I moved back home for a few days yesterday. It is comforting - especially running my familiar running route. I know each marker to the second and can predict, again to the very second, the time I will be back even if I end up walking a few 100m's. I dont know if you know what the anticipation of a run feels like. Its excitement, nervousness, giddiness and knots in your tummy - much like falling in love, or so I've been told. Although I never remember feeling like that - maybe I never allow myself to feel that way about another human being.
Anyway, if you've ever seen me drink my concoction of "coffee", you would wonder why I put myself through that misery. This morning was no different. It made me gag as usual and left an ugly, but familiar taste in my mouth. So I set off bumping into the South Indian newspaper man who looks at me and looks away, as if hes never sure that I will return his greeting. This is routine - I have been living here for over 10years and he has always been this way.
I set off and promised myself that I would go 7 miles no matter how much it killed my legs. It is when you hit rock bottom physically that you realise how long even 2 miles can be. It is humbling. I felt my lungs working hard almost right away. Very very humbling feeling. I slowed to what would've felt like a crawl 2 months ago, but I was still happy because it was forward relentless motion whichever way you put it. I made it to 9 miles in a pathetic time. Its the farthest I've gone in so so so long. Without going into details, I am again very unfit for reasons other than just not running. Giving my background however, I will be back in a week. I promised myself to put in a 2-a-days atleast for this week.
I leave for Chinatown in an hour or so. There is nothing better to get to know a place than to go to a heritage part on an early weekend morning. There arent places like that left in Singapore anymore. It is a tea house, very dingy, no one speaks English or even Mandarin for that matter. All the stiff upper lips melt away when one put an effort to truly connect. Ultimately, all of us connect on a very basic level, no matter where you are from.
I connected today. I ran 2 of my 9 miles barefoot. I am truly happy when I can do away with all the trappings of "material". It has only been 7 hours of feeling this way. And my heart is already more open than it was yesterday :-)
Have a happy Sunday.
9 miles this am. Atleast another 3 this pm at some point.
