Of Sri Lanka & my half-marathon

Yo guys!

Lalalala…. I really dunno how to start off this email but well, since im in a rather good mood… It went quite simply, “Lalalalala….� Heh… It’s the 8th Dec today and im flying off to Sri Lanka later on the 705pm flight! Guess most of u oredi noe that im flying off to somewhere, but dunno where… Well, it’s Sri Lanka! Albeit only a short trip of 12 days… Planned to be a solo trip initially, until a friend decided to join me impromptu n TADA! It’s 2 females from Singapore now exploring the interiors of Sri Lanka for the next 12days! (No need to lie to my parents! :p)

Why Sri Lanka? I actually did harbour thoughts of going there a few months ago because of 1) its climate in Dec which is still tropical due to its location of just 6o north of the equator & 2) it’s still a developing nation & 3) the flight I managed to book was thru Zuji at only $423! Flying Cathay Pac! *Chuckles*

Australia? Too ex… Beijing? Too cold, thou flights are cheap. Nepal? Want my trip there to be combined with Tibet and be a really magical one since it’s a dream country since young. Sri Lanka was actually very out of my mind since I harboured tots of goin in Sep during the exam period. The inspiration actually came from the cheap airfares offered by Zuji. Then while I was online one evening on the 4th Nov, the promotion was on again n VOILA! I got the tics the next evening!

The weather had been good in S’pore the past 2 days. N I just finished my packing an hour ago (The time now is 2pm). Rather lazy and ‘stoned’ for the past 2 days after rushing thru my reports and going down to school yesterday to hand it up. Somehow, dun feel like leaving. (“What??? U don’t wanna fly??!!�) No, no, no… Not that, it’s just im still trying to get into the mood of HOLIDAYING… Thou my attachment ended last Fri, there were so many datelines to meet and I have yet to immerse myself in the mood for travel. (“Are u kidding??�) Heh… no, no… I’m sure it’s just ‘inertia’… I need to get to the airport 1st! Dun really feel the xmas spirits, like I used to in my younger days… Life seems to pass like a breeze these days that u dun really have time to stop and smell the flowers…

I actually went swimming yesterday despite the cold and wet weather in school. Miss swimming in school. Wooo…. The muscles aches were more or less gone… Mmmm… Rem. The half-marathon that I mentioned about in my last blog entry? For those who read it, u would noe that I had a run on Sun, 5th Dec…

It was my first half-marathon n im sure it wun be my last. During my own trainings at times, I had often lamented the kinda time I gotta put in and said that I would never do it ever again! But well, with one challenge accomplished comes another… Im looking fwd to doing another one next year at a better timing than this year. Perhaps, I would take up some other physically demanding challenges as well. That gotta wait till 2005 when the list of events start coming up.

The morning of 5th Dec. 430am. That’s the time I ought to wake up. But I only did at 445am. My dad was kind enough not to clean up the cab and fetch me and my buddy to City Hall. :p Thank you, Daddy. Saved me a sum of money.

545am. Arrived at City Hall. Walked to Esplanade. Saw many other runners on the way there. Stretching, jogging on the spot and even cycling. A strange sense of urgency overcame me as I wanted to leave my bags at the deposition counter, go to the toilet and settle down fast to prepare myself mentally and physically for the run.

Oops. Deposition counter for bags at the Padang. The run begins at the Esplanade Bridge. Gotta u-turn and come back again. At this point in time, I was rather kan-cheong for fear of lack of time to warm up properly.

605am. Bags deposited and toilet visited. Time for warm up. We gathered with a few thousand others already at the bridge and warmed up by running up and down. Stretched included as well.

627am. The run was started. We were about 100m away from the starting point from where we stood. It was a slow stagger at the beginning. But everyone was jogging. Unlike the other 10km runs I had been to, many people there were simply walking or not taking the run seriously. These are THE runners, I told myself. And I felt good to be among them. J

My legs felt good; I did not feel the weight of my body and I felt rather light. Which were all good signs to me as they determined how my body would take the 2hr+ run. I kept telling myself to relax my shoulders and not stiffen up. After all, I was there to enjoy the run. No stress. The pace was kept rather constant and my radio was with me. Music accompanied me throughout the runs, except at times when I switched it off to enjoy the peace and serenity of some stretches, particularly the Marina South and Marina Bay stretches.

One signboard along the way wrote: “Simply by running, you have already beaten 99.9% of the population.� Quite an inspiration.

30mins into the run: The top marathoners were already making on the opposite stretch. They had already completed close to 20km? They started 30mins before us and had ran for 1hr. Everyone shouted and cheered for them. It was a wonderful feeling. I joined in too. Those shouts did not zap me of my breath, but instead proved to be a boost to my run. Mentally.

