At about 7:28 I was in the thick of it, standing amidst the throng of sweat-shirt-clad humanity waiting behind the starting line. In the last few minutes before the race when there is nothing to do but wait for the starting pistol to go off, some people jog on the spot while others just stand, some talk to their friends while others keep staring in the direction of the starting banner, some give off the impression that they are taking this very seriously while others might be here just because they had nothing better to do at seven-o'clock on a Sunday morning. Suddenly there was some kind of commotion at the very front of the pack as several people moved from somewhere off-track and took up a position in front of everyone else. At least two of these people were rather large and wore some kind of ear-phones. I also saw the bald, old-looking head of someone who seemed to be very famous from the way that the crowd focused on him. I found out much later that the celebrity was current president Ma Ying-jeou who is, apparently, very keen on running.
Random runners, at least two hours after starting.
Medallion in hand, Andrea looks happy; happy with her effort, or perhaps just happy to be finished. I was happy to get the free cup of hot Milo and the free fruit soy bar.
It's nice to see your name in the lists of finishers. It is somebody's job to stick up the results of the marathon as they are generated. You can see John and Andrea's finishing times in this extract from the list.
John and Andrea bask in the hormonal glow that accompanies each massive 21km assault on the body.
For once I manage to look genuinely happy while being fully aware that someone is taking my photo.
The journey home. The realities of life slowly creep back into the consciousness. Work. Home. Obligations and responsibilities. But Andrea knows that at least she will sleep well tonight. Actually she will sleep before she gets home, in whatever way she can make herself comfortable on the train and bus seats.
2 comments:
Adrian - I'm shocked! Not only do you look happy in a photo, but for the first time you don't look at all like a robot either!
I'm impressed by your athletic ability, although missing from the story was your finish time?
O, how terribly remiss of me. I ran the 10km in 51 minutes, 22 seconds. Not bad. That's half of my previous time, but you have to take into account that last time I was sick and suffering from diarrhoea which makes long runs really unpleasant and anxiety-inducing. The runs. Really.
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