Bangalore:
Acknowledging the end of a holiday has taken me months. Such is the deal isn't it with things we don't want to end. But hardly does one realise that only once u acknowledge the end of it can you progress forward i.e Plan for the next holiday. In how may ways can you say I am sorry. How many tears of how many people you love will it take to correct the course of an avoidable path of pain. At the end of whirlwind trip to India where the feeling of having been through a tornado is physical, thanks to the time spent on roads, amount of food ingested and the number of activities you have gotten through! 20 days.... Dint seem like much when we planned the holiday...but made me realise how intense the schedule was as we drove back home in AKL ...that strange sense of disconnect to everything here which should have been so familiar! Catching up with friends that take time off their routine and share bits of life the joys, the achievements and the frustrations is so underrated. Our daily lives so different and disconnected, our social circle so different, our struggles and choices unrelatable but we are comfortable in each other's company!S n I celebrated being friends for 15 years now, That day in 2004 ....me, a bundle of speculation, S with a big bunch of friends from the same college. Since then our life choices, career paths have all been so different but the deep sense of having a friend that I can and have called at weird times with weird problems..except she dint find them weird is such a blessing. Family... Dad drives the mental well being n strength for all of us in the family. He always has a way of telling me exactly what I need to hear at any point. I don't run to him with all my troubles but some quandaries need his experience n wisdom. So when Mom mentioned that he has been unwell, I could not first accept and then I was upset n disturbed or more correctly helpless at being this far away n useless in the face of either of them being unwell. I am not sure I would have done anything more than what they had already done amongst themselves, but I sure feel like I should have been there.
Mysore and the wedding
Things that I noticed and absolutely loved about the city :The tidy streets and freshness of air.Clean wide roads and footpaths. Drivers with a better sense of traffic than Bangalore and a lady traffic police sitting in a booth calling out offenders that jumped the signal like "yyaakappa signal kansalva"on a loud speaker. Effective and hilarious!
Wedding:
Events that mark beginnings of many dreams for those that are getting married and conclusion of it for their parents.The joy on their faces. The dreams in their hearts and the anticipation of bliss, the glint in the eyes of the bride and groom, their faces exuding joy despite all the tiring rituals and the responsibility of logistics. The culmination of preparations of months over phone calls, emails, WhatsApps. People watching: observing outfits of couples that have carefully color coordinated. The amount of effort that's gone into making the look feel effortless. The color and smell of flowers fresh at the start of the day, worn out by the end of each. The music, laughter, dancing, drinking and losing oneself in the crowd... Henna on the hands of little girls, green tendrils of a stem.The camera men directing the show more than the poojari and getting upset that the bride/groom did not look at the camera but rather into each other's eyes while garlanding, and actually making them redo the process but this time consciously looking into the camera! Having attended South Indian weddings where the simplicity is taken to the heights of having a groom not even wear a shirt for the main wedding ritual, this was a bit of eye opener.So many ppl that liked being the center of attraction and some that absolutely dislike attention.Food..feast served with so much attention to the details so as to cater to all palates down to the paan vs beetle leaves..Rituals and ceremonies that bind the families together while the crowd engages in wishing, participating dressing up n posing, giggling , gossiping, dancing and indulging in mass revelry. Having one's mom trust one to do make up, finding a beauty parlor to help tie the saree in a specific way with L. Early morning runs around heritage buildings n parks of Mysore. Consuming copious amount of food were all great memories that got created in those few days.I didn't have to bother checking on k for anything, she was in the happy company of a few kids she's met a few times before. At the end if the 4th day, it was moving to see them cry and hug and find it difficult to say byes and let go. Back in Bangalore was the usual working early mornings and social day lives.How time flew I have no idea! On the last day mom took me to buy a salwar kameez from Angadi Silks where I has to find non-silk material and she found a tailor that'd stitch it out for me in less than 24 hours :O. The things that are possible...somehow makes one feel entitled as if it were some attribute of me and not the society that such privileges come to one in India. D n L were starting out training for the NYC marathon, Prash and I were supposed to be a few weeks into the Chicago marathon plan but my cough had kept me from being on top of that. We went for a few runs in Cubbon park, Sankey and also while in Mysore, mostly easy fun ones. I miss it...my holidays mornings that are pleasant, cool and noisy but comforting.That we were going to run a Marathon in the USA kept me sane for the few months once I got back to Auckland.
