Honestly, I don't recall being greatly impacted by participating in Dr. William Tan's ultramarathon at RI. I only remember the humdrum tedium of running 30 laps---12 km---straight. The longest I'd run up to then, or since. Every once in a while the good Doctor would zoom past in his wheelchair ... and the whole bunch of runners around him would cheer him as he sped past. It must have been an awesome feat of endurance, to keep wheeling and wheeling, round and round the track, for 100 kilometres ... but no matter that we were supposedly running alongside him, it was more like gazing at a vast feat of human determination than participating in one. Maybe those who ran with him for the whole long haul would have felt something ...
I don't feel particularly sorry for missing the deadline to send words of encouragement to him; such words wouldn't have been very personal, wouldn't have come from very deep in the heart. They would only be more words among so many.
But I do still admire his tenacity, and would be more than glad to show my support by participating in any meaningful fund-raising activities he might lead despite his illness. '"How can I give up a fight? It’s not my way of life,” he said, his eyes crinkling in a smile.'
I don't feel particularly sorry for missing the deadline to send words of encouragement to him; such words wouldn't have been very personal, wouldn't have come from very deep in the heart. They would only be more words among so many.
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