Because It's Hard

I’ve never been a very sporty person, but since last year I started going to the gym and I run regularly now. Not hard-core running, but at least I don’t wheeze on the treadmill anymore. When Yuming told me this morning that he signed up for the Standard Chartered Bank Marathon and encouraged me to do the same, albeit for the more palatable half Marathon, I was tempted.

Why run a marathon? I took the day today to consider my motivations carefully. The reason I finally arrived at was: I want to do it because it’s hard.

In the early 1960s President Kennedy set a national goal of landing a man on the Moon. He said that we choose to do this not because it is easy but because it is hard. One of Edmond Hillary's comments about finally scaling Everest was: "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. We all need challenges and the sense of euphoria that comes from achieving a difficult personal goal.

Well, I for one don’t expect myself to ever stand on the Moon or the summit of Everest. But a marathon – now that’s something I can do. It’s not going to be easy but it’s ACHIEVABLE. I just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other, complete the distance, no need to come in first or anything. I just need to prove to myself that I CAN DO IT.

The secondary reason of course is that training for the half-marathon will give me the focus I need, and hopefully distract me from unhappy thoughts. Send me a minor victory to cheer me up please!

So 4^th December will see me taking on 21.1km. I hear the views on the route are going to be great. There’re early bird offers and discounts for SCB card/ Passion card holders so go check out http://www.marathonsingapore.com/ if you are keen!