I try to get fit!

Yesterday I went jogging with K. and L. Well, ‘went jogging’ is, at the same time, an understatement and an exaggeration; I cannot figure which one it is closest to.

So, here is what happened, we met at around 6:30 in L’s room and then (they!) decided to jog around the whole Olympiapark. This, in my opinion, was too ambitious a thought. But then, for fear of being branded a sissy, I agreed.

The starting 300 Mts. was ok, but then I started having a backache. So I slowed down and told them to go ahead. They agreed and told me to take a short cut and meet them at the ice sports stadium. I agreed with the idea of meeting at the stadium but refused to take the short cut (again, the ego in me was to blame). Instead I said I would follow them at a slower pace. This all agreed to but with some reservations, since they would be making it to the place ages before I did.

So having made our mutual decision we went our different speeds…I, at the proverbial speed of the tortoise and they, at the speed of the hare. Well since my back was giving me a lot of trouble (in fact, it is still stiff), I walked a little, and saw I was quite close to where U. stayed, so I decided to visit him. I rang at his door but he was not there. I decided to return to the ice sports stadium, but, since I did not know the way the other two went, decided to backtrack. So walking, I commenced my return, but I looked an idiot, walking in running clothes especially when older people were jogging along quite peacefully and giving me (what seemed like) a satirical smile. Ego deeply hurt, I began a real slow jog reminiscent of an 80-year-old rather than a 20-year-old. Thus plodding I met this fellow doing the same speed as I and we jogged along in quiet companionship for some time, then he remarked on the fact I already have mentioned, namely that we were doing the same speed. I pretended surprise… the fact in reality was that, I did not want to jog alone and so was looking for some one who was doing a slow pace, and who appeared to know a good jogging route. Well, to cut a long story short, I ended up jogging up the Olympia Hill. (Which incidentally, I must add, has a tragic origin. Munich has no hills, it is essentially a flat area. The Olympia hill is built on the rubble of the houses in Munich destroyed in the 2^nd world war. There is a plaque that marks this fact.) and then jogged down again in the company of my new found friend. Then, at the bottom of the hill, he said he would like to jog further and I, wanted to go home and relax. So we parted ways.

Then the real fun started. I got lost… I took some path that seemed vaguely familiar. The problem with these vaguely familiar paths is that more often than not they lead you up the wrong tree so to speak, forgive me for mixing up my aphorisms. I ended up on the diametrically opposite side of the place I wanted to go to. So I had to retrace my path back to the place where we parted ways and make my way back to some known place, in this case the Olympic stadium. To summarize my travails in one sentence, I actually ended up jogging/walking for approximately 2 hours.. poof! Then I went to B.'s room just to see what he was up to and found he was playing AOE. Then, needless to say, I ended up going to sleep at 4 am just when the early birds were waking up and consuming gluttonous quantities of early worms and woke up at 12 in the afternoon.

Fitness? Well, it is good, but not for public consumption!