Last Sunday, I took part in the Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore. This was my first marathon ever, and it was also the funniest experience ever:
My ticket to the marathon
4.20am The MRT smells like Tiger Balm
4.25am Everyone is wearing their bib in the train. There’s David Leong, Amy Lee, Jose Paolo Lontoc, but I dare not take mine out because it says Simon Collins.
5.10am The marathon is like a street party. People are fooling around and having a good time. One guy tells his friend, “Aiyaa, get medal and certificate can already lah!” Another asks his friend, “Eh, pang sai ah boey?” while we queue up to deposit our bags
5.15am A row of guys are peeing in the bushes, because the queue for the portaloos are too long
5.20am Four guys and girl from Japan are running in full Power Rangers gear
5.50am Clubbers and prostitutes are roaming the streets – you can see the alcohol in their eyes
6.15am A group of people are eating Thai food at Maxwell Market
6.17am Students and volunteers cheer me on. A group of Malay boys are playing the kompang on Cecil Street. They are complete in songkok, sarong and baju Melayu.
6.20am I mistaken the bells and beats from Sri Mariamman Temple for my marathon cheer
6.25am A fellow runner overtakes me. And then farts.
6.40am The ah bengs are coming out of the dirty “Martini” KTVs
9.10am A white guy is called Gerry Leow Wai Kok, so it must be ok that I’m Simon Collins
Mud, sweat and bare feet, post-marathon
My colleagues and I after the race
I have finished my race, but the world has just woken up
My Forrest Gump moment: “And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It was so beautiful.”
Wan Phing Lim 