Wednesday, March 30, 2016

For (Newly Retired) Uncle Joe - The Squirrel Run

When I got the email showing me that Sandy and Joe had donated to the Ty Taylor Campship fund - http://www.ymcacampmiller.org/donate/ty-taylor-campship-endowment/, and Sandy asked for a dedication to Joe's new retirement, I knew I had a run for him.

The Squirrel 5 Miler.

I figure old retired guys must spend a lot of time on the porch in their rocking chairs watching the squirrels, right? Or feeding them? Or rigging up electric perches to shock the hell out them when they try to get all of the birdseed from the feeder?

In any case, this run is for my Uncle Joe! If you'd like a dedicated run, donate to the cause and help kids go to camp in the name of a dear friend.

The run started just after 5am, with my frequent running partner, Scott. He normally prefers a different 5 miler, (The Scott W 5 Miler, his name for it, not mine) but he was willing to cooperate in the dedicated run with me. One interesting thing about Scott, is that he hates street dogs. A lot. Because, you know, rabies...It was only a short time into our run when the first ones appeared and may or may not have made a move toward him. The cursing began, primarily directed at the dogs, but also at me (under his breath).

His tolerance of my routes continued as I coaxed him onto the dark path that runs along a sewage canal storm drain (not too stinky today, btw). More dogs, more cursing, increased pace.

As we turned left to begin the squirrel's head (about 1.5 miles in), we noticed monkeys. "Monkeys on your right!" Scott yelled. I weaved left. "And on your left!" I screeched to a halt just as a steady stream of monkey urine poured out of the tree above me. I turned around fully expecting what I was about to hear. I conceded to Scott's (reasonable) insistence to skip that section. So, Uncle Joe, you get a squirrel with half a head (see below).

We stuck it out and continued to the second dark path along the same sewage canal storm drain. No dogs, but I did have to slam on the brakes again as I almost ran smack into a makeshift clothesline right at my eye-level. Whether Scott thought I was attacked by a dog, or urinated on by a monkey, I'm not sure. What is certain is that there was more cursing. And maybe some urine, but not from a monkey.

The rest of the run was uneventful. I'm hoping my Crip Road runs will be less exciting when I get back to the lake this summer to celebrate with my wonderful aunt and uncle. Thanks for the donation!

RUN STATS
Distance: 5.05 miles
Duration: 46:09
Temperature: 68 degrees at 5:58am
Soundtrack: Midnight Marauders-Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife Dog)




Saturday, March 26, 2016

For Pat and Jack! - West Delhi 9 Miler

Thanks to the generosity of Pat and Jack, aka the in-laws, the 2016 fundraising drive has begun!

As part of my training  for Grandma's Marathon I am hoping my friends will help with donations to a fund that I helped to create after the sudden and unexpected death of a friend. Camp Miller Duluth YMCA is working to create a yearly campship in honor of Ty Taylor, but needs more funding.

With your donation, you get a dedicated training run and the corresponding write-up on this blog. Thanks for your generosity and encouragement as I gear up to run the 40th anniversary in my 40th year of life!

Readers, follow Pat and Jack's example - Donate here - http://www.ymcacampmiller.org/donate/ty-taylor-campship-endowment/ Let me know that you've donated and I'll write up your run!

The Run: West Delhi 9 Miler
The Inspiration: A book and my "coverage map"

Today's run was inspired by a wonderful book about Delhi called Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, by Sam Miller. In it, Miller walks a spiral through Delhi, starting at Connaught Place. He writes about the things he sees and the people he meets. In many ways, Miller and I are kindred spirits, as this is what I do when I run. I plan routes to areas that are new to me, areas that expose the best and worst of the city, the old and the new. When I first began to write this blog, Miller's book served as a bit of inspiration.

Here's a video of him talking about the book.



Chapter Nine introduced me to West Delhi, and the Pacific Mall. This location has resonated for many reasons, not the least of which was Miller's description. When the book was written in 2008, malls were not a new concept in Delhi, but they were certainly more novel than they are now. The Pacific Mall was a particular novelty due to the fact that, according to Miller, it was a symbol of the abrupt turn to conspicuous wealth of the Delhites. West Delhi is not exactly the first choice for the wealthy capital dwellers, but the fact that they were getting a mall signaled the shift.

I'm also intrigued by West Delhi, as it takes me out of the New Delhi Municipal Council Area and on to new roads. I'm on a quest to cover as much ground as I can. See my post about coverage here.

It could have been a fairly typical Delhi run, but I was joined by a new member of the AES Running Group for the run. Melissa has been in Delhi for two weeks, and was indoctrinated into my madness with a trial by fire. My warning in email said, "Could be gnarly. Could be amazing. No promises. :) It will definitely be a different route than usual." Her reply, "Duly warned." It seemed like she was up for anything, and we set out at 6am for the run.

We left school and cut through the ridge where we were able to talk about the dangers of monkeys while running in Delhi. We turned right and headed along the NH-8 where we were able to talk about the danger of being run over while running in Delhi. We turned left, made two wrong turns and talked about the dangers of getting lost while running in Delhi. At this point, I realized that I was probably monopolizing the conversation, so I asked the only question that made sense given that Melissa had turned up to run a 9 miler with no hesitation and also that we were cruising - "So you're pretty into running?" I'll paraphrase her reply. "I'm just getting back into it, but normally I run marathons in mountains and average about 60 miles a week." That put her strength into perspective for me, so I stopped worrying about whether or not she was worried about the "dangers" of running in Delhi.

