One of the things that I am consistent with is my walking
habit that I started some three years ago. I have been walking a good 6 kms every day, well almost. At least 5
- 6 days in a week. A beautiful
walking track close to the place where I live, that cuts across the OTA,
Officers Training Academy managed by the Indian Army is where i do this ritual and this walking track is
on the banks of the Adyar river and half
of the track is running parallel to the Chennai Airport.
The one thing that persuades me into walking is definitely
this walking track. Its so peaceful,
serene and did I tell you, it’s a nice mud road lined by neem trees on both
sides at least for a 1 km stretch. The
Chennai floods that devastated all of us last year did a lot of damage to our
walking track and it took more than 3 months to restore the path to its
original glory. Recently in preparation
for the monsoon in Chennai, the highways department had cleared the Adyar river
of unwanted fauna and flora, removed a lot of debris that had deposited in the river
after the floods and raised the banks which essentially is our walking track and it
looks much better than what it was.
To me, this one hour of brisk walking is more than just a walk
– It is my time for introspection, planning for the day, talking to myself and
sometimes having those imaginery dialogues with the people I love – sounds
crazy? Yes, I do a lot of talking to
myself and engage in these monologues.
Its kicks me up for the day and also provides me the much needed
exercise. though i carry my mobile with me, i am not connected to any gadgets. I love listening to the water flowing, birds chirping and there are a variety of them, frogs croaking, crickets chirping and the wind blowing. since, I start my walk pretty early in the morning around 5.45 am, the day just unfolds in front of me, with the sun coming out announcing the day break. I would rather take in all this and revel in everyday miracles than get hooked to a gadget.
A lot of people in the vicinity come to this place, friendly ones, unfriendly ones, grumpy ladies, cheerful dogs which accompany their owners, old, middle aged and few youngsters come for the morning walk. Some wave at me, some say a cheerful good morning and some just smile and yeah some just stare. In return, I give back what I get :-).
A lot of people in the vicinity come to this place, friendly ones, unfriendly ones, grumpy ladies, cheerful dogs which accompany their owners, old, middle aged and few youngsters come for the morning walk. Some wave at me, some say a cheerful good morning and some just smile and yeah some just stare. In return, I give back what I get :-).
It must be all the clean air and the abundance of oxygen, I feel charged up at the end of the walk and I have been able to inspire a
handful of people into this habit and have brought few of them to this walking track and everyone feels the same about this place.
Though it is bang in the middle of the city, you hardly see a vehicle
and this place I guess is completely devoid of pollution due to the dense
growth of plants on either side of the track.
One stretch of the track is 3 kms and takes you away from the
hustle and bustle of the city life and when you return to the starting point,
you are brought back to reality.
I normally walk the entire stretch briskly and cover this
distance in 60 minutes, give or take 5 minutes, depending on how energetic I
feel on that particular day. A friend
who used to walk with me, resident of IPS colony which is the nearest colony to
this walking track introduced me to jogging and I graduated from walking to
jogging. Thanks to Susan, I now can Jog
continuously for a distance of 3 km or 30 minutes.
So when friends at office came with the Marathon idea, I
wanted to give it a try. And thus I have signed up for the Wipro Chennai
Marathon, 10K Run. A group of 4 women
from office, all of us who signed up for the Marathon, then together found a
coach within our organisation – who has done atleast 4 full marathons and
countless half marathons and was willing to be our Coach. So on all Saturdays for the last couple of
months, the coach has been guiding us for the 10 K marathon that we will
running next month.
Our training started with 1 minute jogging and 2 minute
walking for the complete 6 km stretch – yeah all the runners and coach come to
the walking track that I frequent. The
last couple of weeks we completed the full stretch and walked back again for
2kms and returned which made it 10 k.
And the last time we did 10K we were able to complete in 1 hour and 45
mins. We got to improve our timing and
run more.
On 11th of December Chennai, if all goes well,
which will, we will do a 10K Marathon.
Wish us luck and pray for the force to be with us.
