Well, it was not a well run marathon, but, I did do it. There were less than 200 people running the marathon and I had run the first half marathon reasonably well and as I had planned, the second half however, I made an incredulous discovery that at hthe 22km drink station I had ingested an Endura sport drink that did not go down well and I had 'hit the wall' soon after. I had been doing over 100km to 120km per week leading up to the Brisbane marathon. I was used to doing 34km with little trouble at all since I was running to and from Beenleigh which was 34km from my home at least once a week. Strangely, though, that during the Brisbane marathon whilst I was stopping over at one of the drink stations namely the 22km drink station an old man came out to me and offered me Endura which I took and not long afterwards I had 'hit the wall' sooner than I had expected and I flet very drousy and sleepy, still I continued but running much slowly though. This is not my first marathon and I am familiar to whta my body is capable of doing. In the end my  finishtime was very unflattering. However, I did jog my way to the finishline not feeling tired at all but annoyed that I had 'hit the wall' sooner than I had expected. I was annoyed at the drink station old man who came at me with the endura drink that was not endura at all, since I was loading up with endura for days prior to the marathon. there were 179 runners doing the Brisbane marathon I came 108. I should have come in the top 40 with my expected training times. Still the marathon has been done and I am bnow preparing for the Gold Coast marathon wherethere ought to be over 2,500 runners. Yes, I have run marathons before and, yes, I do know bad eggs are out there.

read my other view on http://spaces.msn.com/timtufuga

Well, I have decided to blog something nonsensical after my spate with telephone, mobile and internet bills.

All that aside I have reconciled all these spurious bills and arisen above the din. In the meantime, I am alive and well and I am keeping my head just above water. I am continuing running I'm training for a marathon three weeks away.

No, I have not been overwhelmed with the cost of living per se. Although, I have sacrificed many things in my life including having a family of my own.

A life of a devout bacholar has its shortcomings and no doubt some people would find this seemingly misanthropic existence rather enticing. I am used to being a recluse and enjoy the company of me, myself, and I. As a child I never liked mingling with others in the playground anyways, in fact, I never liked people in general. I had many school friends but I chose them and not the other way around. Being relocated in different countries made cultural shock very acute. So being a loner would make this experience very much the norm. I was undeterred with the company of others and I would never try to adapt and to assimilate to an incrowd 'clique'. I find that the gregarious nature of individuals as truly 'sheepish'. I would never make a decent soldier because I would march to the beat of my own drum. so when iot comes to sport, I was an effective team player in rugby I did my part well in the backline or with the forwards. As a schoolboy, I would prefer to do individual events, so as a muscle bound kid I tried shotput and discus. I represented Wellington regions in shotput being the smallest shotputter in my grade. I came 12th in the national championship in shotput.

In Australia, I was selected in the first XV rugby union side for a GPS school, Brisbane State High School, in 1986. I never liked my teammates and never befriended anyone. I was the first ever Pacific Islander, a Polynesian Samoan, to represent BSHS in the first XV back in 1986. Later on Tongans would pass through the first XV including Steve Kefu who would become a Wallaby in the future.

In 1988, I was selected to represent American Samoa in rugby league during the Pacific cup, then I was selected for the Samoan rugby league squad for their NZ tour in 1988. I was injured and never toured NZ. I did not like my teammates as well, even though they were all Samoans.

In 1992, I had represented Samoa during the World Cup rugby league held in Sydney, Australia. I had played my first test against NZ which we lost by 1 point. I dropped the ball out on the wing over the tryline during the first half, and I had a tear on my left knee ligament which ended my world cup for Samoa. After the world cup I returned to Wellington and continued my undergraduate studied at Victoria University of Wellington.

In 1993, I returned to Australia and continued studying at the university of Queensland where I had completed my BA degree majoring in government. It is now called political science.  I had graduated in 1994. I was doing my post graduate degree when the Queensland police arrested me for fighting a bunch of rednecks in a taxi rank in Toowong, Brisbane. I thrahsed one of my assailants and I was charged with GBH. 

Now, this is history now. I am nearing forty years of age and now doing triathlons, and running marathons. Still single and forever tormented from my past. I am still a New Zealander convinced that Australia is not worth becoming a citizen for now or even in the near future. I will continue to remain here forever though.

So, what is new with you? 

Soifua

Tim B Tufuga