One step at a time

Long-distance running becomes an epic when your lottery number comes up forHong Kong's ultramarathon.

My toes were burning in pain. But I didn't dare to take off my socks to look. The sight of blisters or blackened nails - which surely was the case - could become the last straw to eliminate my already worn-out resolve to stay the course.

Once in a while, I had to stop, panting, with my mouth wide-open like a fish out of water, gasping for fresh air. After running for 12 hours since morning in Hong Kong's mountainous New Territories, I was exhausted, depressed and desperate.