Track and Field Part 3

Seems like I wasn't able to continue the one post a day thingy. Well, when there is a fabulous book such as The Time Traveler's Wife to read and an equally fabulous show in Prison Break to watch, it is pretty much inevitable that blogging has to take a backseat. Now that I'm done with The Time Traveler's Wife, I can return to blogging. Though I very much would like to blog about the book that I just read, I figured out I should finish up my TnF story first. Heh.

Yes, the Combined School Meet. It's the closest thing I'll ever get that's similar to the Olympics in my entire life I suppose. Unless I decide to join TnF in university, which is pretty much unlikely. The Combined School Meet is an annual thing by the way, and I do think that my school holds the event in a pretty high regard considering that the fact that the other schools taking part are Chung Cheng High, Dunman High and the other school should be Temasek. During my era, those schools are all doing better than Ngee Ann academically wise, but in the annual Combined School Meet, it has always been Ngee Ann that has been dominating. Not too sure about now though.

Adding to the "prestige" value of this event is the fact that it was held in National Stadium - the largest stadium in Singapore. Also, all students of the four respective schools are required to attend the Combined School Meet. Though the amount of MCs tendered in for this event is always unusually large, the attendance is still pretty good for 2/3 of the stadium is filled up. There will be cheers, there will be jeers and there will be girls looking at you.

Or at least I hope. But the more I dwell about it, the least likely there was any considering the fact that I didn't do very well in my first Combined School Meet in Secondary 1. I remember I got chosen to represent my school in C Division (Sec 1 and 2s) 1500m race together with 5 others I suppose. So yeah, 24 people fighting it out.

I did pretty okay in terms of personal timing. But against the likes of the Secondary 2s who had a year of TnF training, there wasn't much of a chance for me and 2 of my pals at all. Afterall, the coach was saying that he put us out there just for us to soak in the experience. And soak it all in we did. I can still remember when I was running in front of the section where all the Ngee Ann people were seated. I could hear the noise level increased pretty dramatically and the effect it had on me was magical. I got an superb adrenaline rush which certainly added a spring to my step. But of course, it wasn't enough for I finished in the middle if my memory doesn't fail me. And the top 3 spots were taken up by my seniors.

Another memorable event that I took part in my first year was my school's annual cross country race. Though I would like to jog along with my friends in the fun run, all the track and field athletes were required to participate in the competitive run. It was held in Bedok Reservoir, a place that I absolutely loathe going but familiar with. I did pretty well considering I was up against people from Secondary 1 to Secondary 5, and ended up being 13th.

I took part in two more cross country competitions, both national level and the venue were Sentosa and MacRitchie respectively. For Sentosa, the biggest challenge was running on sand and there were plenty of uphills and downhills. And MacRitchie, it's simply running on jungle trails. I guess that explains the meaning of "Cross Country" huh. I can't remember what position I came in, and that means I probably didn't do well enough for me to remember.

Due to the fact that my coach decided to put me in the 1500m race and some of above cross country competitions, I kinda thought that my TnF life will be all about stamina, endurance and lasting the distance in long distance running. But thankfully, it wasn't.

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I can't believe I've got so much crap to talk about my TnF experiences.