Long distance running or the City marathons are perhaps the
greatest sport ever to be played in the recent times. The biggest question to the above
argument would be HOW?
Well to answer this let us start with a
question. Which sport allows an elite athlete and a middle aged beginner to
share the same field? None which comes to my memory does that. A city marathon
allows this to happen. This is the only sport where age does not matter, weight
does not matter (it does matter in the finish timings only), sex does not
matter. It builds camaraderie among people within few hours of sharing the same
field. Here barring the top athletes no one is competing against the other
runner, in this sport an individual is competing against himself/herself. It is
about self belief, passion and coming through against all odds.
Today while I was running the Celebrations
Mysore Half Marathon as I was at the 6th km marker I saw a lady pushing hard,
she was trying to compete against herself and gunning towards her goal. She had
no thought to give less than her 100%. After running side by side with her for
a couple of kilometers I started a conversation with her, and learned that she
is a mother of 2 kids and is the only long distance runner in her family. Her
husband had recently taken up running and was running a 10 km in the event. She
confessed that she hadn't practiced well and just wanted a sub 2 hr finish. I
asked her if I could run with her, I will get her the sub 2 finish which she is
looking for. Mind you a sub 2 hr finish in a 21.1 km race is a good performance
for an average not so active runner. We kept on talking on the way about
different topics from personal to professional; runners are very good at
talking as the distance flies by at ease. After every ten mins her only
question to me was whether we would make it in time for the promised finish.
Assurance and motivation were my key weapons to keep her on the time track. At
one point of time during the 18th Km I asked her whether she was feeling
stronger than the first Km, her smile told the story.
In the last 500 meters she was out of
steam, she stretched her hand to me and asked me to pull her along me to the
finish. I caught hold of her hand and started sprinting towards the finish
line. We finished in 1:58:45 hrs a good sub 2 finish. I was happy today to have
run with her, I was not chasing my personal best, and I was not worried about
people doubting my abilities. I was running for someone else today, I was running
the lady’s race.
Now, which other place that we could think of where someone whom
you know for an hour asks you to hold their hand and take them along with you?
I cannot think any place in peace where this happens. I cannot think of any
other sport where this happens.
Isn't it the greatest sport ever? Yes it is.
We might not meet again for a very long time as I have decided to
move on to ultra marathons and greater distances, but whenever we meet a smile
would be enough to acknowledge that we are all connected,that we are all one.
