Running In India

Here in India, we are all under lockdown.

And suddenly, the ability to lace up and head out to run has become very precious.

On Instagram, for example, I am avidly & enviously watching the daily posts from a British runner who can still take to the woods and river banks and run outdoors.

But here in India, a joy that we all took for granted is gone.

For now, at least.

We are currently on Day 5 of a 21 day countrywide lockdown.

(AND, BY THE WAY – HOW IS IT POSSIBLE IT IS ONLY DAY 5?!!!)

But let’s face it, runners gonna run.

My social media timeline is flooded with my Indian friends running around their homes, on their balconies, on treadmills.

Lats Sunday, when it was “just” a voluntary 16 hour People’s Curfew here, I shared the story of one of my running mates, Gaurav Pant, who ran a half marathon inside his flat.

Move over record-breaking Gaurav Pant, and welcome record-breaking Gaurav Pant 😛

Yup.

Because, can you believe it, this crazy guy has just RUN A FULL MARATHON INSIDE HIS FLAT??

LESS THAN A WEEK AFTER HIS INDOOR HALF??

And now let’s hear from the man of the hour 🙂

I give you Indoor Marathoner Gaurav, in his own words:

“After my half marathon last week, I had planned to do a Full Marathon soon under home quarantine, but was not aware that it would happen next week itself.

Woke up at 5am, & was ready for a run by 5:40am.

Contemplated doing a FM or 10k with some strength session online. Started running at a decent pace compared to in-home running. My morning partner my mother woke up & asked me how many km I’d done, I had just started my run lets see how many Kms i do.

The weather was cooler but in 40mins the sun was out full of energy and I could feel myself getting warmer.

I had completed 9kms by then, and since the plan was not sure, I continued running slow and easy, since everyone was sleeping and my mother was busy doing her Yoga.

Slowly and steadily another hour passed and the watch showed 19kms.

I thought of giving up after 21.097km, but after completing the HM, everyone at home was still asleep being a weekend.

Decided to continue and see how the run progress, and decided I will assess after every 5km.

Another hour passes i had completed almost 30km when my wife and my daughter woke up.

Both of them asked why running so late are you MAD!! P

I said yes just tolerate for 90 mins and then I will be at your service. The weather was warm, so made sure I had mid-run food and kept myself hydrated.

As a ritual my daughter joined me for the last 2kms, making it a super strong finish and another great memory.

Today the music was more from Bhaag Milkha Bhag and Sultan.”

Gaurav, my friend, I’m with your wife & daughter on this one – mad, mad, mad.

But WHAT a feat!

To run a marathon in your flat, in a good time (well, by my standards 😛 :P), to eat, drink, and have time to change your T shirt (ah ha!! How observant am I ?!!) – you leave me speechless!

Shabash!

And, obviously, I am intrigued as to how far you’ll go, since I have a sneaking feeling that you somehow won’t stop…

#˚we-running #keepinspiring and, most importantly, #staysafe

Let me confess.

In these very strange, very worrying Coronavirus times I am

a) blown away by all these people on social media who are running half marathons inside their homes

and

b) am enjoying getting to know my running mates “differently”, if that makes sense.

Yeah, you’re right – I’m just nosey about their homes, as they share their home workouts!! 😛 😛

My friend Navi Singh is the latest to run an impressive distance from home.

In his case, it was 10km on his terrace.

In the dark.

And with great music.

Like so:

Navi being Navi – an all-round great guy & a music buff of note – he kindly shared his playlist 🙂

Now here’s the thing:

As you can see, this playlist is clearly in alphabetic order.

And Navi only just started the Cs.

So, yes, I have high hopes that there will be more many music reccos to come, as this intrepid guy runs around his terrace and works his way through the alphabet, sharing his miles and his music with us all 🙂

Thanks, as ever, my friend & #keeprunning #keepinspiring.

And, more than anything else #staysafe

Yesterday, as most of us here in India were indoors, following “People’s Curfew”, I shared the half marathon run by one of my running mates – inside his flat.

Gaurav was not the only one running round and round and round his home – meet my friend Mahendra Bisht, who ran for an hour inside his house.

But…his GPS didn’t work indoors, so we don’t know what distance he covered, but it certainly looks like a fun run.

I love his little son colliding with him & giggling away, and then how the rest of the family is watching the telly, totally unconcerned by this madman running past them 😛 😛 😛

Well done, my friend, and #keeprunning #keepinspiring and, in your case, #keepsmiling 🙂

Above all, stay safe!

For those of you who don’t know, India is on a day long “People’s Curfew” – a sort of voluntary lockdown, in the face of the Coronavirus.

I’ve blogged about the unbelievable silence here in Delhi in my other (non-running) blog “Delhi Diary.” Do please check it out!

Amongst my running friends and acquaintances here in the Delhi NCR region, I don’t know of a single person who has gone outside to run today – and on such a gorgeous Sunday, too!!! Everyone seems to have followed the request to stay indoors.

But that doesn’t mean my friends have been slobbing around.

No Sirree!

People have been exercising at home, running up and down the stairs (take a bow, Christine 😛 ) and then you have rockstars like Gaurav Pant, who coolly ran a zippy half marathon this morning.

Inside his flat!!

He tells us here about his half marathon:

“I woke up at 4:45 am. the plan was to run a HM for sure. Got ready in my running gear, & since it was indoors I decided to run barefoot. Parents, wife and kids were asleep so kept the lights low in the house and locked their rooms. Started running from my Pooja Room towards the guest room crossing the living area and it was 5mts realised its too short so decided to take a loop of the living room and every time i crossed by. Plan was to run fast when i am in the living room and slow as i twisted and turned.

Ran 5km just thinking what am I doing, as the sun came out along with it chirping of birds – it was a lovely feeling. I opened my balcony doors allowing some fresh cold air to make it nice and breezy.

By then had completed 12kms.

What to do what not to do? It was getting boring and my mother was also sleeping (generally she is up early) so decided to take help of Alexa and enjoy some Bhajans (Gayatri mantra/Hanuman Chalisa etc…) it was a lovely feeling running with bhajans in the background. At 18th Km mark my mother was up. She was aware of my plan so asked how many Kms left

To my surprise after another 1km my daughter was also awake, and as she saw me running she was there to run with me for my last 2km.

Those kms were the best as she made me run fast with lot of enthusiasm and the target was achieved. Post run some stretching helped relax the homegrown muscles.”

How fabulous is this, people?!

I love the idea of Gaurav’s daughter joining him for a fast 2km round the house.

Here they are 🙂

Such fun!

Well done, Gaurav.

#keeprunning #keepinspring