USA
Fast forward to end of September and we were boarding the plane again. Some holidays are more than a few days off, they are a break in the literal sense from the routine of day to day life. The trip to US was one such..where u flip a switch and off you go to a world that one has forgotten exists beyond the daily grind. Simple things like getting onboard a flight, getting coffee from different places and driving/walking on non familiar streets suddenly seems to shake up my brain that's not had the need to think about these for a while.It started out with a workday that blurred into a holiday where one watches TV with a glass of wine, except its on a plane. K commented at the airport immigration line: this is like pak n save - a supermarket which is the only place where we seem to stand in queues in NZ!
Cupertino:
Dreamy drool worthy mansions, cafes, walking in Stanford Campus, driving around in Tesla and taking in the fact that this is one of the places where life changing - my life changing technology is being created everyday.
SFO:felt big, busy and dirty. We did the touristy visit to crooked street, twin peaks, bay bridge, pier walks and the Golden gate bridge.I ran for a bit on looking the bridge and lucky for us there was no fog engulfing it so the rusty red stood out really well against the backdrop of the setting sun. The difficulty we had in paying toll for crossing Golden gate bridge in the hotbed of technology next day was lol-worthy!
We drove to Caswell memorial park so we could join a few friends for camping. Windmills , Golden dry hills for miles.Miles of apple tree like farms and more in the making. Tractors blocking the highways like in Mandya sugarcane farms were all part of the scenery driving down. Lazing about and eating heaps of food, watching videos projected onto a blanket, the things that are possible even when camping amazed me!
Pleasanton: Aptly named historic township. Long training run along the iron horse trail was really nice. I long to back on that route. Spending time at outlet mall, walking along the downtown post dinner, ice cream at historic dairy, hike on trail with a group of ppl we met for the first time, Sunday market.. all things bright and beautiful! Totally loved this place. A 50ish year old man walking into the parlor to get a pedicure in the same place I went to was a first !
En route to King's canyon:Giant-est pumpkin in a truck..Halloween decorated(?) houses, shopping at Walmart as if we were setting up a home and the drive up the hills where the temp dipped as we gained elevation. Our cottage was warm and cosy. Hand dryer in the bathrooms made the most noise and we heard no birds! Hearty breakfast and tall black coffee. Grant tree walk where we saw big tree trunks with bark splits that glow like hair standing in the sun. Yoga in the cold sun, walking on the trails was part of training while we stayed in the national park. On the drive along the winding roads to Hume lake, the view of the high sierra was impressive with the massive peaks towering in front of us. We saw a few kayakers in the lake and drove down to rent a rowing boat. An hour's rowing in the clear lake surrounded by green trees on 3 sides and the mountains for a view was worth every arm rotation. A short walk to catch the sunset drenching the Sierra's in that orange hue as if to create a postcard for memory.On the drive back, the crowd had died down on the roads and we spotted a couple of deer that ran away as soon as we started paying them attention. What if we saw a black bear, all of us kept thinking in our minds and suddenly there it was!! Walking on the highway, with it's back to the car, about 50 m away. It turned towards the headlight of the car. Prash instinctively switched off the lights and brought the car to a complete stop. The bear turned towards the car as if to get a closer look but then made a swift exit into the forest across the road. We were super thrilled! We felt dwarfed next to the Sherman tree.Yellow of the sunlight deceptively showered the rays of golden color with no warmth. Moro rock reminded us of Pinnacles in Coromandel. Walk with the ranger was very engaging. We learnt about the Prescribed burn : an activity planned for 3 years and was happening on that day. Also the charming sunset of the previous nights dint seem great as we learnt that the orange hues are mostly a result of particulate matter dispersing light i.e due to pollution from the valley below. oh oh!
