Well-Wishes from a Friend

About ten minutes before the race, my Cleveland friend all of a sudden came up to me. He didn't say hello or anything; he just grabbed my hand and started shaking my hand.
 
He is a far better runner; I was so honoured.
 
Then he started giving me advice. He said, "You have to drink a lot, drink a lot."
 
It was so hot-really very, very hot. Everybody had told me that the weather would be very cold. But no, it was really hot.
 
So my Cleveland friend said, "Drink a lot, drink a lot; otherwise, you won't be able to make it."
 
My Philadelphia friend-God knows where he was! But he would appear very soon.
 
-7 October 1979 
 

[Source: "Well-Wishes from a Friend" in Sri Chinmoy,  Run and Become, Become and Run, Part 2, Agni Press/Aum Publications, Jamaica, New York, 1979.]