Run Baby Run

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 :-).

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 11^th 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.