It was, by far, the most enjoyable long run I've had so far. I wonder how it all fell in place these past few weeks. I think, that at this rate we will all end up, as a group, making each other strong marathoners. The only words that came to mind when I realized my love for running were;
I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn't get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn't carry on that way
Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true
Didn't know I was so lonely , till I found you
You can go the distance
We'll find out in the long run
The day began with a "beep" penetrating the Beta - waves sleep and I had to wake up with deep reluctance and a grumble. I sat and "listened" as is my wont and found out that I was not really up to the long run that we'd planned today. I was thankful for the off-day I took from running, yesterday or else I would have been even more miserable. Anyways, I had to meet the group of runners that were raring to go for this long run.
We began our run and there were 13 of us and a few dropped out after the first loop of 10.7K. Rajesh, who had paced up quickly, decided to call it a day, after the 2nd loop. I thought as much cause the heat and humidity cannot sustain going out too fast for a long run. The steep hill took everything out of us and then there was just Mahesh, Srinivas, Amit, Sohanlal and me for the full 20 miler, while Ashok was spurred on to do his first 25K. Oh God! the third loop was a killer and I could see our star marathoner, Mahesh struggling. He kept telling me, "were it not for you Daniel Sir, I would have given up after 2 loops". I told him what I tell my runner friends, "learn to overcome fatigue in training and your race will be a "winner"".
The steep hill on the third loop with the heat and humidity and the Tee sticking to my body, was a real killer. I could just about give everything I had to keep Srinivas about 10m ahead of me, within my sight. I had a brief moment of vertigo (about 2 secs) due to low blood sugar, at the crest of the hill. Then, we were thru' :-))))))), Oh heavens! It felt so super to run the last 1.5K to the finish, it was like a real "race"! There was the applause from the others that were in awe at the fact that we actually did it. This is because there was exhaustion on each and every face after the 2nd loop and going for a third one was - well - a looney idea! I reached home and was achy all day long. The single "Carlsberg" beer I had in the afternoon felt like ambrosia:-)
