A Thousand Splendid Suns

I read the book by Khaled Husseini and it is the poignant story of desolation and sorrow, of a woman named Mariam. It is possible to identify with her heart rending emotions as the author takes you through her blighted existence. I finished it and felt a deep sense of melancholy. I then pondered about our lives and the lives of so many in this world, of the hopes and aspirations; of joys and sorrows. Life is indeed hard and it doesn't seem like we are having a hard time when we dwell on Mariam' fate. It allowed me to brood over and take stock of my life on the weekend.

I plunged headlong into a foolhardy plan to do a marathon at Aarey with some of our runners and it turned out to be just that - absolutely foolhardy. I was in Jalna (near Aurangabad) and even as I turned over in bed the night before, I felt the dull ache of unrecovered trauma to the muscles. It was then that I felt the first pangs of doubt about this run. The next sucker punch I got was when I awoke at 4:30am on race morning and found that I had accumulated sleep deficit and was thoroughly exhausted. How does one cope with a situation where well meaning runner friends have volunteered to man water stations to help you finish this race? You don't; you just do it!

As it turned out the weather was a no-go for a long run, with its heat index in the "Heat Exhaustion" zone but who listens! We set out hesitantly at a snail' pace and soon enough I was feeling as if I was breathing in the same air that I was exhaling. At the 25K mark I decided that I would not do too much of this run in discomfort or pain - just not worth it. At 30K I threw in the towel which turned out to be a good thing because I checked my urine colour at home and it was dark orange! None of our group risked finishing the full distance of 42K and with good reason.

The next day was the meetup at the NIKE RUN CLUB' second season and I felt cheerful meeting familiar faces and new ones. After the meetup Dharam a runner from RFL treated me to breakfast at "Tea Centre", a speciality joint with a range of tea flavours. He is writing a book about his life and the transition he made with running as his best friend. I was envious and amazed to know from him that he is taking a 6 month sabbatical to train in the US (San Francisco Bay area) for a full marathon and to try and get a Boston Qualifier. He told me I figured in his book and that he had added a page on me and my tuppence worth of advice on running injuries. So much for my own plans to write a book:-(