Mostly, I remember the last few kilometers of KTM. Because I’ve never been so relieved that it was done. But then I say that after every run :-)

Well, I probably wasn’t the only one – with the sun shining in all its glory – at times during the 3 hour affair I could feel it penetrating into my skull (through my hat) and burning holes and radiating out. I am not kidding. It was so HOT. We didn’t get an overcast day as we had hoped. Instead we had clear skies and the blazing sun and a delayed start – as a result of which most folks suffered quite a bit. The full marathoners were still running way into the 5th and 6th hour and I can only say that I am filled with admiration. I couldn’t have gone a mile beyond the 21!

In fact the last 2 kms or so was quite bad. I had developed a bit of a headache (I usually do when exposed for prolonged hours to the sun) and a blister on one sole. So, I was literally ambling along waiting for the corner to appear.

That’s when I caught up with Rajendra Patel.

“How much are you running?” he asked.

“Only the half,” I replied.

“Oh good, good. You know, this is commendable. Especially carrying your weight.”

Hmm. Not my weight again!

Before I could respond, he added: “Now we can run together.”

So we ambled along together. Meanwhile, Rajendra Patel decided that he needed to keep up the conversation. He was an ex-Army guy and had been to Nagaland. He had met several Boras (and were they my cousins?!), and he lives in Pondicherry now.

It was actually due to him that I got completely distracted by my painful aching sore muscles that had had enough. He insisted I should not beat him at this stage and I agreed.

So finally, after 2 hours and 58 minutes of the heat and the sun, we crossed the finish line together.

On an aside, the KTM route was beautiful – whenever I had a chance to look up and around! Green all around with a channel of water running alongside you and fields to both sides – an absolutely idyllic countryside scene which made me feel at times that I should have been there with a camera instead. A perfect location to take a stroll or even go on cycling. The only traffic was in the form of buffaloes and a few villagers who seemed really amused at us sprinting, darting, ambling and walking down “their” territory.

So that was the KTM. The Ultra comes next!

~ Sudhir has some great pics
~ More on the marathon
~ Manoj and his marathon effort
~ Bhasker just keeps running
~ Shantanu’s experience
~ Prateek runs his second

The Kaveri Trail marathon is finally here (it also came much sooner than I thought!).

On the scary side, I haven’t run in more than two weeks. My travel put my schedule out of order and I’ve been rather lazy in the mornings too. So I’m not in the best of conditions, but then I did sign up for it, so I have to keep my commitment :-)

Here’s the gang at the pasta dinner with the RFL gang last evening at Herbs and Spice. But please note that some of these gorgeous women are not even runners ;-p

From Misc

So I happened to make this comment.

“But you’re not even a runner,” I pointed out to one of them.

“But darling, I have a great body already. I don’t need to run,” she replied, tongue-in-cheek.

Dang! Women, I tell you. And these are my friends. Heh.

Time to tuck in a quick dinner and crash! It’s going to be a long day tomorrow….

Everyone needs a hero, right? So here’s a small story about mine. So, the hero’s been around for a while, but never really gotten a taste of adventure. Of what life can be like – on the road. I’ve been meaning to take him out on a jaunt to experience real life… but the timing was never quite right.

It finally happened last Sunday.
(more…)

Tea happens to be my favourite beverage. Over the years, I’ve disposed off the need for milk (and sugar in most cases) to get the real taste of tea. I read this yesterday while browsing through a book and liked it so much, I made a note of it: “Tea is quiet and it takes a quiet palate to appreciate something that calls so little attention to itself.” - James Norwood Pratt in the New Tea Lover’s Treasury. So true!

Just next door to where I’m staying here at Fort Kochi, I was delighted to find a small quaint tea room called Tpot. With kettles of different sizes and colours everywhere, and rustic furniture - the place is a really comforting and somewhere you can spend hours reading a book. More about it in the blog later.

I’ve also done quite a bit of eating here (it will take me many marathons to shed all my sins :-). After yesterday’s disappointing dinner, today’s breakfast too was very bad - I tried a French toast at a place called Elite hotel (since it was the only joint open early morning) and I have no idea what they put in it, but I couldn’t get through even one toast! Lunch was more memorable - just finished a garden salad followed by a delicious coconut flavoured fish curry and rice at the Old Courtyard.

Early morning today, I went out on a boat ride and caught the fishermen in action as they worked on the Chinese fishing nets. It was quite an interesting sight as they worked the nets continuously trying to bring in the catch of the day - but it seemed to be a day of no or poor yield as hardly any fish were coming up in the nets.

The synagogue was closed, today being a holiday so I had to be happy with a glimpse from outside. The Dutch palace was quite fascinating and they’re renovating the place now and doing it up - there’s much history there. The only thing left on the agenda and that didn’t get done are two museums and they’re actually close by but laziness has now set in.

I’m planning to take it easy for the next couple of hours, maybe head off for a snooze and then make my way towards the bus station to head back to Bangalore. But before I do that, I have just enough time for one last cuppa at the Tpot!

Into day 2 of my Fort Kochi break. Chilled out a little on day 1 and walked around a bit. I had a list of things on my agenda but decided that I wasn’t going to push myself!

Today, I had a few interesting conversations including one with someone who has been involved with maintaining the area as a heritage zone and the efforts they are taking in this regard. Which is probably a bigger post that I’ll hopefully be able to write about at a later date.

In the other developments, I’ve been eating like crazy - though it’s hardly surprising I guess. Found a few nice cosy cafes including the Kashi Art Gallery and then TPot where I managed to tuck in a huge breakfast and lunch today. And dinner I am sure will be equally expansive though I’m trying to decide where it will be…

Time now to head out and see if I can capture the sunset by the harbour!