We zumba-ed at dawn. We danced to Bollywood as the sun rose. And then we ran a 10k.

Don’t believe me?

I have some clips of my dancing divas for you later on, but first of all, a bit of scene setting.

5.15am on a muggy Sunday morning and the traffic is pouring into the Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium.

It’s Pinkathon time, and if you wish to see a reported 7000+ women dancing and zumba-ing and taking a zillion selfies and then running 21/10/5/3km, then that was the place to be. (And we’ll have no comments about the cheeky ladies in saris (yes!!!!  So divinely Indian) who were doing the 3km and all posed next to the 8km marker board…)

This was the scene pre sunrise :

Then as the sun rose, we watched male cheerleaders dancing, and then there was a zumba warm up, watched in some mystification by a group of ladies in pink saris :

My running divas, of course, proved themselves to be zumba divas as well :

Just watch Sonea in the clip above (along with her pretty daughter Kshagun) and trust me when I tell you that over a raucous running group lunch in Shahpurjat just yesterday, Sonea was expressing doubts about her ability to run, and here she is dancing away at dawn.  And obviously she finished the 10km.  That’s why I cherish these women –  so much energy.

Katha and Samiksha were also zumba-ing away :

Finally we were off, for a very, very humid 10km.

The route well marshalled and policed.  Loads of water stations (loved the way the bottles were opened for us).  Pity about the total lack of waste paper bins which meant the route was lined with plastic bottles.

This was our 10km route – and how lovely and orderly Delhi looks on Google Earth :

 

There were many more people along the route than I remember for the Great Delhi Run last December – lots of husbands I suspect – and so the atmosphere was nice and uplifting.  Nothing like strangers  – including co-runners – urging you on, to make you run that little bit faster.

And when a running group husband runs with you for the last agonising, exhausted few hundred metres, deposits you at the finishing line and goes off to find more ladies from our group…well, it’s all just amazing.  Thanks Ankit.

Might take tomorrow off, but then it’s exactly 10 weeks to the Airtel half marathon, which means if we all build on today’s performance at the recommended rate of 10% a week…quick, let me do the maths and see if we will all be ready…