The gift of time

Gave some time to this 15-year-old who was drinking a cup of tea and hanging around in the YWCA pantry while I and two other ministry mates were having our dinner before the children's workshop. One of them asked him to sit down and join us. He sat down next to me and placed his cup of tea and a Marvel comic book on the table. He was still in his school uniform. He was drinking his tea, while he was looking at me eat my yong tau foo. He told me that he had overheard me saying earlier that I had eaten cheese with a bread roll the night before. I explained to him that at my age, it's tough to maintain one's weight, much less lose weight, because our metabolic rate slows rapidly beyond a certain age. And how I was trying to avoid eating carbs at night. He then said that brown rice was nutritious but he didn't like eating it because it was super dry. I chatted with him about how I loved graphic novels, especially V for Vendetta and the Sandman Series. He quipped that it was so nice for him to be in a situation whereby it's like a grandmother telling him that she was reading comics (do I look like a grandmother?!). I corrected him and said "auntie, auntie; not grandmother!" I carried on talking with him. He told me why he was there and then he said that he would hang around before heading home. I wondered why he wasn't keen to go home but I didn't ask him about it. He shared about school, what he did that day, his family and so on. Soon, it was close to 7.30pm and we had to leave the pantry to go into a room for the workshop. I told him that we had to leave, and that was when he introduced himself and I told him my name. My parting shot to him was "don't hang around too late before going home, okay?" And I said bye to him.

My reflection: Very often, all that another person needs from us is just time and company.

What I write about when I write about running

When one has spent one's secondary school, JC and university years playing competitive badminton, which entailed training sessions at night on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as well as physical training on Saturdays that included running 15/30 rounds around two basketball courts, one can be excused for never ever wanting to run short or long distances again because one feels that one has already run enough to last one's lifetime.

This morning, however, I chose to take part in the Touch Young Arrows' Run & Raisin charity event because of enthusiastic colleagues and friends. I woke up at 6am after catching the first half of the France-Germany game. The sky was dark and it was raining heavily. There was a flurry of messages as we considered whether we should go back to bed or get ready for the event. In the end, I took a cab at 6.30am and headed to the event venue. I remembered praying to God to please let the rain stop before 7.30am.

When I reached there, I got out of the cab and started walking around. I heard someone call my name. She was one of the usual suspects with a friend, who was nice enough to let me leave my bag in his car. We then walked around looking for the rest. We found some and took a group shot before heading to the starting point. A colleague who had organised two training runs before the actual event couldn't make it because he had fallen ill. He was missed.

By 7.30am, the rain had stopped. Amen. The 10km group was flagged off at 7.45am, and the 5km, at 8am. The Doutor brunch awaiting us after the finish line was a delicious incentive.

Doing the 5km, I was with three other colleagues whom I would not have had many opportunities to interact with at work. We were pretty chill. The route was scenic, starting from Gardens by the Bay and going past the two domes on the way to Marina Barrage with a view of Marina Bay Sands on the horizon, and then back the same way to the start/finish line.

Along the way, we chatted. I also took photos of the sights as well as of colleagues who were running past us. The other three would spot a colleague, which meant a short sprint for me as I had to get ahead of him or her to get a snap. They helped me along by shouting to the colleague, slow down, slow down, we want to get a photo of you. There were a few who ran so fast that we felt it was a lost cause for me to even attempt to sprint ahead of them. We let them go.

After crossing the finish line, all of us adjourned to Doutor at MBFC Tower 3 for yummy pancakes and sandwiches as well as some pretty solid coffee and tea. I thoroughly enjoyed myself just being there, talking only a bit but listening a lot more, giggling at some parts but laughing loudly at others, seated with a familiar bunch plus some new faces. We left Doutor only around 1pm. It was good fun.

Was it worth it for me to participate after such a long hiatus from running? But you see. I didn't run. I walked all the way.