Thanks Tey for the photo. What was I looking for, I looked quite tired! I hope I did my big smile for the camera cert... heheh
This was my second NB 15km race. The first one I did in 2006, whilst last year, I skipped it due to illness.
I've never felt so good about a race for almost a long long time. I had really not run for about 2 weeks+, not even in training, drowned in work and also this nasty lingering cough. I skipped the 30km night race last week, and decided to pull out of Sundown on the same day last week due to lack of practice.
Today's race went quite well, even though I was almost 6 mins worse than my time in 2006. I could not tell if it was just the standard decline in my performance in running (as observed in all the races!), or it was just the change in route. This year the route was indeed a bit more challenging due to the teasing ending but not yet when there was almost about 2 km more towards the end near Padang Merbuk, and the last 1 km, we had to do the KTM loop which is a nasty hill which punctured everyone.
This year's race also saw a unique medal - in shape of a NB shoe!
I surprised myself with a consistent pace, and I throughly enjoyed my new found toy, my ipod shuffle with a mix of silly chinese songs (Twins!) and real rock stuff from Eagles, INXS. My collection of MP3s in iTunes were a mixture of CDs I had ripped from a few occasions, with equal mix of chinese and english titles.
All in, I had a good continuous running pace, with only and yet only the 2nd hill of the double hill and also the final KTM bit which taxed me and forced me to a walk. My knees felt fine and I had no blisters and I did not push myself to the limit at the end to manage my own exertion.
This run is my post-retirement run. I could make it a comeback run, but I am still not sure. Now I am indeed tempted to go and try the Sundown just for the heck of it, but as I told SCH this morning, the problem I had was that I did not know how to quit and stop. Having never encountered injury and also immense body stretch of a marathon, I would have no idea when is the breaking point.
This is coming from one who has not hit the wall before. So how would I know unless I try.... still... I cannot imagine being carried off to a hospital in singapore all because I wanted not to waste my SGD 50 for the race fees...
Think about it for one more day.
I've never felt so good about a race for almost a long long time. I had really not run for about 2 weeks+, not even in training, drowned in work and also this nasty lingering cough. I skipped the 30km night race last week, and decided to pull out of Sundown on the same day last week due to lack of practice.
Today's race went quite well, even though I was almost 6 mins worse than my time in 2006. I could not tell if it was just the standard decline in my performance in running (as observed in all the races!), or it was just the change in route. This year the route was indeed a bit more challenging due to the teasing ending but not yet when there was almost about 2 km more towards the end near Padang Merbuk, and the last 1 km, we had to do the KTM loop which is a nasty hill which punctured everyone.
This year's race also saw a unique medal - in shape of a NB shoe!
I surprised myself with a consistent pace, and I throughly enjoyed my new found toy, my ipod shuffle with a mix of silly chinese songs (Twins!) and real rock stuff from Eagles, INXS. My collection of MP3s in iTunes were a mixture of CDs I had ripped from a few occasions, with equal mix of chinese and english titles.
All in, I had a good continuous running pace, with only and yet only the 2nd hill of the double hill and also the final KTM bit which taxed me and forced me to a walk. My knees felt fine and I had no blisters and I did not push myself to the limit at the end to manage my own exertion.
This run is my post-retirement run. I could make it a comeback run, but I am still not sure. Now I am indeed tempted to go and try the Sundown just for the heck of it, but as I told SCH this morning, the problem I had was that I did not know how to quit and stop. Having never encountered injury and also immense body stretch of a marathon, I would have no idea when is the breaking point.
This is coming from one who has not hit the wall before. So how would I know unless I try.... still... I cannot imagine being carried off to a hospital in singapore all because I wanted not to waste my SGD 50 for the race fees...
Think about it for one more day.
2 comments:
Hi May Ching! I've seen your photos but still I'm not quite sure what you look like in person, there was a girl whom I thought was you, but i wasn't sure and I was too shy to go and say hello. Anyway, congrats on finishing another race. I agree with you, what a teaser the last 2km was, at the KTM hill I actually came to a standstill! But as I always tell myself, a run is a run. What matters most to me is exercising!
If Sundown is going to be your first marathon, then by all means, go Nike and just do it. You wont see the wall if you set a reasonable target and pace yourself well. It's not easy, but it's doable. All it takes to finish a marathon is just a strong mind. A good timing is a bonus. Take the night time running as an advantage. It'll be just as hard actually (from my experience last week in Putrajaya) but at least we'll be spared the scorching sun!
At least you get to experience the distance. You can always better your timing next time.
From a sloth too stubborn to stop,
Haza
Thanks dear running mum! And with apologies, I will say hello next time, it is probably easier for me to spot you! My only weakness is that if you are "ahead", I am probably not going to be able to run faster to say hello, haha. I think I saw a black tudung lady ahead in the first KTM roundabout, about 100m ahead.
Thanks for the word of advise - it is going to be my first marathon. I'm almost 90% on go, so I hope to say, see you there?
There's this big fear that being so slow, I may be one of the last few and if I pengsan, nobody will notice! Or rather it is so dark, nobody will notice that I've rolled down a drain!
Being a strategic person, I did realise this is probably best chance in a long time, no sun scorching down, no time limit, and there is an ultra (means possibly people behind you on a 2nd lap!). This is why I am still thinking... thanks for the feedback.
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