After nearly two decades of running in Delhi, one would think I would be used to the humidity and heat that come as a partnership during Delhi’s summer.
Perhaps, this Sunday was one of the first of the season where it has felt this terribly hot during a long run.
I was baked and cooked. I took my first break after eleven kilometres and doused my head and neck with water. Then after another seven. And then at the end of the twenty one. Furnace running.
I tried to play all the mind games – especially how great this is for training. Did it work? I’m not sure considering how desperate I was to finish the run.
In these years of running, I have come across all sorts of everyday debris on the road including needles, syringes, catheter and IV bags, condoms, road kill, a full wallet come immediately to mind. I have, of course, been chased by dogs and monkeys. Which respectable Delhiite hasn’t?
But today towards the end of the run, a myna swooped in front of my face and I felt the vibration of air, my face fanned by the beat of its wings. That was a first and distracted me temporarily into thinking about the probability.
Writing about Running 