I had a horrible PE teacher back in school. She had wiry triangle hair, wore big bug-eyed glasses, had pock-marked skin so bad even the best foundation couldn’t camouflage and thighs so huge lightning would mistake it for tree trunks. Her name was Anne and she’s the reason behind my fear of running – a fear that had hitherto kept me a walker.
It was during one of those god-awful PE classes when our lazy bugger teachers (who themselves looked like the better part of their lives had been spent alternating between TV-watching and camping out at Burger King) would tell us to go run around the padang until the bell rang. And they’d go stand in the shade and fantasise about lunch while we scurried about under the blazing sun.
Anyways, during one of these “lessons”, I remember overhearing Cikgu Anne sniggling with a classmate of mine about the way I ran. My ears weren’t as big as her thighs so I didn’t catch everything she said but I did hear something along the lines of “lari macam ayam” followed by snicker, snicker, snicker. Now, what she said could’ve meant several things … three of which could be:
- She harboured dreams of running like an “ayam”
- She was really paying me a compliment cos chickens can run up to 1.6km per hour. Okay, so they’re not Speedy Gonzales but hey, for an animal with spindly legs, it’s not bad what
- She was making fun of me cos she thought I ran like a chicken. And having been raised in a kandang, she was certainly an authority on the subject
Being an impressionable young girl at the time, I of course believed in the third. And while I really shouldn’t be affected by the opinions of an unattractive middle-aged PE teacher, I was. And I’ve been conscious about the way I ran from then on. And cos of that, I never ran again. Well, until now, that is.
What changed, you ask? Well, for one thing, I got bored with walking and it was no challenge (no matter how briskly I did it). And as I got older, it slowly began to matter a little less to me what other people thought. Aiya, so what. Run like ayam, run like itik, run like lembu – who cares! As long as you’re not injuring yourself or traumatising anyone else, it isn’t all that big a deal. Plus, I’m hardly doing this for competitive reasons, so I’m not looking to being “efficient” and “shaving microseconds” off my time (I’m more of the “as-long-as-I-don’t-pengsan-I’m-happy” camp).
So, the moral of Run, Chicken, Run is … try not to worry so much about what other people think, especially if it hinders you from doing something you like. Not easy to do, I know, but totally worth it.
8 Comments
May 10, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Who cares what they say. Run like the wind baby! Sorry I missed lunch! Will you ever forgive me?!!!
May 10, 2009 at 12:56 PM
It’s ok, Andrew … I’ll just add that to the list of things I’ll never forgive you for … My god, that list is loooong!!
May 10, 2009 at 8:14 PM
pin dou yau
May 11, 2009 at 12:41 AM
kang hai yau la, mm tong ngo luin luin kong meh?
May 11, 2009 at 2:48 PM
run to the far side scenes…lol
May 12, 2009 at 1:06 AM
yeah, i’ll look right at home with the rest of the farm animals
May 13, 2009 at 1:55 AM
“My ears weren’t as big as her thighs so I didn’t catch everything she said..”
hahahaha….damn funny la this post! The part you said they make you run around the padang while they wait in the shade – OMG! Totally trueeeeee
May 13, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Ya la! Didn’t you totally those dratted Pendidikan Jasmani classes? The teachers themselves were the ones who needed to run around the padang and lose some weight!!