Project 245 Week#7
First rule of running by Lac Leman and a remarkable week
So, I am going to be honest and say that my mood today is greatly elevated because my buddy and partner to many long miles last year, Alistair made a pit-stop in Lausanne and I got to run with him after nearly 4 months! And the Lausanne weather, despite being “cold” was absolutely sensational this morning. It was sunny and bright, air was fresh and you know what they say “Time flies when you’re having fun”. I came back home and felt I had gone out for a cup of coffee, it didn’t feel at all that we had banged out a 90 minute + run. (Well, it did like a run while running back up the hill. That part never gets easier.)
Plus today (25th March) is Holi, which is the Indian festival of colours. And I have wonderful memories of it. It is one of the biggest festivals in India and basically it signifies the beginning of things getting warmer (Actually it signifies more meaningful things, I am just saying the one thing which mattered to me). Holi was always a turning point and for me, who is really affected by the seasons, this time of the year is when I go from being Darth Vader to Grogu. Good times. This post might have a positive tone. Or not. Let’s see.
I was running with Joan last Saturday and we were enduring one of the tougher long runs of the block. The weather wasn’t particularly easy and add to it the distance, intensity, dogs without leashes and kids on the bike and that just left us mentally exhausted. Usually, I maintain my energizer bunny like disposition after long runs, but Béné could tell that I had a tough day when I came back home on Saturday. Even if others don’t consider me that, I consider myself to be the lakeside capo. A few days back a guy was walking his dog without a leash, and a cyclist went by and was almost hit by the dog. Instead of apologizing, the guy yelled at the cyclist. Jake and I were running together and saw that. Now I speak French and basically, I yelled at the guy to put his fucking dog on a leash (in French: Utiliser la laisse pour le chien, connard.) I have absolutely no problem with dogs. I have no problem with kids. I do have a problem with irresponsible owners and parents. I have a feeling that some people adopt pets and have kids because they have nothing better to do in their life. Instead of understanding the responsibilities which come along with the monumental task e.g. Picking up your dog’s shit, putting it on a leash in public places, not letting your kid run ahead when they might bump into others etc., people just have kids and adopt dogs and then make them the problem of others. People by the lake, who let their kids roam free with their fucking scooters, I feel they are just so desperate for their “moment of peace from the kids”. Well, they should’ve thought of peace before having sex without a condom. Now the kid is here and it is your fucking responsibility, so deal with it. I am never angry at kids or dogs. They don’t know any better. But they are being raised by assholes and they will grow into assholes. In a way, that’s why I don’t want to have a kid. A kid is a huge responsibility and this world is not particularly the best place to bring a kid into right now.
You see my sunny spring disposition? Yeah, neither do I. I will arrest this spiral here.
It’s not just dog owners and parents who are the problem. Some runners and cyclists are not any better. You can always tell who is new by the lake and who is a regular, especially with cyclists. Because a.) experienced cyclists will anyways never come by the lake because it is not a place to ride. And b.) regular commuters on the bike can be identified by the fact and they are wearing a helmet and other safety gear. There’s always that “one” on the PubliBike, without a helmet, riding on the wrong side of the road and looking at his/her phone. Also runners who jump traffic lights. I mean come on man. Is this a racecourse? Are we that impatient? Are your Strava stats more important than your life?
I don’t know how many of you are aware of the Rules of Cycling by the Velominati. But inspired by that and Fight Club, I wanted to write some rules about running by Lac Leman.
So without further ado, here are my rules of running by the Lac Leman (and its associated entities):
#1 Stay to your right. Left side is for passing.
#2 If you run in a group, never have more than 2 people per row.
#3 The road is a shared space, so be respectful of walkers and others by the road. However..
#4 ..if there’s a dog owner without a leash, a child on a bike or scooter without parent supervision, cyclist without a helmet or a runner not following the rules, make it a point to politely put them in the correct place.
#5 Respect will be given to any and all runners irrespective of their pace. Nod/smile/wave to any passing runner, especially if…
#6 …someone is running fast, cheer them on with an “allez”.
#7 Stop to the left, off the road if you stop to take a picture.
