PEOPLE run for different reasons. For health or recreation, for a challenge or for a living even. But what motivates one to finish a marathon when the prudent thing to do is to give up is a totally different story.
The tents were folded, the timing device at the finish line was taken down, the sound system turned off and the crowd had left the IT Park when 42K newbie Jonald Ungab, the last runner who endured the taxing challenge, arrived to a few cheerers who stayed on to watch the stragglers.
With over 1,200 runners in the 42K, people who stayed at the finish line saw different ways of how the stragglers crossed the finish line—most were limping, some shouted, raised their fists in celebration, cursed at the medal or hugged someone. A foreign runner kissed the girl who handed him a finisher’s medal, one did a handstand and one fell on all fours.
But just as the clock struck 12, some eight hours after the starting gun, Ungab crossed the finish line together with his eight-year-old son EJ, his brother, Ronda Vice Mayor John and his nephews. They were behind Ungab right from the start because they had a cause. (more)
