April 28, 2013

Reasons to not get up early for this morning's run:

1.  6:00am on a Sunday morning.
2. No friends to run with.
3. Last night's surprise farewell party for our school's director.

I knew it was going to be a tough one. The motivation level was low for sure. I got home, ambitiously prepared my running clothes and set my alarm. During the first of my son's nightly wake-ups, I woke up and turned off my alarm. "Forget it," I said to myself. "Too many reasons to skip the run." Luckily, he woke up again, because at 4am, I turned the alarm back on because I knew that I'd be disappointed in myself if I didn't do today's run.

Reasons to get early for this morning's run

1. This run put me to my goal distance for April.
2. This was a new route with plenty of cool new things to see.
3. The weather wasn't terrible.

So, at 6am (give or take) I set out on a new 8 Miler. I usually try to plan my runs around a theme and this one was the "Round Buildings." The first three miles were travel miles, until the first round building presented itself. The Parliament of India was built in 1912 by English architectural golden boy, Edwin Lutyens. It opened in1927 while the Brits still controlled India. It was the site of the transfer of colonial power to Nehru in 1947 and is an important building in the history of the country.

 by <DEEPAK GUPTA>

 Lutyens designed and built most of New Delhi and his buildings are interesting combinations of local and traditional styles. 

The next stop was The Tuberculosis Association of India. Not a round building, but I'm in love with the font on the front of the building. One day I'll go and take a proper photo of it. Gorgeous!

The next round building was the Gole Dak Khanna, a post office built into a traffic circle near the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara and Sacred Heart Cathedral. It was built in 1934 by R.T. Russel, the same architect who finished Connaught Place. I poked my head into the Cathedral along the way; it seems so strange to see a Catholic Mass in India.

The final round building isn't technically round, but rather octagonal. The main building of Gole Market was also designed by Lutyens and was the principal market area that served his Delhi. It fills a traffic roundabout and has seen better days. It's a shame, because the building is cool and could easily be redone into some kind of heritage shopping center, art galleries, etc. It was supposed to be redone in 2009 as part of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games, but for now, it stands in ruins.

Finally, it was more religion as I ran along Madir Marg(Temple Street). Hindu and Buddhist temples line the street. A quick diversion through the Talkatora Stadium Park had me catching glimpses of the two round stadiums built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

RUN STATS:

Distance - 8.5 Miles

Time - 1:05:03

Soundtrack - Taj Mahal, Best of Taj Mahal and Hanapepe Dream