Monday, December 4, 2006

Singapore Marathon. Sort Of...

Today was the Singapore Marathon, which included a half-marathon and a 10-kilometer run. My Dragon Boat teammates and I signed up to do the 10K run, but we were supposed to walk the whole way. I’m not supposed to jiggle my expensive new boobs around for a few more months, so I signed up to walk.

We all started the walk together, but most of the ladies decided to run parts of it, and I thought I could do a bit of running as well. But my teammate, Kate, who’d just turned 66 years of age and had two bad knees was hobbling along the best she could. She said this was her birthday gift to herself -- to actually walk 10K. So I decided I’d walk with her the whole way. She was so proud of herself for finishing, because I could tell she was having a hard time toward the end. I was tempted to run the last few kilometers, but I figured I could do a real run next year.

I also met a blind runner from Kenya. He ran tied to another runner, who acted as a sort of guide. I guess the guide-runner had to hold back to allow his blind partner to keep up with him. It must’ve been hard on both of them. I met the blind runner, Henry, while we were collecting our race entry packs from the sponsor. We chatted about our kids (he has a 3-year-old boy), and how naughty they are. We joked and laughed about the kids. I only realized afterwards that I didn’t get to tell him how amazing I thought he was for running a marathon when he couldn’t even see. Think of the difficulty just keeping your balance when running blind! I’ve seen him in ads put out by the marathon’s sponsor, Standard Chartered Bank. Someone told me later that he wasn’t always blind. Before he lost his sight, he was a marathon record-holder. Wow. What sheer guts to keep running. His little boy is going to be very proud of him when he grows up.

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