Life's Like This (based on true stories) :: Nike+ Human Race wearing Reeboks :: Part III

First time visitors to this blog please read through the post before this to fully comprehend this one...

Just to make sure that the our location (at 5 P.M.) and destination (to be reached before 6 P.M.) with respect to geography are crystal clear, we were at the south-most end of Manhattan and to catch the bus that would take us to the Race venue, we had to traverse almost the whole of Manhattan and end up at its north-most east-most corner!

I proudly took out my Motorola Q11 (It’s a smartphone and I worked on it as a developer), turned on the GPS (for the non-geeks Global Positioning System. If it still does not ring a bell up there, please see wiki), located THE Subway station and asked him to follow me. It seemed that the misery was finally going to get over.

As I said, it seemed...

As some of you would remember from Part I, the Subway Authority was carrying maintenance work on some of the Subways and as luck would have it, had also temporarily closed THE station.

Being resourceful, I found an NYPD (New York Police Department... don’t you watch Hollywood action flicks?) cop (they are found at every step in Manhattan) and asked him with all the politeness I could gather as to how to reach 125th Street (the north-most east-most corner). He was kind enough to explain that we needed to walk about 5 more minutes to the next station, catch a different Subway and change mid-way to another one (Hold your thoughts! We would do that by getting down from the first and then by getting on the second, not by jumping from one’s window to another’s). We thanked him and started running (again). The hope was back. I tried to cheer him up by saying, “It’s a good warm-up!” But I guess by that time he was so drained to even give me the look!

The Subway car was almost empty with only one aunty sitting a few seats away. I suggested we better change into our running gear. He opined that changing the shirt will be ok but how would we change from the jeans we were wearing to the running shorts. As we dwelled on this, the Subway stopped at the next station and a huge swarm of people entered and consequentially the discussion ended. At the mid-way station we found out the right directions and reached the over-bridge which on descending would lead us to the final Subway’s platform. Now, the layout of the staircase, which was to be used for descending, is very important.

It was a normal staircase with a partition in-between running through its length so as to separate people going on different platforms. Midway through the partition there was a gap so that people who had gone the wrong side could change over to the right one. This is what we thought it was for.

So back to us, approaching the top of the staircase. As we did, I saw the Subway we were supposed to get into, waiting with its door open on the left-side platform. I screamed, “Run” (again). This was the second ‘Matrix’ moment...

Everything became slow (for the extent of slowness please again see the famous Matrix’s Bullet sequence), the eye contact (like trained commandos), he going down the right-side of the staircase. I through the left-side one. I screaming again, “Take left through the partition opening!” He conforming and thus, due to the shift in momentum, trailing behind me. I entering the train, turning. Doors closing. He anlaysing, realizing he would not make it, front on, jumping sideways into the Subway car. The doors closing behind him.

For a second it felt like the world had fallen silent except for the sound of my heart pounding in my chest and his panting. And then suddenly applause started. All the people in the car started clapping at the heroics of my friend. (We realized that the gap in the partition was just a design. Both the sides of the staircase would have brought us on the same platform, but then Keanu Reeves would not have had competition). We smiled at each other and the energy, the hope and the excitement were back!

We reached the designated point at 5:45 P.M. And as soon as we got out from the underground station we saw the bus which we were supposed to take to the Race venue. We decided to board it immediately but were stopped half-way by a security guard who said, “Please be in line”. I looked left, saw nothing, looked right saw 4-5 people standing till the edge of the block. I asked, “That way?” He nodded. I turned back to my friend and was half-way through my sentence that, “All Americans are punctual except for these 4-5”, when we turned the corner and stopped.

It was like we had been frozen in time. The line stretched for 2 more blocks!

A neat, straight line of people, all wearing the bright red Nike T-shirt, some standing still, some warming up. I looked sideways at my friend. The look was back! We joined the line at its end.

One of the volunteers started announcing that it was to cost us 2$ each to board the bus and that the bus conductor will accept only loose change. Instinctively everyone started diving into their pockets. My friend anyways had just a 100$ note and I a 10$ one. I gave him the 10$ and told him to get change from the shop nearby, as I stood in line. We got to discover another important difference between India and the US. The US shopkeepers have a ‘no change giving policy’! He came back empty handed. It was now 5:55 P.M. and the volunteers started announcing that the next bus will take time to come so if we have our own transportation, we should use it to reach the Race venue.

It had come to this! The hope of starting the Race on time was receding fast. The afterburner coughed up one last brainwave and died.

I saw few people hailing a taxi. I also decided to flag one down. The taxi driver somehow already knew where I wanted to go (as usually taxi drivers do). He said he would take 5 people for 5$ each. I stood there, clutching the taxi door and screamed the same to other people (felt like I was back in India). Apart from my friend, another guy came and sat along with the driver. We waited for a minute or two, saw no one else coming, got in the back seat and then peppered the poor guy to start driving.

With my afterburner dead, next to have a brainwave was my friend.

We decided to change in the car. I got the feeling that we would be enacting a Govinda (Bollywood actor) scene from a Bollywood flick. Now again, the positions are important.

I was on the left (again!) and he on the right.

He was already in his vest and was half-way through taking off his jeans. I had just started taking off mine after changing into the bright red T-shirt, when the cab stopped at a traffic light. An American aunty, in a big SUV, stopped next to us and seeing my bright red T-shirt asked if the marathon was over.

My friend froze! The SUV was taller than our sedan and thus she could practically see everything inside! And frankly in America, it would look and mean something really else with he in his undergarments and me half-way getting there. I decided to stick my head in the window so all the view shall be blocked, gave a big smile and answered, “No. We are actually going there.” She said, “Oh! When is it going to start?” (As if she would leave the SUV there and then and start running) I looked at my watch (it was 6:02 P.M.) and said, “Well it already did!” The light became green and we went back to changing. By the time we reached the Race venue it was 6:15 P.M...

But the Race hadn’t started yet! Some guy kept on giving a speech till 6:45 P.M. (I realized Manhattan politicians are not much different from ours. Time is of no value. Though I was thanking him in my heart)

And then it started with a bang. We did run (I jogged, he walked) and finish the Nike+ Human 10K Race. I clocked 77 minutes, both according to my watch and officially. My friend exceeded 90 minutes as per my watch, but clocked 45 minutes officially. Yes! Even the timing chip that they gave him was screwed.

But we were happy and content (I got to know the official timings much later).

We decided to leave with another of my friends (Sarab... I did mention you) who also ran in the Race. The only hurdle - Sarab had only one ticket (for himself) for the ride back. My friend after initially saying no to travelling without tickets (remember, a BIG believer of following the ‘right’ path) finally agreed and both of us got on and travelled without tickets in Manhattan.

P.S. Both of us were wearing Reeboks. Not because we are against Nike but because Reeboks are within our budget.