Joie de vivre!!

When I wrote "Viva Lausanne", my ex-boss in Switzerland was very moved and sent the mail to most of the employees that knew me then. He told me that it was nice for an Indian to run a Marathon in Lausanne and write so nicely about the people. The title of my post, though serving as encouragment to living a full life, there is less to cheer about nowadays and thus the sarcasm - si'il vous plait!!!

I am happy with the run I did on Sunday as it more than surpassed my expectations. I also met my dear Aarey friends and I found that they have scheduled a race of 10k/21k on 4th Jan. They want me to be taking the "lead" in some way but I am wary about these things nowadays for reasons best kept a secret. My friends from IIT that ran the Pune Marathon had a lot to write about the race and I feel excited that they had the same experience that I did almost 10 years ago - I feel vindicated cause "I told them so!"

I am also happy that I met one of the runners in Delhi, from RFL, that seems lost but has a sure fire passion. I do hope that the fraternity grows as the years go by. I feel that disparate groups are existing but there is no "connection" that binds them. I have also a sense of......dunno what it is. But who cares - Viva Goa! (stated with a raising of the toast!)

O Happy Day!

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I didn't think that the day would turn out to be beyond my initially depressing expectations. As I lay on my bed feeling unusual exhaustion, I wondered whether the long run I was to do was mis-timed. My office had declared a holiday in view of the tragic events in Mumbai and I thought it opportune to prepone my long run that is normally scheduled for a Sunday.

I drank my cup of Java and went out with the intention of returning home in case things turned out for the worse. 6K into the run and I felt the strain and wanted to quit and return the next day. Then I thought I'd visit the temple at Aarey but this would mean doing 10.4K - so what! Along the way I met Pankaj Sharma (I enquird, "long run?" and he said, "lets see!") and then Mahesh, and felt elated cause I was with my "brethren". Mahesh decided to join me and I welcomed it cause his pace would put a zip into my run (but it would also tire me quickly:-)).

We went together to the "Hanuman Temple" and decided that we'd do about 16K for the day and waddya know; we ended up doing 3 hrs of running. I don't know whether it was divine benediction or whether it was the fact that everytime we passed Pankaj, he told us that he would do "one more loop" (we were doing 8K loops), that we ended up testing our endurance. I marvelled at the motivation we provided each other for "stretching" our run. We all felt very happy when we were thru' and exchanged notes on our preparations. I like these guys that have been with me at Aarey since such a while.

When I reached home I called Shailendra from colpal and told him I'd visit him. We went as family and discussed his condition. He is doing fine and I pray that he gets a pleasant surprise when the second opinion, he has sought from "Wockhardt", pronounces him as fit to do the SCMM Half Marathon.

On my return from Kharghar, I stopped over at Som' place for beers and Khichdi with chicken cutlets:-) Trust Som to have plain Khichdi:-)))))))))) All in all, a nice morning, a "happy hours" afternoon and a happy day.

Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Wasting the hours in an off-hand way-e-yay
The sun is the same in the relative way but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
Plans that either come to nought or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
I thought I'd something more to say :-(

That was the "dark side of the moon". The bright side for me is that I have made "running" a constant in my life, so far. It has also been my only and constant companion in times of inner strife; helping me sift thru' the confusion of thoughts. A companion like Dojo; who came up to me when I lay awake last night and curled near my feet. As if in silent communion with and compassionate to my situation. I pray that the almighty give me the good health to keep running. Its going to be a new year soon and it will bring good tidings - I'm sure. The resolve is even stronger to get up and run - everytime I fall.

Dilip is headed for Antarctica

Today was the first speed work out after a rather long lay off from my Marathon in Lausanne. I had just completed it and was sipping water while feeling the nip in the air when Dilip came by with a jovial "Hi Daniel". We shook hands and talked about life in general. I then told him about my ex-boss who I'd met up with in Switzerland and the information I had about his trip to Antarctica. I realized with a pleasant surprise that Dilip had already firmed up his plans and was headed there on Jan 19, 2009! It also happened that the details he shared with me exactly matched with the information I had from my ex-boss ie fly to Sau Paulo, spend 4 days, Buenos Aires, spend 2 days, Chile, Peru and then with an "ice breaker" head out for Antarctica with a team of Zoologists, Biologists, Doctors and food rations for the entire trip.

