It’s been a winter morning… a bit chillier than the previous years… We all got up at 5.15am after a long time, beating the laziness that crept in us for some time. There is a sense of enthusiasm as Vikas bhai came from Bangalore to run in Hyderabad 10K. When such determination/enthusiasm is there, laziness can’t rule, not to get up at 5.15AM.
We reached near the venue in-time, meeting the early sun. Hyderabad was yet to wake up except those running enthusiasts. And, to our surprise, when we reached, thousands of runners had already been warming up. The excitement was in the air, and those high octane music thrilling the environment.
The run was yet to start but we started running within, the boy in us was taking full control of our persona…few more known faces appeared in the jungle of rain-bowed human beings. There we spotted Gopichand.
Finally, the 10K was flagged off, and there we were, among the thousands, hitting/heating the road. Then we spotted, not just the hyderabadis but few stars, who had descended on the roads, and one could easily took notice of those crowds around them, especially those kids. Either it was Alu Arjun or Milind Soman, you can easily take note of them, for they were surrounded with frenzy running groups.
The weather was very good, no runner ever could complain of. As you move further and further, the density of crowd got slimmer and slimmer. But as the finish line approached, the lost energies got rejuvenated, few more meters and there was nothing seen except the finish-line….and the sense of achievement just got over the pain…
It’s not fair to say there was no pain though. But when you see hundreds of smile of achievement, and when you see penta and heptagenerians complete before you, the sense of pain just becomes a motivation for next time with better preparation, not just to finish but to win over one’s own body, the unspoken promise that I will run faster, better and longer – if not for ego, but for living a better and healthier life.
(I took 64 minutes, Tutu bhai 87 minutes and Bikas bhai 81 minutes for Hyderabad 10K)
