Reaching twenty one this year to me probably isn’t as important as the fact that I finally managed to run the first half marathon in my life. Adidas Sundown cost me $65, gave me a rather cheapskate goodies bag with little goodies if anything at all, but it fulfilled my wish of running a decent long distance race. Of course, my goal should be a full marathon – something I had wanted to do at Sundown 2010 if everything during National Service had gone according to my plan. Unfortunately I suffered a shin splint that almost bordered a stress fracture towards the Army Half Marathon and ended up having to rest for 6-8 months. During my rest period I continued running quite a bit despite doctor’s advice, which probably prolonged my recovery period.
The plan was to finish Army Half Marathon, do a Standard Chartered Half Marathon again before launching into a full Marathon during Sundown this year. The entire training and conditioning will take me more than a year, which was a pretty safe timing. In any case, I have probably exceeded my expectations by taking 2 Hours 26 Minutes and 58 Seconds for this time’s half marathon.
Running long distance is something important to me because it is probably the only physical activity to me that is substantially mind over body. Even the fittest people I know wouldn’t easily be able to endure running for long distances because they are not the ones with strong minds. It forces you to know yourself better, to push yourself while you can and learn about the limits of your potential.
The run started off great and I easily Around 16km cramps were creeping up my calves and I had to stop frequently to stretch. Each time, I stopped for less than 20 seconds, because stopping causes me to lose my momentum and I feel the burning sensation of my soles more strongly. I carried on, like this the next 3 km before realising I had to walk short distances between my ‘runs’. By the 19km my ‘runs’ were practically jogging and I had to walk even more often. I gulped down cups of water (or 100 PLUS, you probably won’t care by then) at the last 2 water point and I know the end point is near but the pace of my run was all messed up already. I couldn’t help but kept on stopping to walk.
Towards the last 100m or so I sprinted, and it felt really good to finish off the whole affair for the night. In general I didn’t like running at night because there has to be spot lights around and the street lighting makes me feel uncomfortable when I’m already very tired while running. I also think that the coolness of the night can be dangerous in that it gives us the illusion that we’re hydrated when we’re actually dehydrating rapidly. While I finished around 11.30pm, it was almost 12.30am after we finish resting and I ended up returning home at only 3am. Then, it was a good night sleep.