Next day, checking out of John Muir lodge we longed to stay back for longer. Walked up part of manzantia trail, spotting a few deer.. Mama and a couple of baby fawns. Identifying the different types of trees, incense cedar, pines etc. I was lost in my thoughts on the way back to Pleasanton. Nature humbles one really well. Relationships are like Sequoia trees. So tender and vulnerable initially till they mature and become strong and self sustaining. After which there is not much that can bother them.. No fire, no fungus, no drought can bring it down. We all want to build such relationships that outlive us and feel like they are eternal and indestructible, isn't it?
I am sensitive to and recognize where I am welcome vs where I am tolerated, but what totally touched me was staying with friends that felt like extended family. In their welcoming homes, where we stayed like it was our own, getting pampered and integrating into their social lives and routine for the 2 weeks in Bay Area. The company K had for the most part made her super happy and us very comfortable. Attending Durga pooja, golu dolls display, decking up in borrowed Sarees was the last thing I imagined I'd do while on a holiday! R had picked out a dozen of them for me to choose from and dresses for K, P had another set to spoil us... Was totally worth it and memorable. Also went to Sabyasachi's trunk show in San Jose, the trademark dreamy intricate patterns felt like an indulgence to even browse through. Catching up with friends from college and a cousin after a very long time with their families was so endearing. We also turned up at one of Prash's friend's place at 8 PM on a weekday and I surprised myself when we realised it was close to midnight and I still kept talking to them. Staying with A and R, seeing a bit of Pittsburgh city and more enjoyably catching up with them made my one day solo-trip so memorable.
We ate out very little and most times that we ate out turned out to be great tasting food. Drinking a glass of beer or wine mostly for company, we definitely did really well in terms of the training leading upto the run.Vegan food was not a problem eating out at all. Gracias Madre in SFO has got to be the best plant based mexican food we've eaten so far + the freshest Margaritas to complement.
The cities- SFO, Pittsburgh,Chicago, Cupertino, Pleasanton- were great. SFO specially where the adverts are also about tech and API (like really!) The shopping tiring in its abundance. The drives though..super monotonic landscapes that got a bit boring after a couple of hours.
Chicago Marathon:
Uninstalling the app 3 weeks after the run I realise we actually ran a world major marathon! My time(5:17) surely should have been better and Prash's time(4:15) commendable for a first time marathoner. Chicago, the city was totally prepped. Every restaurant, every cab driver, every one we met on streets knew about the run or was running it. K n G came all the way from Dallas to catch up with us and took care of Khushi while we ran. How can anyone thank such? We must be really lucky to be able to partake in such indulgence! The day before the run, we saw a few city highlights and despite not wanting to walk much ended up with 10k+ on foot. The 24 hours from the night before the run till we boarded plane after the run is something that certified crazies plan to do. So we sent off K with the friends to their hotel and came back to ours, packed up to check out early am.Cleaning the airbnb, setting aside pre-run breakfast, hydration till run started, on course nutrition(salted dates and almonds + gatorade chews)... It was going to be a cold morning (2 deg!) so we planned to wear extra layers, headbands, gloves etc that could be removed and discarded on the course if we felt too warm during the run...Finally at 11 pm when the outlay of my run outfit was in place I was too tired to take the customary pic. Waking up super early, we loaded all suitcases to the car, parked the car close to the train station and sat in the train filled with runners. Someone was calling a cop and filing an incident of having a gun pointed at him in the previous station. Way to get ur adrenalin rush before u even get to the start line I told him in my attempt to help calm his nerves but he was not flustered at all and went on to tell me that he was an olympic rep for the US many years ago and runs all majors for free since then. In his late 50s now and he feels sleepy after 23 miles on the course ;) making my way to meet Prash out of the crowded train, we got coffee at 7/11. Dropping Prash off at his starting corral, I impressed Prash with my