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I took a red eye to Hyderabad this morning and was back by late afternoon.

When we turned into the short section of Shanti Path, Gaju asked me if he had been on this road before. When I said yes, he was surprised, pointing out the rose garden on our right.

Yeh to nahin dekha tha, he said.

After tulips last week, roses this Sunday. Clearly, he liked flowers.

Further down Shanti Path, families were taking photos next to the tulips – many beds were in blossom. Last week, these were just buds, said Gaju. He was delighted.

Because of my nasty cold, we switched to an easy run and I was glad for it. I was worried in missing a key session but it wouldn’t have been a good idea to do a hard run today.

Conversation it was then, a bit about his family, running, and of course flowers.

HUDA and the Taj Gurgaon were about a mile way when an orange Lamborghini Urus roared past us.

Friday night partying? Perhaps. The early mornings on weekends over the years have seen a share of crazy drivers, some very drunk people, puking by the pavement, mascara running and cinematic theatrics, the occasional catcalling egging me on.

On the way back, Coach Ravi started his usual humming which turned into making all manner of Urdu-Hindi poetry impressions – terrible – but we laughed and time passed.

When we arrived back at the stadium, Coach Ravi zoomed off for sports day at his school. Gaju and I had a few kilometres to go that we did in gentle laps in the driveway as the sky turned a soft pink.

Buzzing from here to there, crisscrossing the city and beyond, rest of one kind, but not of another.

This evening when I came in the young boy was lounging around in football gear. He had had a couple of inter school matches and a camp session.

I pleaded with him to join me on my evening run – the second leg of my double run today. He looked startled at first and then put on his shoes.

You owe me, he said. I readily agreed.

Off we went in the cool evening and what seemed like a moonless night. Up and down the driveway after ages. We talked about a myriad range of things, not least his relatively new siblings.

At the last bit, he took on the role of a commentator with us as best friends racing for top position in the Boston marathon. For the last thirty metres, we held hands and finished together.

Because I had done long interval session with the long run on Sunday, I was a bit surprised when I saw the interval session. I thought it was supposed to be gradual taper week.

Haha. I guess this is gradual taper week.

When I told Gaju the sessions and then did the mile conversions, he recoiled.

Laughingly, we set off. What else was there to do. Eilish had said that if I was tired, I could do one set instead of two.

As of that was going to happen. Not if I could help it. But it did knock in one corner of my mind.

Evading dogs, traffic, cyclists, and eventually school buses, it was a usual session on the Gurgaon roads.

Aaj load par raha hai, said Gaju. With that we set off for the second set. We had to.

But at the last interval, the mile, he was flying.

Gajinder aka Gaju has become a regular with me. Because I now have his phone number, I called him and requested if we could start on the road itself for the steady, easy run.

Usually, we start at the track, warm up and depending on the mood, weather and Coach Ravi, we head out or stay within track.

But here we were, on our way to an out and back easy run.

Pata bhi nahin chala, said Gaju at the turnaround point of six kilometres.

A couple of kilometres later, he said, pehle bahut lamba lagta tha ab asaan hai.

And with that, soon after, we were done.

Rest day today turned into travel for work. Who knows – enough steps done for it to be a minor activity.

Gaju joined me at Nehru Park this morning. It was his first run in this part of Delhi. We warmed up for a few rounds with an unexpected detour to the Leela for a call of nature at my end.

A quick mile back to the car and we were ready for the main set of the day – 3 x 5k interspersed within long run Sunday.

The sets were on, and within seconds in their total timing. It was hard going but didn’t feel impossible. It is daunting to think of these in relation to the upcoming marathon but I let the feeling slide. We’ll see. I’m simply training.

During our cool down, running on Shanti Path, Gaju commented on the flower beds and the hundreds of tulips, some were budding, showing hints of colour against the winter morning.

Kitne ache hai, he said.

Best part of the morning, I thought.

Later, driving back home the young boy called me and said he was jumping on the treadmill. When I was home, the chipmunks were upto all manner of antics on the TV, the boy was running, laughing, and blazing through his three sets of fifteen minutes each.

Best part of the morning all over again.

The city was shrouded in fog this morning. I had thought that after a couple of kilometres at the track, we would head out as has been the usual routine these days. But the fog only built up.

The fog turned milky at dawn but with no sign of sun or sky. Or perhaps it was the sky itself that had descended on the track.

A steady fourteen around lane nine and a quick workout later rounded up this Saturday morning.