I Teared

I teared as i saw the crowds in the cold
as they stood at the foot of Lincoln
as they the faced the House as one man
faced it and said "I have a dream"
i saw hope

I teared as i saw two beautiful girls
one in regal blue and another in orangey pink
with bright smiles and joyous walk
the older slim and curious with camera
the younger bright and striking face
i saw my daughters

I teared as the Lady reached a hand
to squeeze the shoulder of the one
in love and in support as prayers were
thrown to protect their greatest gift,
their family
i saw my family

I teared as he recited the oath
with nervousness as the Lady smiled
next to him, a knowing smile
knowing him
i saw my wife

I teared as i heard him take the oath
as the words, i have heard before
as my father recited for me to follow
in fraternity, we shared
i remembered my father

I teared then when he spoke not as
a politician should, but as a Leader
that as we face crisis where data so
shocks and numbs, the greater loss
is the loss of hope, and the failure to overcome
i thought of friends who have lost jobs

i teared when he spoke with force, that
the time for hard choices is at hand
the time for leisure has passed
that we can hope, we can overcome
with belief in you, your family and together
with compassion and love, gifts all
i cherish my mother

i teared as his intelligence and strength
flowed with eloquence and detail
with words for a nation to be proud
and for nations to admire and hope
words to share, but not there to hear
i missed my father and father


i teared for it was a historic day
a great day, a wonderful dawn


d.

I am running a half marathon?

WHAAATTTT...you say?

Well it started with a conversation with my wife where she related how her friend's husband was gonna run a marathon. Then this guy trains and makes only 27km in his training. On the day he runs the full 42km in 5 and half hours...a very decent time. I jokingly said i could run a half marathon and she scoffed. She scoffed!!!!!

So i told her i would run the half marathon in 2009....why the hell did i say half marathon...there is a 10km which would have been fine. But half marathon it is.

Then a few days ago i mentioned to a friend at work that i would run the half marathon. Another guy heard this and found it so amusing he posted it on our regional chatroom. It became a topic of discussion for a full hour. Then my big boss saw the posting and after laughing he came up to me and said I WILL TRAIN WITH YOU.

So on Wednesday we set up a run for friday from the office. We used this cool website called MapMyRun that mapped our run and gave us the distance the run covers. A glorious 5km.

Well today i ran.

My brain told me i had the confidence to complete, my heart said i had the courage,....too bad they could not convince my overweight body and asthamatic lungs. Well the good news is made 2km and then my calfs tightened and i felt like someone had grabbed the muscles in my lower back and was twisting it (like squeezing water out of a towel). TO put it bluntly, a very unpleasant experience.

Thankfully my boss did not make it. I was with my chain smoking colleagues Kevin S and Kevin C. As we ran, i was breathless and these two jokers were talking about work and they just ran and ran. Bloody singaporeans. They ran 6km, finished, drank their 100 plus and had two smokes each and said lets go. Bloody singaporeans.

So i have told my daughter, its ok to find things tough but you keep going...so the good news is i now know i am seriously f&)*ed in terms of my running capability and am fully motivated to complete this run.

So next friday, i run again with the two kevin's.