So we ran. Along Patel road (a major artery), we saw temples (photo below), a tiny library in a roundabout, paperboys preparing their stacks for delivery, and people cooking and eating delicious-smelling breakfast. In an effort to avoid running over a flyover, we attempted to run under it. After crossing railroad tracks we were faced with a ten foot wall covered in barbed wire. But then I spied the stairs. They were half crumbled away and they led directly to the top of the overpass. We were forced to run down the overpass, dodging bikes, motorcycles and cars. We made it and decided to NOT run along the Najafgarh Drain, Delhi's most polluted water body. We did take the next left and eventually twisted and turned our way through the neighborhood of Rajouri Garden, with a purposeful detour on Magoo Road. Heh. Magoo. The final turn brought us to the final super busy thoroughfare, but we were able to run along access roads for most of it. The views along this road approaching the mall, brought to mind Miller's recounting of his walk under the Delhi Metro's Blue Line. Restaurants proclaiming to be Western! and a building with a Pegasus bursting out of it were highlights.

Finally, we arrived at the Pacific Mall. We took a selfie, hailed an autorickshaw and cruised back to school in style. It was a great run with great company and I saw a whole new section of Delhi that looks a lot like other sections of Delhi.



RUN STATS
Distance: 9.27 miles
Duration: 1:16:26
Temperature: About 80 degrees by the time we finished
Soundtrack: A Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife Dog)


Saturday, March 12, 2016

Ravindra Rangshala Run

The only ruins in the city aren't the ones that are centuries-old. Today we visited the Ravindra Rangshala and did some urban exploring.

In the thee decades after its construction in the early 1960s, the Ravidra Rangshala was the place for Dilliwallas to go for cultural programs, movies, theatre performances and more. Up to 8000 people could gather in the open-air amphitheater, nestled into Delhi's Ridge.

Today, it lies in ruins, abandoned and forgotten.

The final curtain dropped on the stage in the early 1990s, when the Supreme Court declared the Ridge a protected area. Incursions into the Delhi Ridge are frequent and always controversial. This one is no different. The organization that oversees it, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, wants to reopen the theatre and restore it to its former glory. If done correctly, could this project achieve the balance of conservation and education? The site is stunning, but the environmental impact could be severe if mismanaged.

My suggestion? Visit it while its still there. Stories abound about it being one of Delhi's haunted places. YouTube videos and blogs show adventurous souls poking around.  Here is my contribution.













The way home took us to the Buddha Jayanti Park. We were planning on a quick buzz of the Buddha, maybe some snaps to send off our friend Marc as he prepares to leave Delhi and head back to Israel. That plan changed quickly, when the jovial caretaker started asking questions. He quickly invited us into the pond and onto the artificial island to see the geese and the eggs that they've laid. He especially wanted to show us his favorite part of the island, a tree planted by the Karmapa Lama. Except, as he told us. "I enjoy this tree. There are pictures all over the world of this tree. I planted it." He told the story of how the original tree never made it, and so he tried three more times with three more trees until he got one to thrive!







And that air! What a great day for a run. We did again AESRunners! Thanks to all for entrusting me with your lives as I continue to come up with crazy ideas. That barbed wire wasn't that sharp, was it Veronika?


RUN STATS:
Distance - 8.72 miles (promised to be about 7.5mi)
Time - 1:20:34





Thursday, March 3, 2016

Thoughts on Route Ownership

Be warned. There will be a quiz.

As I was running the other day, I started thinking about how I, as a runner, take great pride and ownership over the routes that I run and the roads that I run on. If you read the blog, you know that I am obsessive about creating new routes that not only take me to see new things, but also help in my pursuit of coverage.

But when I'm not looking for new paths, I'm plying the same roads. It occurred to me, that at 5am, 6am, when I'm hitting those same paths over and over again, I feel like I own the streets. They belong to me. I mapped the route, I named it, and I run it, so it's mine. Which is ridiculous, because: a) I share Delhi's roads with upwards of 20 million people and b) I always see other people on "my" roads.

Quiz Question 1: Do the other runners out there feel this way?

I know that Scott has the "Scott White 5 Miler" and Evan has "His Nehru Park Loop." Both are eponymously named and each of those guys would hesitate to run other variations. I also know that I have created and named dozens of routes since 2012.

That's why I buckled the other day when Melissa suggested we run "Quiet Neighborhood." That route is not called "Quiet Neighborhood," it's called the "Peacock 4 Miler." I designed the route in April of 2012. It took the name after repeated runs consistently yielded the viewing of peacocks in the same spot.

Here's a screenshot of the route:


And here's a screenshot of a very similar route, made in 2011 called "Quiet Neighborhood."


Obviously I was crushed. It destroyed my concept of ownership. Does Kira own this route? Do I need to change the name of my run? Then I really got thinking. Did someone before her run this route every Tuesday? Is new thinking derivative? Is ownership of ideas possible? Is everything just a repackage of something else? I was stymied. So I went back and ran it again, this time alone.

This is what I heard.




It was haunting. I stopped running. I turned off my music. I took out my phone and shot these videos to try to share the experience with you. It took several minutes, but I finally found one of the instigators. 40 feet up a tree, was the unmistakable silhouette of a peacock.

Quiz Question 2: So tell me, how quiet was this neighborhood?

Anyone out there have any thoughts on this? Leave the answers to the quiz questions in the comments!

RUN STATS (Feb 24):
Distance - 3.73 miles
Time - 37:49
Soundtrack - Random Playlist

RUN STATS (Mar 3):
Distance - 4.13 miles
Time - 34:22 (peacock break not included)
Soundtrack - Cacophonous Peacocks!