Tjernobyl?

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“Like one of the great God’s in India picked up a Tjernobyl housing project by its roof and dumped it in the backyard of my hotel…”

That’s what it felt like, when I went to explore the outdoor gym, off-site from the hotel. It wasn’t much. The field outside the gym was made in to the shape of a baseball diamond, with a spongy track around it filled with potholes. On the side a lonely tennis court that had seen better days, inside a steam room and gym that many of us would gladly walk passed and behind it all, a beige apartment complex with bars on every window, clothes hanging out to dry and rust everywhere. But I was and am adamant to get my exercise I, so until I move hotels, I am fully prepared to make the most of my options.

After having a small North American breakfast consisting of 2 chicken breakfast sausages, 1 scrambled egg and a protein bar, I went back to bed. I felt tired. The 24-hour duration of my trip, in combination with my 3-hour nap didn’t do me much good but before I was going to try and get some more shut-eye, I took a shower. Even this proved to be a challenge. 1 towel, no soap and a shower head with water pressure to put out a 5-alarm blaze. When I got out of the shower, I saw more condensation on the bathroom walls than on myself.

As I mentioned earlier, I went back to bed, turned on the movie channel and fell asleep. Not for long but long enough to feel a little bit better. I guess “Home Alone 3” wasn’t as exciting as I remembered it to be.

My mission today was to get some steps in and if it wasn’t a run I would settle for a walk. Around 330pm I made my way out of the complex. I had my phone on me and music was blaring in my ears. I was looking for the entrance in to track and field area behind the hotel but where was it? After walking through the entire back alley, tripping over rocks, mud and dogs, I went back to the hotel to ask the security guard how I could get in. He sent me in an opposite direction which indeed lead to the gym. I had to sign in and provide my room number for formalities and was told I could use all the facilities I wanted - YAY me!?

I decided I was going to run some laps around the field but as soon as I started I realised I didn’t think this through. It was 32 degrees outside with 85% humidity.

How long would I last? Will I need an Amber Alert in about 1 hour? Do they even have Amber Alerts in India?

Yes, I know! I didn’t bring a water bottle however I didn’t feel like going back to my hotel to get it so I troopered on and did about 10 laps, until the amount of sweat could seriously compete with the most recent monsoon Mumbai suffered from.

I was done… enough. Satisfied I signed out of the gym, returned to my room and took another shower. This time I was more careful.

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