Just 40minutes into my run, my senior and I were pleasantly shocked to see an old friend(actually my senior) ran past us on the opposite stretch. WHOA! He used to be this plump, pudgy boy when he was in Judo. Oh dear, how had canoeing in JC changed him. He does triathlons and biathlons now. And he was the 6th Singaporean to come in for the marathon in the guys’ category at a timing of 3hr 6mins. Amazing!

1hour 5 mins. 10km completed. The route markers started to be present at every kilometer. Hate it. Don’t like to count down to the number of kilometers I have left. I broke away from my senior as well. And so, my only source of companionship on the run was gone.

745am. The sun was rising and we ran past the Marina South area. Lotsa greenery and they became my source of relief as they acted as a shade against the rising sun. It felt very peaceful and clam over there as well cuz there were only the runners, volunteers at the drink stations and first-aid counters. Other than that, all around us was simply Nature.

Around 810am. My 15km mark. I felt my legs starting to protest. The lactic acid was building up. Once again, relax, I told myself. No worries. It’s the last 5km. It’s time to prove to myself that I can go beyond the 1hour 32mins for my last training run. Enjoy the scenery. Yup, I did. The sun rising over the Clifford Pier area was enchanting. I have always dreamed of running that stretch along the Marina Bay area where it could connect to Kallang and Tanjung Rhu. The marathoners did go there. I was contented to just run that stretch.

830am? Back on the Esplanade Bridge, where we flagged off. The last stretch was ahead of me. I sped up a bit to give my best shot… The bridge was a bit ‘slopey’. Oops. Made a mistake. That was not the last stretch! It was going to end at Padang, approximately another 1.1km ahead! Upon reaching the end of the bridge, the lactic acid in my legs were ‘foaming furiously’, threatening to make me give up. Nope. No way. It’s really the last stretch this time! Im gonna give it my best!

Could not go the same speed as earlier. But nevertheless, it was the same constant speed that I had maintained during the run. Many runners sped past me for the last 200m. My legs refused to give me the power. But I did not limped nor slowed down. Simply persevered.

At last. 840am. I completed my very first half-marathon successfully. Estimated that I took around 2hours 12minutes. My knees and thighs felt like they were being strangled with a rope. They felt soooo tight. Stretched and warmed down after getting a drink and walking around for 10minutes. Kept watching out for my friend to see if she’s back.

It did not dawn on me immediately after the run that I had completed a 21.1km run non-stop. When I started training 2mths ago, it was simply to run throughout the entire journey and not to stop. As time went by, I began to raise my challenge. To sub 2hour 15mins for the run.

When I checked my timing on the website just now, it was even better than I thought. :p I don’t think I wanna put down the timing here in case some of u pple tot that im trying to show off! But one thing tt made me feel very good was the analysis that they made online for each individual runner. (Opposite sex: “For the record, you were ahead of about 63% of male entrants�) Hehe… Im quite a feminist at times.

So… those 2 months of training paid off… And thanks so much to my dear senior who agreed to take part in the run together with me that caused me to make the choice to take my 1st move. I never regret it! I MADE IT! J

For those of u out there who r hesitating to do the first run, or anything along that line, just wanna tell u guys that with passion and determination, u can always accomplish whatever u set out to do. Follow your heart, wherever it may lead you to.

I once told a friend that I cannot stand kids nowadays as many of them are spoilt brats and they’re sooo hard to educate in some ways. She then asked me what I was like when I was a kid. Well, I was a rather low-esteemed child, with not much confidence to face things and hence, I was passive and not out-spoken at all. I reckon this came with the kinda environment I was brought up in. No, my parents, particularly my Dad was a great teacher (esp during my teenage years) but in Chinese families, there’s always bound to be comparisons among the cousins and this n that n what-have-u-nots. ORHHHH… I hate those! Especially when u have rich ‘fake-ko’ relatives who judge u or ur family based on ur social status! WHAT THE??!!! It’s just with the Chinese… Im sure many of my fellow Chinese friends can identify with that…

So well, I have managed to grow from a low-esteemed, quiet(Can u believe that??heh…) kid to this noisy, out-going, confident and healthy young adult. All due to my secondary school education and the activities I participated in. The things I do sometimes are out to prove to myself and if not so, to others that people do change and have hidden capabilities which might not be discovered until they pushed themselves. Im still learning and moulting… Life is a learning process after all…

Orh well…. The Sunday was great! My senior finished the run successfully too! KUDOS! And it will well be a beautiful memory in the pages of my Life. All’s said and done, im now off to do some last-min packing before departing for the airport at 430!

Btw, I will be updating my travel entries into my blog at www.born2roam.blogspot.com.
Ciao! Season’s Greetings!