Right here, right now

I find myself addicted to running in the middle of the day here. In Delhi India, yes in the middle of May - Aditi Subbiah craves the feeling of midday sweat on her skin. There I said it.

Summer is a time for renewal in nature. I find myself being renewed every single day as well. It has been a journey of discovery - one that I am very thankful for. So ask yourself this question - "where is your heart"? The only acceptable answer should be "right here". If my heart is somewhere else, I'm going to go there to join it. No two ways about it - I have wasted too much time with people and things that did not matter. No more!

This is where its at this Saturday : 35 minute outdoor run. 20 minutes of weights. 13 minutes of jumping rope. I will run another 25 minutes outside around noon. Just because I want to. It feels so good to put that down :-)

*Update*. I left at 1.42pm for the second run today and finished 6kms in 5 seconds under 27 minutes - including sprinting up three flights of stairs. This running-in-an-Indian-summer thing is turning out to be pretty interesting!

Every morning in Delhi has been an experiment. An experiment of One! My endurance is slowly coming back and getting used to the weather, which is nice. The body seems to hold onto salt after a hot afternoon run and everything is puffy. Singapore is humid which causes the body to lose water, whereas India is proving to be very very different. I seem to lose my appetite for a day or two before finding it again with a vengeance! Anyway, my day began at 4am which makes me very happy for a change.

350 stair repeats.
5 minutes of various wall sits.

Getting used to this India thing!

So I left this morning with my new gym card and fully ready for a treadmill run. Bleary eyed and grumpy, I went through the motions of my so-called weights routine. The one word that sums me up during my gym sessions is IDIOT! Anyway, 6 exercises and 25 minutes later, a steady stream of people started coming in. My cue to L.E.A.V.E and I did. I set off running my new favorite route. I wish I could tell you where it is, but that would mean that you would take a flight and come and stalk me! Likely? Of course not!

I love running in the mornings in India because its not crowded at all. No place does hazy mornings like Delhi and today it was windy. Its not at all noisy where I am and I got to wear a different pair of shoes today since the road is so uneven. I wasnt as hesistant as I have been lately - maybe its my new-found confidence *rolls eyes*. Did I mention that I love running this route? Theres something about the intrusive heat I love as well - you start sweating within seconds and after 30 or so minutes of enduring it, the feeling of the wind on your sweaty body cools you down naturally. Maybe its just me and I've totally lost it :-)!!! Anyway, I ran once this am and liked it so much that I went again 3 hours later.

25 joyless minutes of weights.
16kms 87 minutes at 7am
7kms 35 minutes at 11.10am!

So I'm the typical firang/farang/whatever...

Disclaimer! What follows is just a jumble of things. If you are just interested in the distance, please scroll down. Thnx!

I should title this little page as "running adventures in India" or specifically, "running in the sweltering heat in North India". I think it has made me a more hardcore runner. I have learnt that *nothing*, absolutely nothing will make me stop and if I thought I knew heat before now, boy was I wrong! I used to be so proud - after running in a hail storm in Melbourne, the snow in New York, and the humidity of Singapore. Nothing prepares you for the heat of North India. You know what though? I love it. I love everything about this place!

There are just too many things in my head right now, so I will just list some things about being here in the middle of May.

This tip is practical - I tie my very long dark hair twice in a pony tail and pin it up completely. Soak a scarf and freeze it for a few hours, tie it around my head and cover my mouth. Delhi is dry and some sort of moisture is always welcome.

Running outdoors at noon is not recommended unless you are very fit and your electrolyte levels are normal - salt is key. When I get done from these noon runs, I'm covered in sea salt and I dont push the pace at all. Someone today was very nice and gave me some nimbu paani half way through - must have been quite a sight!

I turn left from my house and enter a village. The first sights you see are farmers selling vegetables and fruit. Vats of hot oil frying samosas. There are 2 mithai shops. One only sells sweet boondi on Tuesday afternoons and the other one sells Bengali sweets and batura channa. Towards the right is a small Shiv temple that is made of marble. I like this one because it isnt ornate at all - just stripped down to the bare essentials. Which brings me to the next point...

Moving back to India has stripped me down to my bare essentials. It is scary, daunting and incredibly liberating. I cannot believe that someone like me can actually do this - having been here over 2 months, in the weather I hate the most (I used to cringe everytime the mercury hit 25 degrees!!), with chaos everywhere. However, there are moments every single day that my mind is still and...happy! So what if I am the percieved to be the typical firang? How many people run in an intimidating Indian village where women cover their heads in the middle of the day? All I can say is that I *need* this - I need to do this.

Running has always been a metaphor of life, now it validates my life in some way. Life is bigger than we imagine it to be. For someone who has always been in the corner, yet in the spotlight; I feel like a goldfish in a bowl. I will always run, and I guess one can call that commitment. Does one love in this way too?

There is so much in this post and no clear point that ties the whole thing in. This is why I make lists nowadays - the thoughts are down but they dont follow any neat patterns. If there is one thing I know to be true, is that being offered a drink by a stranger in the middle of the day makes me very happy. It renews my faith and I float with that feeling for quite a few hours. It doesnt take much!

10kms in the Gaon in my backyard in 50 minutes. It was 46 degrees!! 50 stair repeats.

This is where its at!

Friday: 8 treadmill miles. Blah!
Saturday: just over 10 miles.
Sunday: an hour of stairs.
Monday: 7 miles, 6 arm exercises and 90 seconds wall sits all in 75 minutes.
Tuesday: 9k in 40.54, 5 minutes of various core exercises.

I should say - discovered a route which takes me into a village - the meandering road beneath makes you feel like you are running a trail. It is slowly becoming my favorite route of all time. Pictures to come!!

Done!