Last-Minute Victory

During the last mile and a half a very tall man was competing with me-running about a metre away from me. When we neared thirteen miles, I said, "All right, let him go ahead," and I started walking. The man was so happy that I had started walking, and he went thirty or forty metres ahead of me.

Then Databir, Gayatri and a few others started screaming and cheering, and I got such joy. I said, "Now is the time for me to go ahead of him." I got inspiration to run fast and I defeated him by six or eight metres.

-22 March 1981