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Friday was just rest. I slept in a bit and that kind of helped in bringing back the energy.

Today was a déjà vu of Tuesday except it was a couple of kilometres longer. Another guy joined Gaju and me and raced off ahead. We caught up to him around the five kilometre mark.

On the way back, he couldn’t keep up and was clearly struggling. I don’t know much about him except that he might be new to distances. But his form was incredible – fluid, strong, powerful running.

I was winded by the time we finished. I need a solid sleep session.

It was pyramid intervals day. 1600, 3200, 6400, 3200, 1600. I knew I was tired from the weekend but recent intervals – at least for the February New Delhi Marathon training – have tended to go in my favour. Usually, I have been pleasantly surprised.

The first two went off at target. But I knew at the second one that I won’t last at the prescribed paces. From then on, I kept it a run by near-max effort. It was slower but it felt brutally hard.

It could be a mix of the weather (hot) and the past weekend. At any rate, I didn’t feel bad. I put in my best and the run was a great effort.

At the end, Gaju who was with me, considered dropping out of the last mile – he told me later – but we did it together anyway – at many many seconds slower than the first mile.

All in all, quite a morning.

And then down the road. On this road that I’ve run dozens of times. Not that it’s been very long but it felt like that today running with Gaju and Coach Ravi riding by our side on his trusty white scooter.

We set off at an easy pace and quickly locked into a rhythm. There was barely any talking but it felt like hanging out with old friends – feet thumping, breath moving, the sun rising.

A dead bird, plenty of frisky dogs, early morning commuters, buses, security guards switching shifts, food vendors making their way with pushcarts and large vessels – just another morning in Gurgaon for all of us.

Because of travel back and arriving late in the night, there was no option to run today.

Looking to pick up the training from tomorrow.

After a memorable and very busy two days for Amit’s 50th birthday celebrations, it was travel back to Delhi.

I could feel the exhaustion of the trip and yesterday’s long run.

I woke up after short sleep to ride with the folks who had chosen the hot air balloon morning ride. After reaching the balloon point and saying Hi to the young boy, I headed out for the long run back towards the hotel.

The weather was gorgeous, the Tuscany countryside was stunning. Rolling hills, farms, vineyards, simply picture perfect.

It was a tough run but how lucky was this, I thought to myself. When I made it back to the hotel, I was three kilometres short. I retraced for a bit and back again to round off a thirty kilometre run in wine, cheese and oil country.

As soon as I got to the hotel, I changed and headed out just before 1 PM. The weather was gorgeous and I ran on a gently rolling downhill which of course proved to be uphill while coming back.

But this way it was done and I earned a negroni afternoon.

These days have been imbued with work pressure.

It’s been nonstop and exhausting. I thought it might have been too ambitious to go and run but I did put the alarm anyway. I barely slept as my mind was racing with thoughts about work. I didn’t run and one of the rare times that in fact I didn’t regret it.