The YMCA Sweetheart run, Feb 16th, 2008.

They weren't kidding when they said 'The course consists of rolling hills.' I realised somewhat belatedly that I was asking for trouble when I scrolled to the bottom of the race homepage where it says -

" A challenging course which begins and ends at Boothe Memorial Park. Plus, we'll be stationing pre and post race festivities INSIDE, so the weather won't be a factor. It's not going to be an easy course, but if you're willing to race in February, you are obviously tough enough!"

...Or really really clueless :) No prizes for guessing which category I belong to.

So here's my story of how to train (or not to train) in a week for a 4-miler in February in close to freezing weather.

Friday, Feb 8th: Drag self out of bed at 6:45 to run at 7. Run 15 min., start getting cramps, walk/run till 7:30 when it starts to snow/rain/other indeterminate forms of precipitation falling from the sky.

Saturday: Register late at night to pay the early registration fee (that day being the last to pay the early fee, a very important motivation for an impoverished grad student).

Sunday: A blur of shopping, eating, lots of noble intentions of running which are abandoned as the weather doesn't co-operate. Make plans to go running Monday morning.

Monday morning (6:45 am): I call Kathy (or the other way around, it's a blur now).

Me (mumbling): Don't rea..lly waa..nt to run.
Kathy: Me neither.

ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz...... :)

Tuesday: Go to the gym at 8 pm after a full day at lab (spent mostly doing homework) and teaching section. Hop on the treadmill and jog a full 2 miles in about 27 minutes. Use my standard funda of 'If I can run half the distance, I will finish since I'll have to run back anyway'.

Wednesday : Lab, teach till 8:45 pm since I'm besieged with questions and think grand thoughts of running the next day.

Thursday: Chance to read all the way to the bottom of the race home page and come across the quote above. Spend rest of the day cursing myself (and Kathy, who suggested the race in the first place) and venting it on other people.

Friday: Abandon all thoughts of going running and keep checking the weather forecast for Saturday.
Eat some fantastic sushi at Miya's and turn in by 11 dreading what is to come.

(As an aside, I do recommend sushi as a pretty good pre-race night meal.)

Race Day: 8 am: Check weather - -1 Celsius, feels like -5. Curse myself some more.

I bundle up in sweatpants, fleece and woollen hat and arm myself with tissue because when I run, my nose runs too, every step of the way...

9:45 am: Get to the park, pick up registration packet and politely decline to be teamed up with someone (since that would mess up their timing too). Borrow Kathy's bright orange gloves and head to the start line with very fatalistic ideas running through my mind. When I said that I might not survive the race, Kathy very kindly pointed out the cemetery nearby saying, "Don't worry, we'll just put you there."

10:00 am : The race starts and I chug along. The wind had died down and the sun was out. If I hadn't been running, I would have admitted that it was a bright, beautiful day. (Yes, it could have been worse, it could have been raining!).

Finished Mile 1 in 9:24. That's when Kathy decided to take off and I decided to labor on through the gently rolling hills for the next 2 miles. I've realised that I do better running uphill with my almost doubled-over shuffle than downhill where I keep trying to not roll over.

Oh well...Labored upto to the end of Mile 3 to be greeted by a mile marker, a cheering volunteer and the steepest hill I've ever contemplated running up. It made the Sameer hill in IITB feel like a gentle stroll downhill. Plus it was about 0.6 miles long. The 'almost doubled over shuffle' worked though it seemed to take forever.

And suddenly, with a last push I was over the top and the day seemed a little cheerier. Chugging along, I spotted Kathy on the side, suggesting I run faster to try and beat the 40 minute mark. I did try sprinting (for all of 30 seconds) but I finally made it around the final curve to the finish line to make a timing of 41:31.

Have been feeling very proud of myself (and rather sore) for the past week. A little part of me is also already dreading the next crazy race I've already signed up for.

At this rate, I'll be ready to run a half-marathon in a couple of years...

Currently listening to: Carmina Burana

The Kite Runner and Bhool Bhulaiya...

Watched 'The Kite Runner' and 'Bhool Bhulaiya' within the last two weeks. I had been following the whole Kite controversy on the news (this is one of the things one does in grad school, keep track of all the news about everything while pretending to work) and so after some initial doubts about when it would release and what not, I was all excited when it finally released before I went home in December. Turns it out it was a limited release and so it didn't show at my friendly neighbourhood theatre. The first weekend that I was back from India though, I saw that it was playing nearby. The two hapless souls who were in the vicinity were immediately coerced into coming along.

I still remember the night I read the book. I had a mid-term exam at 9 the next morning and at 3 a.m. I was reading in bed, unable to stop reading (or bawling). Anticipating a similar emotionally battering experience, I armed myself with a whole pack of Kleenex and warned my company that the theatre might get inundated with my tears. (A fair idea of my capacity to cry in movies can be had from the fact that I went through almost a whole pack of tissue while watching Taare Zameen Pe. I have also been accused of crying in Dhoom 2 but we shall dismiss such baseless allegations.) Also it turned out that the multiplex/theatre/call-it-what-you-will was the same one where I was one of a crowd of 2 people who came by to watch Happy Feet. This time however, there was a fair-sized audience. So far so good. The movie came and went. I sniffled a little in parts and even touched a tissue to a teary eye at one point. But overall, the movie largely failed to affect me. Was disappointed I guess. I'm contemplating going back and reading the book again...

Last Saturday was another movie screening for SAGA. This time it was Bhool Bhulaiya. Was extremely entertaining. What added an extra dimension to the humor was that the spook in question haunting the palace was Bengali. One of my favourite scenes was where the woman who's possessed by Manjulika (the Bong bhoot) has been completely taken over by the spirit and is ranting at the man she's out to kill.

Manjulika (Eyes glowing maniacally, hair dishevelled, spooky look on, growls menacingly) -

Me all agog waiting to hear some bad name-calling in Bengali so that I can expand my vocabulary -

Manjulika (with great effort and venom, manages to come up with) : BOD- MAA-YESH! (Translates quite simply to Badmash!)

So yes, it was quite fun...And was quite excited to see shots of palaces in Rajasthan I tramped around on my trip to India. ( I think practically all the places I visited also show up in Jodhaa-Akbar, which is going to give tour guides lots more fodder for their spiels, i.e., the fact that Ash et al shot there, not that I visited :P )