The road to recovery starts right here

I pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.
Don’t lose your confidence if you slip, be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up, dust off, start over again.

So here’s the thing.

Last weekend, I tore the meniscus in my left knee, and after a week of doctors, and one very gloomy prognosis, and then a not-quite-so-gloomy prognosis, I am knuckling down to the serious work of recovery.

After a week of feeling mighty sorry for myself, I am, in the words of Mr. Sinatra, picking myself up, dusting myself off, and starting over again.

First of all, I cleared my running calendar of all events for December and January – boo hoo, no Mumbai marathon in January, one of my MOST favourite events ever 🙁

But there is simply no point in rushing recovery.

I’ve already had arthroscopies on my knee (yeah, plural. 2 arthroscopies thus far).

I am no longer as young as I was, and able to bounce back quickly from injury.

The thought of not being able to run in the future is a horrid one.

So sensible, slow recovery is the name of the game.

Running and climbing are WAY too important to me, and so I’m gonna be oh-so-sensible, my friends.

Oh. So. Sensible.

I’ll probably start physio next week and once I’m cleared by the physio will start going to a gym, which, as things currently stand, is my idea of hell on earth.

But needs must.

And so, as we head towards 2020, you’re about to witness a new me 😛

Gym rat 😛

I’ll share with you some of the details of this road to recovery. Not everything, worry not! No point boring you all witless.

But over the coming weeks, I’ll share a modicum of updates, because, let’s face it, injury is all too often part & parcel of sports.

Today, I worked on my arms, telling myself as I did that I was also tackling my horrid bingo-wings!!

The road to recovery begins right here and now.

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Giving thanks on Thanksgiving

For a non-American like me, Thanksgiving is the quintessential American celebration.

It evokes images of happy families sitting round a table, eating turkey & pecan pie. All rather Norman Rockwell-esque, in the nicest possible way.

The only time I have ever been to a Thanksgiving dinner was here in New Delhi, where I live. At one point, everyone around the table said a few words, one by one, sharing what they were thankful for.

I guess, by and large, we are all very quick to complain, and w-a-y less likely to give thanks for the things we have in life.

But this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for one very specific thing. I’ll spare you all the guff about being thankful for family and friends since (pleasant as all of that is) it actually has nothing to do with running.

What I am so, so, SO thankful for this Thanksgiving is that my knee injury isn’t the bummer I thought it was.

From a sudden, puzzling knee ache during my run on Saturday, it turned into agonising knee ache on Sunday, making me cry out in pain each time I put my weight on it.

The local GP immediately diagnosed it as a torn meniscus, which was backed up by an MRI, and one of the scariest reports ever.

GP took one look and told me, very firmly, that the prognosis was bad.

My running days were over.

As in over. Finito.

I needed a cast on my left leg.

I’ll spare you the full report, but suffice it to say I left the clinic in tears.

The idea of never running again was truly scary.

I’m not sure I quite realised, until that moment, how important running has become to me, these past 6 years.

I sought a second opinion with my running guru Dr. Rajat Chauhan, with whom I started running, and who knows my various aches and pains. Doc was more sanguine, and although telling me firmly that I needed to rest, and vary my routine, and incorporate strength training, his view was that I would definitely be able to continue running.

Doc then sent me for a consultation with an othopaedic surgeon who concurred.

Yes, I had a meniscus tear.

No, it wasn’t half as bad as the report made out.

No, I absolutely could not run a half marathon next week (I’d already told the good folk at the Super Sikh Run that I wouldn’t be able to run).

Yes, I could possibly still run the Mumbai marathon in January (though I won’t. Another cause for sadness and regret…)

BUT I left the 4th clinic in 2 days much relieved, and almost crying – though with happiness this time.

So today, Thanksgiving let me indeed give thanks.

For an injury not being had as bad as I was initially told.

I’m thankful.for being able to run.

“At my age”.

Yes, it had to be said 😛

I’m thankful that I can apparently continue running.

I’m thankful for the chance to sort-of-start-all-over-again, training better, varying routines, getting stronger.

The only thing left for me to say here, is to wish a very happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it.

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MY SHERO!!!!

I have found my role model for the next 20 years 🙂

Meet the ab fab 86 year old Ginette Bedard, who will run the New York City Marathon today.

Ms Bedard only started running at 69, knocking my start date into a cocked hat.

She is hilarious!

I laughed out loud when I watched this – she is so sassy and has great answers. Love her answer to the question about the worst thing about getting old – “looking old!!”

Watch it through to the end – it is totally worth it 🙂

I’m not sure I’ll follow her make-up advice, but other than that, Ginette Bedard, you are my total, absolute, 100% shero!!!!

PS – don’t you love the woman making the “If Grandma can do it…” comment and then promptly banging into our rockstar 😛 ?!

