The week to Diwali has started with review meetings but no run today.

The two tongas came hurtling down Shanti Path at full gallop.

At first I thought it was a large group of runners occupying the road. Then the objects seem to be moving too fast. Horses? Couldn’t be I thought. Tongas on Shanti Path. No way.

But here they were and as they raced past me, I thought the horse nearest to me looked me in the eye, gleefully and pitifully.

Even with a cart tethered to me, I can eat you for breakfast, it seemed to suggest, as the sound of their hooves faded away.

Meanwhile, all morning, a cyclist, a newbie, swaying side to side, continued to give me the creeps as he crossed me each loop, leering behind clear Oakley style glasses. Eventually, I ran longer than he cycled.

I could eat him for breakfast, I thought contemptuously. How women must feel, I thought, shaking my head.

When I reached towards the end of two hours, I wanted to round it off to a number, and I bumped into a very fast college runner at one end of Shanti Path. I don’t know his name, and I doubt he knows mine, but we’ve done a run here and there together; my tempo, his easy kind of thing.

We exchanged notes on last weeks Delhi half and while he had done a blistering 1:15, he said he wasn’t happy with the outcome. Cramps bhaiya, he said.

He could have the whole of Nehru Park for breakfast.

Satisfied, spent, I headed home to have a spinach omelette and oats for my breakfast.

It’s a few days until Diwali. For me it was another day that I missed at the track.

Tomorrow I must run. I’m feeling off-centre.

In a long time, I’m not even sure when I felt like this last, I feel like giving my body some rest. I’ve been sneezing away – the cold is hopefully peaking and should be out soon. I doubt I will run tomorrow but I’m looking forward to some sun and run at some point over the weekend.

I felt it coming on last afternoon. Perhaps I felt it coming on a teeny bit the day before that too. But in snuck in anyway.

Now it’s a full blown cold. Oh man. A missed run.

This morning when I reached the track it was pitch dark. Thankfully, it isn’t cold yet but there seem to be enough jackets out all around. Perhaps it’s the feeling of autumn in the air.

I always say though that Delhi seems to go very quick from summer to cold weather. Before we know it, it will be winter.

It was a steady run in lane nine with Nikhil weaving in and out. The other kids – Monu, Jeet, Ashwini – were flying in lane one. I was back in my comfort place. My home. This track.

Last evening, on the metro, a young woman in her twenties furiously tapped messages on her phone. In between texts, she kept checking her Instagram, liking nearly every post, seemingly registering nothing. Except fitness posts.

She spent more time on these, reading each carefully, even looking at some videos again.

Her lithe arms were bare, tattooed, veins criss crossing this way and that. Perhaps she was a gym trainer. Maybe she was a spin instructor. Or just into fitness.

On this second day of rest after the half, I’m just looking forward to hitting the track and my home gym soon.

Last night Eilish McCologan and Michael Rimmer – the team behind running made easy – stopped by on the way to the airport.

They’ve been my coaches for a few years and it was fabulous to finally meet them in person.

This is the first time I’ve had a proper sit down with elite athletes. Eilish took part in the Delhi half and we exchanged notes and conversation about the conditions, the pollution and why there were less women running this year.

Before I knew it, a couple of hours had passed talking about all things running.

I hope somewhere in the future, I have a chance to do a training weekend with them.

I’ll take today’s race with a pinch of salt.

Bittersweet in that it was good to race Delhi, but my timing was way off. Perhaps to be expected after this crazy week at work but it was even more off than I imagined.

Especially – because I felt quite good – I didn’t look at my watch – but thought I was going faster than what my pace revealed when I did look at it at the seventeenth kilometre. Eternally optimistic.

I’ll take it on my chin.

I’m sitting in the car the evening before the half marathon. I’m utterly exhausted from the week. It’s been intense and intensely demanding.

I’m also awash with relief that it’s nearly done. Tomorrow is race day. I think I will just run it easy and peasy.