For Dr. A! - The Old Delhi Half Marathon

Dr. A came in with a very generous donation that showed up in my records after a plea that would get this run in the books! Thanks for urging me write up my travels around my Delhi. But the thanks is truly for helping to establish an on-going campship that will award a scholarship to needy children in the name of my friend, Ty Taylor. Everyone else can donate and get a dedicated run just by clicking on this link - http://www.ymcacampmiller.org/donate/ty-taylor-campship-endowment/

By the way, Dr. A is no stranger to travel writing. Check out her work for the Washington Post here.

Saturday's run marked the third or fourth installment (April 2014) of the Old Delhi Half Marathon. There's nothing official about this run, it just happens to be 13 or 14 miles round trip. There's certainly no rigamarole or pomp associated with it. Not like the upcoming British History Half Marathon. There are no bibs, no note cards. The attraction and the allure of the run is its destination.

Old Delhi calls to us. We spend our days in leafy Chanakyapuri, where the streets are wide, the cows are few and as they say in our CPR classes, the scene is safe. Old Delhi is none of those things. It's crowded, chaotic and cacophonous. It's a little dangerous.

But more that any of those things, it's interesting. Old Delhi is real. It pulses and breathes with all of its inhabitants and it wraps you up.

Like last week, the run drew a crowd. 12 wonderful friends showed up early on a Saturday morning to head to Old Delhi. Getting there was largely uneventful. We took it easy. The air wasn't great, the heat was already getting up there and we had a large spread of runners. (Confession-these are my favorite runs). Everyone comes out, we run along at a nice pace, we chat and we enjoy the scenery. At least, the scenery that can be seen. Delhi Gate was shrouded in the Delhi pollution, and from our position high on the Raj Path, we could just make out the outline. Undaunted, we continued on.

And that's when I saw it. My second most favorite font on a building in Delhi. And it was just around the corner from my first! The All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society building has an absolutely incredible Art Deco font. The letters are so tall and skinny!

Taken from the AIFACS website. I'll take a better shot someday.

My favorite. The subtlety in the U! Oh dear.

After that occupied my time for a few minutes, we arrived in grand style to the Heart of New Delhi - Connaught Place. Our entry into the inner circle was heralded by too many street dogs to count. And they were angry. At what, exactly, was unclear. Each other? Us? The apparent lack of commitment and dedication to the revitalization of the "largest financial, commercial and business centres" in the city?

We left the dogs to their platitudes and continued on. From CP, the run gets "interesting." As Laura and I were running alongside speeding, deafening traffic on Minto Road, I leaned over and yelled, "This is nice. Relaxing." The population density seemed to double or triple as we crossed the border of the two Delhis. Looking up, I saw three hornbills in flight. I tried to attract the others runners attention, but I think they just assumed my muffled yells were related to me getting run over by an autorickshaw or falling in a hole. At least I saw them. Or was it a diesel-injected dream?

And then we were there. The literal edge of Old Delhi. All twelve of us stopped for a group photo in front of the Turkman Gate, one of the five remaining entrance/exits to the walled city of Shahjahanabad, the seventh incarnation of the city of Delhi.

After the photo (and a breather), I immediately took the group on  a wrong turn. It was wrong for two reasons. Number 1: We were going the wrong way. Number 2: We ran past a smushed cat that was suffering far worse intestinal problems than Adam. Back on track, we headed into the fray of Sitaram Bazaar. We were dodging bikes, motorcycles, bicycle rickshaws, cows. You name it, we saw it. Old Delhi was positively buzzing with excitement at 7 in the morning on a Saturday and it was a workout just avoiding running into everything. At one point, it was suggested to me that I not bump into the cart in front of me. Why? Because of the legs (goat?) sticking out the back under the tarp were dangerously close.

From the Sitaram Bazaar, the route turns to the heart of Old Delhi at the Chawri Bazaar Metro Station. Many years ago, Kate and I ventured into the warrens of lanes and "go-downs" to have our wedding invitations printed. Years before that I was hopelessly enamored and agog at the smells, sight, ,and sounds of car horns honking, especially when I realized there were no cars on the street. I was passing a row of shops SELLING car horns and advertising by letting their product blast out its message.

And then, Jama Masjid.

Jama Masjid is one of the largest mosques in India and was built in the 17th century by Shah Jahan, the namesake of the seventh city of Delhi and the builder of the Taj Mahal. It's the center of all activity in Old Delhi and we journeyed around its exterior before we split off into the group that would run back and the group that would autorickshaw back in style.

The next stretch of old Delhi was more dodging and more gawking. But not too much gawking, as full attention was needed to ensure uprightedness! Today there were no goat heads, but plenty of buckets of brains. And livers. The last sight in Old Delhi this morning was a man walking out with a carcass. Over his shoulder. Fully carved. No wrapping.

