Age is no barrier to running
I AM proud to say that I was one of those lucky ones who took part in the recent Standard Chartered Kuala LumpurL Marathon 2017 ( SCKLM). I am 52 years old thist year and this was my first evere participation in a half marathon.m Being a first timer, I must say that the feeling of participatingp alongside 35,000 participantsp was simply awesome.s It was so inspiring to sees so many people from all races,r religions, ages and walksw of life running side by sides to the finish line. Many werew running and some were justj walking, but the atmospherep of sportsmanship was overwhelming.o For those of youy who never thought of joiningj such an event or thought that such events are only for the really athletic group, let me tell you a bit about my journey to this event.
I was never a running kind of person since school days. Finishing two rounds around the school field during physical education classes was the best I could do. I used to be involved in games that did not require much running, like cricket.
My journey to the SCKLM started sometime in August 2016 when I decided that I needed to lose some weight. I started doing brisk walks around my housing estate. These walks usually lasted 30 minutes. During this phase of exercising I used to share my endeavour with my ex-class mates in our WhatsApp group. Some of my former classmates university mates who were experienced runners and active marathoners advised me to download an app to track my walks so I would know how far I was walking, how many steps I was taking, how many calories I was burning, how fast I was walking and to map out the route. That was a pivotal moment for me as the app allowed me to track my walking abilities and challenge myself everyday to do better in a measurable way. I remember the first measurable fast walk that I did in September 2016 was 3km and I was so proud of it. I used to put up my stats in the whatsapp groups and soon there were other ex-classmates who also started putting up their stats as well. Some of us then started challenging each other to go further and further. My 3km walks became 5km long and a few weeks later it was 9km and before I knew it I was doing 16km. It was then that one of my ex-classmates suggested I take part in a half marathon (distance of 21km). I told myself why not, after all I have done 16km. So I did a 21km walk one fine Saturday morning in December 2016 and completed it without stopping. I ran a tenth of the distance and the rest of it was fast walking and I managed to do the whole 21km in 3 hours. After that I enrolled myself for the SCKL half marathon 2017. I made sure that I went for regular walks and runs every week to be ready for the event. I did at least two 10km walk/runs every week. I would occasionally do a 15km or 21km walk/run. The practices paid off as I managed to complete my half marathon in three hours, way faster than the required 3.5 hours needed to qualify for a medal.
The moral of the story is that, it is never too old to get into an active lifestyle. As a doctor, I also need to caution those who intend to start active walking or running at middle age to check yourself out medically first, as I did before getting into this. Some of us may not be medically fit to do long distance walking or running.
And finally, I want to say that one of things that positively influenced me into getting into this half marathon was social media. I had a few WhatsApp and Facebook friends who regularly posted their running statistics and experiences and pictures of their participation in marathons. In the beginning it was annoying to see these accounts but after awhile you begin to be curious about it and soon you want to be a part of it. I thank God that I have these crazy running friends who have positively influenced and inspired me. To the class of ACS Ipoh (1972-1984), USM medical school friends (1985-1990) and my Facebook marathon crazy doctor friends who run all the time, a big thank you for making my SCKL half marathon experience a possibility.