Run for life are what I think about when I run.  Sharon my wife,  bless her, gave me Haruki Murakami’s “What I talk about when I talk about running” many years ago. That was the seed for me to take notes of what I was thinking while I am on my runs. For the past ten years, I have been scratching my thoughts onto various platforms and devices. Between 2005 and 2010,  I would be putting down my thoughts on a Palm. Then when I got my first iPhone in 2010, I switched to Notes.

I am by all accounts an unremarkable runner. In school and while in the Army, I ran cross country but never finished anywhere near the top half. I have however always worked out, either at the gym or running, except for the period between 2004 and 2005.

In the first quarter of 2004, my left tibia was fractured in a go karting accident in Bogor Indonesia. Now that was an interesting story for another day and place. A metal plate was surgically inserted to repair the fractured tibia and I hobbled around for the next six months.  The recovery process from that accident was what started my journey into running marathons.

Later in the year,  one Saturday afternoon close to Christmas, I decided to drive to East Coast Park to run. I started at the Bougainvillea Garden. I did not know how far I would run or even if I could run at all. This was my first run after the accident and was almost close to a year without a run or a workout. That day I ran southwards towards the city. I strode gingerly, taking small tentative steps. One kilometre into the run, I was getting into a slow shuffle of a rhythm, I felt free from the thought of having to use the crutch and the walking stick, free from thinking my fractured tibia was weak and in pain. It was so joyful. Because it was a real slow run I was not breathless and I remembered I did not want the run to end. That day I ran to the carpark at Fort Road before turning back. Today I know that route like the back of my hand and that it is fourteen kilometres.  I did not know it then. It had taken me hours, I ran naked that day, no watch or running computer to tell me my pace or distance or time elapsed, only shorts and shoes. Today that route, if I went helter skelter would take me one hour ten minutes. When I got home that day, I decided I wanted to run a marathon. I did not go halves, but went for broke and signed up for the full marathon in The Singapore Marathon 2005.

Since then, I have ran and completed, one ultra marathon, ten marathons, one of which in Rome, countless half marathons and shorter races and four Menshealth urbanathlons. In 2016, carrying on the theme of going for broke or jumping in at the deep end, I registered for and completed the Spartan Race, Super. It was only after I have completed the registration that I found out that the race organisers recommends first timers to start with Sprint, graduating to Super and on to Beast. I am gunning for Beast in 2017.

Running has given me many joys. Through the act of running, speaking to other runners and people in general, reading widely and connecting the dots, this hobby has given me many insights into life. That is what most of my scratchings here are about. I link all things running to life. Highlighting what we can learn from running about love, family, work and spirituality.

The photos here are almost exclusively shot on an iPhone camera. Occasionally I would use PS express to photo edit but normally  I post them as they are.  I feel that using an iPhone embodies the bare minimum requirement for running. To capture a photo, all you need is an iPhone camera, to run all you need is a pair of shoes.

Enjoy the read.

The professional me here.