First 5k run experience without training

There had been a modest amount of buzz at the office when couple of co-workers had signed up for their first 5k social run sponsored by a local car dealership. They started sharing experiences of their training now and then, that inspired few others of us to sign up for the event. When signing up, I had roughly 3 weeks to prepare for the run. 

I have been walking pushing my two-year old on a stroller for several months daily. But, the total distance I covered might be around a mile. Going uphill that is modestly steep to a nearby community park, I had some basic cardio done each day. Apart from that, a year ago, I had been regularly hitting the gym with twenty minutes of intense running and walking which served as a supplement for the weight training I did at that time. So, the maximum distance I had covered in the past was not more than two miles at any given run. Cannot blame the family commitments or a busy office schedule for not training even once. Time and tide waits for no man. The day arrived without waiting for me to know whether a 5k run is sweet or sour.

The run was on a beautiful calm trail near a lake. I couldn’t have betted on a better weather than that evening! My manager was the one who aspired the team members to run. He who had already completed several half marathons and few full marathons in different parts of the US and the country, was present on that day to encourage us and to do his own piece of running as well.

Before starting the run, my mind was blank because I was skeptical how I would feel upon finishing. It was a straight trail, where, there will be an orange code after 1.5 miles and we must have to run around that and return to complete the reminder of the run which tallies to 3 miles or otherwise 5k.  Never nervous or afraid, I started the run along with the crowd (almost 150 people). My colleagues and I were running together at the same, slow and steady pace. Few minutes and what seemed to be 0.4 miles roughly, I started slowing down and my friends started disappearing on the visage of the trial as it convoluted like a snake. There were also some untrained runners from my office, a few of them were behind me as well. I determined not to stop running at least until the first half of the race, which indeed was hard.

My speed was reducing which was evident by the number of people who overtook me. Running with the dog. Pushing twin girls on a stroller. Running with kids. Running with a partner hand in hand. I witnessed several other running ahead of me and soon vanishing from the sight. Several times, the thoughts of stopping to run and walk, peeped the mind. I was gritty not to give up though. Tenacity and the zeal are absolutely required for anything to be achieved anywhere. However, it cannot help you drive a car that is running out of gas. In this case, I was both the car and the driver. The engine was boiling and denied running further.

My legs slowed down and started walking. But the arms were still swinging as if I was running. I gasped for more oxygen which was there in abundant with countless number of trees around the trail. A few more steps forward, there was a middle-aged father who was telling his daughter that it is almost a mile and encouraged her to run forward. I was surprised that I still haven’t reached a mile. When asked, he said it was 0.95 miles.

Not even half the distance and I was already sucking the air.

I walked forward thinking I will start running after regaining the breath when an untrained colleague of mine overtook me slowly. Regaining breath and some momentum, I started running again. My steps were little longer than his. I overtook him slowly this time.

I stopped. He overtook. I ran forward pushing him behind. I stopped again. He overtook. This continued as we ran into the other friends who were on their way back, waving hands at us. Running around the orange cone, I started running back to where it all started to complete the run. On the way back, found one of the best things that happened to the universe. Water! Grabbed the small bottle of water and drank a mouthful. It felt extremely good. On resuming the run after the few seconds hiatus, I could feel the water juggling inside my belly.

The stopping and overtaking game between me and the other colleague continued until I had to stop running for an extended period of two to three minutes and walked. He started disappearing from the sight as well. On resumption, there was a lady who must be in her late forties was running with some gadgets wrapped around her arm and hip. Every minute, her gadget, presumably a phone, said out loud how much time has elapsed, and distance covered. 2.1 miles, 2.2 miles, 2.43 miles, 2.5 miles, 2.7 miles, 2.8 miles in 35 minutes. Almost there. But, not quite. My heart was begging for me to sit (or lie down) and rest. The gadget lady disappeared too.

