4th Walk

4th Walk, Masab Tank to Shamshabad.

This time the walk was not really planned, I was supposed to go swimming with my kid. Since my son did not wake up and I did not want to wake him up forcibly, I decided to go on a walk.


I put on my shoes. Shireen, my wife was still asleep. Made a two egg omelet and a glass of Tropicana and I was all set to leave. Bid Shireen goodbye and left for a good 20+ KM walk. It was 6.58 AM.


I started pretty much with the same kind of pace and rhythm, but this time I had that last walk's injury in my mind. I had had a severe pain, might have been a muscle pull or tear on the right side of hip which made me discontinue the walk abruptly, I had walked about 20 KM from Mt to Risalabazar. After some self diagnosis, I figured out that the cause for the pain could have been the thick wallet I was carrying in my back pocket. From then I stopped carrying my wallet in the back pocket.


So, that pain was there in my mind, I was giving extra attention to that muscle, I could feel that it is not 100% fit but it is just fine and not hampering my rhythm or my pace.


I cursed myself like I did during the last time's walk, why do I have to carry my spects along? I did not see any reason. The next walk I am not carrying these, I promised. I prefer to carry very few items. I had a baseball cap, sun glasses and some cash, this time not in a wallet.


So I covered about 5 KMs without any hitch and the pace was more or less the same I started with. I was still worried about that recovering muscle. Now, I was feeling a slight pain in the muscle on the backside of the right knee joint, I thought that it is not a major pain to be really worried about.


I was moving and realized that I had to drink water before my body starts demanding for it, so I was on the lookout for a store where I can buy a water bottle. I did not find the store but I found a banana vendor, I knew banana was a good source to rehydrate, I used to see these tennis players having bananas during their breaks, also I thought that the banana is rich in sugar which can give me some instant energy, I bought 3 for 5 rupees and ate one.


Moving ahead, I found a store and bought a water bottle, now the heat was picking up. It is summer in Hyderabad, India and it gets really hot even at 9 AM. It can easily reach 40 degrees under direct sunlight.


Unlike the earlier walks, I was more careful this time. I was drinking water regularly and also ate another banana between 11 and 12 KM mark. Thought laterally, am I overeating? My body was not complaining, the ailing muscle was not troubling much. I reassured myself, it’s better to be well-nourished than under-nourished,

I could feel the pain at the back of the knee is slowly mounting. Sun was hot. I had to bring the cap's flap on to my left to protect the burning cheeks. I felt better.


Shireen called me to check whether I am doing fine. She did not understand the reason behind all these painful walks nor did anybody else.


I saw a big girder (part of the flyover bridge) carried truck has hit an electric pole bringing down all the wires on the road. I had to run under one of the wires which could still have been live. My pace has come down and I already emptied the 1 liter bottle I bought earlier. I was once again on the lookout for a store to buy water bottle. I found one and bought the water bottle. The pain at the knee was getting worse. I ate another banana.


I realized that the pace is better if I am looking down at the ground. I think it’s because of the concentration otherwise I was feeling tired and slow.


Now I saw the sign “Shamshabad International Airport - 6 KMs”. I knew, at the rate I was moving it will take almost 1.5 hours to reach. I wanted to track the speed and found that it took around 25 minutes to finish 2 KMs. That was not bad for me, about 5 KMs per hour.


I reached the Shamshabad village exactly are 10,40 AM. I boarded a bus which arrived only after 30 minute wait and reached the Welfare bus stop near Masab Tank. The moment I got out of the bus I could feel the severe pain in the muscle behind my right knee. I limped my way home about half a KM.

I told my wife and kids that I was erally tired, my 3 year old daughter said 'koun jao bola?' who asked you to go? :).



I am planning to buy a Nike's sportband to track the speed and some other useful metrics. In India, I think its going to be launched in May '09.