सीमोल्लन्घन run

Before the Dussehra weekend, I had run a total of 50 minutes in two sessions of about 25 minutes each.
I had planned a long run on Saturday this time, not Sunday as is my usual practice. Sundays tend to be lazy, and there is always something that crops up at the last minute, kiboshing my well made plans. So Saturday it was.

I got out after warming up at 7:00 AM, and as I was walking towards Good Luck Chowk, I got splashed by a car racing up Bhandarkar Road, from the only puddle on that street. :-(. I was cussing as I reached my start point, and after adjustments to the strap on my waist bottle holder, I ran towards Karve Road. Turned right on Karve Road till the Law College Road turnoff. (1.75KM, 9:42 minutes or so). Went up Law College Road chugging along nicely till NCC Grounds (3.13KM, 20 minutes). At NCC Ground, turned on Senapati Bapat Road and continued on to pass the Chaturshringi Temple. (5.33 KM). Went on to Baner Road from University Circle till ITI phata (8 KM, 1:00:04). I was quite happy with my progress so far since it would previously take me an hour just to get to ITI Phata from home.

I had originally decided I was going to turn around and go back along the same road, but changed my mind and turned towards Parihar Chowk. I ran from Parihar Chowk back to Aundh Road (9.77 KM, 1:09:00) and then began the torturous climb up to University Circle. This stretch of about 2.5 KM just keeps climbing and I was panting by the time I got to University Circle (12.3 KM, 1:36) having taken a good 27 minutes.

Ran down Ganeshkhind Road till the far end of Ferguson College Road (14:45 KM) and continued on till Simla office. Past Simla office, it was exactly 2 hours and 15 KM opposite the Bank of Maharashtra building. I sort of struggled beyond this point a little on account of traffic on Jungli Maharaj Road (JM Road). I walked when traffic prevented me from running.

It was 9:20 AM by the time I ran down most of JM Road back to Good Luck Chowk. Total distance 17:19 KM. Total time taken was 2 hours, 18:28:74 minutes



This was a great सीमोल्लन्घन run before Dussehra day.
Simolanghan (सीमोल्लन्घन) literally means going beyond the boundary (typically of a village) and refers to an old apocryphal custom of village youth/the army in a kingdom going beyond its boundaries to plunder/notionally plunder neighbouring kingdoms/villages. Simolanghan in a contemporary fashion means going beyond your boundaries/limitations.

I certainly went beyond my bounds this time around. I am gratified with my timings, though it's not great, but it's much better than previous timings. This also gives me confidence I can do the Delhi Half Marathon well. I am ready... अब दिल्ली दूर नही .... हम तैयार है.