THE LITE RUNNER

RUN CITY
Berlin. Bogota. Buenos Aires. Guadlajara. Guangzhou. London. Mexico City. Milan. Monterrey. Mt. Fuji. New York City. Oslo. Padova. Rio De Janerio. Rome. Seoul. Singapore. Taipei. Tel Aviv. And of course, Bangalore. These were the cities across which Nike was organizing its giant and unique marketing effort - the Nike + Human Race 10k. There is no question about Nike's marketing prowess but even by their lofty standards involving about three quarters of a million runners across 27 cities in the world on the same day in a celebratory run was quite something. It was the uniqueness of the experience that drew me in. A 10k road race was no longer a 'will-I-finish-it' challenge. But the prospect of bettering my competitive 10k timing was incentive enough. Nike believes that if you have a body, you are an athelete. And true enough, about a 1000 Bangaloreans of all shapes and sizes showed up on a Saturday afternoon eagerly waiting for the race to be flagged off. It was the pre race warm up ritual that was the most fun. Usually in races runners tend to stick to own personal styles of warm ups, but here we were asked to organize into files and gym instructors on stage ran us through the steps. Looking at 900 odd people going at the manouvers at the same time and half of them going right when the instructor screamed 'left' almost made me feel I was back in the middle of a school P.T. class! Chaotic warm up over, it was time for the starting gun to be fired.
START ME UP
The emcee for the evening VJ Yudi had a few words of encouragement as everyone took positions. He explained how the world was running together and once we'd all run the race everyone's timing would up on the Nike website (thanks to a timing chip everyone was wearing) and you can impress people all across the world with your timing. 'Even the ladies in France will be checking the timings', he quipped. The female runner just ahead of me shouted, 'What about the men in France?' Just then, the starting gun wen off, fired by Indian cricketer Sreesanth. Yudi was at it again quipping that it was a good thing Sreesanth did not fire the gun at somebody!
This was a race I was feeling really confident about running because for some reason I was feeling very light on my feet. From the first kilometer onwards I focussed on keeping the steps quick, nimble and light. There were live bands along the way murdering rock songs twice over, but the runners were concentrating too hard on their rhythm or were not keen enough rock fans to care or both. I ran at a fair clip, and lest you think I was idling, let me assure you I was at my productive best. Having received a call at the 3rd kilometer, I had managed to book tickets for 'Wake up Sid' that evening for my boss by the 7th kilometer, all without even breaking into a sweat. No wonder, I was feeling amazingly light. Between the 5th and 6th km, thirst took over slowing and breaking my rythm. I ran to the nearest aid station and emptied a glass of water on my head only to realize it was actually electrolytes! Heck, I thought, my brain was screaming for glucose anyway! My body has actually been built perfectly for a 7k race. At every 10k race, I virtually trick it into running the remaining 3. In this race it was no different, but the 'glucose-in-my-head' therapy seemed to be working because I felt stronger in the final stretch this time.
HOME STRETCH
In what was my strongest finish in a 10k race (alright, I have run only 3 of them, but it was my strongest finish!) I ran hard in the last kilometer and sprinted the last 100 yards or so. With about 20 yards left, I could hear someone chanting 'Nike. Nike. Nike. Adidas. Nike.' Puzzled, I followed the sound and could see a guy near the finish line chanting that into his walkie-talkie. As I ran past, and he shouted 'Reebok!', I realized what was going on. He was tracking the shoe brand for each runner! Oh, yes, I'd forgotten that we were all in the midst of a giant marketing gig from the mother of all marketers. Capitalism's queer cries were not enough to distract me though as I crossed the finish line in 56 minutes and 22 seconds! An improvement of 3 minutes and 20 seconds over my last time at the Sunfeast 10k! Shaving off 5.6% off your personal best is no joke (just ask Usain Bolt whose jaw dropping 100m world record - 9.58 from 9.69 - at the IAAF World Championships imrpoved on his earlier record by about 1.5%). Ok, I exaggarate. About the only thing I have in common with the 6'5" fastest man on earth is that we both wear Puma socks while running. But still the excitement was hard to contain, though I maintained a straight face and didn't exactly indulge in Bolt-like celebrations. A satisfying race completed, it was time for community cool down exercises and this time the crowd was much smaller - about 100 - since a whole lot were still running. I hadn't really thought I'd shatter my personal best in such spectacular fashion but there's something about the spirit of the runners in this city that eggs you on. I felt light on my feet, because hundreds of Bangaloreans were gliding past me effortlessly well.

All I can say is that when Nike chose its only city in India for staging part of the Human Race, it chose well.