Singapore Marathon

I am proud to say that I finished the Singapore Half marathon in 2h:13m:48s. My target was two and a half hour, so I am happy that without any training I could achieve a better time then expected. Probably if I will be able to train for the next one, then I can do a very good time :)

You can find some statistics about my performance here:

http://www.runpix.info/sin07/21/finord.php?LastName=Vajda&lan=&aset=0

Running in general is quite boring, but running a race like this is a fantastic feeling. The atmosphere is amazing and you can see thousands of people running. At this event there were around 40.000 people and I was competing in my category with almost 8.000 people.
Just want to share one moment from this race that I really enjoyed. I was running through the central Business District of Singapore, and there was a nice wind, the street was wide and empty (meaning there were no cars, only runners and supporters). The skyscrapers were there just for the runners standing high as if they would suggest the amount of strength is needed to complete the marathon. A band was playing some very nice songs and the drums gave a nice tempo for the run. People were cheering and encouraging people to keep running. People were motivating other fellow runners who had to stop and were walking. A drop of humanity in Singapore. It just had such a special atmosphere. It was so nice to run through this place, this atmosphere gave me lots of energy and strength as I was just half of the distance and needed a boost.

This marathon was special because it was my Mum’s birthday as well. She just got 54 years old and I was running this race for her. I also wrote this as a Reason for my run. Each runner could write its own reason for running the marathon on his/her back.Not sure how long my knees will resist, but I will try to train up and run the full marathon. It’s a challenge that I have to achieve. Maybe I can do it in 4 hours?

First Aid

I had been in a situation a couple of months ago when if the things would have not been lucky, some people might have died just in the front of my eyes from drowning. Luckily managed to help the persons to get out from that situation without any consequences to personal health. However I was just thinking that if the things would have turned bad, I would have had no skills or knowledge to resuscitate for example a drowned person or stuff like that.

Mainly this was the reason why I have started thinking of my first aid skills. It also added to my concern that I travel in some countries where it is good to know some skills as there are no hospitals at every corner. Not much a chance for survival in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, etc if you are in a jungle and a tiger bites you. There are quite a lot of snakes around even on top notch golf courses, not only in the jungle and you can easily die from a mosquito bite as well. I am also a diver, so it is good to know some stuff regarding those health hazards that can incur during diving.

While going through the list of all the dangerous things I do, I have decided to sign up for a first aid course. I just got my final the exam on Tuesday and I can happily say that I get the maximum points possible. So now I am trained in CPR (Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation) and I know some first aid procedures for choking, wounds, burns, cardiac arrest, breathing problems, unconsciousness, broken bones, etc.

Another thing… if you watched all the ER and Grey’s Anatomy and all this kind of shows… well then forget them…. The real thing is very different and you should not assume that you know something about first aid and CPR by watching movies! Yes, CPR and Rescue Breathing (mouth to mouth) is simple, but if you do not do it properly and you don’t pay attention to the details, it won’t work!

I really recommend you to do it; you can learn a lot of things that might be helpful. Hopefully you should never use it, but if the situation requires, then at least you know what to do. It can save a life!

I hope I already got a brownie point from God for saving one life this year, so at least that should compensate some of the sins of my life here in Singapore. No….. I won’t tell you what I have done last night :)