Day 12

Apr 12th, 2008 by Alice in Daily Marathon

Golden Beach to Taimali.

From Golden Beach, Kevin spotted Neil for the first part of the day, which was overcast and the roads were flat, providing great running conditions. Neil found a good pace and reveled in how great he felt. I meet with them around half-way. Neil is running in 6km legs and at each break he is talkative and energized. He tells us that yesterday he passed a large family who ate dinner outside, children playing outside the house. On seeing Neil approach, they burst into applause and clapped and encouraged him until he was way off in the distance.

The topic of the day, confounding the madness of these two weeks, has been how to get to Taipei tomorrow night to see DJ Tiesto. Of course, there are two marathons to be run either side of this, and travel times from Taitung to Taipei aren’t short. Kevin suggests we fly there and deciding we deserve a half-way treat, find a flight to Taipei at 18.45 the following day.

Neil finishes atop a steep hill and Neil, Kevin and I share a beer. We learn what sparked Neil’s interest in (or obsession with) running marathons. He tells us about a friend from New Zealand who, some years ago, was partaking in a nine mile run. Inviting Neil along, Neil said, “Yeah, alright”, expecting it a breeze being so active playing football and tennis. Afterwards, he hurt for a week, but this did not quench a new-found thirst for running and led to participating in marathons around the world. Neil’s personal best is 3 hours and 14 minutes, a time he hopes to improve upon enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon in the future. Entrants for this must be able to complete the 42km within three hours!