Quarter Marathon ?!

Well, we are all set to challenge the Singapore International Marathon this Sunday, 4 December. Just in case that you are new in this sport and are not aware of the distance in running a marathon – it is 42 km. To be exact, it is 42.195 km! It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears to run that far in a single race.

I need to clarify the situation just in case a few of the readers may think that a marathon is 10km in distance. I have a rude awakening experience when I conversed with a few of my office colleagues recently; they thought that the distance for a marathon is only 5km!

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With that bad experience, nowadays, when I talk to non-runners, I always say, "Yeah, I am running marathon, and the distance is 42km ... you know?" To add impact to the conversation and to bring home the point, I would always highlight the equivalent of distance in relation to a location where the friends are familiar with. In admiration, they would say, "Wah! You Superman, how come you can run that far?" That would really make my day.

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In 2003, we participated in a 10km run in Klang, Selangor. I was shock to see the banner hanging high up at the starting line that read: KLANG QUARTER MARATHON 2003. That was really "spoiling the market". Imagine some runners would drop the word "quarter" conveniently, and said they have run a marathon in Klang.

I was trying to analyze why the organizer would promote the run by quoting that attention-grabbing phrase – Quarter Marathon. On the positive note, I think the organizer was using the prestigious word "marathon" to entice or attract more runners to participate. After all, Quarter Marathon – the equivalent distance of about 10km – sounded better than a mere 10km race.

On the other hand, it was possible that the organizing committee was working through lunch in the midst of a serious brainstorming session on the logistical nightmare of staging the event. Each member would have been dished out a quarter chickens because with full stomach, it affected clarity in thinking. Obviously, they wanted more chickens and it sparked a brilliant idea that Quarter Marathon would soon lead to Full Marathon.

Let us hope that in future, the word “marathon” is only used to refer to Half or Full marathon – according to standard procedure and usage. Nevertheless, it is always welcome to refer to something tougher like ULTRA-MARATHON, which is in fashion nowadays. We hope that our organizers, with the creative minds, do not proudly call the 7km race the Bolehland One-Sixth Marathon.

By KC..... :-)