Singapore Bay Run

Woke up at 4am this morning to prepare for the run. Really wanted to back out and go back to sleep, but went ahead anyway since I'd already paid for the run (yeah, I know, I'm really cheap but times are hard you know!) At the starting point, I was thinking all the usual thoughts I have at the start of all my runs: "This is a really bad idea", "This is a mistake", "You're going to HURT after the run" etc etc, but I told the devil to get out of my head and started my run.

The run went okay....I did it in about the same time that I did for the half marathon last Dec, 2 hrs 7 mins. I was blasting my iPod all the way and I must say that the battery did not let me down, not like the other mp3 I used to have, the Zen Micro, which always seemed to go down to the last bar by the end of a 2 hr run! So much for the ads that touted that it could last 12 hours!

I went for a body massage with my usual therapist, Jeannie, and a foot reflexology session after I'd cooled down and showered, and went to church after that to pray for rapid healing - I'm hoping that God would answer my prayers since I was a good girl and was choreographing a tambourine and dance item to one of the songs I was hearing on my iPod as I was running. Anything to take my mind off the pain of putting one foot in front of the other when everything below your hips is screaming in pain!

Have to end this post on a sad note-read on the CNA website that a 25-yr-old army captain died at the end of his 21K this morning. The medics tried their best to revive him and when they couldn't, sent him to the hospital, but he just couldn't make it. May you rest in peace, Captain Ho Si Qiu.

I know this much is true

Yeah, yeah, have been MIA again. Apologies all around. Guess have been too busy in my real life to have time to update my cyber life! I do spend a lot of time THINKING about what I'd like to blog about....topics range from complaining about the dearth of cute guys in my life, neverending work, the latest movies I have seen, to fugly people who walk around in the most disgusting outfits imaginable! Or talking about my latest exotic escapade--a weekend retreat to wild and wacky Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

Then I decided to start an occasional series on books that I like. I LOVE to read. As a young child, my aunt, who was then a teacher, would borrow stacks of books from her school library, dump them in my lap, and tell me "Heather, READ!" She explained to me when I was grown up that as a child, I would keep asking people to read to me and she decided that it would be easier for her and the other adults in my life if I took up reading myself. Well, I've been hooked ever since then. I remember as a child, I would go out with at least 3 books in my bag. The book I was currently reading, the book I'll read next, and a book "just in case" I got bored of the first two books! When I travelled overseas, my luggage would be filled with books--my story books, and the assessment books my kiasu mom would insist on me bringing to do along the way! Clothes never meant anything to me then. Nowadays, my luggage is filled with clothes and toiletries necessary to preserve my youthful beauty (ahem!), but I'll still bring a few books along with me on each vacation, just in case....

Anyway, I've decided to start off by talking about one of the most powerful books I have read in my life--Wally Lamb's "I know this much is true". Even the title is haunting in its evocative power....simple yet infinitely profound. Who amongst us can say those words with such force, such conviction? The plot is simple enough...it is about a man whose identical twin brother has schizophrenia. All of us "in the business" would immediately realize that the protagonist is also at risk of developing mental illness. Indeed, Dominick lives with the fear that he would develop the same condition, and his brother is both his closest friend and the personification of his greatest fear. He loves his brother, but is also burdened by him and the knowledge that his parents expect him to look after his brother. His fear and the pain of having a brother who is mentally ill causes him to lose his way, and the novel describes how he gains redemption ultimately.

I don't know anything about Wally Lamb, but reading the book, I was struck by the insight, empathy and deep understanding that he shows towards both the schizophrenic brother and the brother who lives under the shadow of schizophrenia. It was almost as if he had personal experience of the condition. This is not a book that you would read in a hurry. I remember taking about a week of continuous reading to finish the book the first time I read it, savouring each page. When I reached the last page, I felt as if I was a different person, as if I have grown an inch, mentally, through experiencing what Lamb's characters have experienced. I have revisited the book, and this sense remained after my second reading. This is truly a great book, and one that I highly recommend.