experience of dropping off gear bag, ways to tie it and other little nitty gritties. Told him that after mile 22 it gets really difficult and he will want to give up but should not. Push through and get to the finish line and wait for me. He got all choked up and wanted to run in my late-start corral, after all what's the point of running our own runs he tried to say! Finishing up our drama, we decided we'll run our best and stick to the plan. I went and dropped off my gear and that meant leaving the thick jacket in it. Standing in the serpentine line for toilets in that chill for half an hour was no fun! Before I knew, I was crossing the start line and thanks to Amod, I knew the GPS on the watch would not be reliable so just focused on time taken and mile markers. the crowd was thick on either side of the course. Skyscrapers wherever I saw and the wide roads of the downtown, way to make one feel like a celebrity! I started off really well and kept up with 4:40 pacer till 18th mile. After that I felt a sudden drop in strength. I just could not plod along. So I decided to let go of the timing goal and just run to finish without hurting. Worked well and I did not hit a wall. Gatorade to drink, 2 chews and almonds+dates were all I had for on course fueling. No gels this time! At mile 22 I knew Prash would have finished so I called him to congratulate, yes I run with the phone in my pocket :D and ran through the next few miles. When there was just a mile left to go, the energy surged again! crowd cheer, music, almost-there feeling made me dance a couple of steps and soon I crossed the finish line. I sat down with the medal and cried.. tears of exhaustion and exhilaration. We did a little bit of stretching and headed back on the train to the car, picked up K and had a meal and shower at friends hotel, said bye to them, returned the rental car, checked in luggage, boarded that plane and sighed a sense of I-dont-know-what! The most memorable holiday had come to a spectacular end. I cant get over it for a very long time so I wont even try to. Will just keep recollecting and re-living the best parts of it in my head for a while...
Acknowledging the end of a holiday has taken me months. Such is the deal isn't it with things we don't want to end. But hardly does one realise that only once u acknowledge the end of it can you progress forward i.e Plan for the next holiday. In how may ways can you say I am sorry. How many tears of how many people you love will it take to correct the course of an avoidable path of pain. At the end of whirlwind trip to India where the feeling of having been through a tornado is physical, thanks to the time spent on roads, amount of food ingested and the number of activities you have gotten through! 20 days.... Dint seem like much when we planned the holiday...but made me realise how intense the schedule was as we drove back home in AKL ...that strange sense of disconnect to everything here which should have been so familiar! Catching up with friends that take time off their routine and share bits of life the joys, the achievements and the frustrations is so underrated. Our daily lives so different and disconnected, our social circle so different, our struggles and choices unrelatable but we are comfortable in each other's company!S n I celebrated being friends for 15 years now, That day in 2004 ....me, a bundle of speculation, S with a big bunch of friends from the same college. Since then our life choices, career paths have all been so different but the deep sense of having a friend that I can and have called at weird times with weird problems..except she dint find them weird is such a blessing. Family... Dad drives the mental well being n strength for all of us in the family. He always has a way of telling me exactly what I need to hear at any point. I don't run to him with all my troubles but some quandaries need his experience n wisdom. So when Mom mentioned that he has been unwell, I could not first accept and then I was upset n disturbed or more correctly helpless at being this far away n useless in the face of either of them being unwell. I am not sure I would have done anything more than what they had already done amongst themselves, but I sure feel like I should have been there.
Mysore and the wedding
Things that I noticed and absolutely loved about the city :The tidy streets and freshness of air.Clean wide roads and footpaths. Drivers with a better sense of traffic than Bangalore and a lady traffic police sitting in a booth calling out offenders that jumped the signal like "yyaakappa signal kansalva"on a loud speaker. Effective and hilarious!