I slowly strolled down to the finish line and was glad that I finished the race which I was doubtful at the beginning.  I was even more glad that I don’t have to run anymore. I found where my friends were standing, and I knew each one of them had a story to exchange with others. I reached them slowly and tried to speak. The spot between the lower part of the throat until the lungs, felt like as if it was on fire. The heart did not realize that I had finished the run and was still beating faster. Excusing myself from the others, I had to go sit and let the heart beats to slow down. Ten more minutes, I was alright. My thighs and calf muscles were little sore but manageable.

It was indeed a great achievement and I was proud of myself then. Went to a restaurant to treat myself with some good carb rich food. When I reached home, my family was already asleep. I had to consume more and more water since I was feeling thirsty repeatedly within an hour. I was not able to sleep probably because my heart did not come out of the panic mode.

Next couple of days, my thighs and right foot felt awful. I had to allow myself of not doing anything that required too much walking or standing to get back into shape.

Now, I am much more interested in training and running a 5k. The goal I am going for is to not to stop even once during the run.

The Anonymous

The coffee doesn’t seem to work on me anymore, that day. I was dozing on my desk with my palm on cheeks. I couldn’t help my eyes closing automatically yawning thrice within two minutes and decided to take a leave.

I mailed my project manager that I was sick and could not work that day. As I walked away from my cubicle, I yawned again and again. I wish I could hit the bed at once for a sleep. My hands and legs were imploring me to do a stretch and rest on bed.

I wondered how I could ride the way back to home. Somehow I managed to start the bike and was moving on slowly as I rode the bike with half closed eyes. As it was mid afternoon, there was not much traffic.

Last night, it was the last night with Nisha. I was talking with her all throughout the night. This time, she was really serious in breaking up with me. Unlike the previous times, I had no problems either. Though I was madly in love with her, she was quite sure that I am not interested in her and would not make her happy anymore in life.

She was living in Hyderabad with her parents. Me, in Chennai... She worked at night for an American firm. I worked in days and loved in nights. Cell phone… It is a treacherous device. Right then, I never bothered for breaking up with her, but was keen to fill in the bed with a heavy sleep. I could feel my tiring eyes sinking the ocean.

I bit my teeth hard as if it would help me staying awake riding the bike. I heard an auto rickshaw driver abusing me for riding on the wrong way of the road. As I drove past, I saw a nincompoop lying on the sides of the road. I didn’t bother whether he was a drunkard or had doped, but was very jealous on his freedom to sleep wherever he liked.

With the sun shone with his fullest strength at 2 in the afternoon, I somehow reached the home. I opened the door strode straight to the bedroom and fell on the bed.

I wanted to remove my shoes and change to pajamas, but nothing was in my control. I could hear my breath. It was as strong as a storm and went to the hibernation state immediately. I felt a sudden shock with my mobile buzzing inside the pocket of my pants.

I woke up with a jerk to see who it was. An unknown number was flashing and I shouldn’t have picked the call. But I did.

“Hello… Chakku?” It was a sweet voice. Most importantly, the person who owned the voice was a girl. I reckoned that if she had sung, it would have been better than Shreya Goshal. But, unfortunately these voices would only ask you to get credit cards and car loans.

“Yes…” I said tiredly.

“How are you?” She asked.

What should I say? Fine? Not fine? Or throw the phone away and hit the bed again?

“Ya…” I said. My voice neither had energy nor life in it.

“So early to home... huh?”

I was stunned. All the coffee I sipped that morning worked on my brain at once and my eyes were opened like butterflies.

“Don’t ride your bike sleeping. Okay? It is dangerous than drink n drive.” She said.

I was completely clueless. I was one hundred percent sure that it was not the voice of Nisha. I turned my head both the sides as if someone was there in the home. I got up the bed with the phone in my hand.

“Who is this?” I asked alarmingly.

“I know you. But you don’t know me.” She said as if she was a kidnapper calling for ransom.

“Oh…” I said and went on to lock the main door of the house.

“You look really cool in the black stripes…” she was mentioning the color of the shirt I wore that day.

I cut the phone and fell on the sofa. I could not sleep and could not stop thinking of the voice either. I was getting mad.

I thought she would call me back. She didn’t. I did.

“Hello…” I said.

“Hi… I know you would call me back.”

