Saturday, July 22, 2006
Eighteen
I ran only once.
That was about 7 hours ago or so.
My feet are still aching though.
Wonder how long this will last?
.....
"This does not look too good," someone said.
I was sitting down on the side of the track behind the football field, with the other team members standing and sitting behind and beside me. I had to agree - things were looking quite grim. Two runners from our team were leading far ahead in the race when both fell just before reaching the finishing line. Not a good thing.
"At least Khairunnisa and Halimah won first place," I replied, looking around. A number of team members were already crying from the two runner's fall, which was kinda surprising. Who would thought that they would cry?
I must have looked real unconcerned compared to the others, because Sarah pointed out, "At least you don't look a little bit nervous."
I shrugged with a little smile, because it was kinda true. I looked down at my hands. They weren't shaking at all, which made me kinda confused in a way, because usually I'd be shaking and my heart would be pounding. My event - the 100m relay race - was up next, after all. But I felt strangely calm.
After a lot of waiting, the 100m relay runners were called. I glanced at Seri.
Now my heart was pounding a little bit more. Finally.
The four of us seperated. I walked over to my starting line with an elder sister, an anchor like me, albeit that she was the anchor for the 100m senior relay race, not the juniors.
"Good luck," she said.
"Thanks. You too."
Waiting at the starting line were around 2 officials, my Malay teacher, and the four other runners. I stood behind my yellow line and looked around. The number of students who came from Maarif was astounding. The only other school with a bigger audience than ours was, well, this other school which I probably shouldn't name, because I'm about to say that they were loud. They were loud. Which isn't a bad thing of course. You're supposed to be loud.
I saw Seri's figure standing way ahead of me, and the other two sisters in their own posititons. I pulled up my sleeves a little. This was it. All that training, all the running, is going to be compacted into this 1-minute-something seconds.
And then the race began! Schools screamed their loudest as the first runners pounded their feet on the curve of the track, swinging their arms hard. I kept my eyes on Seri, who was leading in 2nd. Then she quickly passed on to Kk Shaheirah (I don't know how to spell the name), who quickly overtook the previously leading runner. I rubbed my hands together. She had passed it to Kk Aisyah now! I held out left arm high behind me, vaguely aware of the screaming crowd.
Then Kk Aisyah came, in the lead! She slapped the baton into my hand, and for a split second I thought I was going to drop it. But then it was in my hands, and I was pushing my feet off into a start. As I ran, arms swinging and head held up, I felt my adrenaline rush through me. The race, my part of the race, was on!
The next thing that happened was all a blur. I was running; I could hear the students screaming in anticipation, could see the officials in front of me; I had crossed the finishing line first; the crowd went wild! I jumped up and down and people I recognised streamed towards me, their face all mirror-ing the same expression. I saw Kk Han, Mas, Dinah, Seri, Fiq, Anna, Mus, everyone. We hugged, we jumped up and down, we yelled, we took photos, and
I signed autographs.
Ok, bedek.
But it was a really, really, really, nice feeling.
A lot of other things happened after that, so many of them that I don't really have time to type them all. Loi's team won second place. The teachers had their own 100m relay race (each of 4 teachers ran 25m, passing the baton. our school won btw). And Syakirah, Asmah, Sarah and Kk Amirah won the most beautiful race I had ever seen. Not that I had seen many races, of course, but still.
I also found out that our time for the 100m relay event (the one I was in) was 1:09. Considering that our practices had always been 1:20+, you gotta admit, the new time was pretty neat.
After everything had died down a little, the event was done, and most of the spectators went on home. I had to stay behind though; there was the parade dress rehearsal to, uh, rehearse. Not much happened, except that we had to stand on the field, sing the National Anthem, and march in front of an imaginary audience.
After that, we went home.
And here I am.
.....
4:08 PM
