Okay so lets get this straight once and for all, this race was not a "Cross country" race per se. The literal meaning of Cross Country race is one such race which is conducted in open air courses and necessarily to be conducted on natural terrains. Our entire run was on roads spirally through the interiors of Mussoorie city and hence does not count as Cross Country. But folks, as they say, what's in a name! Besides that, the admin claims that this very track is more or less 10 km and thus they decided upon a 70 minute deadline. This was for the gentleman officers. For the lady officers, there was another track which was around 05 kilometers and they had a full 50 minutes at their disposal. We have already had a lot of banter and friendly teasing on such blatant gender biasing in the academy so I will excuse that in this space. No offence meant to whomsoever concerned.
Before the race, we have had a couple of practice runs just to get familliarized with the route of the run and to see our timings just in case we are one of the KTPs who look to improve upon their timings. In one of the practice runs, I mapped the whole route through the running app Endomondo and according to which the distance can not be more than 8.4 kms in all possibilities but of course the final word is with the authorities. This data makes sense as I completed the run in a time which was better than what I usually take in plains. And since I did not take any performance enhancing drugs, it is safe to say that this distance was not 10 kms!
So, on the day of the race, I woke up with whole body cramped up. Perhaps it was the anti-biotic medication that I was on lately because of some bacterial infection. Had to stretch for like half an hour to get my body in a running condition. The thing with Mussoorie weather is that whatever you wear you are going to regret it. Considering the cold if you cover yourself fully, soon you would feel the heat and the sweat running down your neck. If you go low on cover, you feel the cold. And in this light, choosing your running gear becomes even more tricky.
As we stood on the starting line, people pushed each other in order to get that early lead by reaching as close to the starting mark. I still do not understand what all that was about. As the flag was lowered by our respected Director, hundreds of Ussain Bolts emerged out of nowhere and they sprinted like a rocket that lasted pretty long, up to the main gate of the academy 200 meters from the starting line. After that initial extravaganza most came back to the mode which they were in during the practice runs. The walkathon was back. As I slowly jogged through that lot, the whole gang of Bhutanese Officers went past me in no time and that is when i realized why this race was called "Cross country".
Now I don't know what's the thing with these Bhutanese Officers. When they run you get a feeling that they are not making even an ounce of an effort. And running at this altitude is not easy man. We might find answers in their anatomy though. Perhaps larger than life lungs, or perhaps an extra one. Whatever be the case, they are brilliant runners. Full marks to them, We are no where close and so was shown in the results. All three top positions to the Bhutanese in the gentlemen section and the top one in the ladies section. What a clean sweep.
In the middle of the run when I got past the ITBP gate, I saw Prianceau struggling a bit with his posture. Now our friendship goes a long way back as we both were in IRS Customs prior to coming here and we both together had taken part in the Hyderabad Half Marathon. He is an excellent runner and the uphills of Mussoorie are no obstacle for him. So finding him there like that concerned me and I asked him if he was okay. He was having severe back pain and I advised him to brisk walk rather than running. Now hat's off to the determination of this guy. He completed the run anyway with a good timing and lately we found out that his Counselor Group came first which means that had he stopped, the chances might have thinned out. Take a bow, one and all, for Prianceau Pandey.
It was amazing to see almost everyone completing the race in time and this goes on to say that the rhetoric स्वस्थ रहो is more than a rhetoric. Great performance by the Bhutanese Officers but we also did a great job. Congratulations to one and all. On a lighter note, the fact that we are hosting these Bhutanese officers might have made us softer and stopped us from performing at our level best. Perhaps the diplomats within us perceived that it would be a good Confidence Building Measure (CBM) to let them take the lead. As someone wise had once said, "हार के जितने वाले को बाज़ीगर कहते है!". Perhaps the fair thing would be to go to Bhutan and have a cross country there just to see if we can also repeat the laurels. So lets take a break from LBS, lets cancel the mid terms looming upon us and lets embark upon a journey to Bhutan, what say?!
Before the race, we have had a couple of practice runs just to get familliarized with the route of the run and to see our timings just in case we are one of the KTPs who look to improve upon their timings. In one of the practice runs, I mapped the whole route through the running app Endomondo and according to which the distance can not be more than 8.4 kms in all possibilities but of course the final word is with the authorities. This data makes sense as I completed the run in a time which was better than what I usually take in plains. And since I did not take any performance enhancing drugs, it is safe to say that this distance was not 10 kms!
So, on the day of the race, I woke up with whole body cramped up. Perhaps it was the anti-biotic medication that I was on lately because of some bacterial infection. Had to stretch for like half an hour to get my body in a running condition. The thing with Mussoorie weather is that whatever you wear you are going to regret it. Considering the cold if you cover yourself fully, soon you would feel the heat and the sweat running down your neck. If you go low on cover, you feel the cold. And in this light, choosing your running gear becomes even more tricky.
As we stood on the starting line, people pushed each other in order to get that early lead by reaching as close to the starting mark. I still do not understand what all that was about. As the flag was lowered by our respected Director, hundreds of Ussain Bolts emerged out of nowhere and they sprinted like a rocket that lasted pretty long, up to the main gate of the academy 200 meters from the starting line. After that initial extravaganza most came back to the mode which they were in during the practice runs. The walkathon was back. As I slowly jogged through that lot, the whole gang of Bhutanese Officers went past me in no time and that is when i realized why this race was called "Cross country".
Now I don't know what's the thing with these Bhutanese Officers. When they run you get a feeling that they are not making even an ounce of an effort. And running at this altitude is not easy man. We might find answers in their anatomy though. Perhaps larger than life lungs, or perhaps an extra one. Whatever be the case, they are brilliant runners. Full marks to them, We are no where close and so was shown in the results. All three top positions to the Bhutanese in the gentlemen section and the top one in the ladies section. What a clean sweep.
In the middle of the run when I got past the ITBP gate, I saw Prianceau struggling a bit with his posture. Now our friendship goes a long way back as we both were in IRS Customs prior to coming here and we both together had taken part in the Hyderabad Half Marathon. He is an excellent runner and the uphills of Mussoorie are no obstacle for him. So finding him there like that concerned me and I asked him if he was okay. He was having severe back pain and I advised him to brisk walk rather than running. Now hat's off to the determination of this guy. He completed the run anyway with a good timing and lately we found out that his Counselor Group came first which means that had he stopped, the chances might have thinned out. Take a bow, one and all, for Prianceau Pandey.
It was amazing to see almost everyone completing the race in time and this goes on to say that the rhetoric स्वस्थ रहो is more than a rhetoric. Great performance by the Bhutanese Officers but we also did a great job. Congratulations to one and all. On a lighter note, the fact that we are hosting these Bhutanese officers might have made us softer and stopped us from performing at our level best. Perhaps the diplomats within us perceived that it would be a good Confidence Building Measure (CBM) to let them take the lead. As someone wise had once said, "हार के जितने वाले को बाज़ीगर कहते है!". Perhaps the fair thing would be to go to Bhutan and have a cross country there just to see if we can also repeat the laurels. So lets take a break from LBS, lets cancel the mid terms looming upon us and lets embark upon a journey to Bhutan, what say?!
1 comment:
Too generous description, I am humbled.
Although timing wise this was my one of the worst runs, Psychological strength which made me to continue was also learnt from my very good friend-cum-coach Swapnil !
I was still happy as I didn't dropped out due the pain due to wrong running posture which i experimented first time. It was a good learning experience.
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