“Are you playing prank with me? I have lot of work to do. Just tell me who you are…” I sounded a bit harsh.

“Hmmm… This is Sowmya.” She said with her same sweet tone. I was cracking my head thinking who the hell was that Sowmya.

“Which… Which Sowmya?” I asked hesitantly.

“Even if I say you can’t figure me out.”

“So… What’s the matter?”

“I don’t want to beat around the bush. I work in your office and I’ve been seeing you for the past one month.”

“Me?” I asked doubtedly.

I could hear her laugh. It was like honey to my ears.

“Yes… You Chakku.” She said and laughed again.

“I’ve been following you everywhere. To the food court, to the restaurants, to the movies…. I even know exactly at what time you will take a coffee break.” She said.

I could visualize her smiling at the other end of the line.

“But, I haven’t seen you.”

“I know. I’d been trying to talk with you for the whole month and today I decided to meet you, so I was waiting for you to come to the food court. But, you left for the day.”

“Did you follow me?” I asked her teasingly.

She gave a peculiar laugh through the phone which meant yes and I too wanted to meet her and speak with her, looking into her eyes.

“Shall we meet today?” She asked.

“Okay? In office…” I blurted. I was like ‘idiotism personified’. It could be the ‘possibly’ first date with my ‘probably’ second girlfriend. I shouldn’t have made the choice as office.

“No no no… CCD near the office… 7 okay?” she said.

“Okay…” I said and hung up the call. I thanked God for giving me another girl the very next day after I broke up with my first one. I should be sleeping then, but couldn’t stop being excited. I looked up more than twice as if I was thanking God and was smiling to myself.

The phone rang again. Yes. It was her

“Hi… I forgot to tell you something?” She said.

“What?” I asked in a puzzled tone.

“I love you…”She said in a husky tone and gave a kiss.

“Hello…” I tried to speak but the phone was cut.

I switched on my laptop to check who that Sowmya was. I opened my company website and searched for her name in the internal login. There were thirteen Sowmyas and I had no chance of finding her since I did not know the exact spelling for her name.

I was skeptical what to do next. To go, to stay back, to secretly monitor who she was without meeting her… After all she had asked me to come to a public place and I was not being unsafe for that matter.

I ran across the room here and there. Looked at the mirror and checked whether how I looked. I wondered what had made a girl to fall for me. Even Nisha didn’t accept my proposal at the very beginning. She made me to ruin behind her like a kitten for several weeks before she said those awaited words, “I love you!”If I had known that I would break up with her or I would get the anonymous girl’s proposal who has the most beautiful voice that I have heard, I wouldn’t have stalked Nisha. After all, love happens whenever the hormones work more than its schedule.

Random thoughts of Nisha’s bad relationship and imaginations of how beautiful and sweet my ‘probably’ new girlfriend would be floated across my mind as the clock ticked faster. It became evening so fast.

I picked the best shirt from my shelf and scented me with one of the manliest perfumes. I checked my hair style quite a few times more than a normal day and started off to the coffee shop. Unlike in the afternoon, I rode the bike more briskly. I was happy that the evening was very pleasant with cool breeze kissing through my ears. It looked as if it was going to rain in some time.

It was quarter to seven and I was not hesitant to go inside the coffee shop early. I looked at the people who were seated in there. There were two girls seated on a couch. Except them all others were pairs or in groups. I took my seat quietly and skimmed through the menu.

The two girls who were seated looked at me continuously and were gossiping within them. They were dressed rich and looked as if they spend considerably extra time in make ups. I ignored them and waited for Sowmya. Time ticked on to half past seven and I was still sitting like an ass.

When I tried to call her, she dint pick the call. It could be because of various reasons. She could be travelling. So I kept on waiting. Few minutes later those two girls left, still chuckling and looked at me for no reason I knew.

Fifteen more minutes passed.

When I lost patience and was about to leave, someone closed my eyes from behind with their palm. The softness of the palm and the fragrance made my hormones to agitate.

“Guess who?”

I heard the same voice which I heard in the phone.

“Sowmya?” I said and my lips automatically smiled. In fact I was blushing, a little too much than I did in the afternoon.