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WHAT a fab run that was!

In the 6 years since I started running, from absolute zero, I have clocked quite a lot of miles.

I’ve had some great runs.

Some not so great runs.

Some eventful runs.

Lots of OK-but-nothing special runs.

And then there’re some runs which stay in the mind and the heart for ever.

Like my solo run around India Gate, 5 years ago today.

October 30 2014.

(Gotta love FB memories)

In those days I was running alone, no running group, didn’t know anyone at all, and was out pounding the streets for the sheer love of it. But always alone.

What a run that day was…

Right in front of India Gate, military-esque rehearsals were taking place, and I got loudly scolded by a policeman on duty for skulking out of sight, surreptitiously filming.

He peremptorily ordered me to the front, slap bang in front of these fab young women & said “Film!”

So I did:

As I watched, entranced, the most marvellous thing happened…the girls got competition from a rival band…just watch this clip to the end 🙂

It’s everything that I love about India in one frame 🙂

Plus there were the young ladies in kilts, all neatly lined up under a tree.

Plus the army band jamming…

And I was the ONLY person watching the fab show. As in the ONLY person.

Small wonder that this sticks in my mind as one of the happiest, funniest, most bonkers runs I’ve ever had…super slow, of course, but WHAT a show!

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Punjabi farmers and Delhi’s air

Just as our Delhi weather is f-i-n-a-l-l-y begin to cool down a little in the early mornings and late evenings, comes the annual phenomenon that plunges us each year into a toxic mess.

Delhi’s air quality is influenced by many things – geography, crazy dust, rampant uncontrolled construction, insane traffic, people burning rubbish to warm themselves…and, of course, the much reviled farmers of the Punjab.

Of all the ingredients that make up our toxic air-quality-cocktail, it is the farmers I blame the least.

Well, the farmers and the poor chowkidars (guards) & street dwellers, burning whatever rubbish they find to warm themselves on cold winter nights.

They are just trying to earn a living and survive. But they are easy targets.

Our government does SFA for most of the year: the construction continues unchecked, with piles of rubble and sand lying around. The traffic is out of control, and the progress on clean efficient public transport is painfully slow.

But boy oh boy, do we love to blame the farmers.

And the bottom line remains the same.

Delhi’s air gets worse year on year, and we poor hapless residents are condemned to breath a toxic fug.

As a runner I realise I’m possibly even more exposed than the average, since I choose to go out and exercise in the terrible air.

As concerned runners, there is NO way that we can change government policy overnight, nor persuade the farmers of Punjab not to burn stubble…but what we CAN do is try and raise public awareness.

Which is why a group of us ran down Raj Path (Delhi’s central avenue) in face masks yesterday.

My last blog post was on this very topic of runs to raise awareness, but before anyone starts to accuse me of hypocrisy, let me assure you that all we did was run in masks.

We didn’t ask for money.

We didn’t ask people to buy masks – Nirvana Being loaned masks to people who wanted to try them.

All we did was to use our visibility as runners in a busy place on a busy Sunday morning, in an effort to drive home the message that air pollution is serious and that we all need to be aware, and take whatever precautions we see fit.

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How does a run for awareness help?

My running mate Kapil Tuli (who is also a super artist, by the way) wrote SUCH an interesting Facebook post this morning, and it certainly got me thinking.

With Kapil’s permission, I am sharing his thoughts here, since he makes some very valid points. And I’d love to hear your thoughts.

There hardly seems to be a week goes by without a Run for this or a Run for that.

Women’s empowerment. Clean air. Clean rivers. Fight diabetes.

You name it, there’s a run for it.

I have often pondered what exactly a bunch or runners pounding the streets of Delhi does to raise awareness about diabetes, but Kapil has taken things a step further, by setting down his very logical questions.

Just read what he has to say (highlighting is mine)::

“How does a Run for awareness help?
Thoughts on morning run.

Saw a few posts & messages for awareness run early morning today. 
Run for women safety & awareness, & wondered whom and how it helps.

1. Though this malice is spread over entire spectrum, but to a large extent, the people who registered, running community in general are already sensible towards women and educated enough to behave, and women who participate are independent enough to be aware of safety measures. 

2. What message, pamphlets, lectures or awareness drive was carried out before, during or after the Run to address the issue? 

3. Where did the proceeds go? As a runner & participant, shouldn’t we ask organisers to put up details after an event where, how much, to whom and to how many, the money raised for the event distributed or made use of? 

4. What benefits and change was brought by such event, its gala celebration & those post Run booze parties attended by the ambassadors. 
Last year, I saw a few beautiful women entrepreneurs in nice plush embassy lawns posing themselves for women empowerment with champagne glasses maybe just to show, how good we fare towards that. 

