The promise

Last year I made a promise to myself to run at least one marathon every year. This just goes to say that one shouldn't make promises when one is riding the wave. This is because last year when I made this promise, I had already ran two marathons so my task for the year was done. But I had also sworn NEVER EVER NEVER EVER to run Sundown marathon ever again. Not even if they come to me with the route and have me approve it. The memory of those stairs, of the volunteers sleeping on the side of the street, and of us rambling through the busy parking lot at 5 am in the morning looking for the finish line is deeply engraved in my memory. So this basically left me with having to run the Standard Chartered Marathon this December. This is no big deal, as I enjoy the run every time.

Things were great but then we decided to go to Nepal to trek the Annapurna Circuit. And we are coming back on the day before the marathon. A balanced person would say: fine, register, and then if you are NOT tired after hiking for 300 km, going up and down between 1000m and 5460m, and after a 8hrs flight from Kathmandu to Singapore, then you can actually run it. I know myself very very well so I decided not to register AT ALL. This is because I know that if I do register then I will run no matter what.

So I refused to run the Sundown marathon in May. And I can't run the one in December. This leaves me with a window of about two weeks to complete my yearly running goal. So how?

Well, this is how: I will run my own marathon, in East Coast Park, with Marian on a bicycle as a support crew, spectator, and cheerer. I will handle the registration and the finisher t-shirt. In the previous years what kept me going was the finisher t-shirt (vain, i know). This year it's going to be the promise of a seafood dinner in East Coast Park woo hoo!

Event: East Coast Park Personal Marathon - ECPPM
Date: 19th December (Sunday)
Flag-off: 4:30 pm
Venue: East Coast Park
Cut-off time: 9pm

Other spectators/runners are welcome :)