Monday morning we went for the athletic training. Jispa has
joined once a week training to complement her swim training. It involves a lot
of stretching and some jogging. The lady in charge makes us run two rounds of
the racecourse, which is around a little less than two and a half kilometers. I
run with Jispa almost as a pace setter. I keep her running; keep egging her on,
let her keep a pace. It’s fun to run together at least once a week.
Around a year back I stopped competing with her in swimming.
With a dive I could just about match her timing for one 25 meter lap. But
around a year ago she beat the shit out of me. With a dive and without a tumble
turn I was beaten crazy, and I was huffing and puffing while she was looking
and me and smiling. One more round? Buzz off. No way.
So I am happy that at least in running we are starting off
together and we train together. This way at least I run with her and share some
pain of the sport together. I push her and she pushes me. Once the coach asked
us to go for a sprint. While coming back it was great fun pushing her. She is a
bit competitive. She is silent and yet I see flashes of competition, nothing of
the chest thumping aggression but a desire to push the bar at times. I like
that. That race was fun. Towards the end, she went fast, then I went faster,
she pushed, I pushed harder… there were at least three such bursts before I won!
Yay.
Now this started off a competition between her and me. So every
time the coach gets us to do a round the last bit becomes somewhat of a race. This
time the coach asked us to run two rounds. The first one should be slow and
easy – 17 minutes instead of the normal 15 minutes. And the second one must be
faster. Jispa is a horrible starter. She starts complaining the moment we
start. My stomach is paining, my ankle is paining. Then she goes too slow, then
she will have a shoe lace to tie. She starts really bad. I keep encouraging
her. Then at the mid-point she does better and then at the end she finishes
strong.
This funny schedule spoils my running style. I like running
consistent. So at the start I am forced to run really really slow, which is
tiring. So we did the first one slow. And with the winter just about setting in
on the second round I got a bit of a congestion…. And something went haywire. I
started breathing really hard. I guess I need to restart my swimming to get
back into clean breathing systems. But it was really bad at the end. (okay okay
– these are all excuses – genuine but excuses)I asked Jispa if she wanted to
start the racing bit. She said – no later… I was ok. we do it later. When the last
100 meters were being covered – the little rascal started to run faster. She suddenly
moved up a couple of gears. I Pushed my self… and that’s it – there were no
more change of gears – she just ran off. I looked and tried but had no reserve
energy left – I couldn’t attack. Dam it – where did she get this reserve after
running 4 kms? I lost this race. Now she whips me in running as well. that felt really really good.
But now I am waiting for the next one. This time I hope to
have clear lungs and nasal passage and this time I will start the race a bit
earlier. And I want to beat the shit out of her. I don’t like losing as well. Her
aggressive streak is also there in me (that was a bit of an understatement).
Sport has a funny way of showing people’s inner demons :) . It
exposes you to a side of personality that normally stays hidden. Not just for
yourself but also for others. Running with Jispa is exposing a side of her
personality to me. I had suspected that she had this streak but was not sure
about it. We always have told her – you need not win – do your best. But I have
seen her push herself in different situations. Relays are one place where her
timings are the best. But this aggression which is quite, well directed and focused
with a kick to win an interesting race…. That’s a nice one. You don’t need to
win all the races you participate – only the ones you love to. Choose well :)
Just for record – the second round was 13 minutes.
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