We exited back at the Turkman Gate and headed home. It was a long (basically) straight trip home with not too much excitement. Which I suppose was good. We needed some time to decompress and unpack the images that will surely be enduring images of our time here in the Heart of India.

RUN STATS

Distance: 14.11 miles

Duration: 2:10:01

Soundtrack: Modest Mouse

For the Mankers! - The Guapa Run

Another donation came in quickly from great friends and strong members of the AES running community - the Mankers. The future campers that will benefit from the Ty Taylor Memorial Campship thank you, as do I. More donations can be made at this link. Thanks in advance.

For this dedicated training run, I decided to run the route that Bernie and Laura have run more than any other - the four mile route that one or the other of them run several times a week with their dog, Guapa. I'll try not to gush on Bernie and Laura too much, but they have been big supporters of my running and have probably logged more miles with me than anyone else. Read any of my past posts and the likelihood is high that one of them was there with me. Here's one post I wrote about my bromance with Bernie as an example of my gushiness.

Just like the previous dedication, I wasn't sure what I'd write about as I took off, so I just opened my eyes and waited to see what would happen to me on this run. Living in India is a lot like living in the book To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street, by Dr. Seuss. Except, the crazy things that Marco would see here are actually here and not in his mind. Almost as an answer to my dare, it wasn't long before I saw my first cool thing. It was the President's Bodyguard. As Wikipedia reports, the President's Bodyguard is an Indian Army calvary regiment. Today they are still an active regiment, tasked with the job of protecting the President of India. In addition to those duties, the mounted horseback troops are a prominent part of ceremonies in New Delhi and elsewhere.

They are based within the Rashtrapati Bahvan, or the Presidential Palace. As it occupies a sizable piece of the real estate in our part of town, we often have to run around its walls. It's not uncommon to come across the troops as they exercise the horses.

I didn't take a picture that morning, but I have in the past. It also got me thinking of the crazy animals we've come across on our runs in Delhi. Here is a sampling for you to enjoy.

The rest of the route was sadly, predictable. No crazy gutter dog on Safdarjung Road, no elephants at the Ashok and no camels. What about you readers? What's the craziest thing you've ever been surprised by on a run?

RUN STATS

Distance: 4:16 miles

Duration: 31:12

For Faze!

The donations have poured in over the past two days, and I'm determined to give each of my generous and supportive donators a dedicated run. My plan was to do it in the order they came in, but today something special happened and I had to switch gears.

One donation came with a request - "think goats, negative splits, and a Ty inspired playlist"

I wasn't planning on dedicating this run to Faze, but when I saw this, I knew I had to whip out my camera and change my dedication plan.

Look Faze. Goats!

Sorry, the playlist wasn't Ty-inspired, but one will be soon; it's a great idea.  Splits? Again, I wasn't planning on this being your run, but they came close-ish to negative splits.

Except for that ugly Mile 4 - almost fully negative splits.

Faze's request for negative splits may very well be due to the fact that like Jess, she's a member of Team Tinto. Remember, Team Tinto - "Kiss my shiraz!" Stay tuned to the blog in July for Fueled by Fine Wine 1/2 Marathon updates.

The run today was a five miler variation of the Dhobi run. A dhobi is a launderer and this run passes through a dhobi colony near school. The dhobis live together, collect laundry from their clients, head back to the colony and wash, dry and iron the clothes. If you get there at the right time of day, the run passes through hundreds of meters of clothes drying on the lines. It's a cool sight.

Ted joined me and we had a good strong run. Yesterday, Ted broke the Nehru Loop record. By a lot. It's going to be tough to beat. I'll keep my word from May 13's pledge post, though. Give me a good pledge and I will do everything I can to break the record to collect the pledge from you! Although Ted is tall, strong and fast, he's not a big fan of monkeys. In fact, they might be his only kryptonite. He has requested no monkeys on all runs, but today as we were passing one on my side, Ted started edging me toward it. Thinking he was just being cruel, I let him know that I wasn't too keen on getting that close. That's when he informed me (looking straight ahead) that it was because of the two monkeys on his side. "Be brave, be brave..." Narrowly escaping rabies, we continued on. The next animal encounter was with a dog that tried barking at us, but sounded like it had been smoking cigarettes all night long. He just wasn't selling it.

The final stretch home is another course and Ted managed to break that record too. You know, maybe I shouldn't have taught Ted about MapMyRun courses...or maybe I need to pick up the pace and take some records back. Challenge accepted. I'll consider it Team Tinto interval training.

This run belongs to my dear friend Faze!

I'm dedicating runs to raise money for a campship in memory of our friend Ty Taylor at YMCA Camp Miller. Click here or here to donate. Please make sure you choose the Ty Taylor Campship option. And please let me know if you've made a donation so I can thank you!

