He did it! Twenty one whole Kilometers of running,walking, jogging. When he initially came to know about this, he thought its only for Ten Kilometers and registered for it. Later when he came to know that actually a marathon is for forty two Kilometers and a half marathon is for twenty one kilometers, he thought why would any one want to run twenty one kilometers and end up aching his body. Two hours and 35 minutes after he started, he had the answer..It takes 21 Kilometers of running to figure out how good it feels to finally stop running.
It all started like this..There was an anouncement in his chat alias posting a link for Hyderbad10K run. He went ahead and registered for it, since he is an an ameteur trying to lose some weight. He thought that it would be a nice platform to socialise with the people. When he also came to know that some beautiful chicks would also be joining the run, it brought him to life. He transformed into a world, where he was beating everyone in the race and winning the medal. He even dreamt of winning 100 kms races. It all looked so easy. Twenty one kilometers was puny in comparision he thought.. and so he resolved to run the hyderabad half marathon.
One the D day, he cursed his snoozed iphone alarm three times, before he had to get up with his mom's voice at 4:30 am in the morning. He know he would never ever sacrifice his sleep for any thing. There he was, in KBR park all set for his first run. The race started at 5:30 am in the morning. The initial 30 mins was easy peace of cake. And later time has stopped moving for him. He was straining, gasping and panting and about to give up. But then he saw a beautiful girl running and crossing him. He never felt so shameful in his life, this gave him some motivation. He limped, huffed and puffed for another 5 mins and he finally gave up. He was soaked with sweat though the temparature is hardly warm. Walked a couple of kilometers and went back, a dejected and demoralized runner he was. Then he saw another girl giggling at him. He could not decide whether the giggle-connotation was negative and his sixth sense stopped him from inviting embarrassment by asking about the giggle. He was on target till the 15K mark. His hamstrings were on fire, his calves ached, his ankles pained, His knees pained, his groin pained, even his shoulder pained. After all this, he was asking himself what, exactly he was expecting in Marathon.
He had to slow down and regretfully decide to shoot his desire of winning the medal in the next race. He stopped, walked a bit and started again. He did this for 3 times and finally there was just 1K left. He don't know where it came from but suddenly he was fresh again. But he asked his alter ego, why is the last kilometer longer than the actual kilometer.He pretty much sprinted down that stretch, with lots of people clapping and cheering him on. And finally a beautiful girl came and honoured him with a medal. For a moment he thought it was his wedding garland,but later he came to know that the medal is given to all the people who completed the race and it is the same girl who is giving the medal to all of them. He really want to thank all those policemen who held up the traffic for them. He felt like a VIP all through the run.
2 hours and 35 mins, he thought its ok for the first timer who had never run more than 6K in practise. He loved the run. He loved the race. He'll do it again, and again, and again, he told to his alter ego, his soulmate. He feel sore but contented.
