Saw the London Marathon. Was truely an amazing event. The competition, the spirit, it was great. Many were running for charities and each runer had a story to tell. Many of them were finding this as an avenue to pay back the charities that had helped them or their beloved ones in times of difficulties. Costumes - they were colorful, and I think a world record was established for the fastest marathon in a super-hero costume. The authorities and organisers also did a good job, managing such a big event, and making roads in one of the busiest cities available for such an event. Another thing which caught my eye was the cleaning crew. There were cleaning the bottles and waste immediatly after the race.
Having said so much, there was a marathon (cross - country), I had run when I was in the 9 th standard. In our village, there was a small club of which we were all part of. If you are from such a place, you will know, it is always a club of big brothers, of which you desperately want to be a part of. It is not an easy task to get accepted, and you do not know when you become eligible too. The club used to conduct cross-countries on all Independence days(August 15).
Many used to come from neighboring places as a cash price was awarded to the winners. Also many local guys used to run. The year came and suddenly I was asked to run. For me it was an invitation to the elite group, to prove my worth. When I told to my father that I was running, he just said, "You walk with me along the route today. If you can walk at least a small part, then run". I did not have any doubts in my mind, and for that matter I did not have any clue of what I was going to do also. A month before we started to run in the morning. The funny thing was we were running less than 1 km and I was returning home all tired. Still I was sure that I can do it.
The day came. We had flag hositing in the morning and then the race started All boys from my age group , the wannabes were there. Many who had not even practiced. Race was falgged off, and a lot of people where there to cheer us. I started running. Many ran past me. But I was confident. I paced myself and was sure that many boys were behind me. As in such events in villages, there will be tempo travellers and autos accompanying such events, with blaring music and announcements. All the names of sponsors will be announced constantly. I had ran about 1 km and tiredness was creeping in. I turned a corner and I could nt believe my eyes. Many boys who I thought were behind me were in front of me. I ran fastto catch up with them.
In fact after some time I was with this group. We ran for a little more. The last announcement vehicle was now behind us. We ran a bit more and at last the guys in vehicle were getting impatient. OK now guys stop the race and get in the vehicle. We are pretty behind the seriuos runners. With half a heart I got in the vehicle with all. But we enjoyed ourselves.
But the surprise was when I came to know after many days what the actual plan was . There will be always serious runners for this race. But they will be very less in number. So when the actual event starts, to give it a glorious look, many will be asked to run. And boys behind me had not actually overtook me. They had got in vehicles at the first moment when the race was in secluded area, were dropped off just before next junction. It was all for the sake of the sponsors and public , to show so many were running. No malice as these guys would stop even before the half way as tired racers. Seeing my earnestness, they had never let me into the plan. And had a good laugh at my expense.
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