On the day that I write this, I haven't run a single mile. But there are folks I have around me, close friends, who have gone that mile, maybe even that extra mile.
But first, a bit on running.
As Jason Statham says in the movie Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels,
"Squeeze in if you can. Left leg, right leg, your body will follow. They call it walking.", just hasten the whole process a bit and 'they' will call it running!(whoever 'they' are)
Running is one of the most simple things that a human body has been made for. As a sport, it didn't even have to be consciously 'invented' as such. And it is probably the most beautiful thing our bodies can do, obviously apart from all the 'other' beautiful things the body can do.
Now, coming to the runners....
They are a separate breed among us. They have definitely not been rare. Go out on the street early in the morning. Be it any village, any town, any city anywhere on the planet where humans are residing, one is bound to find a few pair of legs moving faster than the others. And they are a sight to watch!
These folks come in all shapes, all sizes, all age groups and move a wide range of distances on land. Some do it to reach somewhere early. Some do it to lose weight. Some do it to socialize. Some do it for a cause. Some do it without one. Some do it just to find out how hard, how fast and how far you can go till you can't anymore. And they are all over the place. In the gym, on the treadmill. In the garden, on the road, on the beach, on hilly roads, on rocky roads, in the wilderness, in the desert, on snow and every possible turf this earth can throw at us! Sometimes when you pass by them, you feel a strange sense of kinship with the fellow. Well, that's only if you are in a vehicle and they are huffing and puffing.
But what if they are in your way?? "Eh! Chuck the brother/lady...I'm overtakin' !"
They do their thing irrespective of the weather. They do it when people are laughing at them, specially when they look a tad bit flabby. They do it when their legs are screaming in agony. And they do it so that they could fly for a moment before their next foot came down.
And they know they are in love with what they are doing. Then we ask "Why love them??". It is because running takes effort. And anything that takes effort is completely worth appreciating. Maybe the end result is not beautiful. Maybe it is not as graceful as it should/could be. But hauling one's arse takes determination. A lot more than sitting around and watching other run.
More than everything, what excites a runner is the last leg. There's always this restlessness inside a runner the moment the Finish line is visible. There is an extremely apparent change in their body language. Everything about them gets progressively faster. In the runner's head, this is the time when Bill Conti's track "Gonna fly now", the song in Rocky, starts to play. The runner visualizes him/self as Rocky Balboa (Or whatever a Female 'Rocky Balboi' may look like), and they gun it!! All the way to the end!!!! "Flyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!"
And at the finish line, they raise both their hands, as they would in victory. A small victory, before the next bigger one tomorrow.....
No comments:
Post a Comment