A Good Day

Total miles: 10,637.02 | Daily miles: 33.01

Oh, oh… a very early start. My alarm rang at 4:00am, but I couldn’t get myself out of bed until 4:30. Jay and Satish were going to drop me off at the toll station where we finished yesterday’s run. Cold coffee, packing, loading my things into the car, and off we went into the dark morning.

Satish was kind enough to drive an extra mile just to show me exactly where I would need to turn off once I started running on my own. And then we arrived. Time to say goodbye. Time to do it alone again. I felt sad, but mostly deeply grateful. The support I received from Jay and his friends was incredible. Very few people would go so far out of their way to help someone. I let that gratitude wash over me. A hug, some tears… and off I went.

It turned into a dusty day. Thanks to Jay, Eswar, and Satish, I was able to avoid the city center of Bangalore and the worst of the gridlock. Instead, I ran along side roads and some larger roads. As the morning went on, the traffic grew—louder, heavier, more chaotic.

Running on the side of the road meant weaving through sand, potholes, gravel, and squeezing into tiny spaces between all kinds of vehicles. The noise is constant. The wrong-side driving is constant. The intensity of two-wheelers, cars, buses, and trucks feels endless.

On my first break, the woman at a small stand handed me a bottle of water and a chai for free. Later, more people stopped to give me water. On a hot day like this, there is no such thing as too much water. It was a strenuous day—one that demanded full focus and attention. The number of vehicles coming at me from the opposite direction was… intense.

When I finally reached the hotel I hoped to stay at, I was determined to use everything I learned from Jay. And it worked perfectly. Nice room, kind staff, fair price. Then I treated myself to a pure-veg restaurant, refueled properly, and now it’s finally time to rest.

Be well, Andrea