week 2 - Day 3

I did 10km today. Discovered new route again. I think one of the joys of running is allowing your feet to take you to new places you won't have otherwise gone, and sometimes to places where vehicles have no access to.

Saw some cattle during the run.

This is where I did a U-turn. The next time, I would run down this road to see what's in there.

I remembered when I was in South Africa, one day I decided to run from my doctors' quarters to the hospital that I was working in. The distance is about 12km, so I had to wake up early in the morning to start running. Later that day, one of the anaesthetists (who is, to be honest, quite a sissy) asked whether I was the crazy one who ran to the hospital early in the morning. He must have spotted me on his way to work. He remarked: 'You need to get your head checked. People invent cars so that you can drive them to work.'

Out of the respect for seniority, I didn't argue with him, though I really wanted to. I don't think he understood the joy of running. When I was running through the empty streets filled with litters and papers on the ground, I witnessed for myself the state of the African lives. Occasionally I passed some early birds who have already started their daily routine; saw some school children dressed in uniform and jumper walking to school; greeted some joggers like myself who were running in the opposite direction, and have the infamous mini bus packed with people (it's the main form of transport in South Africa) speeding past me. Sometimes you wonder what happened there the night before, had someone been stabbed, or robbed, or raped. In your car, you tend to just drive through them or distract yourself with the morning news or music.

This is one of the reasons why running is so fun. You see things. :)