Running, Punching and Wine

When I woke up last morning, I got a text from Nischal saying that “I am partying and I don’t think I can make it at 5 am. See you at Cubbon later or at the gym.”. My heart sank because I really needed someone to start the run with me. Nevertheless, I pulled myself out, mixed some salt in my water, applied some vasalene, had a quick shower, stretched, drank some water and hit the road. I consciously started slower than usual avoiding the dogs carefully on the street taking a sip of water for every two kms. Met Gaurav exactly at 6:15 am and we did two loops. Then Laxmi showed up and we did another loop and after a few more loops in Queens park, I got 26kms. Somebody uttered dosa at airlines, and I traded the dosas for the extra 4k.Running in loops is serious business. It is like mechanically getting the work done. I find it similar to getting into a street fight where you really need to knock someone over but you cannot enjoy the punch. You punch because you have to punch. You get the hell out immediately after or otherwise the henchmen will kill you. Running in loops is similar in the sense that you finish the run because you need “miles in the bank”. You really do it for the joy of running.My cousin Suvarchala was over last night and we watched a movie and drank some wine. Jeff came over a little bit later and I had a beer with him. Went over to Mikhails after for dinner where we had another beer, aloo and chapattis. No hangover this morning and I feel great about last week’s targets. Two more weeks to go