Madurai Mini Marathon

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Juat after I wrote my last blog we werer told about the Madurai marathon which was happening early saturday morning. They wanted us to run the 21k course but we chose the 7k course instead seeing as we had approximately 30 hours to prepare. The start was scheduled to be at 6am on saturday which maent being picked up at 4:30. So Micheal, Jordy and I pulled ourselves out of bed and got ready in the dark with no water or electricity due to power cuts and waited for our lift. When the car pulled in we immediatly thought it would be a squeeze but then we found there were already 4 people in there! So there were 7 of us crammed like sardines in a car no bigger then my metro at quater to 5 in the morning on our way to a marathon in India. Needless to say I was asking myself what on earth I was doing there. But we made it to the start line with plenty of time to spare. Projects Abroad sponsored all of us and the charity was anaemia awareness which i think is quite a big problem here unlike at home as people eat hardly any meat. They gave us these funny red hats to wear and we started waiting with the other runners. There were hundreds of kids standing round in their full school uniform and bare feet but it turned out they were running too. So not only were we the only white people but also out of a crowd of over a thousand only about 50 were adults. The start set the tone for the rest of the run when it was total confusion. After an hour and a half of standing in a big field we noticed some men in a corner were waving some big flags and it took us a while to notice the race had actually begun and people were funneling out of a narrow gate, even though the announcer was still babbling away in Tamil. We started running but it was impossible to go in a straigh line as all the young school boys were crowding around us trying to shake hands and asking our names, they were even grabbing our arms as we ran past. I was quite glad i was wearing my old Liverpool top with JOE on the back so I could just point to that without having to talk all the time. The actual running wasn't that bad (though this is the first day my calves haven't felt tight 3 days later) but there weren't any crowds or even marshalls to cheer you on. Just lots of little children sprinting beside you then stopping to walk. We were told the roads would be closed and there would be regular water stops but they were not and there were none. This meant as well as crowds of kids circling around us there were cyclists and rickshaws and buses to dodge. One of the other volunteers that didn't feel up to running hired a rickshaw and drove most of the way just in front of us taking some good action shots. There were no signs telling us how far was left so we had to just keep going and it was getting hotter the further into the day we got. I had caught up with my friend but I was really tired by this stage so I said I would walk for a while whilst he went ahead round the corner. But when i got to the corner I realised it was the finish line and all that was there were a few soldiers clapping. We did the 7k in 35 mins which we were quite happy with after the delay at the start. It was good fun watching all the children finishing and having a water fight afterwards. Lots of T.V and radio presenters came over and interviewed us so i think we got on local TV but we don't have one to check.
Later that day we came back and joined in a game of cricket with most of the village kids. Batting was really hard though because they played on a dusty red pitch with a really bouncey red ball which they chucked like a base ball. When i could see it you could smash it but most of the time i had no idea where it was. I hit 2 fours then got out for 9 so my team wasnt very happy. In the evening we met some volunteers working in another YMCA but not with projects abroad and had a good dinner at a roof top restaurant with great views.
On Sunday we had been invited to the headmasters house for "dinner" and we thought we were meeting him at 3, but he phoned us at 12 and was already waiting to pick us up so we had to go earlier. His house was not very extravagant but i think this was just his town houseand he owns another further away. His wife cooked a really nnice Bryani for us and also some tandoori chicken just liek you can get in the supermarket at home. He also had the first fridge I had seen in India (which i think is an accurate marker of wealth) so we had ice cream after. He sat and ate with us but his wife and two daughters acted like servants which was a bit awkward. After eating he showed us an endless photo album of his eldest daughters wedding which 1000 guests attended.
Monday was Jordy's birthday so we had a little party with the boys and played games like musical statues and i got some funny videos of their dancing which was hilarius. Also today we is Republic day so its a national holiday and we don't have to work at the school. We have just got back from possibly the most boring circus I have ever been to which was a bit dissapointing but it was just act after act of a gymnast doing weird stretches or a troop of young girls dancing to a barely audible Micheal Jackson song which was much worse then most of the school dance shows. Also some people on motorbikes came in the ring and rode round once then jumped a meter gap which i could have cycled over, then rode off. The only highlight which was also the main reason we went was to see the ele[hant which we assumed would be the star of the show but only came one for 15minutes in the 2hour15 minute show. It held a cricket bat in its trunk and smacked a football with it when it was bowled at him. It was really good at it hitting it into the roof of the tent and i got videos of that aswell.
Well I think this is my longest ever entry but it has a few days worth of things in it and now i have to pay to get on the net as they moved the office computer we were using so i won't be on as frequently as before. Miss you all, Lots of Love Joe
xxx

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