“You are wrong…” She said in her own feminine tone and took the hands away. I was shocked to see the person who was standing in front of me. It literally shook me off and the smile in my face vanished off in no time. That was Nisha. From where the hell she came there after breaking up with me…?

I looked like a dumb idiot. I saw Nisha’s face turning red and she looked at me as if I was a piece of shit. Whether or not she looked at me like that, I felt like shit.

“Nisha…” I tried to speak, but had no idea what to tell her. By that time the two girls from behind came in front of me. They were those who sat beside me the whole time.

Nisha turned down. I thought something happened to her and I bent to see what was wrong.

Oops…

She removed her high heeled slippers and threw it on me. She removed the second one from her left leg and smashed it on my face. I thought at some point of time she would stop slippering me, but it seemed that she was waiting for that opportunity for a long time and was not in a mood to stop. Her slipper was torn and she slapped me hard twice then with her hand.

Everyone in that shop looked at me like a pig.

“I thought you were at least true to me…” She said and started crying.

‘Why the heck should I? You broke with me bitch…’ I thought of saying. But she was crying like hell and I tried to pacify her. I touched her shoulder and she pushed me off and started moving out of the shop hastily saying “Go to hell”. The two girls gave me a pitiful look and followed Nisha.

I followed them. It started to drizzle outside and when I was about to call her all the three flew off in a car. I touched my forehead. It was bleeding.

Suddenly from somewhere all the tiredness which went away in the afternoon stalled my eyes. I wanted to sleep so that I could get some freshness in mind and could think of what to do next.

I started to ride back home and the drizzle became a rain and the tears in my eyes wouldn’t have been visible to anyone. Persistent thunders were like Nisha hitting on my head with the sharp heels of her slipper and it made me to ride faster to home.

Nisha was a lovely girl and our life was as fascinating as any Romeo’s or Juliet’s. But in between for some reason or the other the distance between me and Nisha had grown bigger. Three years since I proposed her, we were happy and good except for the last six months.

The day when I first said ‘I love you’ to her flashed and went. I thought hard what had made us to separate. My conscience helped me in thinking ‘Her parents were happy with me and my parents happy with her for what she was. What had gone out of place then? It could be…’

‘HONK… HONK…’ I heard a heavy honk from the left side and I realized that I missed the red signal and a big truck was approaching me. It was so close to me and I could do nothing other than close my eyes tight.

BANG…

I could hear more honks and see crowds before my eyes. I realized I was lying amidst ocean of blood though it was washed away by the rain water. I felt the pain in the back portion of my head and could feel how badly I was bleeding.

The whole world was revolving. The sounds in the background faded slowly and the pain I felt on my head got reduced as my eyes automatically closed to see the darkness.

When I opened my eyes, no one was there. The roads were empty. The shops were closed and I was very fine. I neither felt the tiredness nor the pain.

My bike was not lying around. I couldn’t take a bus home. Nothing was there. I checked if any shop was open. I could explore nothing. I thought of walking on to home and moved away. I didn’t see any new place and I was still staying there.

“Where am I?” I said though there was no one to hear it.

“You are dying, friend.” A voice echoed.

“What? Where am I?” I asked again. There was no reply.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m the GOD” came the reply.

“Are you crazy?” I asked and again there was no reply.

“Where is everyone?” I asked with puzzled look seeing on to the empty roads.

“My boy. I am the God in you. You are dead. Before you could be sent away to heaven or hell I am the one to make the final call.” The voice echoed again.

“Final call?” I was still blinking without knowing what is happening.

“Before you are sent away, I will state you what are the mistakes and sins you have committed and who had committed sins on you prior to your death…”

“What?” I said and there was no reply. I looked above and shouted.

“Don’t look up buddy. I am not above. I am inside you…” the voice said and continued.

“The girl Nisha and her friends had a bet. They wanted to know whether you are true to Nisha or not. So she acted as if she had broke with you and her friend called you to test whether you are ready for another relationship.” The voice finished.

“I know this bullshit…” I said with a cold face.

