30 minutes before the race
"Brother, how are you feeling?" a short young man with a unique Balochi appearance asked, worry clearly visible on his face.
Raftaar massaged his legs with some sesame oil and nodded with satisfaction, "Except for the slight numbing sensation on the soles of my feet, everything else feels good. I think I can get a pretty good ranking in the finals," he said to his best friend, Zafir, who had come all the way from Baluchistan for his sake.
Zafir let out a sigh of relief. "That's good, but brother, make sure you don't burn out in this 500-meter race. We still have the 100-meter race right after this one. You should focus more on the 100-meter race."