I'm going to be in India for two weeks in December. Has anyone had any experience with running on the subcontinent?
Specifically, I'll be in Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Hyderabad, Nandyal, and Puttaparthi.
I'm picturing overcrowded streets and generally substandard conditions for putting in long miles (not to mention gastrointestinal turmoil). Should I be looking for treadmills? Is this trip going to derail my training?
Any tips welcome.
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If you want to run outdoors, you're going to have to get up very early before things get too crowded. I'm more familiar with Bangalore, but most of these places should have, if nothing else, a general all purpose dirt field that you can run around to reach however many miles you want to run. It's generally safer than running on the streets and there are a lot of people who wake up early to walk or jog for exercise in the big cities.
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I spent a few months travelling around India last year and had the same issue.
In any of the cities you mentioned, in my opinion, you really don't want to be running on the streets. There's chaos at every junction, pot holes, stuff in the way. I mean, you could, but it'd be a very interrupted run and not very enjoyable. If you're in the villages, it's fine of course - and great fun - but not the cities.
However, whenever I arrived in a city, I'd usually just Google city + running. There was nearly always one or two common places people go to run. Thankfully, lots of people have asked these questions before! There are almost always gardens/parks or things like horse racing tracks that are open to the public. Grab a tuk-tuk for a few rupees and you're there. It's not ideal, but it's your best bet in India I think.
In Jaipur, for example, there's Central Park. This is a great place to run and has a looping path that's about 5k as I recall.
Best of luck - have fun!
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