“Yes you know this. But you never know that Nisha is in relationship with her colleague even before breaking up with you.”

“What the f…” I tried to shout but the voice interrupted. “…and her friend has a crush on you…”

I had no clue whatsoever. I didn’t know whether to cry out in rage for my girl friend having a relationship with someone else before breaking up with me or to get excited that her friend who is more beautiful than her has a crush on me or to run mad for getting trapped in an empty world with a voice which identifies it as GOD.

“You have two choices now. To go back to the world you belong or to get ready for the evaluation to find out where would travel... Heaven or hell... Remember you can’t change your decision once you make it.” The voice spoke.

“I want to go back to my world.” I said straight away.

I felt rain drops on my face. I was riding on my bike and yes, I was back to my world immediately. I bit my teeth in anger for what had Nisha done to me. The day when I first said ‘I love you’ to her flashed and went. I thought hard what made her to separate from me. My conscience helped me in thinking ‘Her parents were happy with me and my parents happy with her. What had gone out of place then? What made her to be in a relationship with someone else…’

‘HONK… HONK…’ I heard a heavy honk from the left side and before I could see what was coming, BANG… A big truck ran over me.

I was bleeding all over and my body shook continuously in pain. People gathered around me and I heard hell a lot of sounds around. Slowly the sounds faded off and my eyes saw darkness but my body didn’t stop shaking.

I felt a vibration on my left pocket and I got up along with the shake. I was lying on my bed with the black striped shirt. My phone was making a buzz in vibration. I checked the time and it was five past two in the afternoon.

I saw an unknown number flashing on the mobile screen

I picked the call and said “Hello…” hesitantly.

“Hello… Chakku?” I heard the sweet voice of the girl again.

I smiled to myself discerning what was going to happen and said “ya…” happily!

IT’S NOT HER…

A short-story!

As usually, I woke up at six in the evening. It had become a habit for me to sleep all throughout the day and work on the graduate lab till it dawns. People loitering in and around the corridors and showing off their extra-skills in speaking English over phone during day time were the reason for me to hibernate when the sun was on.

I looked on to the mirror as I brushed my teeth. My face looked more rugged and stiff. I was thinking whether to shave the tough three-day-beard or not. But, suddenly I remembered my ex who told that girls like men who are clean shaved and have chocolate boy look. That reason made me to throw the razor away.

The same cornflakes and the low fat milk... Oh boy! Life should have been better.

I had a chewing gum and packed a bread-omelet for late night and moved on to the computer science department which was five minute walk away from my home.

Holy shit… It was sunny even at eight in the evening. ‘This is America, dude’ some voice in my mind cried. It was definitely not my conscience. Must be my good old friend who warned me about the cons of America, once when I stepped into the land of opportunities, bikinis, blondes and strip clubs!

I had the usual corner seat in the lab which I would have missed to a Nigerian guy, who always loved to sit there and laughs at himself. The Nigerian came five minutes later and threw stares at me. Though he was two frames larger than me or any average Indian and could smash me into pieces in a single punch, I stared back and gave a badgering smile.

With all winning smiles, I started to work and immersed my head onto the computer monitor.

Three hours passed and the Nigerian guy left for the day. I was alone, bored and badly needed a break. I ate the bread-omelet and went to the rest room for a wash. The corridor looked haunted and was as silent as a graveyard. I remembered the images of ‘Bloody Mary’ for a second and strode into the lab with blood flowing into my head suddenly and superfluously.

I opened the door of the lab and didn’t realize that some figure was sitting till I logged on to the system. I was apprehensive and terrified for no reason to have a glimpse at who that was. Though I had hell a lot of work to do, I instantly lost concentration, then. I wanted to know who it was. I moved my eyeballs to the leftmost corner of my eye and tried looking at the figure.

The computer monitor was hiding the visage and I had to crook my eyebrows and turned my head to look who that was.

Oh boy! That was really a figure. A beautiful figure!

Long blonde hair which was let loose and the magnetic eyes she had could eat any man alive on earth. Her cheeks looked soft and pink and her lips were wet. I cursed the computer for hiding her face. She was easily the most beautiful girl I had ever seen after Madhuri Dixit.