Wedding:
Events that mark beginnings of many dreams for those that are getting married and conclusion of it for their parents.The joy on their faces. The dreams in their hearts and the anticipation of bliss, the glint in the eyes of the bride and groom, their faces exuding joy despite all the tiring rituals and the responsibility of logistics. The culmination of preparations of months over phone calls, emails, WhatsApps. People watching: observing outfits of couples that have carefully color coordinated. The amount of effort that's gone into making the look feel effortless. The color and smell of flowers fresh at the start of the day, worn out by the end of each. The music, laughter, dancing, drinking and losing oneself in the crowd... Henna on the hands of little girls, green tendrils of a stem.The camera men directing the show more than the poojari and getting upset that the bride/groom did not look at the camera but rather into each other's eyes while garlanding, and actually making them redo the process but this time consciously looking into the camera! Having attended South Indian weddings where the simplicity is taken to the heights of having a groom not even wear a shirt for the main wedding ritual, this was a bit of eye opener.So many ppl that liked being the center of attraction and some that absolutely dislike attention.Food..feast served with so much attention to the details so as to cater to all palates down to the paan vs beetle leaves..Rituals and ceremonies that bind the families together while the crowd engages in wishing, participating dressing up n posing, giggling , gossiping, dancing and indulging in mass revelry. Having one's mom trust one to do make up, finding a beauty parlor to help tie the saree in a specific way with L. Early morning runs around heritage buildings n parks of Mysore. Consuming copious amount of food were all great memories that got created in those few days.I didn't have to bother checking on k for anything, she was in the happy company of a few kids she's met a few times before. At the end if the 4th day, it was moving to see them cry and hug and find it difficult to say byes and let go. Back in Bangalore was the usual working early mornings and social day lives.How time flew I have no idea! On the last day mom took me to buy a salwar kameez from Angadi Silks where I has to find non-silk material and she found a tailor that'd stitch it out for me in less than 24 hours :O. The things that are possible...somehow makes one feel entitled as if it were some attribute of me and not the society that such privileges come to one in India. D n L were starting out training for the NYC marathon, Prash and I were supposed to be a few weeks into the Chicago marathon plan but my cough had kept me from being on top of that. We went for a few runs in Cubbon park, Sankey and also while in Mysore, mostly easy fun ones. I miss it...my holidays mornings that are pleasant, cool and noisy but comforting.That we were going to run a Marathon in the USA kept me sane for the few months once I got back to Auckland.
USA
Fast forward to end of September and we were boarding the plane again. Some holidays are more than a few days off, they are a break in the literal sense from the routine of day to day life. The trip to US was one such..where u flip a switch and off you go to a world that one has forgotten exists beyond the daily grind. Simple things like getting onboard a flight, getting coffee from different places and driving/walking on non familiar streets suddenly seems to shake up my brain that's not had the need to think about these for a while.It started out with a workday that blurred into a holiday where one watches TV with a glass of wine, except its on a plane. K commented at the airport immigration line: this is like pak n save - a supermarket which is the only place where we seem to stand in queues in NZ!
Cupertino:
Dreamy drool worthy mansions, cafes, walking in Stanford Campus, driving around in Tesla and taking in the fact that this is one of the places where life changing - my life changing technology is being created everyday.
SFO:felt big, busy and dirty. We did the touristy visit to crooked street, twin peaks, bay bridge, pier walks and the Golden gate bridge.I ran for a bit on looking the bridge and lucky for us there was no fog engulfing it so the rusty red stood out really well against the backdrop of the setting sun. The difficulty we had in paying toll for crossing Golden gate bridge in the hotbed of technology next day was lol-worthy!
We drove to Caswell memorial park so we could join a few friends for camping. Windmills , Golden dry hills for miles.Miles of apple tree like farms and more in the making. Tractors blocking the highways like in Mandya sugarcane farms were all part of the scenery driving down. Lazing about and eating heaps of food, watching videos projected onto a blanket, the things that are possible even when camping amazed me!