#8 Empty gel packets go in the bin or remain with you.
#9 Snot rockets and cough stays off the road.
#10 Lane 1 on the tracks are reserved for faster runners. Walking in Lane 1 is punishable by death.
#11 Crossing the road when the light is red shows that you’re either uneducated or colourblind.
#12 If someone let’s you pass, say “Merci” especially when..
#13 ..a dog owner holds their dog on a leash or a parent moves their kid, give them respect.
#14 Treat the lac leman area with the same respect by running slow once in a while and quietly admiring the beauty.
#15 In the summer, a swim in the lake as a cooldown is a MUST.
#16 If you see the maintenance workers by the lake, give them respect. They keep the area clean and are the real heroes.
#17 If you see anyone misbehave, treat it like an insult to your own home and stand up.
#18 Training sessions are not races. They are not an excuse to break road rules.
PS: When I say they are “rules”, basically they are the “rules” I live by. You can follow them if you wish.
As you can see, most of my rules are about respecting others and respecting myself. I feel that’s a major problem here, there and everywhere. People can be disrespectful, take things for granted and make their problems other people’s problems. And I know that life is not easy for everyone and we should be less judgemental, but bad behaviour is never excusable. I know Marcus Aurelius said that we should treat others doing wrong as people who are ignorant and try to help them and I am not telling you to hit kids and flip off dog owners. I am also not encouraging you to call wrongful dog owners as connards. I am kind of impulsive and trust me, I know that. I have a tendency to get angry really quickly, make problems about myself and actually, I cool down very quickly too. I might be shouting at someone one minute and the next minute, I will be the nicest person ever. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Asshole. I am working on distancing myself from such issues and yes, I know anger is not a bad thing. And while that guy with his dogs was at fault, calling him a connard is more a negative reflection on him. But whenever I see something wrong happening, my blood boils quickly. And it’s not like I am as calm and pure as a Cow. It’s just the judgement meter in me is slowly developing self awareness.
Frankly, I am just grateful of this lake and being able to run by it. I have massive respect for the area and treat it with reverence. I have had religious, surreal experiences by the lake and if you run with me in the morning, I wave and smile and every regular commuter. I might not know their names but they are part of my village. Every so often, one of them finds me on Strava and turns out they are incredible. Recently, a guy who I had run past and waved to for close to 4 years added me on Strava and turns out he is a professional piano player who has played over 800 concerts (in addition to be a badass mountain runner). I believe that people are incredible. If you come to our group, CTT, you will find a group of some of the most exceptional runners who also are achievers in their field. I was joking with the founder of the group, Marco, that CTT might be the most educated running group in Switzerland. Not only that, many are just wonderful human beings (Starting with Marco, who might just be the nicest person on planet Earth).
When I have this sort of energy around me and then there are people who poke holes in my beautiful ecosystem, it pisses me off. And you know, most people by the lake are nice. Most dog owners are respectful and most parents are taking care of their kids. The ones who don’t ruin it for the rest of us. Let us all strive to be the ones who contribute to making things better.
PS: Parts of this blog were written on different days. You might notice a change in my tone and disposition based on the day.
A remarkable week
I will circle back to cross-country running at the end of this section but I want to begin it with a cross-country story too. I believe it was NCAA XC in 2001. Stanford was a dominating force in the NCAA XC and though Colorado had won the individual title in 1998 with Adam Goucher (which is the subject of Chris Lear’s “Running with the Buffaloes”), Colorado was in the hunt for the team championship title. Colorado ended up beating Stanford by 1 point (90–91) and Colorado’s legendary coach Mark Wetmore’s reaction to all that excitement was “That was great. Let’s get back to work.”
Wetmore’s stoic reaction has stuck with me since I read about it in 2019. I am an avid reader of stoicism and stoic texts. Stoicism doesn’t teach you to get overly carried away by emotions: positive or negative. I try to do that to the best of my abilities but I also read the underlying message of making an effort to change and improve. Not getting carried away doesn’t translate to not caring.
