Carl Lewis!

I met the legendery Carl Lewis at a motivational seminar in Simei this morning. Thanks to TLR for informing me of such an event, and for driving me to the event site! Met quite a lot of other familiar faces at the seminar, including Sotong, Brokie, Penguin, BabyMonster, Ripley, Carine and Wei Long.

Lewis is simply inspirational to listen to, has a great sense of humour, and is in great shape for a 45-year old retired sprinter and long-jumper! He briefly shared with us his 18-year career, and then took questions from the audience which comprised coaches, athletes and people like myself who are just fascinated to meet the King of the Track in person. The questions covered a wide spectrum of topics, such as Lewis' vegan diet, how he coped with disappointment, his take on stretching, his views on drugs, his most memorable competitive event and the words of wisdom bestowed upon him by his own coach.

Toward the end of the Q&A session, there was a lucky draw, and Ripley emerged the sole winner of a pair of black Nike Air Max 360, autographed by Lewis himself. Incredible! :D

Later on, Lewis went onto the track to host a running/long-jump clinic for some school athletes. I'm not quite sure how much the students were able to learn from the master in that short session, but I'm quite certain that those young apprentices were spurred on to achieve their own personal bests. =D

After the session with Carl Lewis, I met up with the Malaysian Pacemakers who had arrived in Singapore earlier in the morning. PM16 Bose was my point of contact with them. While I got to meet PM01 Ronnie and some other members of the gang, I didn't get to see PM40 f00k, the whom I had contacted over MSN and arranged to meet up. Maybe I'll bump into him tomorrow at the Padang instead.

When I met the Pacemakers, they had just collected their race-packs from Marina Mandarin Hotel, so we headed for Suntec City for a quick lunch. Then we took a bus down to Queensway Shopping Centre to shop for shoes and other sports gear. It was great to make new friends in like-minded runners from across the Causeway. All the best for the SCSM tomorrow, guys and gals!