Pleasanton: Aptly named historic township. Long training run along the iron horse trail was really nice. I long to back on that route. Spending time at outlet mall, walking along the downtown post dinner, ice cream at historic dairy, hike on trail with a group of ppl we met for the first time, Sunday market.. all things bright and beautiful! Totally loved this place. A 50ish year old man walking into the parlor to get a pedicure in the same place I went to was a first !
En route to King's canyon:Giant-est pumpkin in a truck..Halloween decorated(?) houses, shopping at Walmart as if we were setting up a home and the drive up the hills where the temp dipped as we gained elevation. Our cottage was warm and cosy. Hand dryer in the bathrooms made the most noise and we heard no birds! Hearty breakfast and tall black coffee. Grant tree walk where we saw big tree trunks with bark splits that glow like hair standing in the sun. Yoga in the cold sun, walking on the trails was part of training while we stayed in the national park. On the drive along the winding roads to Hume lake, the view of the high sierra was impressive with the massive peaks towering in front of us. We saw a few kayakers in the lake and drove down to rent a rowing boat. An hour's rowing in the clear lake surrounded by green trees on 3 sides and the mountains for a view was worth every arm rotation. A short walk to catch the sunset drenching the Sierra's in that orange hue as if to create a postcard for memory.On the drive back, the crowd had died down on the roads and we spotted a couple of deer that ran away as soon as we started paying them attention. What if we saw a black bear, all of us kept thinking in our minds and suddenly there it was!! Walking on the highway, with it's back to the car, about 50 m away. It turned towards the headlight of the car. Prash instinctively switched off the lights and brought the car to a complete stop. The bear turned towards the car as if to get a closer look but then made a swift exit into the forest across the road. We were super thrilled! We felt dwarfed next to the Sherman tree.Yellow of the sunlight deceptively showered the rays of golden color with no warmth. Moro rock reminded us of Pinnacles in Coromandel. Walk with the ranger was very engaging. We learnt about the Prescribed burn : an activity planned for 3 years and was happening on that day. Also the charming sunset of the previous nights dint seem great as we learnt that the orange hues are mostly a result of particulate matter dispersing light i.e due to pollution from the valley below. oh oh!
Next day, checking out of John Muir lodge we longed to stay back for longer. Walked up part of manzantia trail, spotting a few deer.. Mama and a couple of baby fawns. Identifying the different types of trees, incense cedar, pines etc. I was lost in my thoughts on the way back to Pleasanton. Nature humbles one really well. Relationships are like Sequoia trees. So tender and vulnerable initially till they mature and become strong and self sustaining. After which there is not much that can bother them.. No fire, no fungus, no drought can bring it down. We all want to build such relationships that outlive us and feel like they are eternal and indestructible, isn't it?
I am sensitive to and recognize where I am welcome vs where I am tolerated, but what totally touched me was staying with friends that felt like extended family. In their welcoming homes, where we stayed like it was our own, getting pampered and integrating into their social lives and routine for the 2 weeks in Bay Area. The company K had for the most part made her super happy and us very comfortable. Attending Durga pooja, golu dolls display, decking up in borrowed Sarees was the last thing I imagined I'd do while on a holiday! R had picked out a dozen of them for me to choose from and dresses for K, P had another set to spoil us... Was totally worth it and memorable. Also went to Sabyasachi's trunk show in San Jose, the trademark dreamy intricate patterns felt like an indulgence to even browse through. Catching up with friends from college and a cousin after a very long time with their families was so endearing. We also turned up at one of Prash's friend's place at 8 PM on a weekday and I surprised myself when we realised it was close to midnight and I still kept talking to them. Staying with A and R, seeing a bit of Pittsburgh city and more enjoyably catching up with them made my one day solo-trip so memorable.
