. Well, the fact of the matter is that last night, when I took stock of my situation, I assessed that not only was I running a sleep deficit, but I was exhausted and running a temperature. Besides, with only an egg dosa for breakfast and curd rice for lunch on saturday, and with no hydration whatsoever, I was sure to face a disastrous long run depleted of glycogen and hydration.

I am sure it was God' own way of telling me that I am better off turning off the alarm and resting today. The old adage of 'live to fight another day' floated thru' my mind as I felt sleep and exhaustion bring on a heaviness on my eyelids. When I finally woke up, it was 7:35am I realised that it was well past the time to run and voila, I was feeling on top of the world with a renewed vigour in my being. The warm furry form of Dojo at my feet made me smile and curl up for another 5 mins of 'snooze'. Dojo, who missed my presence, seems to understand how to divide his ministrations between Minoti and me, so that no one is left unattended:-) Well, there is enough time to hydrate and carbo-load today, but the only hitch is that Nihal' wife' birthday, and the ensuing 'celebrations' and late night, could be the damp squib to my noble intentions of doing the long run tomorrow.

Independence run

It was surely the right day for a long run. There would be no traffic and no walkers at National Park; the walkers somehow feel that they've earned the right to stay at home in bed and sip coffee on independence day:-) I rode my bike on a lonely highway with a grey sky and a soft drizzle of rain keeping me company. The wet and cold feeling made me uncomfortable but I dare not curse the rain because the city is headed for water shortage. The parking attendant, under the NP flyover gave me a knowing smile and told his colleague that "this guy runs for 3 hrs". I nodded acknowledgement and thanks for the indirect complement and took off for my start point.

The run went off well except that my sports drink, that I'd painstakingly prepared the night before, got stolen and I had to walk up to a restaurant across the road for plain water! Then there was the pleasant surprise of meeting Giles and Ram, runners from the RFL forum, who for some strange reason, were walking instead of jogging. I was afforded some relief in my exhausting run, when the rain came down in torrents but then as quickly, it disappeared and the sun peeked out from the clouds. I finished in bad shape but felt satisfied that I'd finished at all.

Later that morning, we drove over the sealink for the first time and were in awe at the majestic sight of its engineering complexity and the vast expanse of the sea on one side. We drove to town and visited my sister who treated us to a typicall Goan lunch of roast meat, pullao and potato curry with chapatis. I must not forget the bottle of "Caju" that was offered me with so much love and which I was told was for me to keep even after I'd helped myself to two large tots:-) We drove back home in time to catch 40 winks. Real independence!