RUN STATS:

Distance - 4.98 miles
Time - 38:39
Soundtrack - Architecture in Helsinki, In Case We Die

One more animal reference (what's the deal with all of the wildlife in the city?) - today's run might be retooled into a route that becomes called the Squirrel ___ Miler. See for yourself.

Running for  a Reason 2014 Official Partner

For Lloyd!

This run is for DJ Boring. Hit him up on Facebook. He donated mad ducats for my cause and you should too. Here's the link!

Although today's run was sponsored by DJ Boring, it was anything but. Here's why today's run was awesome.

1. Ran in the rain for the first time for real.
2. Ran to Old Delhi and back.
3. Ran farther than I ever have before.

This morning I woke up at 5:30am to get ready for my run. I took the dog out and realized it was raining. Typically, this would give me pause. Today though, I was determined and excited to run. I checked my email to see how many people were bailing. "Is anyone running?" one email read. "I have to." I replied.

I have to. 

When I wrote it, I thought I was just talking about staying true to my training program for the marathon. As the day progressed, I realized it was about much more. I don't feel good when I don't run. Running is my excuse to get out and see Delhi and today's run was the ultimate sight-seeing adventure. I headed downstairs, sure I'd be the only one, and lo and behold there were four people waiting to run along with me.

I rejoiced and headed out for today's 14 miler. 

The run through the rain was fun. I was wearing a raincoat, but not a running raincoat. Unsure if it was keeping me dry or causing me to sweat more, I kept it on as we headed away from school towards the Presidential Palace. The rain had cleared the air and it created the perfect conditions to see both the Presidential Palace and India Gate. Normally, the pollution hides one or the other, so today I employed the tennis match strategy as I turned my head right and left as I crossed the Raj Path, enjoying the view.

Our run continued past Jantar Mantar, one of my favorite places in Delhi. It's an observatory that's almost 300 years old.

From there, we circled around Connaught Place until we hit Minto Road and headed into Old Delhi. The transition from Delhi into Old Delhi is as stark as the names would suggest. Immediately, there are more people, the roads get narrower and a sense of change as tangible as flipping a light switch is apparent. After a quick consult with the map, we were off to Turkman Gate, one of the original entrances to the walled city of Shahjahanabad, the seventh city of Delhi. The impressive walled city of Shahjahanabad is considered by many to be Delhi's high point.

Turkman Gate

From the Turkman Gate, the run got really interesting. At this point, the route turns inward to the heart of Old Delhi. The streets were crowded with people, covered in puddles and offered a lot to do and see. Most people greeted us warmly and encouraged us as we pressed forward.

Finally, after two correct guesses in the confusing maze of Chawri Bazar, we reached the half-way point of the run, Jama Masjid. Jama Masjid was the center of Delhi's religious life in the late 1600s and continues to be today. It was built by Shah Jahan, the same Mughal emperor who ordered the building of the Taj Mahal (which coincidentally, I'll be visiting tomorrow)! Might be a good chance to sponsor a very special Agra run...(just sayin').

A loop around the mosque and we were on the way home. We ran past the Delhi institution, Karim's restaurant. Karim's is a must visit for Mugal food in Delhi. The street vendors were also hard at work. However, we had no desire to stop and taste this guy's offers.

Yes, this is a bowl full of goat heads.

After we circled back to the Turkman Gate, two of the crew jumped into an autorickshaw and headed home. That left three intrepid runners looking for the 14 miler. Lee, Tara and I kept at it, headed back toward the diplomatic area.

As we passed the Le Meridian hotel, we saw another runner stop to ask directions of the guards. We crossed the street and asked if he needed help. When he asked where we were going and we told him that we were headed back to the Diplomatic Area, he asked us if we knew of a guy called Jason Coleman. Surprised, I told him that I did in fact, know of the man. He told us that he was on our mailing list, but hadn't ever joined us for a run. He was trying to run the Kessel Run and wasn't sure of the next turn. We set him on his way, and I felt like my enduring legacy in New Delhi had been realized. At least one other person has run the streets that make a drawing of the Millennium Falcon. My work is done.

We kept pushing and made it back home. My farthest run ever was finished. Thanks Lloyd for the inspiration and thanks friends for the company. I'm truly blessed to have such good people around me. You make me better.

This run belongs to DJ Boring!

I'm dedicating runs to raise money for a campship in memory of our friend Ty Taylor at YMCA Camp Miller. Click here or here to donate. Please make sure you choose the Ty Taylor Campship option. And please let me know if you've made a donation so I can thank you!

RUN STATS:
Distance - 14.66 miles
Time - 2:08:31
Soundtrack - The White Stripes, Thin Lizzy, The Thrills and U2.