Sunday, September 6, 2015

The Platform 9 3/4 KM Virtual Race! (or, we are really nerdy runners)

Well, we did it.  The AES Runners converged at Gate 2 of our fine school to engage in a "virtual race" that simulates  taking a fictitious trip to a fake train platform, in order to board a fake train that would take us to a fake school. In a book. That became a movie.

That's right, we did the Hogwarts Running Club Platform 9 3/4 KM virtual race. It's a way to raise money for various charities, encouraging running, and offering the opportunity for crazy oldies like us to plan a thematic run, spout Harry Potter quotes, and otherwise act like giddy young kids on a Saturday morning.

I couldn't resist the temptation to plan a route that was a) exactly 9.75km and b) Harry Potter-Honoring. As this race was honoring the magical platform at King's Cross Station, I knew I had to include the platform at Safdarjung Station. Getting there, I figured we'd do a bit of drawing in the Chanakyapuri grid and pass the Train Museum as an added bonus. I immediately crafted the route and hid it as private on MapMyRun so BludgerNimbus couldn't find it and spoil the surprise.

When we met at 6am on September 5th, I had to scan the crowd to see who had read my email and knew what they were getting into:

Evan and I are running the super-secret Hogwarts Running Club Platform 9 3/4 km run.
You are free to join us, but be aware! There will be significant backtracking and possible Dark Arts at work.

Seeing the trepidation in the eyes of the new members of the group, I hoped they wouldn't mutiny. Analyzing the eye-rolls of the veterans, I quickly calculated the risks, began the run and almost immediately stopped for a selfie.

While not strictly a Flying Ford Anglia, an Ambassador would make a cool ride to Hogwarts...

The stress of leading the run, drawing the map correctly and chatting with Bernie led to several groans from the group as we immediately u-turned from the Ambassador and headed into the grid. Another u-turn, more groans. Also, lots of Harry Potter quotes. I was so intent on getting the route right, that I was convinced we made a wrong turn, cursed myself out (while anticipating a Cruciatis Curse from another runner). To compensate, I went the wrong way, realized it again and made a third u-turn. We had gone a mile total, but we were only 1/4 of a mile from our starting point.

Apologies offered, we headed out and made all of the turns. After running almost half of our total distance we were on the way to the station. We arrived to greet two security guards with "good mornings" and "namastes" and entered my absolutely favorite secret back-door in Delhi. From there, it's up and over the pedestrian bridge to the station. The only thing stopping us was a monkey. Sitting dead-center in the middle of the stairs. I bravely (barely) convinced myself and the group that it wasn't a Dementor,  but that it was actually my Patronus.

We managed to cross the platform, take some great shots of people using Platform 9 3/4 and ran it back home. We compensated some new turns to make the distance and finished happy. The overall response of the runners has assured me that they enjoyed my shenanigans and just might join me on another run in this fine city!

Keep going for pics and the map!








RUN STATS:
Distance - 9.75 km
Time - 59:19
Soundtrack - Mostly friendly ribbing from friends, also the Entourage Soundtrack