I woke up early this morning. There was no run, no race, just a pleasant wash from yesterday. Instead I read and caught up on my work.

I nearly did not take part in the Indian Navy Half. A Saturday text from my sister convinced me. It was a perfect half marathon. It was near perfect racing.

This time, unlike Bombay, I wanted to push hard and keep an eye on the clock. By the time I was on Mathura road on the way towards India Gate, I knew I was feeling good. Now it would be a matter of holding on and climbing through the inevitable slumps that come your way in a long race.

And so it did happen exactly in that manner. Around the fourteenth kilometre, I felt sluggish and my body wasn’t moving as well. It was time to forgive, push on, but keep it moving. I had to get past ten, maybe fifteen minutes, by then I would be on the home stretch back on Lodi road.

I squeezed in my last gel around the sixteenth kilometre. A runner, an older man raced past me. I caught up to his heels. I stuck with him until around the eighteenth. By that time he was further ahead. But I had found my stride again. As I write this, his face is a blur but I thank him. It was because of him that got my engine going again.

This is an individual sport but how uniquely communal it is too.

I ran the last three kilometres as my fastest block and the last one was the quickest in the race.

It was a short one today as I am hoping to race a half marathon tomorrow. I was iffy about it, but my sister convinced me with a text.

That allowed me to sleep in today and put a short half hour run on the treadmill before training the young boy and his cousins for a ‘corridor’ workout with hurdles, agility drills, push ups, squats and walking lunges.

Rounded up the Saturday morning quite perfectly.

It was up and down from Chandigarh today. The city seemed a fry cry from the hustle and bustle of the New Delhi metropolis and I found it utterly charming.

While this was a work visit, I will try and be back for a marathon. The city seems prime for a fast, flat and clean race.

Today was a mix of an outside run and back inside to make the young boy workout.

Alas, he missed his workout hut we ended up chatting while I ran and worked out inside.

At breakfast, I had an avocado with toast. The young boy had the same. I don’t think I knew what an avocado was when I was his age. Not sourdough bread.

When I met Gaju this morning for the kilometre repeats, I was certain that I would falter. I hadn’t slept well. My tummy wasn’t feeling great.

But I decided to approach it as a fast run with the added bonus of interval breaks in between.

To think of it that way lessened the burden of thinking of it as all-out repeats (that they were) and to think of the whole rather than the parts.

When I began the first one, I was sure I would need to cut down. But I kept going back to thinking differently and at the same time, taking each repetition for itself.

It’s harder to analyse this in retrospect. To write about how it began to come together. But it worked. Like phrases of music, so it was with the repetitions. Of course, it was heart in the mouth running; all coming together for a most wonderful morning.

I wanted to get a run done and I needed to train the young boy as well. I decided to run at home to save time and then go inside for his strength training.

That the young boy joined me outside for half the run was a wonderful surprise.

It’s still cold out but because of recent rains, the pollution has abated to a large degree.

The young boy and I decided to put in a short run when we got back to Delhi.

So we did. We settled, changed and headed out to the driveway for a short run that was meant to be easy but turned out quicker than expected.

Even as it is Monday – usually a day off – and Republic Day, it was a good way to start the week.

I was carrying my gear here but I wasn’t sure if I would manage to put in a workout.

But as it happened, once the morning drive was done, my sister and I, and the young boys, did a solid workout by the private pool. What fun and what luck.

I reached this morning at Sujan for the long weekend break with the family.

These beautiful environs remind me – from a run viewpoint – of running in Africa. I would do anything to run in the forest here but these deciduous lands need no man on them anymore.

That only twenty percent of the parkland is available for tourism was delightful to know. The pride in the conservation efforts here in this community is remarkable.