One of the persons who attracted a great deal of attention during Anguilla’s Race Against AIDS on Sunday, November 26, organised by the Optimist Cub, was Marcel Fahie, an avid and regular runner in the annual half marathon from the Valley to Long Bay Village and back.

Marcel Fahie heading to the finish

Mr. Fahie was not among the winners, but setting his own pace and having the will to proceed, he endured to the end non-stop. A noteworthy point to consider is that Mr. Fahie, who earlier this year underwent major surgery, had the courage, resilience and perseverance to take on the challenge.

The Anguillian caught up with him at the Agricultural Department grounds after he had rested from the race and asked him for a comment on what appeared to have been a lesson in perseverance.

“You have to persevere and be determined but in order to get to your goal, you must set little goals in between,” he replied. “As I ran the half marathon, my legs were telling me ‘stop, you are tired.’ But putting mind over matter I told myself I would run the next mile as I checked the distance written on the road.

“As I made one mile I said I would do the next one; then I did the next one. I was then able to overcome the tiredness of my legs. As a proceeded, I said I was already half way in the race with only the other half to go. When I got to 10 miles I said I had three more miles to go and so on. That’s how I did it.

“In fact I wanted to run to make the point that you can go through a major surgery or whatever but with determination you can come out of that and still go forward.”

Earlier this year Mr. Fahie retired from the Anguilla Public Service in which his last post was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, Tourism, Industry and Commerce.
He has since been employed as an Adviser to the Ministry.

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