Running and Other Updates

After saturday's run, I got on the track last evening to do a 45 minute casual run. Moods change and the run also changed. The run turned out to be a 20 minute tempo run with a 15 minute warm-up and a 15 minute cool down. I did not measure my timing but I am quite confident that I ran my fastest yesterday :)

An old basketball friend called around 10:00 pm to give me an invite for his wedding. I really did not expect an invite as we have not been very close over the last few years. Pasu, arrived in Chennai to join the Sports Authority of India hostel in 1998 with the ambition to make it big. Basketball was his life and he would practice for atleast 6-7 hours every single day. You go to the ground at 5:00 am and you will see Pasu there shooting by himself. Back in college, this kid could not afford shoes and he used to play without shoes. We would practice together and we would keep switching shoes that a cousin of mine had sent me from the States. So, at any point of time, one of us had to sit out. Guess that really laid the foundation of us being friends for life.

This guy went on to be the captain Madras Christian College and finally made it into Southern Railways through basketball quota. He is now working as a blue collared worker in the Southern Railways. I left to go to the States and we lost touch. He has taken to serious drinking now and is completely out of shape. We stepped out last night for a beer and he confessed to me that he feels really bad these days not to play in the main 5 and really wants to get back. I heard a lot of sad stories about the guys on the team - one guy has a steel plate on his arm due to injury, another kid has hurt his back seriously etc. etc.

Pasu is getting married this sunday in Tirupur. I really want to go because it will be great to see my old basketball friends from MCC. The problem is I hate attending marriages but it is hard to explain that to the guy who is getting married. Most of them are completely out of shape and have given up basketball. Almost everyone is married and have little kids running around. For me the saddest thing possibly is to see athletes fall from their peak. Sometimes, it makes me question if the peak itself is that important because the fall is inevitable.