The long run – Delhi

The idea was born out of a picture from Reddit that I tweeted during the week. On Sunday morning, I found myself wearing my running gear, all set for a 13K run with Souvik, Bhavya, and Sumit . I’ve been doing the C25K since early this year and still haven’t finished it for various reasons. I’ve done two 5K races in Bangalore since then and this was my first really long run.

I stepped out of the house at 0545 and headed towards the Hauz Khaz metro station. The plan was to start from there head to Central Secretariat, towards India gate, and then towards Lodi Gardens. I did a warm walk + run to the metro station and we started the “official” run from there (Part 1 and Part 2). I finished a 10K when we reached Central Secretariat because I started my warm up earlier. I didn’t run the whole way, clearly don’t have enough stamina for that, but hell, I got there. Alive. After a few minutes of rest while we waited for Bhavya to catch up, we went on Rajpath towards India gate, turned off, went towards Lodi garden, and ended the run at India Habitat Centre.

Along the route

The run on Rajpath towards India Gate was hell because of the sun. I ran about as fast as I could to get out of the direct sunlight. I had to stop running a little after that because my feet hurt too much. Eventually, when I reached American Diner, I’d finished 15K, a personal best. We spent a few hours at American Diner eating breakfast and re-hydrating and headed home elated.

This run has given me a huge motivation boost. Running isn’t easy and every step of the way, you have to talk yourself into not giving up. My goal this year was to set a habit of running, I haven’t achieved a habit yet, but I’m finding running enjoyable rather than a chore and that is a victory.


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