I envied Dilip for this but it seems he envied me more for the fact that I ran a Marathon in Switzerland while on holiday! He complimented me on making his day with some "healthy news":-)) We waved off with a promise to meet up for a drink one of these days:-)

Heart-breaking run

Sunday, 23rd Nov was a depressing day for me and a new low in my life. The previous day, I had returned from an exhausting tour to Bangalore, where I'd eaten junk food, tippled daily and the only time I exercized was when I had to climb the stairs one day at the hotel, when the lift was under repair. Not a very healthy state of affairs for a fitness-freak (not in terms of diet, please :-)) like me. So, I was looking forward to this long run at Kharghar with the Colpal team. I needed to run for my physical and psychological (my work life, as usual, was getting more dreadful) well-being, as also to connect with friends at Colpal.

We arrived at Kharghar to be met by Shailendra (at whose instance we were invited to run) and Saurabh. No sooner had we eased into a warm-up, Shailendra stopped and sat on the side-walk. When I queried him in alarm, he replied that he had a dizzy spell and would rest a bit. I advised him not to run and that he could go to where I'd parked my car. As I went ahead with my routine of running a 3K loop that Shailendra had shown me, I realized that he was not at the spot that I'd last seen him and assumed that he was waiting by the car. Towards the end of a 2 hr run, I egged on Saurabh for an additional 3K, which worked out well for both of us. We both jogged back to the parking lot and caught up with Madhu and Roshni on the way. When we found just T R Ravindran (our enthusiastic run-walker) but didn't find Shailendra waiting for us, we realized something was amiss and went about contacting his home.

There was bad news waiting for us; Shailendra was taken to hospital for a possible heart condition. I felt a shiver up my spine as I realized what this would mean for me as the "coach" and for my possible alternative (ahem...:-).. post-retirement coach) plans. I wasn't to blame for this situation as it wasn't as if we had gone on a "speed work-out" and I'd taken his heart rate over the brink. This incident occured during a bloody warm up! We went over to the hospital to check on him and got all kinds of discouraging news about a heart-attack, clot etc, which I mentally discounted as I know Indian doctors to get defensive on such matters.

As it turned out (based on a recent mail sent by Madhu), Shailendra has apparently no heart-condition from the 2D-echo-cardiography that was done. This brings us to the puzzling question as to what caused him to feel dizzy and uneasy?? I am awaiting that bit of news so that I can add it to my repertoire of experience in coaching; but meanwhile, the Colpal people were very kind to clear my name internally and in fact thought the world of me; especially some of the runners I train. So much for a depressing Sunday:-))))))))

Viva Lausanne!

We traveled as a family, to Switzerland on holiday and I decided to club it with a Marathon. Bryan too had a 4.2K race to run and was very excited about it. Race day! and, we woke up at 6am although the race was scheduled for 10am. Call it the race jittersJ. We munched on cinnamon buns and left for the race venue.

It seemed like entire Lausanne was participating because there were races for Nordic Walkers, 10k, ½ Marathon and races for children under sixteen. The sky was grey and there was a nip in the air (8 deg C) as runners went about their race preparations. There was a podium with girls and guys leading Nordic Walkers into a warm up with some “Jane Fonda” aerobics. Bryan and I sniggered as we tacitly agreed that such exertions were misplaced for an endurance race. We had left the hotel wearing our bibs with jackets shielding us from the cold. Monsoon had volunteered to carry our stuff from the start point because the finishing point was another 2kms away. I went to the mobile toilet for a last min leak and found that I had to stand in a queue. A young woman that was ahead of me, turned around and asked me, “Are you doing the full-marathon?” and on my nodding replied, “Then you better go ahead or you’ll be late for your race”. Do you see that? Will we see that in our country???

The race started and I set out with the usual nervousness. I decided to give it all I’ve got. About 2k into the run the sun came out. I was wearing a bandana to protect my ears from the cold and I yanked it off. 5K and I was dot on pace for a 3:50. There was a blonde ahead of me with a “Switcher” T-shirt and I called her “switcher blonde” so that I could hang on to her pace. I saw a woman with jiggling buns running way ahead of me and wondered; how in God’ name do they run at this pace with that frameJ))))))! Then I got this shiver up my spine as we went up an incline that didn’t seem to end. I wondered: this was a course that I did not get a chance to check out and rued my fate if the inclines were many. I found out, alright for sure, there were too goddamn, many of them. The route was the most beautiful that I’d ever seen in my life with the vast expanse of the placid lake Lausanne on one side and breath-taking vineyards on the other side.

I grabbed the water and “Powerade” at drinking stations and ran strong wondering, like Dr Noakes predicts (in “Lore of Running”); run too fast and you have a death march ahead of you! I threw caution to the winds saying, “You come to Lausanne once buddy, so face it as it comes”. There were bands playing my favorite tunes, especially the “wedding march” as I remembered in Goa, where couples hold hands forming an arch as the bride and groom walking thru’ it. There was one incline that I found particularly difficult and I suddenly realized that when I ran to the beat of the “Jazz Swing” being played by a band, I could handle it quite well.

