Ning, feeling jubilant as she reaches the finishing line!
A sense of joy and contentment, after a very long distance of 42km!
Robert, one of the sprightly senior citizens who has been running 42km marathons!
The 3 lovely volunteers - from left to right - June, Cindy and May Ling
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It was one of those days when I had forgotten to bring my mobile with me. Hence when I came back, I saw that there were 8 missed calls. I called my nephew-in-law, and he told me that Ning had arrived in Singapore and that I was going to take photos of her at the Standard Chartered Bank 42km run. Gosh! I didn't even know
anything about the marathon and that I had been appointed camera lady!
Frankly, I dislike crowds, but since I have been given the honour, I should fulfill my role. It took me only 15 minutes to arrive at the Padang, but nearly 50 minutes
to find where the finishing point was located. It was a good thing that Ning was going to take longer than she had expected; hence I found the viewing gallery in time for me to wave to the runners to plod them on! I was given a styrofoam banner,
shaped like a big palm, with the words, "You Can Do It!"
Since it was crowded, I smsed Ning to look out for a sweet orange umbrella with polka dots when she was getting close to the finishing point. We spotted each other
without much trouble, and I quickly snapped her photos. Suddenly I heard the commentator announcing in a thunderous voice, "Here comes Kam Ning, 20009, and her mum taking her photos." I looked up at him, and he must have guessed from my body language and quickly said, "Ah, maybe it's the aunty! Hi aunty! Great support! The aunty has been here since 9a.m.!" I smiled, and it dawned upon me that in life, we look out for others; and there are others also looking out for us!
As Ning went to collect her medal and belongings, I waited at one of the tents and found three lovely volunteers giving out bottles of 100 plus drinks. I dared not ask for any as I was not a participant, but one of the girls was so sweet and gave me a bottle. She must have noticed I was flustered and tired.
I took the opportunity to talk to them and some participants. I came across this sprightly looking runner, a 69 year old senior citizen by the name of Robert. I was
inspired and impressed that he has been running marathons year after year! Wow! My longest distance is 21 km and I have stopped running after some backbone problems. Maybe after the backbones have been put in place, I should try and put on my running shoes again.
When I met up with Ning, she told me that she loves Singapore, and that things have been so efficiently organised. The marathon is probably one of the best she has participated.
I wanted to take Ning for some buffet lunch, but she was somewhat too exhausted to
have a heavy meal. Hence we settled for some Japanese food at Soba So Good!
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