Courage to face adversities

Yesterday, the priest's sermon on Mark's Gospel touched me. The reading was about a blind man who begged Jesus to give him sight (see below).

He preached about courage in the midst of disappointments and hardships in life. I noticed that as I aged, I tend to be cynical and realistic about life.

Having been rewarded with good grades for working hard as a student, I used the same strategy in my life. However, Life in most cases does not always go my way. I ended up frustrated and disappointed.

As I reflected, ordinary people whom we called heroes have no super power. They accomplished extraordinary acts through sheer courage and determination such as climb Mt Everest without oxygen, sail alone around the world in X days etc.

Life goes on regardless of my disappointments. So, I choose to be courageous and smile at what Life throws at me.

Mk 10:46-52
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,
sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth,
he began to cry out and say,
"Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way.

Going after the elusive peak autumn foliage in Vermont and New Hampshire, Oct 13-15

Three days after the Baltimore marathon, I flew to Manchester, New Hampshire, wanting to see the famous autumn foliage in New England. My flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport was at 8am. I booked a shared Supershuttle which picked me up at 4.50am instead of the stipulated time of 5 to 5.15am. I reached the airport at 5.20am and had plenty of time to eat breakfast. Passing through security was a breeze as there was no line at such an ungodly hour.

I caught up with my sleep on the plane and reached Manchester around 10 am on a raining day. After getting my rental car, I started to plan on my route as this was a last minute trip. I had not booked any lodging since I did not want to be tied down at one place nor know where I would be.


From Manchester Airport, I drove West towards Brattleboro, Vermont, hoping that I could get a map of Vermont. Along the way, I stopped numerous times to take pictures of the colorful leaves despite of the rain. After some time, I found that the scenery looked similar.

At Brattleboro, I managed to get an official road map of Vermont at the visitor center. After a quick driving around, I headed to Wilmington which was a small town at the intersection of scenic Rt 100. I had lunch at a diner where only cash was accepted. It was inconvenient not to used credit card.

Next, I traveled North along Rt 100, passing by vast farms and closed ski resorts. I drove till dusk which fell a little after 6pm to arrive at the town of Rutland.

After checking into an inn, I was glad that I had brought my laptop along since my cell provider, T-mobile had no reception in Vermont. I could call using Skype and surf on the internet. For dinner, I asked the receptionist to recommend a place to eat and I decided to try Seward Family Restaurant. I ordered stirred fried chicken with rice, chocolate milk shake and a pumpkin pie. The pie was delicious, not too sweet and I could taste a tinge of cinnamon.

The next day, weather was still not looking good. I wanted to tour Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury and I realized that I was missing out on the famous covered bridges which were off the main route.

From the map, I could see two bridges along the way, near to Proctor. Road signs in Vermont were not well marked. At Proctor, I asked a group of workers for directions and they joked about the road signs when I mentioned them.

Luckily, a guy was headed in that direction and offered to lead me there. Without his help, I would never have found them. They were secluded.

Driving along, I kept looking at prices of gas at various places. Gas stations in the middle of nowhere tend to have higher prices than more congregated places. This made economical sense since it took more effort to serve remote regions than buildup towns.

I reached the factory just in time for the 12.30pm tour. In the 30-min tour, we saw the history of how the founders, Ben and Jerry, came together and started their company to become a worldwide ice cream phenomenon, the actual ice cream production and of course, free ice cream tasting. I was tempted to buy some udder-shaped bowls for serving ice cream or soup.

Lunch that day was a blueberry pancake and a raspberry pancake, drenched in the famous maple syrup as well as bacon. Having only three days to visit two states, I gave up on Burlington in the east and drove west back into New Hampshire at Wells River.

I wanted to drive along the scenic Kancamagus Highway when it was still daylight. The highway cuts across The White Mountain National Forest and has many outlooks for photo taking. It was amazing to see snow covered mountain tops against the autumn foliage. At some point, it was even snowing. There was a warning sign that there was no gas station for 32 miles upon embarking on the highway.

Since I did not bring my CD, country music was the main genre as I tuned across the radio frequency.

With darkness falling, I drove slower with a car tailgating me. Suddenly, a deer jumped in front of my car. I was sandwiched between knocking down a deer and having my rear rammed. Luckily, no animal or human was hurt.

The town of Meredith, situated around the lake region of New Hampshire, looked stunning at night as I drove pass it. Because I was tired from driving around eight hours, I did not stopped and headed towards Laconia where I checked into an inn. My seventh-floor room overlooked a lake.

On my last day, I went on Mt Washington scenic cruise at Lake Winnipesaukee, the third largest lake in New England, covering 44,586 acres. It has 365 islands, of which 274 are inhabitable (see a house built on a tiny island). The rain finally let up but temperature was very cold after factoring in wind chill as I stood on the deck taking pictures. The scenery was picturesque with mountains as backdrop and beautiful houses along the shoreline. It took about 1 hour 10 minutes to reach Wolfeboro before it headed back to Weirs Beach.

For my last scenic drive of New Hampshire, I took Rt 11-S along Lake Winnipesaukee and headed to Manchester Airport. When I returned the rental car, I was surprised to see on my receipt that I had driven only 1 mile instead of about 500 miles for my 3-day trip.

Vermont pictures.

New Hampshire pictures.

Longwood Gardens.

Euphoric high on endorphin after completing my first marathon

Pre-marathon
I was anxious for the last seven days before Oct 10, 2009 partly because I wondered if my body could run 26 miles/ 42 km as I had sustained injuries from training. Basically, my left side was in pain which were interconnected. My left knee started aching first, followed by my lower back and eventually my left sole hurt. Because of the pain, I could not keep to my training schedule and had to improvise by cycling on a stationary bicycle or swimming.

