Nehru Park 1/2 Marathon

3am and Julia is wide wake. This morning Delhi was cool, but not cold. The breeze was calm, or non-existent. On the way home from dinner last night we smelt lots of smoke. And all of our clothes smelt like it. The guards outside all of the embassies burn small fires to keep themselves warm. It's not cold, by our winter standards, but you can tell that it's really cold for them as they huddle around the fires with several layers of clothes on.

Heather and I took off for a run around 7am. We went north a few blocks to the National Rose Garden. At this time of the year, no flowers are blooming. The garden grounds are surprisingly large and something we have to go back to next time. On a Sunday at 7am, this part of Delhi is pretty quiet. Many of the foreign embassies are located nearby and are not open today. Otherwise, groups of people looking for work or documents would be hanging around outside. And with them are the food wallahs that come along with lunch on their bicycles. The wallahs that we have seen had everything with them - including the cooking pots - with ready made lunches.

Each embassy has a characteristic motif that represents the architecture of their countries. The German embassy is very industrial looking with long concrete slabs and minimal color; The Pakistani and Sudan have large beautiful, colorful domes; Serbian... looked abandoned.


Nehru park is close to Embassy Row so we headed out there, and typical for Delhi (you never know whats around the next corner) we ran right into a 1/2 Marathon, staged, of course, from Nehru Park. We first noticed people hanging around the park with number tags on their shirts.

So we asked the first guy we saw:
"Is there a race today ?"
"Yes. It's the 1/2Marathon and it's starts on the other side of the park"

"When does it start ?"
"7:30"

It's 7:40 and the guy is nowhere near the start line. We show up at the other side of the park and people are all over the place. Elderly people - turns out they are war vets - are walking a long red carpet to the finish..... There has to be more.... So we ran back home, had breakfast and decided to come back to what we would believe to be the finish of the race. When we got back, there appeared to be - literally - Thousands of people in and around the park. And the finish area was crammed 12-15 deep with runners and walkers. Small groups were walking along the race route carrying banners representing a cause or a business. Some of the runners were in Saris, most were in jogging pants and sweaters..... it is winter here. Naturally, we were enjoying this seasonable warm climate in shorts and short-sleeved shirts. A large stage was set up at the finish line playing loud music to keep everyone motivated to finish the race.

It was a very nice and warm day, to us. So we made a trip to the Lodi Gardens. Finding a tuk-tuk or taxi to get us there was a feat of it's own. There was very little space out in the street to move. There was complete chaos of people and finishers trying to get out of the parks area. And naturally, there isn't a parking lot here... or anyone directing traffic.

Lodi Gardens are described in the guide books as having lots of gardens, tombs and bird life. We weren't disappointed; The garden was clean, the tombs were in excellent condition and lots of people were having family picnics.

It was Day3 of our trip. At the end of the visit to the gardens we headed back to relax. Tomorrow morning we would need to be up early for a 6:15am train to Agra.