I saw the lead runners go by on the other side of the road (it’s an out and back route) with the motorbikes flashing their electric blue blinding lights. It would indeed be nice to run at that paceJ)))))) I realized that I was on the wrong side of forty and ought not to have any hopes of such divine benevolenceJ))) I trudged on and saw the 21k turn around coming up. Thank God!! I felt strong and crossed myself as I wanted so much for Bryan to see me finish in less than 4 hrs. There were 8 climbs and descents on the way here and hence I could expect the same on the return. “Switcher blonde” had fallen behind and I had nobody to latch on to.

I saw the km markers go by and felt as strong as when I’d started out except that the climbs had taken out 4 mins from my target time. 32K and I braced myself for the “wall”. I zipped on and realized that I had probably done something right, because I did not feel a thing. At the 36K mark I felt myself slowing down feeling the “wall” and winced as I forced the pace on myself. At the 39K mark I felt like I’d like to vow never to run another marathon because the pain was so intense I felt every step was like I’d jumped off a stool!!!!!!!!!!! There was a Britisher that was alongside me because he felt that my strong pace would drag him to the finish. At the 40K mark (Goodness gracious) I saw “jiggly buns” – damn; how did she do it!!!! My body was on fire now as I felt the burn in my calves. I was at the stage where any let up in my pace would take me over the brink into a 4 hr finish. I could not allow that! The inclines had taken their toll on me but I hung in there.

I saw a large arch in the distance and realized that it must be the finish. I was now over-taking runners that glanced in surprise; some in annoyance and some in courteous acknowledgement. How in Gods name do you speed up at this stage? You do it when you have a promise to keep to your son and – miles to before you sleep. I crossed the finish line in 3:57 and saw my dear boy, Bryan wave out to me. I was spent now and I could barely walk as I feebly waved out to him. I learnt from him that he had run his 4.2K in 24 mins – that’s my boy!!!!!!!!!!!! I reached the finishing area and did the one thing that I believe is heavenly manna for marathoners – grab a “HEINEKEN”!!! A strong finish indeed ol’ chap. You are not done yet, DanJ)) I was particularly touched, on the way back to the hotel, on a bus, when a woman who must have been in her 70s, offered me a seat on the bus saying, “you have just run a marathon”! I had to hold back the tears when I saw such genuine heart-felt consideration. Viva Lausanne!

Reunion & Reminiscence

Today has been very special indeed. I finished my last long run in my "taper" before the Lausanne Marathon next Sunday. This run was intended to be just 1 1/2hrs but I stretched it a wee bit longer to get rid of the fat I'd accumulated in my tippling sessions on my recent tour to Coimbatore. I hurried home to shower and change so that I could zip to town to meet my bro-in-law Joe and my sister Leena, with Bryan. Monsoon couldn't make it because our neighbour passed away last evening after a long battle with a terminal illness.

I guzzled a few glasses of beer with Joe, before I left Bryan in their custody and went off to the golden wedding anniversary of Russell' parents at the "Goan Institute". I met old friends I hadn't seen in years and realized how much we all had aged since those heady days of silly antics, parties, dancing, football, firey eyes and dreams. As I pumped hands and hello'd everyone, grinning sheepishly and joking about scant hair, greying mustaches, crows feet and blubber, I felt a sense of depair as well as happiness. Despair because I saw how further aging had debilitated the ones that were already old in my youth as also news of some of my friends being no more. It was a raucous afternoon as we reminisced of pranks, daring-dos and bravado over guffaws, the switch to whiskey giving me a "buzz". The consequent light-headedness and soaring spirits got everyone even more boisterous:-) I met a gentleman, probably on the wrong side of sixty, who used to jog in those days when fitness was frowned upon. He was particularly taken in by my passion for marathoning and nostalgically recollected the days when he did 400m in 50 secs! We exchanged notes on training methods during his time in the 60s and 70s and the methods that prevail today.

As the afternoon wound down, I thankfully got a call from Leena that Bryan would like to stay over at their place for the night. I hungrily attacked the sumptuous goan cuisine and waved goodbye to everyone even as Bamoo threatened to confiscate my car keys and put me in a cab. So much for the science of "tapering" which proscribes alcohol in the weeks of the taper. I rued my fate in the Lausanne Marathon next Sunday realizing that I'd thrown caution to the winds once again. You are incorrigible Dan. Anyway - Lets do it!