A dream come true

I received email yesterday from Frederic Chiongbian about the success of his wife and son in the running scene in the United States.

Emily "Milette" Chiongbian, Frederic’s wife, will have one of her dreams realized as she qualified for the Boston Marathon, which is regarded as the mother of all marathons. 

She did this by clocking 3:43:08 in last Sunday’s Honda L.A. Marathon.

Milette finished 1,310th out of the total 21,532 runners. Among the 8,822 women, she was 221st and was also 45th in her age division. 

Milette arrived only three days before the race in Los Angeles and Frederic said, she had to do short runs with their son Justin during early mornings to acclimatize to the cold Southern California weather.

It wasn’t all about Milette though as 11-year-old Justin ran the 5 kilometer event of the Honda L.A. Marathon, which was his first time to join a race for that distance as he took part only in 3K events in Cebu.

Justin clocked 25:21 to finish 219th out of the 3,189 finishers and 181st out of the 1,323 males.

For his age group, the 11 to 14 class, Justin was ninth.

I’m sure his grandpa, Ninong Albert Chiongbian is also very happy to hear the news.

Frederic may not be competing in the races, but he has been a very supportive husband and now dad also. Good luck to Milette when she competes in the Boston Marathon.

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In a couple of weeks, we’re going to see Tiger Woods back in action as he plays in the Masters in Augusta.

After a five-month hiatus, the much-awaited return of Tiger is seen to boost ratings of golf tournaments and bring back the interest of many fans.

Well, he may have lost some of his sponsors after his much-publicized liaisons with several women, but the interest on Tiger as a golfer will still remain.

The added interest will now be on whether or not he can make a big comeback.

Tiger did not only find his ball buried deep in a bunker or hidden under a thick rough, he played out of bounds and is going to take a stroke and distance penalty.

I’m sure Tiger learned a lot after all the trouble he went through, but he’s still a lucky guy as his wife, though hurt, is sticking with him.

Elin could have made it off with a huge alimony, but she prefers her kids having a father and not a multi-million dollar divorce.

While fans will hail Tiger for his great golf shots, let us also remember the big role his wife is playing in this comeback.

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MILESTONES: Birthday greetings to shooter and TV host Julius Legaspi and to golfer Ruby Chico, who are turning a year older today.

Advance greetings go to Jenjen Perez-Olan and my good friend Wellington ‘Willy’ G. Lim, who are celebrating tomorrow.

Belated greetings also go to sportswriter Marian Gladys Baring, who celebrated yesterday.

More power to all of you!