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Wednesday, February 6, 2008
The eve
Today was the eve of Chinese New Year, so there was this celebration going on in school. The day's events included a 5.1 kilometres road-run for guys, a 3.4 kilometres run for girls, and another of a different distance for the staffs.
The day didn't begin smooth. I was beaten after a restless night, and I barely managed to reach school on time. At first, I went to the bus-stop as usual, and Shuhaddah came along too later. We chatted a bit, and that was when I realised that I had forgotten to bring along the number tag for the race. Hence, I ran home, literally ran, and took the pice of blue fabric, representative of Alpha (Zephon)'s blue. By that time, it was already 0700h and school starts at 0725. Learning of the plight I was in then, and the likelihood that I would be late, I took a bold move to go and take the train. Bedok's station was quite a distance from my school, but that was the only way to not to be late at that point of time, because even if I had taken a cab then, it would most probably get choked in the heavy traffic. Thus, train was indeed the only way out. When I reached Bedok, it was already less than 5 minutes to 0725h. I dashed, and along the way came other TJ-cians who shared the smae plight as me. Some ran, while some hurtled. Luckily, we managed to make it on time, right on the dot. At least New Year's not ruined by any reprimands. However, I kind of strained my calf's muscle while speeding to school, and I've already lost a great deal of water through perspiration and panting. Soon, the race started. The girls started first, and the top runner used only slightly more than 15 minutes to complete 3+ km. That was very fast, in fact, faster than some of us guys! I was impressed. It was followed by the teachers, then finally it's our turn. I sacrificed myself at the beginning of the race. My mentality was to boost the morale of all Alpha-ians so that they would be encouraged. Thus, I tried to go to the front, which drenched a lot of my eneerygy. So by the time, I reached the school's gate, I was overtaken by say, 50 people? The jog continues into the Lucky place- lucky heights, lucky view etc. This was actually some landed property area behind the school, and there were many slopes there. Downhill helped a lot, while uphill hindered a lot too. I had frequent stop overs everywhere, because stitches set in soon after we entered the lucky place. Bumpy journey though it was, I somehow managed to complete it within the top hundred. So, it was still pretty soothing to learn of it. Throughout, I was like keep encouraging those who have started walking to run on, and most of the time, I myself would pull over for a short break before continuing. Some might think I was being a extra, but instinct just happened to get me to do exactly what I did, and encoraging people sure made me feel good. With the last bit of energy I conserved with me, I dashed through the last stretch, and collapsed upon passing the finish line. "You are number 52." It was my positioning, disappointed though I was, I lied on the track motionless for a minute or so, before pulling myself up to rejoin my group. Cool race. I shall start training now, and I'm aiming to squeeze into the top 10 by next year!
Alpha lost practically in most of the contests today, but we won most of the group-events as well. Wolves ferocious when alone, but deadly as a pack. We are the deadly wolf-pack. *Howl!*
I'm still proud to be in Zephon!Labels: race
Posted by Judah at 2/06/2008 01:10:00 PM
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