Marathon

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon has been a yearly running event which have been growing from strength to strength every other year. This year 50,000 people will once again pound the roads and tracks of Singapore in various events all with one goal - crossing the finish line.

If you were to ask every runner doing the full marathon of 42km why they joined, i do believe you would hear many different life stories which have inspired them to do it. As most would agree, running the marathon is "crazy". Putting one's body through all that physical battering requires a lot of strength not only physically, but mentally as well.

Personally, i have my own story to tell. This year would be my 4th consecutive year running in this event and here's my side of the story on why it's stuck on my calendar every first sunday of december.

2006
Me, myself and i.

My virgin year in joining the marathon. What the hell was i thinking?! It was more of a rash decision. All my other close friends joined, so i thought why not, for the fun of it. Oh fun it was not..

Before the run, i made some calculations to estimate my completion time. That being my first event, i made an ambitious 4hrs 30mins my target. Obviously that timing got busted real bad. By 2 additional hours.

That said, it was the most memorable run i've had in my life till date. It taught me a lot on how one's mind is stronger than he thinks it is and most importantly that achieving the impossible is in fact sometimes possible, if you dare to put your body and mind into doing it.

2007
Only you

Putting anything on the basis of completing a run is risky but putting your future on the result of one run was a calculated risk i was willing to take. It was a challenge that would have made a difference to the life that i'm leading now.

The motivation behind it is evident as i pushed through every stride of the way. What am i talking about? Well, i made a pact with myself to make her my gf if i could complete the run within a certain time. I did, and the rest is pretty much history. ;-)

2008
Reflection

Opposites exist. Front and back. Pros and cons. Life and death. Death of a friend affected me deeply in 2008 as it was a reminder of how fragile life is. It made me realise that wherever you are and whatever you do, nothing could ever prepare you for such a day.

It happened roughly 2 months before the run but nevertheless i still dedicated that run in her memory. It was a run filled with self-reflection knowing that regardless of what troubles we may be going through, what truly matters at the end of the day to our loved ones, is that we are still breathing and alive.

The run this year is stuck in one of my busiest year. There seem to be a lot of other activities happening during that period. So what's the story behind 2009? Well that's another story for another time. :)