He is the father of Wei Siong, one of our own in ACS Class of '81. And I wonder, Wei Siong, do u pace yr dad during the 42.142KM ? ;-) 8hrs! Man ... that is endurance. As Erik mentioned, he broke his foot doing the 1/4 marathon 2yrs back ... heh heh ... if he had trained for the "full", would he have broken his leg instead? Or maybe ...broke it in 4 parts. ;-)
Personally, I have tried to run the marathon twice but managed to complete it only once in 1994 - The Singapore Marathon.
For my first try, in 1984, I trained together with some friends. We ran Macritchie, met at stadiums after school, and also participated in the many events organised by the CCs (Community Centers as they were known then). It was great fun. When the day finally arrived, I was so excited. Did the carbo-load and all.
Flag-of was 6am (if memory serves me ..). As we started to run, we hit Nicholl Highway. Suddenly, we heard a loud "kling-klang-klung"! We turned around and saw this guy straddled across the distance marker! He must have ran straight into it. Then someone else shouted "Oi! Kwa char-bor har??!!"
It wasn't long after that, we truned the corner to Mountbatten Rd and soon passed Katong Shopping Center. There I recalled, and old auntie who was pushing a trolley of cardboard box saying "Chiak pah bo tai chi cho!" LOL.
I truly can't recalled where we ran, but I know I arrived at Boundary Road and was approaching the 1/2 mark (Ang Mo Kio Swimming Complex?). Legs were still doing well, and I was soaked in sweat. Stil pacing myself I arrived at the 1/2 marathon finish point. As it happened, my friends who were faster had decided to stop and call it a day. When they waved and called out to me, I picked a drink and stopped to chat. I know! BIG MISTAKE! They decided to leave and I decided to continue running ... as I ran, my mind started playing tricks on me :( All the way till I arrived at Up Thompson Rd, I decided that I can't finish the race. I also thought that I had better go back to the 1/2 way mark and collect my souvenier T-shirt!
That's when it happened. I turned around and walked all the way back got my T-shirt. Against shouts from the on-comming runners joking, "Hey! The finish point is that way!", all pointing behind me. It was a horror-movie that never ends each time I tell this story. And, of course, when I arrived at the 1/2 mark, my friends were gone and I had to find my way back home all alone. I was haunted by this decision till 1994 when I did complete the race. - That is a story for another day!
So Uncle Chan ... Way to go! You have my fullest admiration and I'm sure the cohort of ACSS 81 will be cheering you on! You are a shining example of what it means to say, "The Best is Yet To Be!".
Cheers
Alan Fu
No comments:
Post a Comment