For the past seven weeks, Anneliese O'Young has been torturing her 'non-runner body' for the Standard Chartered Half Marathon on February 8. She is raising funds for the Cancer Fund in memory of her mentor, veteran reporter Kevin Sinclair, who died of cancer a year ago.
I have been on this journey for nearly two solid months and am happy to report all is well. I have yet to inflict any major injury upon myself. My drinking stamina has suffered while my social life has become a flurry of excuses for not showing up or showing up late after a run. But let's stick with the positives - I can now run 14km and have lost one precious kilogram.
While the results of my seven-week intensive training cannot be seen with the naked eye, the one thing that is very pronounced is my Quasimodo-like limp. The repetitive pounding on the pavements has resulted in a bum knee, which has driven me to see Elton Ng Chun-ting, sports physiotherapist at the Centre of Rehabilitation & Exercise Specialist in Tsim Sha Tsui.
I explain to Elton about my knee and tendons. As a marathon runner himself, he nods his head and starts his physical exam of bending and rotating my joints, limbs and ankles as if I am a big green Gumby toy.
'Does this hurt? This? This? This?' he asks, rotating my leg forward, sideways, diagonal and backwards.
Oi - watch it buster. My leg doesn't bend that way!