For the past 5.5 years (closer to 6 now), I have been in the same job. I started off as an IT Services assistant. I took the job even though it wasn’t very challenging because it was a desperate last-minute bid to stay in Switzerland. I made an effort with the job, working 10–11–12 and even 14 hour shifts. I didn’t ask for more money or for time-off. All I asked for was better quality of work and a better title. I think moving from India to Switzerland, the salary is comfortable enough. Plus ok, I do have expensive hobbies but I don’t need much to survive. Money is important for me because being broke and not having money to buy food is a situation I don’t ever want to go in again but it is not my driving force. I want to spend 8–9 hours a day learning something, doing good for the rest of the world and around 6 years ago, I had that naive idea that I don’t mind being exploited for it.
Eventually, that wide-eyed innocence becomes a jaded detachment. Much like my previous relationships, where I chose to sulk in silence than express my feelings, I spent the first few years in my job expecting to be noticed and not complaining. Then I realized it is stupid and asked for some change but nothing happened.
I mentioned some anxiety from a few weeks back and it was because I finally decided in January 2024 that I will look for a new job. I now speak good enough French and over the last 6 years, I developed my skills on the job by actually doing things instead of faffing about. My knowledge on cloud infrastructure and security is built out of experience and over the last several weeks, I went through interviews and as of Tuesday this week, I accepted an offer with another organization in the education field. I resigned from my job on Tuesday as well and am serving my notice period.
I was more scared of the resignation process because I have been through toxic relationships in the past and my resignation was nothing short of that. My boss asking me to jeopardize my new job by only working 50% with them and continuing to work 50% at my current job because he didn’t see the risk of exploiting his team to the point of driving them to quit. I gave my everything to my old job and frankly, I am not going to act like a codependent partner trying to fix problems which aren’t mine to fix.
I have been in a healthy relationship in the last 3 years with Béné, who was instrumental in teaching me that it is important to express rather than sulk in silence. She was the one who was willing to do the tough job of showing me the mirror of the toxic work relationship was in and I am eternally grateful to her.
As I’m growing as a person I also decided on 29th March to take a step in my personal relationship with Béné and well:
I thought I will feel very different after getting engaged but the truth is that I don’t feel any different. For me, getting to the point of asking her to marry me was the tough decision. It involved deep conversations, character dissection on my part and improving myself as a human being. It involved really analyzing my love for her and finding that it runs deeper than just the surface. Asking her to marry me was easy because the journey to that point grew me as a person who is able to stand up for himself and take charge of things.
I heard Malcolm Gladwell concede a point on the “Happiness Lab Podcast” where he went from fighting the adage “It’s about the journey and not the destination.” Gladwell claimed “It’s about the destination” because without the destination, the journey is meaningless and finally was able to conclude “It’s about the journey and the destination”.
For me, while this week was momentous in terms of life decisions (the destination), the journey leading to it was just as remarkable. And now that I have arrived at a destination, I am looking forward to the journey ahead. Going back to Mark Wetmore “Let’s get back to work”, I am here to say that I am very happy about how my life has turned out but I am not going to sit around basking in glory. I am very happy and full of gratitude, but I am looking forward to the ways in which I can continue to grow and be better.
I did celebrate my engagement by running nearly 24 miles with Joan, doing 20*1k with 1' rest @ his marathon pace (3:55/km). And also by going to a restaurant on Friday evening and then making a huge mezze on Saturday.
Oh and coming back to Cross-country, the world cross country champs were on Saturday. Beatrice Chebet (Kenya) and Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) repeated as world champions and Kenya did something which I thought had never happened but infact, it has happened once before in 2017 and it was done by Kenya too. The Kenyan women finished 1–2–3–4–5 in the XC race. (In 2017, they had finished 1–2–3–4–5–6). The top 4 score in the team competition and the winner of the team competition is the team with the lowest score. Kenya scored 9 points and Agnes Ngetich, who has a 28:46 10k PB and finished 5th ended up not scoring. As a cross country fan, you would realize how ridiculous it is to finish 5th and not score for your team. And while Kiplimo won the individual title in the men’s competition, Kenyan men finished 3–4–5–7 and scored just 19 points to win the men’s team title too.
I love this. Now I’m off to take a nap and then watch Tour of Flanders!
Have a great Easter. Thank you for readingü