We ate out very little and most times that we ate out turned out to be great tasting food. Drinking a glass of beer or wine mostly for company, we definitely did really well in terms of the training leading upto the run.Vegan food was not a problem eating out at all. Gracias Madre in SFO has got to be the best plant based mexican food we've eaten so far + the freshest Margaritas to complement.
The cities- SFO, Pittsburgh,Chicago, Cupertino, Pleasanton- were great. SFO specially where the adverts are also about tech and API (like really!) The shopping tiring in its abundance. The drives though..super monotonic landscapes that got a bit boring after a couple of hours.
Chicago Marathon:
Uninstalling the app 3 weeks after the run I realise we actually ran a world major marathon! My time(5:17) surely should have been better and Prash's time(4:15) commendable for a first time marathoner. Chicago, the city was totally prepped. Every restaurant, every cab driver, every one we met on streets knew about the run or was running it. K n G came all the way from Dallas to catch up with us and took care of Khushi while we ran. How can anyone thank such? We must be really lucky to be able to partake in such indulgence! The day before the run, we saw a few city highlights and despite not wanting to walk much ended up with 10k+ on foot. The 24 hours from the night before the run till we boarded plane after the run is something that certified crazies plan to do. So we sent off K with the friends to their hotel and came back to ours, packed up to check out early am.Cleaning the airbnb, setting aside pre-run breakfast, hydration till run started, on course nutrition(salted dates and almonds + gatorade chews)... It was going to be a cold morning (2 deg!) so we planned to wear extra layers, headbands, gloves etc that could be removed and discarded on the course if we felt too warm during the run...Finally at 11 pm when the outlay of my run outfit was in place I was too tired to take the customary pic. Waking up super early, we loaded all suitcases to the car, parked the car close to the train station and sat in the train filled with runners. Someone was calling a cop and filing an incident of having a gun pointed at him in the previous station. Way to get ur adrenalin rush before u even get to the start line I told him in my attempt to help calm his nerves but he was not flustered at all and went on to tell me that he was an olympic rep for the US many years ago and runs all majors for free since then. In his late 50s now and he feels sleepy after 23 miles on the course ;) making my way to meet Prash out of the crowded train, we got coffee at 7/11. Dropping Prash off at his starting corral, I impressed Prash with my experience of dropping off gear bag, ways to tie it and other little nitty gritties. Told him that after mile 22 it gets really difficult and he will want to give up but should not. Push through and get to the finish line and wait for me. He got all choked up and wanted to run in my late-start corral, after all what's the point of running our own runs he tried to say! Finishing up our drama, we decided we'll run our best and stick to the plan. I went and dropped off my gear and that meant leaving the thick jacket in it. Standing in the serpentine line for toilets in that chill for half an hour was no fun! Before I knew, I was crossing the start line and thanks to Amod, I knew the GPS on the watch would not be reliable so just focused on time taken and mile markers. the crowd was thick on either side of the course. Skyscrapers wherever I saw and the wide roads of the downtown, way to make one feel like a celebrity! I started off really well and kept up with 4:40 pacer till 18th mile. After that I felt a sudden drop in strength. I just could not plod along. So I decided to let go of the timing goal and just run to finish without hurting. Worked well and I did not hit a wall. Gatorade to drink, 2 chews and almonds+dates were all I had for on course fueling. No gels this time! At mile 22 I knew Prash would have finished so I called him to congratulate, yes I run with the phone in my pocket :D and ran through the next few miles. When there was just a mile left to go, the energy surged again! crowd cheer, music, almost-there feeling made me dance a couple of steps and soon I crossed the finish line. I sat down with the medal and cried.. tears of exhaustion and exhilaration. We did a little bit of stretching and headed back on the train to the car, picked up K and had a meal and shower at friends hotel, said bye to them, returned the rental car, checked in luggage, boarded that plane and sighed a sense of I-dont-know-what! The most memorable holiday had come to a spectacular end. I cant get over it for a very long time so I wont even try to. Will just keep recollecting and re-living the best parts of it in my head for a while...
