Vadodara Marathon was too full of people. I think Baroda is full of Agent Smiths who can multiply into a million Agent Smiths because how else can there be 30 fucking thousand people present in a place like Vadodara for a marathon! But then this is what happens when you have a hundred categories the same day – a half marathon, a 15k, a 5k for under 19, a 5k for above 19, a 3k for kids, a 0.01 meters for retarded aliens and likewise.
Just like in Hyderabad, the half-marathon group was full of men from Police academies. All of them looked the same to me with their cropped hair, full length khadi trousers and orange brownish coloured canvas shoes. Agent Smiths. There was hardly any place even to stretch in the holding area. There was no toilet that had been erected. Agent Smiths don’t need to pee.
The race was supposed to start at 7 but it started only at 7:45 because the CM came late. The other celebs that showed up were Paresh Baba Rao Rawal, the Pathan brothers who play cricket and the out of shape and full of paunch Kapil legendary Dev. There also was the flying Sikh – Milkha Singh but I had only heard about him and never seen him so he didn’t matter. He wasn’t flying anyway. His red turban was kind of cute though. Finally when Godi’s speech ended, the race began.
The first five six kilometers were terrible. I felt very weak. And I wanted to pee. And since I wanted to pee, I didn’t feel like drinking water even when I got thirsty. I felt like giving up. But then, in some time, I found some Agent Smiths peeing here and there and I joined them. By 10k, I was feeling better and finally like the last time (in Delhi), I did the 21 point something kilometer in about five minutes less than 2 hrs.
I had inspired Hanuman to come along who ran in the 5k category. Ali had accompanied us too, even when he was not running. I am sure he would start running soon. I am very contagious.