Botak Paa-Bilisan: Motion Blur

It’s over 30 kms from our house to the assembly ground and it took me the same number of minutes to drive.  I was in a hurry for some unknown reasons, everything just passed by like a blur.  We arrived at the parking lot still dark and cool.  But the summer dawn was short and quick.  Darkness faded in a blip and just like that, it was already light.  The coolness too, was chased away by the rising temperature.

I preferred to run at the Docfit event in UP Diliman but my wife and friends registered to Botak’s 10K event.  And the singlet looked nice and just like that I’m back at The Fort.  I registered at the 5K event with the objective of setting a PR and to photograph my wife’s first 10K.  The woman was getting bolder and braver.

All of the runners were gathered in the corral waiting for the start.  5K and 10K participants mingled in a mixture of red and blue.  There was less fanfare from the program.  The starting signal sounded out of nowhere, unceremoniously.  Quickly, after liberating myself from tangled masses of bodies, I launched to the planned pace of 5min/km.  I prayed that I could sustain it throughout my short race.  It was short indeed!  In no time I was crossing the finish line in a little over 25 minutes.  Time did fly, just like that.

I immediately retrieved my rickety Canon DSLR camera and tracked back to the race route.  I picked a spot to wait for my wife and friends to pass by.  At my vantage point, I became a spectator to an unlikely yet interesting drama.  I observed the runners.  Like a plot with many characters playing different roles, with many points of view, each runner has his or her story to tell.

The Pack. Peer pressure.  Everyone motivated by the other.  Everyone driven to prove.  Hardly surrendering an inch, they move as one, motion blurred…

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The Sharks.  Body streamlined like the feared predators.  Dressed to kill.  They rushed to the feeding frenzy, motion blurred…

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The Mad Dasher. The fast, the few, the proud.  Lapping everyone else as they looked haplessly.  He passed them by, motion blurred…

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The Gym Rat. Muscles not built for the run.  But mass and weight were not hindrance to his goal.  One heavy step after another, motion blurred…

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The Heart Vigilante. All efforts to the good of the heart, to the safety of the heart.  Measured pace after measured pace, motion blurred…

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The Driven. Running easily towards the tape.  She was cheered and egged by team mates and friends to sprint the last meters.  She leaned forward and assumed the competitive stance, motion blurred…

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The Druid. Each step was a connection to the earth.  Each step was an atonement, motion blurred…

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The Achiever. Her first 10K.  Aim was to complete.  When she saw the clock a minute to the hour, she bolted to the finish, motion blurred…

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Motion blur… the push before the climax.  As the runners crossed the line, each had his and her own celebration.  A loud sigh, a long drink, a jump for joy, a hand in the air, a thank to the heavens…

But one expressed it with a bang:  Zorro!

He raised both his clenched fists high, roared loudly in triumph…

Then dropped flat face on the pavement…

Just like that!