5. Before declaring on an ambassador, what credentials in him or her were seen standing up & supporting for the cause? 

Aren’t these just Taglines to get more out without us runners caring about its proceeds, because we can pay. Or fools enough to believe it is actually going to some awareness, safety, empowerment or women, children, education or soldiers’ benefits.

It’s high time, we as a community start asking for these details to be uploaded on the event pages before doling out higher registration fees for such. 
How much, to whom, what percentage and its effect.
Or are we just too happy wearing that tee, posing for selfies and declaring ourselves saviours & supporters of the cause on social media? (hoping to become ambassador next time with most popular posts)

Start asking for what you stood up & paid for.. Or tell them to stop using the Taglines and pretend. 
The runners will still pay & join to Run & Party.. Isn’t it?

P. S. Idea is not to demean anyone.. All are doing wonderful job promoting fitness and self realisation.. Plus the medals & parties are awesome.. 😀
But do we really need those tags without feeling guilty about it if not really doing anything worthwhile. Charity to mein bhi kar deta hoon kisi anjaan ko kulche chole, juice ya cigarette pila kar…”

Kapil, my friend, you have raised so many pertinent questions and I wonder how we – as a community – should go about getting the answers?

I think your suggestion of asking for accountability from the organisers is spot on.

Some runs for causes are self explanatory. For example, any plogging run has my unquestioning blessing, because you see runners picking up the trash. They are most definitely walking the talk.

Events where you see runners partnering a disabled or partially sighted runner – yet again, you see the action happening.

But running to clean a river…I agree with you, Kapil…how? why? where?

I think we all know that running is becoming very popular in India, so a lot of what passes for “Run for a cause” is – in my opinion – nothing more than a way of making money.

But…

I would LOVE to be proved wrong!

I would LOVE angry rebuttals from the organisers of all these races, sending me details of how much money was raised and how much went to clean that river, empower that girl, or fund cancer research.

I am just waiting to be proved wrong.

And I’m sure Kapil would too. Right, my friend?

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My right to breathe

My right to breathe.

That was the message a group of us wanted to share this morning, as we ran wearing protective face masks in the heart of New Delhi, a city with the unenviable reputation of being one of the most polluted on the planet.

Just think about it – having to protest for your right to breathe.

Surely, amongst all the “rights” we claim to have, or that we should have, or that we’d like to have – surely the right to clean air is a pretty basic one?

But no.

As all of us who live here know only too well, clean air is by no means our birthright.

Our message will (sadly) resonate ever louder as Delhi moves towards cooler weather and the accompanying horrific air quality.

Today our run was all about highlighting the problem, creating awareness, getting people engaged, and I hope that as we ran up and down Raj Path in our masks, people did indeed take notice.

Our Delhi government is certainly beginning to make some noise about the impending shocking air quality.

This was in the paper this morning:

We are, of course, heading towards elections. Hence the concern.

But, you know what?

Whatever it takes.

If fears of the elections pushes the powers that be into taking some anti-pollution measures, however inadequate, it’s a tiny step in the right direction.

“Pollution…is going to be one of the main political issues in the upcoming assembly elections…”

Remember those words, dear reader.

So, this was our first run, aimed at raising awareness.

We will be running again, in our masks, in 2 weeks. Check social media for details!

Let me end with a short clip of our run.

Super cool 😛

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Should we run in polluted cities?

It is SO hot and humid in Delhi (where I live) that it’s difficult to imagine the winter ever coming.

Our summer has been long and brutal and we still have at least a month to go before the weather will start cooling down.

Actually, more than a month.

Today it’s Friday 13 September (who’s superstitious, then?!). Conventional wisdom here in north India has it that the weather only starts cooling down after Diwali – which is on the 27 October. So, yes, we have weeks more of this horrid, torrid weather.

My weather widget showed 88% humidity this morning, whilst a friend in neighbouring Gurgaon said she ran in 90% humidity.

But once the much-longed-for cooler weather comes, we Delhites get immediately plunged into a different scenario, for the winters bring us horrific pollution.

Cue this article in my morning paper. Here you go:

At least our local government is meeting to discuss this annual horrific air quality. That’s a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether this winter will be any different from previous winters.

Every year we go through the same horrors.

Year after wretched year, we are all urged not to light firecrackers for Diwali.

But we all do.

And then we wake up to pollution so disgusting, so dangerous, so vile that we feature in the front pages of the world’s press.

This was the Hindustan Times the day after Diwali last year:

It’s not just the Diwali crackers, of course, that pollute our air, but for me this annual orgy of selfish self-harming is the most terrifying, because it implies that people, by and large, just don’t care.

They will happily crib about the government not doing anything, but they’ll promptly go pollute the air themselves.

