Paradise City

Yesterday was my longest run in long time. It was ages since I did a 35k and yesterday I did it. It was exhausting but I had to do it. All in preperation for the KTM and Ultra. KTM on Oct 19th. Ultra Nov 19th
Yesterdays run was organized in Kannakapura trail. I love this trail. Its full of rolling hills that kill you but so satisfy you. Each loop was 10k in distance so this meant I had to do 3 full loops and one half. Ashika and I started off and we had a great start. One of the first hills is of a crazy gradiant almost a vertical line ( I am exaggerating but only slightly). We didnt stop. The climb was a slow one but we ran one foot after another. Finally we reached the top and it was worth it. Right in front of us was a beautiful lake. The sight is so awesome early in the morning. So breathtakingly freash and everytime almost unexpected. This lake was making everything worth it.
After about two loops (20) we stared feeling the exhaustion creep into our muscles. The climbs were getting tougher. So we tried and tried. Many times the hills got better than us and we would run half way up and walk the remaining.
After the 30K mark, Ashika had run what she had planned and I had 5 more left. Everybody from RFL had left except Anjana who was also doing 35K. We started up the same hills almost walking up the hills many a times because by now it was so hot and our bodies were burning up. We completed our half way loop and turned back. I was listening to music. All of a sudden I decided I needed a change in song and moved to the next one. GNR. WOW. Axel Ross started singing Paradise City...This song gave me so much energy and I started singing with Axel and this song just pushed me up the last climb. I had just hit the finish line when the song ended. Nothing could have been better timed yesterday.
Its really funny how something completely unexpected gives you the vigour you need on a long run. Be it a song, a friend who tells you you are doing great or a lake. All so beautiful. Makes you appreciate true beauty around you. Thats what like about running. You think you are awesome, you are so unbreakable and can do anything alone...well, running teaches you you are just the opposite. You are awesome but there is someone else who has run better than you, you can break---even the best runner has gotten crazy cramps and has had to stop and you cannot do it alone. Sure, I can run by myself, without a friend but the friend who runs with me helps me run that last km when I am tired, a stranger who cheers me fills me with encouragement and a song gives me the energy to run. Thats what I like about running. Every run (and every runner will agree) will get you not only closer and faster to the finish line in a race but will also get you closer to humility. A person who may be much faster than you will always have great things to say to you because he knows that running the 35k is not easy. He has gome through similar emotions, if not at 30k mark may be at 35k, 40k mark ...