A Sunday of Racing, Pimsleur, and More Hindi Vowels

Today I woke up reasonably early, promptly felt virtuous for that precise reason, and stretched while doing a Pimsleur lesson. Which made me feel even more virtuous.

238th Street Station, en Route to Van Cortland Park

Then Brandt and I headed north, to Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, for my second race in two weeks. It was a beautiful day, though pretty hot for racing. But that’s what you have to expect when you run in New York City in the summer.

The event was a four-miler, on a cross-country course. I did not cover myself with glory, and my foot hurt, but not terribly, and it was fun! I was handed a third-place age-group medal at the end of the race. 

According to the online results, however, which I checked later, that was a mistake; I actually came in fourth. Through no fault of my own, I stole someone else’s medal (and any attendant glory). Sorry, third-place woman.

I am in any case excited that I now appear to be getting better, no matter what I do (or don’t do).

People, Radios, and Coca-Cola in Hindi

The recovery of my foot  seems inevitable, and imminent, which is a happy thing for my running—and for this project, since it will be much easier to traipse around neighborhoods again looking for opportunities to embarrass myself in new languages.

Besides doing more Pimsleur later, I continued to work my way through my friendly Beginner’s Hindi Script book—still in the chapter entitled “Vowels.”

I love this chapter. Despite its rather specific title, it is also helping me master consonants.

Shown here are a few cute words in Hindi.