One way we try to experience the places we visit is by running. You may have read about our heart pounding hill running in Penang and our lazy interval training in Goa. While the legs are willing to go, the location sometimes has other plans.
Take for instance our runs around Kottayam, a hilly tropical town along the Kerala backwaters. The best paved road out of the house leads us to a train crossing. Sure enough, as we approached today, no more than six minutes into our run, the gate came down. By the time we waited for the train to pass and the gates to lift, eleven minutes had gone by. This video shows the scene at the crossing.
Off we went, chugging our own way up a steep hill which ends at this corner store.
Past the store is an equally steep decline that forces us to slow to a walk. The road ends at the base of the backwaters, where the scenery is so breathtaking, we have no choice but to stop and take pictures.
By this time the sun starts setting and we explore a few more side roads, each taking us up a strong incline and down another dead end to a temple, house, or random goat.
We were convinced that the train stop and short bursts of activity didn’t result in a real workout. But Sandeep’s monitor assured us that we burned 493 calories in an hour. Not bad for a meandering run. It must be the hills, but the vista makes it so bearable.
Just love those train rides! what a contrast to grand central to dobbs ferry!
Actually I would say GC is just as colorful 🙂
But it doesn’t have someone using a hand crank to open and close the gates!
Yes it does 🙂 Watch the end of the video for the live action version.
That’s what I meant! Grand Central doesn’t have that guy in your video, or does it and I just never noticed him?
Oh!! Yeah, you are totally correct. Maybe we’ll bring it up to the MTA.
Love that you ventured out in Kottayam and attempted a run! Super impressive as it’s definitely not easy to do.
It wasn’t so bad since Sandeep was there. You may have a hard time marathon training though. The roads just keep winding into each other.