Runnin' On Empty

When i signed up to run in the Pune marathon for AIDS awareness, i never expected the circus that it turned out to be. While i do agree that it was a charity event for a cause, it does get a bit frustrating when you realise most of the junta are just not interested in the 'marathon' part of the event. Of course, the main event (42.195 Kms) was goin on nearby, wher all the actual runners took part. So, what a few of us people who were actually interested in running the stretch found was that, we had to get around whole groups of people shouting and virtually partying on the roads, to actually get somewhere. This may have included dads, moms, uncles, aunties, grandmoms and granddaddies, and maybe the pet dog. And people with varying degrees of pouch around them that you wonder if they actually were planning to really run. And of course, the event hardly had a proper flag off, with the result, some people ended up startin off around a half hour after it actually began. Of course, it is also possible that a majority of the people turned up to catch the celebrities in action at the event. Salman, Sunil Gavaskar, Aarti Chabbria(man! what a babe!), and a couple of the Chak De girls... what more could the scream brigade ask for?
On the brighter side of things, me and my buddy Ab, had started practising on the road only a week or so before the run, and happily, managed to complete the near 5kms in around 25 mins with hardly any stoppages. Of course, Ab had whetted my appetite for it by proclaiming his aim of running in the Mumbai half marathon(21 kms) in january. That though remains to be seen.. though it does seem a great thing to look forward to practising for.

Now THAT would be what i call a marathon...