Finisher's T-shirt

I thought the marathon was something individualistic... Run your own race. But no... everyone I met was helping or encouraging another run his/ her own race too. It was so apt that the theme for this year's Stanchart Marathon was "Spirit on the Course". I was touched by many gestures I saw (and conversations heard) along the way...

* When we were still running on the Marina route, the first runners had turned around. All of us clapped and cheered rejoicing on their excellent performance.
* Someone saw another runner struggling at 6th km and encouraged him to keep steady to maintain his form.
* Church groups setting up spots at East Coast Park to provide refreshment relief to runners.
* Passer-bys clapping and cheering us, total strangers, on.
* A runner guiding another hearing-impaired (?) runner
* When we were making the return trip along Fort Rd (34km), a man was hobbling (probably from an injury) across the road, still at his 20th km. Someone ran over and passed him a heat rub, as the paramedics would have run out of stock by the time he reached East Coast Park.
* A 53-year-old man was asking how long more to run and was accompanied by a group of men in their 30s- 40s to make their journey back together.

When we were queueing up to collect our bags, we would just make small talk with others and share our stories.

There were no strangers. Everyone was encouraging one another and rejoicing together at the finish point.

I recalled comments about Singaporeans being self-centred and ungracious. I did not see this in the course. There is, really, somewhere in us that still wants to give...

Army Half-Marathon

It's something I would not imagine I 'd do after becoming a mother- running the Army Half-Marathon on 27 Aug.

It all started with the charity M.I.L.K. run on 1st week of July. That was just 4.4 km. The only problem was, it was at scorching hot 3.30pm.

That started the search for more runs for me and my colleague EJ. We signed up for New Balance Real Run (10km) held at Sentosa on 20 Aug. It was good bcos of the goodie bag.

Then she goaded me into signing up for Army Half-Marathon. Are you crazy? I've just gotten used to the notion of running 10km, now suddenly go for 21km?

All said, running IS addictive. The more I run, the more I want to run MORE. Soon, clocking 8-9 km per evening run is not enough anymore. Dar and I spent a couple of Saturday mornings with EJ clocking distance at East Coast Park, Hillview-Bt Timah-Bt Batok- Jurong East-Clementi. For a while, I thought we had gone mad.

Unexpectedly, the 21km experience was exhilarating. It was better (and easier) than I thought. Perhaps once you've gone through childbirth without epidural, you can go through anything.

Now the ultimate madness: We just signed up for the StanChart Marathon.

Hopefully Cavan can share that love for sports, like his daddy and mommy. Running-wise, I'm not sure. He seems to have flat feet. Just like his daddy.