Feeling desperate, I visited a sports injury clinic, called the Arnold Palmer SportsHealth Center at Union Memorial Hospital on Sep 22. I was diagnosed with over-pronation and was prescribed some pain killer and advised to get a Spenco RX full arch support insole.

The next day, I cycled from my apartment to Falls Road Running Store, about 4.4 miles, along some treacherous narrow road heavy with traffic. I purposely took the afternoon off so that I would not be caught in the evening rush hour and "commit suicide." I ran with the insole the next day and it helped to relieve the pain. The investment was worth it.

Besides my injuries, the farthest distance I ran was only 15 miles. It was a mental hurdle to complete another 11 miles. Further, I was trying to stave off coming down with a sore throat by sucking lots of lozenges on Wednesday.

For the last week, I ate more carbohydrate and avoided spicy food. I was also glad that I just had to run 4 miles daily.
On the night before (Oct 9), I laid awake around 10 pm as I was excited and nervous. I tossed and turned till about 12 am and did not have a deep restful sleep.

Marathon
I woke up at 6 am to have breakfast and to stretch. TiahLing and Wenmin offered to send ShuZhen and I to the starting line at the intersection of Russell and Camden Streets. Another two supporters, KianMeng and SauLing met us at the starting line itself since they were living nearby. The starting line was divided into sections according to the speed one could complete a marathon. We headed to the section marked 10min/mile as we were targeting to complete in 5 hours.

It was hard to stretch without bumping into somebody since the place was crowded with runners. According to the organizer, about 22,000 signed up for the various events (marathon, half-marathon, 5k, and team-relay etc), including participants from 44 countries. Also, there were some runners wearing interesting outfits e.g. a tuxedo suit, a beer can costume, a denim bib with straw hat, and even Spiderman ran instead of climb.

At 8am, the horn blew and confetti was blasted into the air. It took me about 4 minutes to pass the electronic timer. Roars and claps resonated from supporters lining on both sides of the street. My pace was slow since I had to jostle with others. ShuZhen and I decided to split up as we ran at different pace.

The temperature was surprisingly pleasant and not humid. The forecast for the morning was passing showers. Some runners had jackets on which I decided against as I would be warmed up in about 15 minutes. Wenmin said that there were garbage bags and even branded sweaters, littering the beginning route at last year’s marathon in New Jersey.

The initial 6 miles toward Druid Hill Park was elevated, rising 350 ft above sea level. At the park, I saw some runners heading to some bushes. Initially, I thought that they were taking a short cut but realized they were relieving themselves as there was no Porta-Johns around. I had heard of runners peeing while running. Talked about dedication!

The route brought me to streets that I had not visited before and would not have gone in the first place. Supporters cheered and official photographers snapped pictures along the 26-mile route with police officers mending traffic. No doubt, some drivers were caught unaware of the race and were stuck in traffic.

Along the way, I saw various groups of runners clustered together, keeping close to their pacers. For me, I just wanted to complete my first marathon under 5 hours. I kept reminding myself that I needed to pace; I was not competing in a 100-meter sprint.

Maintaining 12 miles for 2 hours were easy. After that, it was a constant struggle to maintain my speed and pain started to build up in my legs. To prevent chaffing, I wore a pair of shorts with inner running thighs and a tight fitting shirt. However, I forgot to cut my toe nails and my left second toe started to ache.

Cheering from friends really helped as I ran faster after seeing my supporters. A boy shouted my bib number to encourage me. “You really feed off from the positive energy of the supporters,” said Jamie, my friend who participated before. In addition, fast music also helped as I ran according to the beat of Beyonce’s Single Lady as I passed by Under Armor Headquarter where there was music blasting away.

I kept hydrating myself with the official drink, Gatorade and water. Somewhere along, I started to pour water on myself to cool my core temperature. Bananas, oranges, gummy bear sweets, potato chips, and PowerGel were some of the food given out. I thought that banana was inappropriate as I had to avoid stepping on banana skins to avoid slipping. I lost count in the number of PowerGel I consumed since I finished four of my own, and took several along the route.

The weather turned out perfect for running as there was a slight drizzle and remained overcast throughout the marathon. I was praying that the sun did not come out to evaporate the precipitate and increase humidity. With the road slightly slippery, I slide along instead of lifting my tired and sore legs, thus using other muscle groups.

The run between Mile 16 and 23 was elevated again and both my soles hurt now. There were cardboard advertisement on feet therapy along the way. What a great reminder! I found that the difficult part in completing a marathon was not lack of stamina but in overcoming the pain. Running after stopping was excruciating, so I tried not to stop.

At 22-mile marker, it was my "longest" last 4 mile. My left knee hurt badly now and I put my weight more on my right footing. Crowds thronged on both sides near the finishing line. I sprinted after running through the Camden Yards, thinking the finishing line was near. However, I slowed down as I could not last the distance. Emotionally, I was high and I held back tears of joy.

Finishing at 4 hours 46 minutes, I completed my first marathon. I had stepped up a notch higher for my mental endurance.

Post-marathon
After meeting up with our supporters, we had lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant at Inner Harbor and I slept for two hours before going for a Thai dinner at Federal Hill.

Ten days after marathon, I still walk with a limp but am recovering. People asked if I would run for another marathon, I replied that I shall see after the pain has subsided.

My marathon statistics

ChipTime	ClockTime	Overall	SexPl	DivPl	AgeGrade
4:46:40	4:49:37	2108	1447	241	43.60%

Statistics of marathon 2009 (2014 M / 1104 F)

Finishers	Min. Time	Avg. Time	Max. Time
3118	02:14:04	04:30:26	07:10:32

Statistics of Males between 30 and 34

Finishers	Min. Time	Avg. Time	Max. Time
322	02:17:12	04:22:57	06:49:48