Grandpa Peng leaves big shoes to fill

Grandpa Peng leaves big shoes to fill

I have just lost a role model in Grandpa Peng, who passed away on Monday at the age of 99.

Grandpa Peng Perngsa was known as the granddaddy of Thai marathons. Hailing from the village of Chombung, Ratchaburi province, Grandpa Peng started jogging at the age of 80, after being inspired by the first-prize trophy for table tennis brought home by his grandson, and the sight of runners speeding past his house during the annual Chombung marathon every year.

I’m pretty sure he must have been in good shape already at the age of 80, coming from a farming background, eating fresh produce from the garden, and not having to inhale bus exhaust fumes every day.

To get up and start jogging for exercise when you are an octogenarian is one thing, but to get up and start running marathons is another. But Grandpa Peng did it, and became the talk of the village!

He first signed up for the mini marathon at the annual Chombung event, followed subsequently by the half marathon, and going the whole distance of 42km in a full marathon at the age of 85. Of three full marathons he ran, his best time was 4:41:51, finishing ahead of many “youngsters” half his age.

He has done six half-marathons, and more than 50 mini marathons.

He competed in the Thai Veterans Athletics championship, taking the gold in the 5km and 10km races in the over-85 category, though I do admit I wasn’t able to check how many competitors there were.

In 2004 he carried the official flame at the opening of the National Games hosted by Ratchaburi, and two years later, he was honoured as Outstanding Sports Personality by the Sports Authority of Thailand.

He stopped running when he was 97, finding the effort a bit too much for him, but still opted to walk in the races rather than give up all together. (My mother is 96, and on a good day, she can shuffle to the window and back, and we’re very happy with that!)

Then, late last month, at the age of 99, Grandpa Peng’s health failed him and he was taken to hospital. Two weeks later, he passed away peacefully.

What a way to go! When it’s my time, that is how I hope to go too, without any prolonged illness, memory lapse, incontinence or organ failure that usually come with old age. My mother suffers some of those symptoms, but at least she doesn’t require medical treatment like many of my friend’s parents in the same age bracket, and I am so thankful for that.

My mother didn’t jog when she was younger, but she did the housework: doing her own laundry, mopping the floors and washing the dishes herself until a slipped disc and thigh surgery forced her to take it easy.

Perhaps housework — plus good genes — has been her saving grace. I can’t say that I enjoy mopping the floors, and I am definitely not going to start running marathons at this age, so I will commit myself to a routine of exercise, and refrain from making up excuses to get out of it.

My daughter started doing aerial arts recently, and the teacher and classmates — they are like a family unit — persuaded me to have a go. If Grandpa Peng can start doing marathons at the age of 85, I figured why can’t I dangle from a piece of cloth and do back bends?

I almost died.

But I didn’t give up. And although I will not attempt to be too ambitious with the cloth acrobatics, I will try and keep up during the heavy warm-up sessions that work muscles you never knew you had.

I am going to head into retirement and old age screaming and kicking and fighting all the way. I’m going to keep my muscles taut, my heart pumping, and my brain whizzing through Sudoku and Swiped android app.

My sense of humour will be kept intact by my groups of friends who keep me in stitches every time we get together.

And love and pride come in the form of my two kids. What more could I ask for?

So RIP Grandpa Peng. You are inspirational. May you carry on running in the Great Beyond.


Usnisa Sukhsvasti is the features editor of the Bangkok Post.

Usnisa Sukhsvasti

Feature Editor

M.R. Usnisa Sukhsvasti is Bangkok Post’s features editor, a teacher at Chulalongkorn University and a social worker.

Do you like the content of this article?
COMMENT (1)