Thirty minutes

I have lousy stamina. I mean, really really lousy. If I so much as cut vegetables I get out of breath. One sunny Sunday, I was out doing the community a whole lot of good by cutting down dead trees and cleaning up the area. They had grouped us in twos and threes to make the activity simpler. My partner was an 83-year old given more to babbling than to working and I realised this was going to be a rather long Sunday.

I picked up my axe and with all the force I could muster, hit the tree hard. The axe barely made a scratch. I hit again and again and again. After about 10 minutes of hacking, I finally saw a tiny scar on the tree. I realised my partner was probably having a worse time and decided to help him first. I had just turned around to look for him when a sapling came crashing down near my foot.

"Sorry", he grinned sheepishly. "Rather poor calculation of where it would fall. Its quite easy though, isn't it?"

I gulped.

This "old" man was hacking away like the villian in Texas Chainsaw Massacre while the "young" me was already huffing and puffing away like a steam engine. I decided then that that was that. I was going to do something about myself real quick.

I enrolled in the friendly neighbourhood gym and started running. I would tire out in one minute flat. It took me one full year to manage 20 minutes.

Now I can do thirty. I can also hack away a sapling without breaking into a sweat.

And this year I shall run a marathon.