My unique victory lap

There are so many regrets I have in life, including not learning swimming or to play any sport. Looks like my parents were too bent on just getting me to learn to sing carnatic music professionally, which though I was good at, disliked many a time.

But yeah, blame me too. I was never even remotely interested in sports, except for those yearly-once sessions when I had to recruit athletes for my house for the inter-house sports meet every year. Funny that I had to head a team which had some of the brilliant sportspersons in the girls’ wing. The only thing that consoled me was that I was good with marching ;), and could carry off the house banner or flag pretty well.

It so happens that my school actually conducts exams for giving us PT grades for the board exam. Religiously, during our class X and XII, our PT teachers would make all forty of us line up, and watch most of us crazily running through our long jump, and dropping the shot-put ball right near our feet with a yelp of pain.

Class XII board exam PT ‘exam’ is the craziest and funniest PT exam I’ve ever taken. We were asked to do everything from long jump, high jump, throw the ball into the basketball ring, of which I could do only the last thing (anything-close-to) well. The other things were an absolute fiasco, and I searched for consolation in the fact that I wasn’t alone.

Then was the running race ‘test’. The teacher divided us into groups according to our attendance list, and as usual, I was the last but one. My group had just three of us. As did all the other groups, the three of us planned that we would run in the same speed so nobody would finish first and nobody, the last.
And the races began.

In every group, some girl managed to come first, while the rest more or less finished at the same speed. Smart.
When it was our turn, the three of us decided to stick to our resolution. Well, my faint idea was that someone among the three would go first so that the teacher wouldn’t recognise our plan. I mean, just slightly overtake the other two.
We positioned ourselves on one end of the ground.
The teacher blew her whistle.

The three of us ran, and within seconds, we all managed to adjust our speeds to the same. We were running at the same speed, and being in the centre, I could see that we were all running in the same line.
Well, I really wished someone would shoot ahead and go first.
But no, apparently we would resolutely stick to our plan.
All the three of us were still running at the same speed.

And lo, we had finished the race to great cheers from our classmates. As we finished, all three of us doubled up in laughter, for we had run at the speed in which people usually perform victory laps. I fell on the ground, clutching my stomach hard, unable to control my laughter, as the teacher came to us.
‘You think I didn’t know your plan?’ she asked.
Hitler, Hitler.
‘I’m going to fail you.’
Feeling-less me, I smiled back at her. I tried to stop, for my mind was warning me – ‘Thimuru unakku, stop smiling’. But no, I wouldn’t, and continued grinning at her, panting.
She glared at me like she had innumerable number of times before. The house captain she hated the most.

Of course, I didn’t fail the PT exam, like she had threatened (I mean, of course, she can’t do that!!!).
But she did get her revenge. While everyone else got an A1 in PT, I got an A2. But yeah, I won :)

PS: Do read the post below as well. Your help really counts!!!