In the long run

Marathon.

The first time I encountered the term was in standard IV when it featured in a question in the General Knowledge exam.

”State the distance of a marathon.”

"42.195 km". I wrote laboriously with my wooden pencil, muttering to myself, "Who are these insane people who run this distance??"

Over the years, I came across the terms several times, but never in its true sense. More like "Sinha Uncle's dog was chasing me and I just kept running --- like I was in the marathon or something." or "Let's have a Shah Rukh movie marathon!" kind of instances.

So the first time I heard about marathon in the 'marathon' sense was after I came to Singapore. I was amazed to know that thousands of people signed up, paid money and almost killed themselves to run the 42 kilometres. Why did they do that? "Insane people..." I muttered again to myself. Of course, I had no idea that this friend of mine would, in a decade, first marry me and then declare, "I will run the marathon." (I think the order of events was pre-planned in his mind.)

"You will what??" I asked.

"I will run the marathon."

Initially, I was shocked.

“The marathon? As in THE marathon?”

“Yes.”

"You want to run 42 km for no reason?"

"Yes."

"It's 42 km, you know?"

"Haha! I know."

"42 km!!!!!!!!!"

"I know. I can do it."

"Are you very very sure?"

"I am."

"Okay then, do it!"

And he did it. Last saturday, exactly at midnight, he joined thousands of other "insane people" (yes, I'll never stop calling them that) as they embarked on the Adidas sundown marathon.

While he was training, I was freaking out. People had been telling me of marathoners who didn't train hard enough, pushed themselves too hard and collapsed during the race. I checked with colleagues who had run the marathon. Asked them for the optimum training distance before one could do well in the marathon. 35 km, they said. So I yelled at Viv. His maximum training distance was 10 km.

"It's four times the distance you're used to running, you know!"

"I know."

"You have to train harder."

"I know."

He trained harder. Woke up at 5 in the morning once and did a 21.

That was still only half of what he'd have to eventually run, but I was feeling slightly calmer now. On many levels, I was still freaking out though. We had just come back from India and the marathon was in two weeks. If he were to keep himself in good shape, he couldn't do any more dry runs before the actual one.

As I created his marathon playlist of upbeat, peppy, inspirational numbers on the ipod, I told him I'd stay up all night and look out for his sms updates of how much distance he had covered. He told me I was mad and asked me to go to sleep. "I'll know I did well if I am home before you wake up." Viv had said. I had laughed and said, "Sure!"

However, the closer we got to the event, the more interested I got. He was targeting 5-6 hours to complete the run. I told him I could go to specific points in the running track and watch him run by. That was the plan. Until these three wonderful folks decided to turn up at the venue and stay up to support Viv. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to stay there all night and watch him cross the finish line.

The organisers had an open-air superhero movie marathon screening (Iron Man, Transformers and The Incredible Hulk) for supporters at the start/finish line so we put a bedsheet on the grass, sat down and watched. Viv kept sending sms messages at specific milestones.

12:18 am - "At 3 km"

12:59 am - "10 km"

1:28 am - "15. How's the movie?"

(How's the movie?? Sheesh.)

1:56 am - "20"

2:35 am - "26"

That was it! I lost it. I messaged back to ask him not to just send me the numbers, but also whether he was ok.

3.00 am - "30... cramps but ok"

3:42 am - "35"

3:58 am - "37"

4:14 am - "39"

4:30 am - "41"

1 km to go! We wrapped up the bedsheet and stationed ourselves with our cameras at the best spot at the finish line.

And there he was, our hero, running towards us, utterly exhausted but grinning away.

I took a video of him as he crossed the finish line and then pointed the camera up to end the video with a snapshot of the timer: 4:41.

The funniest part is that after finishing the marathon, as he queued up for the massage that the good organisers had arranged, he turns to us and asks, "Do you guys want to sit down?" Yeah, dude, it's us who need to sit down. After all the hard work of sitting on our asses, munching on snacks and watching back-to-back movies, WE should take a break and sit down. :P

A few years ago, if you had asked me whether I knew any marathoners, I'd have laughed in your face. Today, I live with one and I know two who are waiting in the wings, to phodo the Stanchart Marathon in December.

I am not a runner, and my knee will never let me be one, but that night, being a part (in whatever inconsequential way) of Viv’s marathon was quite something else.

When I think of the distance he ran, I still reel with disbelief.

42.

According to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. But to a whole lot of people, it is the answer to the ultimate test of their abilities, endurance and willpower.

There must be something to pushing your mind and your body to beyond their limits. Resolving to do something-- something difficult --- and going ahead and doing it.

Yup, there's certainly something to what these "insane people" do. Why else would I, one who has never run a marathon and will never run one, feel such a sense of insane elation, just to be a part of that atmosphere, that experience?