Which brings me back to the question raised in the tile of this blog post. Because this is after all, my running blog, as opposed to my general Delhi blog.

So, back to the question: should we run in polluted cities?

This is an annual debate, which I’m torn about, to be honest.

As long as we all live in this polluted city, we are condemned to breathe the toxic air, whether we are marathon runners or couch potatoes.

We can’t all stay indoors with air purifiers for months on end.

We go out, we go to work, we go shopping. We walk the dog. We go to all the jolly weddings that take place in the winter, happily standing around on lawns, watching the festivities. You never see people at weddings wearing face masks, now, do you? And no-one ever cancelled a Big fat Indian Wedding because of the pollution, did they?

But runners always seen to come in for short shrift, simply because I guess we’re an easy target.

We CHOOSE to exercise in the mucky air -> therefore we are stupid -> therefore they should cancel running events (every year, this issue arises).

I am very concerned about the pollution, obviously.

And yet I continue to run in the Delhi winters.

I have masks, which I use on especially foul days.

I vary my timings and run in the middle of the day, to avoid the worst of the early morning pollution..

I only run in my local biodiversity park, where we have lots of tree cover.

All of these are but temporary measures, I acknowledge.

Fast forward to this Sunday, 15 September, & to an event (below) when I will be running with a mask, alongside the amazing folk from Nirvana Being, a Delhi-based company that wants to raise awareness of air pollution and the advantages of using masks.

For all my Delhi NCR friends, please treat this as an invitation to come and join us, to raise awareness about air pollution.

We all need to be fully informed, so we can make a decision as to whether we #daretorun.

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Just what the hell is wrong with me?

What kind of obsessive person have I become?

What has happened to me?

Picture the scene.

Hubby is away on a business trip, meaning that my pre-dawn alarm won’t elicit the usual grumbles.

I ate dinner unfashionably early, & went to bed really, really early (home alone, remember? 😛 ) all primed to be up and out of the door to do my long run this morning.

Being home alone means I can run/exercise/work out with none of the usual guilt associated with a non-running/non-sporty family.

Woke up, felt so damn tired that I promptly went back to sleep.

When I eventually surfaced yes, I felt refreshed but OH SO GUILTY.

GUILTY.

CROSS WITH MYSELF.

IRRITATED THAT I HADN’T RUN.

IRRITATED AT A WASTED OPPORTUNITY.

I repeat, what the hell is wrong with me?!!

How come I no longer enjoy a sleep-in?

What has running done to me? 😛

The weather in Delhi (where I live) is currently vile beyond belief at the moment. It is hot and horridly humid, meaning (realistically) that if you’re not out running at dawn, it’ll be miserable.

So this morning was a perfect opportunity to be out running for 3 hours, guilt-free, no questions asked, no complaints of the usual “you’re never around, always out running” variety.

AND I BLEW IT!

Now, of course, I feel wretched.

While drinking my morning coffee, for a few moments I actually thought that the day ahead of me was already a waste of time. Spoiled because I hadn’t run.

Please tell me I’m not alone, feeling like this? Or am I over-reacting?

Can you believe it, but I started calculating how many weeks I have until my next marathon – in mid-January – & how many weekends I have till then & how many long runs I can fit in & have I already blown it by not running this morning and…and…get a grip, Christine!

Get. A. Grip.

So what am I doing about this guilt-trip?`

Well…..

I’ll go for a training walk this evening, weather permitting. I have a 6476m climb in less than a month, involving a different form of training…gotta break my new boots in…

I’ll try and run early tomorrow morning instead. But will that interfere with my yoga class? Answer, yes. Should I cancel yoga? No,I need it. Oh heck, how can i fit it all in?

Why oh why oh why is there so little time when there’s so much to be done?! So much training? So many good intentions to keep fit.

So, I’ll end as I began.

Asking the question “just what the hell is wrong with me?”

And I think the answer is, quite simply, that I am a runner 🙂

And not running is, well, it’s hell.

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Marathon golfing, anyone?

No no, it’s a thing.

Marathon golfing has apparently been around for over 140 years.

Who knew?

I read a fascinating article online, in which we learn:

“What has been called “Marathon Golf” is the art of playing as many rounds or holes as possible in a certain amount of time, usually a day (24 hours)”

How bizarre.

Golf, run, golf, run and repeat.

Actually, why did I just say it’s bizarre?

It’s not that bizarre, logically, it’s just the sartorial image it presents. For a sport more usually clothed in checked shorts of dubious stylishness and equally dubious caps, the vision of golfers in Ts and running shoes is quite – well – bizarre.

Wonder what other sports we could combine with ultra running?

It would have to be an individual sport (so tennis, badminton, football wouldn’t work).

Not too much equipment.

Off the top of my head, I can’t think of another marathon + sport combo?

Anyone?

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