01:51:01

Didn't have much time to train this year so I just ran the Half Marathon. The last time I ran this (actually, it was also the first time) was back in 2004 and I finished at 2h20m, so I guess this is a pretty good improvement. Ha, all those following years of running the Full Marathon paid off.

Seems that every year brings a new record number of runners. This year's magic number is 54,272. I had 13,928 other people running the Half with me. I love listening to the unison of hundreds of feet stomping to the same rhythm. I mean, a dozen or so people and the steps are all out of sync, but a hundred and suddenly everyone follows the same beat.

Since you mostly only got to see the back of people's heads, after a while you start recognizing some of your fellow runners: Blue Vest with the Red Hair, Green Guy with the purple shoes, Mr. Stompy, Miss Yellow Tanktop, Mr. Out-of-this-world B.O....

You know, I don't want to sound like an elitest, but I'm always amazed at out-of-their-league some runners are. At the 2k mark, there were lots of runners who were already so tired that they had to walk. I mean, sure it's great to challenge yourself to do better, but if's you're running a 21.1k race and you're too tired to run at the 2k mark, chances are you should stick with the 10k run for at least another year. If for no other reason then to avoid injuring yourself (thankfully, this year's were much, much fewer than last year's) coz it's awful to have such a positive event marred by negative news.

Runners, see you all next year.