J.J. Pedersen let’s go see the world
Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
Ladies and gentlemen, a huge round of applause for Singapore’s very own Blade Runner (Shariff) please! Shariff is a single amputee who runs with a blade, and he just completed the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur marathon despite having the odds stacked against him.
This was no easy race for Shariff, who has clocked 4 and a half hours in a marathon before. This time around he suffered an injury in his good leg at the 18km mark and with cold muscle cramps setting in, he was forced to mix his runs with walking. With more than half the race left to run, a weaker soul might be tempted to quit at this point. But Shariff saw it through with grit and belief.
There was terrible cramping, a fall, and tears.
But HE SAW IT THROUGH. Is there even a word that can fully capture how amazing a feat that is? To stare at pain and near-impossibility in the face and say, “I will conquer this”… that is sheer inspiration.
Congrats on the race, SBR. You are an awesome person to behold.
SBR with 100m to the finishing line at the Standard Chartered KL marathon
[Photo source: www.singaporefirstbladerunner.blogspot.com]
At the 5th Asean Para Games last year, he broke meet record for the 800m race and completed the Sundown 84km ultramarathon this year with a time that would put most people to shame: 12 hours 41 minutes 40 seconds. (Dude! How did we miss each other during the whole race? Our times were so close! I blame it on the darkness and the fact that I was about to faint.)
Anyway I just wanted to spread the word about these amazing guys who, with courage and semangat (Malay for “fortitude”), continue to weave miracle stories right here in sunny Singapore. It seems like heroes really are not born but built through a lifetime. Thank you for the inspiration. You are the reason I run.
Keep it up, Shariff and Adam. And to quote Adam himself: two toes up!
(To check out their websites, click on their photos)
[Photo credit: SameerPictures.com]
