Today was a very memorable day. I never knew I could run such a long distance. It may not be fun, but it was definitely memorable. During basketball training, we did physical fitness. It was something like a test to train our speed.

First, we ran our usual thirteen laps around the basketball court. After we were done, our secondary three senior told us we were going to do physical fitness. We did not know what that was and just followed her to the 400m track. Along the way, she asked for our 2.4km and 1.6km timings. Upon reaching, she told us to run 1.6km under 8 minutes, 2 minutes lesser than my usual timing. Furthermore, there were dire consequences for failing. At that point in time, it seemed almost impossible, with the sweltering hot sun and my rumbling stomach. And so we ran – no walking. At the end of the last round, I sprinted to the finish line feeling relieved thinking it was all over. Clearly I was wrong. It was just the beginning of our senior’s little game. As Qian Yu stopped to walk, she had to sprint 400m in 50 seconds. Next, our senior asked me and Azrin to race against each other. The loser had to run more. I started out fast but had to slow down when coming back due to lack of energy. I lost and therefore had to forfeit another 400m. While I was doing that, Qian Yu and Azrin were competing in sit ups. As I was finishing, our senior commented, “You did great.” I would have smiled if I were not so tired. Next, we were told to run 3 rounds together under 6 and a half minutes. Initially, we struggled as we were all extremely exhausted. But our senior ran with us and told us to keep to her pace or risk doing 100 pumpings. “Persevere! Don’t stop. Don’t walk. Do it for your team mates.” were her words of encouragement. And so I survived the first round. During the second round, I felt like walking so many times due to the rapidly decreasing amount of energy. However, I thought of how much more we had to run if we failed and persisted. When we finally completed that 3 rounds, I had already developed side stitches, and Azrin claimed that she was about to faint. For the final segment of our senior’s “little game”, we had to run 200m then tag the next person.

Later, Azrin heard another senior exclaiming that she made us do 3 times of whatever the coach instructed. I felt so proud of myself.

Finally, I think the reason why she is pushing us so hard is because of what she said. “You all have to train like this if you don’t want to end up like us.” It shows that she thought Cedar Basketball was not good enough. And I agree. Therefore, we should put in all our effort into training and do Cedar proud.

What made this incident memorable is the unforgettable experience with my friends. It isn’t easy to forget running more than 2.8km with your friends. Most importantly, our senior taught us to do our best for our team.

Signing off,
Le Xuan

Labels: Le Xuan