for the first time...

in my life, that i'd actually won something.

life at work has still been pretty typical of development works, with little diversions here and there. but the main event for today was not my tasks at hand, however. it was the vertical marathon.

i signed up for the individual male category (they termed it the "Hunks" category on the reg form) and due to unforeseen circumstances, i was taken to join in the team event as well. 2 guys 2 girls. the other guy who was supposedly to have joined had to take a rain cheque due to his work commitments. i found him typing away at his desktop moments before the event started. so i threw myself in as the backup.

so the event started about 5+ with the girls individual (they termed in the "Babes" category), followed by my "Hunks" category. they paired us up to run up the stairs at intervals, all 258 steps, 8 floors (7 + to the rooftop), double the flights because of the warehousing needs of the building. i was paired up with a Manhunt 1996/97 winner some more! but given that it's been 10 years, his fab would have a huge L after the first alphabet le... =x so basically by the fourth floor he'd let me continue while he was catching his breath. i'll say this for sure: running up this way makes you giddy if you do it too quickly. imagine how you have to turn in the same direction continuously at each turn of a flight of stairs. it's as if you were sitting in an office chair and turning around and around... >_>

i was rather giddy by the time i reached the rooftop, but i still felt alright. i took 01:09. we then finished up the whole programme with the team event (i was the 4th and last of my team) and we had to hold on to a spikey/hairy stress ball as a baton. i think i was lucky to be unhurt, because by the end of the event, 2 guys and 2 girls had their knees scraped. and it's almost the same location. by the time they reached the rooftop, they'd feel so disoriented that they'd fell inches away from the finishing line! and they all bled too. >_> one of the guy was from my team too. this guy in the team had to pull out as well because he had hurt his knee (+bleeding) so we had another backup (isn't it wonderful how we have so many reserves?!) from our same department to help out.


the results? i came in first with the same timing as another guy. >_< so we're probably going to split the reward for coming in first. i guess i'll be passing him $25 for his fair share come monday. lol... yes that's right... the reward is $50 for the individual events, and $100 for the winning team. no prizes for the rest, but certification of participation and souvenirs were given to all who were present.

this other guy who fell, who was paired up with my team mate who also fell, both barely reaching the finishing line when it happened. but no, their falling had nothing to do with each other. i think i'm starting to not make sense typing all this... erm anyway, he wasn't feeling too good. he'd felt giddy, and even puked his lunch out. fortunately, we had a first aid station with a qualified nurse to attend to him. i left soon after for dinner with rach. it was an eventful day indeed...

*T.T*