It's Sunday evening (May 15th) and I am sitting in my room, writing about the TCS world 10K run in Bengaluru. Yeah, it's going to be a long one. Don't worry, I am not going to write anything ground breaking, life changing, thunder bolting to motivate you to get out of your bed and participate in a marathon or take up the Cult membership. This is just “me” writing about “me” for “me” by “me” to “me” hoping to become a meme.
I am wonderstruck at the turnout at the run today, in spite, of the incessant rains last night. Each of the gates were flooded with men, women, old, young, differently abled. When I was leaving in the morning, my mom asked me if I really needed to go for the run. I had tried to get a cab and as usual, the cancellation game was on. The only option left was to drive down in my bike. I was not able to sleep properly. We had to reach by 4:30 which meant I had to wake up at 3:30. I had not practiced much either, for the run. So, I had an excuse treasure trove to dip into very conveniently. I was half expecting an SMS from the organizers that the run had been postponed. I guess it must have been the same for every other participant and yet, they made it. Hats off folks.
The other part is the organizing team, volunteers, police, administration. They must have been up all night in the rain, in that case, planning and making things happen. All this to watch a group of people run and take selfies. Ok, can someone give them a noble prize or some.
Ok, coming back to me. As I said earlier, the cab guys didn't seem interested to deliver me at the race location. So, I mounted my chetak (no not the Maharana Pratap one or Bajaj one, this was just my simple Honda Shine bike) and stepped out of my gate. The rain seeped through my raincoat and tickled my skin. I looked up at my balcony and my nice bed with the blanket played with my senses.
“Kee.... Kee.... Kee”
The nagging horn of a cab blared in my ears. I looked back to see a girl step out of the nearby house and enter the cab.
“Ohhhh, so if it was a woman you will not cancel, no? You holy molly “cab”aali”
That shook me up and I started my bike and off I went. I was not going to let him overtake me but of course, he did overtake me splashing some nice puddle on the way, upon me. I decided I shall have my revenge during the run. I will splash a puddle on her during the run. Hehe... who you are playing with...
Kanteerava stadium was about 10 kms from my place. I had started at 4:15. We were supposed to each by max 4:45. I was not sure if I will be able to park my bike there. Anyways, I rode on. It felt almost like a Mani Ratnam movie. Darkness, pouring rain, a man on a mission (Mission puddle splash).
For some reason, I did not find any bikes on the road. Only cars. Every car zooming past me like some F1 race. I thought of parking my bike somewhere and take a lift but then, being a guy I didn't trust other guys to offer me a lift. So I rode on
I reached Richmond circle and boy it was flooded. If the first splash was from a puddle, here the splashing came from a swimming pool. I was given rainwater abhisheka by some of the cars passing by. Somehow, the word etiquette, civic sense are still alien to even the MG hector/ Kia Seltos/Hyundai creta owners.
So after the refreshing shower, I reached the venue. The police were everywhere. I sneaked my bike into the pavement near a shop and walked up to the stadium entrance. People, people, people, so many people. How did you all make it on time, people? I was hoping that people might not turn up due to the rain and I might be able to notch up few places in the run. But no, people kept coming and coming. One volunteer directed me to the correct entrance. Had to walk some distance. By then, people had already started warming up. Some doing short runs, some stretching, some taking selfies.
“I just want to start running” said a guy beside me, already sweating from an intense round of stretching. A woman smiled at me as she did her sit ups. Is she the girl from my neighborhood? I thought. I turned around to see if she was smiling at someone else but no. How did that happen? Why, why can't it happen? I am not that bad looking I thought and decided to smile back and may be say hi. I walked up to her and was about to utter “hi” when I noticed the pods in her ears. She kept speaking as she did her stretches. She looked at me and turned away giving that stare which women reserve for strangers. Mission puddle splash- II ignited inside me. There was some announcement coming from the center of the stadium but hardly discernible. People were getting agitated
“I have done 5 km runs but not a 10k yet. It's going to be my first time” One guy told a foreigner standing near me. The foreigner nodded and said “I have done full marathons but never a 10k. So, it's going to be first time for me as well”. The guy's face turned a little red, then, orange, a bit yellow and then beige, I think.
Friends waiting for other friends to arrive, families taking photos, the mandatory howling every time an announcement came, people munching on energy bars and then thinking where to dump the wrapper, saffron swamis of ISCKON. It was quite a sight at 5:30 in the morning.
We slowly walked to the start line even though the run had started because the crowd was huge. The usual first bencher types tried to push past people as though they were going to beat Usain Bolt or is it Eliud Kipchoge.
“Dei, I will meet you in 10 mins when you must be already spent” I thought to myself
I must admit, the whole atmosphere charges you a few notches higher than you think capable of. Soon, the first puddle came up and I looked for the my targets 1 and 2 of Mission Puddle Splash. They were not to be seen.
As I said earlier, the atmosphere charges people up and some crazy things happen.
The craziest are the first bencher types. They think they just need to take a nice lead at the very beginning and shove past everyone on their way. I think the only training expected out of runners must be “etiquette” in such events. You don't just hit someone and run by. You are not only upsetting that person's rhythm but also, making them feel slower than they are. Anyways, it was very satisfying to see some of these first bencher types at the first pitstop, huffing and puffing, gulping down lots of water. I looked for some puddle to complete the avengement but didn't find any.
We reached MG Road and slowly closed in on the initial km or 2 kms. The picture was getting clearer now, with some muscles reminding me of their presence. The run was truly on. The rain had actually helped by bringing the temperature down. We were sweating due to the humidity but there wasn't much heat. The sights were amazing. The sunrise coloring the sky, drenched Vidhana Soudha and other buildings, the drum beats and people dancing, volunteers cheering for the runners. Running through Cubbon road, I enjoyed the traffic-less version of the road. In fact, it would be great if the whole MG Road, Cubbon road area were to be made vehicle-free.
Anyway, I passed by Cubbon park, central library, corporation circle and entered the last leg of the run. I started slowing down. I knew it was the last stretch but somehow couldn't push myself anymore. Suddenly out of nowhere, a volunteer jumped in and egged me on. That really gave me a push in the last 100 meters or so. I couldn't find him after the run and I was a bit exhausted as well. Really thank him from the bottom of my heart.
It was very satisfying to be able to run this distance. I didn't make a great time or anything but, the fact that I never stopped throughout the run, felt very assuring to myself. I thank the organizers, volunteers, Police and everybody involved in this run.
As for Mission Puddle Splash, I am not giving it up yet :)
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