Oh, is this called as love at first sight? She stole my heart within few seconds I saw her face clearly. I wanted a life with her. If I would marry her, how will my kids look like? American or Indian? No matter what, my kid would be the cutest kid in the class, then.

Ok. Will my parents like her? Images of my mom chasing me off the home with a broomstick flashed and went off. I stopped thinking about that and started concentrating on how beautiful she was. I could see her beautiful pink colored cell phone in between the CPU and the monitor. She looked something like Drew Barrymore.

I loved the way she clicked the mouse and the white stoned ring in her finger was absolutely perfect. Wait a minute… She got engaged? Or married? No no no… She looked too young for that. The ring was on her middle finger and I chuckled to myself. I didn’t know why she had her ear ring only on the left ear and nothing on the right. ‘Must be the recent trend among these western girls’ I thought.

Though I couldn’t see her complete figure I could estimate that she had all the qualities that a man wants. As I was watching her without a wink, my mobile phone vibrated violently. That was my roommate. I wanted to tell him what I was seeing and freak him out with complete jealousness. I picked the phone and turned aside to speak in a husky voice.

Within few seconds, I heard footsteps. Oops... She had opened the door and left the lab. I threw the phone away and strode behind her. She walked away, opened a door and entered the room. The door automatically closed. Though images of ‘Bloody Mary’ freaked me out again, I walked on, opened the door and stepped in.

Suddenly, I realized where I was and got the shock of the world. She turned back towards me and my heart stopped beating. It shouldn’t be true. It should be a nightmare and I pinched myself to wake up. My God! I was already awake and what had happened was absolutely true. I swallowed in.

I was standing in the men’s restroom and it’s not her. Oops, it’s 'him'…

Touring Singapore..

It all happened like a flash. Till twentieth of Jan, this year, I never knew that, not more than a week of time is required to plan for a foreign trip. My boss dint believe that i am going to SG, when i asked for leave, even after showing him the ticket. He thought I was going for a date or something, somewhere in Chennai.

Okay. Lemme explicate the trip.

Though the flight journey was ordinary, the girl who sat beside me was extra-ordinary. Thanks to Sadesh, for giving up that seat for me. My belief that Indian girls are the most beautiful in the world grew, even more stronger after seeing her. But it din't last long any further, when I saw the Chinese girls, who always carried coquettish, slandering smile on their glowing yellow faces! I felt the porcupine headed Chinese guys are too lucky!

Even in Singapore we stayed in India! Yup.. The Place we stayed was 'Little India'. The dorm in which we stayed was too cheap on a Singaporian's perspective and was too good on an Indian's perspective! At the beginning, we were gaped for most of the time, either by seeing girls in scanty dresses or the Skyscrapers. I could visualize how people in India would have treated ATM machines when they were first introduced, when i was standing in front of a drink-vending machine which was written fully in Chinese.

We traveled a lot in MRT(metro trains at SG). The Bird Park and Night Safari we went were good but not extra-ordinary except some special shows. Even Sentosa island too was not that great. But, roaming in the Singapore streets aimlessly, taking snaps of whatever we encounter on our way, felt really good. In fact, it was an awesome experience of getting in a train, getting down at random places, go and explore the malls and streets there and continue the same again. We took snaps with almost all popular brands of cars. To top all this we traveled in Mercedes Benz. Believe it or not, they run Benz as a taxi for minimum 3 SGD.(around 100 Indian Rupees)

We could find beer cheaper than water there. We had a very new experience of dealing everything in dollars for the whole trip.

Original Thai food was different, but we got Spicy Indian foods too. One must go to China Town, where we get a variety of Thai and sea foods in Food street. To be precise we can call China Town as Chinese Ranganathan Street, where people were busy in selling almost everything.

We were roaming, roaming and roaming, got tired, ran out of money in pockets and leave at office, got a feel that Indian girls were better than their Chinese counterparts before we boarded a flight back to India!

Precisely, I can tell that the tour was Amazing and Great Experience!

Click me for viewing the Singapore trip pics