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.
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.
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)
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