ISHTRIIIIDERS!! at the PDP 10K

The calm of early dawn was rent by the loud war cry "ISHTRIIIIIDERS"

At 6 am in the morning, a few hundred sleepy Mumbaikars assembled at the PDP Grounds to brave the 10K PDP Run. Most were limbering up, going through elaborate stretching routines, waiting for the show to get on the road. Some broke away into little groups to catch up on a busy week gone by.

I was just trying to keep my plums from freezing - 6am on a Mumbai winter morning isn't exactly the chill zone, but can be pretty bracing. As mentioned earlier, the calm of early dawn was rent by the loud war cry "ISHTRIIIIIDERS."

I sea of runners,as if held together by an invisible thread began easing toward the central lawn. Other runner, bystanders, curs and yours truly parted to make way for this flowing mass. This group then proceeded to warm up in unison, Suzuki style while the rest of us watched agog. Apparently STRIDERS are one of the larger running groups in Mumbai, and this commune like behavior is not uncommon in running circles. 

In fact the running group phenomenon is so pronounced in Mumbai, that most are surprised if one is not part of a few groups. Dear friends are always recommending groups to join, but to be quite honest I'm under enough stress just getting myself going - additional peer pressure I do not need. Perhaps next year if I manage to clear the Half this time around.

The run itself was uneventful apart from the 35-degree Manek Jivan upslope which some nit thought it would be fun to set up as the first hill on the race. Was downhill from there, though and that worked out just fine!! Still struggling to eradicate the ISHTRIIIIDERS wail completely from my head!!