I had trained. I was fit. I was ready. I had my flights. I had my hotel booking, my shoes, my gear.
I arrived in Singapore with a slight cough but still in high spirits. Registered myself for the race at the Expo site, browsed through the running exhibitors and soaked in the pre race atmosphere.
Checked into the hotel and my cough now evolved to a full blown fever, with chills.
A dengue bug put paid to my months of training, my pain and my sacrifices. I could not run the Singapore Marathon because of dengue.
At first, i was pissed that i could not run because of a bug. At that time, the doc said it was a flu bug. Looking back though, with the new knowledge that it was dengue and thus the joint inflammation, fevers, chills..in hindsight, it was good that i did not run.
It was really disappointing but looking back to my months of training, there was much more to gain than just running that one race in Singapore.
Through the months of training, i lost weight, i got fitter, i even shocked my GP with my blood pressure, i learnt to be disciplined, i motivated others to run, i inspired a few ladies on facebook too take up running, i learnt more about running gear, i learnt about pacing yourself in the long runs, i enjoyed early morning runs and views of mt kinabalu as dawn broke, i experienced the cold morning wind giving way to the hot morning sun, i ran at night, i ran during ramadan, i was labeled as crazy….and i would do this all again…thanks StanChart SIngapore for the experience.
