One fine day in 2003, I went for a 16 km run to prepare for the coming marathon. It was a “long run” to me, because my usual jogging distance was only 8 km. On the way back, I used a coffee shop’s restroom. I was surprised to find that my urine was totally red. I wasn’t passing out urine but thick red blood.
I was afraid that I might have another kidney stone attack. My memory immediately brought me back to 2001 when I was visiting a family in Kentucky (where I fell in love with a beautiful southern gal named Joy). In Kentucky, my urine was slightly reddish but I did nothing about it. Later, I had an extremely painful kidney stone attack and was rushed to the emergency room at the hospital. I was given strong painkillers that, thankfully, knocked me out of consciousness.
Coming back to the present, I went to the National University Hospital in Singapore where I went through a battery of tests including a cystoscopy. The various tests and subsequent results took several weeks. During this time, I tried running long distances again. But the same thing happened. My urine was bloody.
Thus, I was forced to train by running only shorter distances which was my usual 8 km. Even so, I was afraid that the same thing could happen. I tried to compensate by doing weight training for my legs. I did particularly a lot of training for my calves, which I considered very important for running long distances. Weight training strengthened my legs, but did it prepare my legs for an endurance activity? Would weight training help me for the marathon? We shall see…
About 2 weeks before the marathon, the results came in. I had prostate infection. I was given antibiotics, which eventually healed me. By then, it was much too late to do any serious marathon training.
So on the race day, I was very apprehensive. Were weight training and short runs enough? Apparently they weren’t. After half a marathon, my legs felt like giving way. But on and on I struggled.
At the 35 km mark, I was having a very hard time. For the past few km, I had walked more than I ran. Then I met a guy named Daniel. He was a great athlete but was taking this marathon slowly. He had just completed a triathlon and hadn’t fully recovered. And like me, he was a Christian too.
We chatted as we ran. He was interested in the commandos. And, as a former commando, it was very easy for me to converse with him. Time moved faster when there was someone to chat. Km after km we covered, till we finished the race at last.
I am thankful to God for sending an angel to help me during the race. Two years later, a similar thing would happen. God would send me another angel during the hottest marathon I had ever run. But for now, I was just so happy to have finished my 8th marathon safely.
About 3 weeks after this marathon, on Christmas Eve, I visited the hospital (NUH) for another checkup. The beautiful female urologist named Dr. Juliana (I think), whom I had a big crush on, checked my prostate using digital examination and confirmed that the infection was gone. Once again, I was thankful. |
