Edition 44

India is witnessing an unprecedented public health tragedy unfolding as citizens grapple with inadequate infrastructure. Karnataka, the state in which most of us on this newsletter are resident at this point has announced a stricter lockdown from 10-24 May. That in a way takes care of your plans for the next 2 weeks. Please stay at home and stay safe. Whatever your personal challenges, just hang in there. One recommended strategy for coping with hard times involves zooming out to a longer time horizon. So let’s hope that the last 12-18 months of negative emotions, uncertainty etc for most of us will seem like a bad phase in 12-18 years from now. Stay off the news/social media updates except to get vital information such as vaccine appointments etc. Use the time indoors to learn/do something new - I recommend Spanish on Duolingo. Maybe do some yoga, pranayama, strength training etc. My own plan is to explore not running for 2 weeks and do muscle work in stead. Let’s see how that goes.

In slightly more pleasant developments, I have finally gotten this going - www.runningcoach.in

Please spread the word!

Finally, the story for this week, struck a personal chord. I myself gave up drinking as hard as I used to, when I got more serious about running. While I have no Olympic-level talent, hard work or ambitions, this was still a great reminder of how human elite athletes are and how some of their challenges are similar to our own.

Finally, please feel free to reach out to me, if you need any help or just a conversation.