Before I Grow Any Older

Folks,

When I first started participating in organized runs, I imagined I would graduate from 5km to 10km. But I gave up on the idea especially because last year my health was really bad. This year, I felt a little better and recently, the ambition to run 10km slowly planted its seeds. One day when we were on a long train ride, I casually mentioned to hubs that I wanted to try a 10km run at least once before I grow too old. Hubs IMMEDIATELY signed me up for Stanchart 2016 10km run. (He has already signed up for himself) You may not know this but 10km is the shortest run in Stanchart Marathon apart from the Kids Dash.

So there's no turning back now. The payment is non-refundable. I have to run 10km in early December.

Today I thought I should try increasing the distance of my run from 5km to whatever I'm capable of. I mean, I'm not going to run 10km for the first time on the day of Stanchart run. That would be crazy. Plus, there is a 2 hour limit for the 10km run. I don't want to be disqualified. It would be so humiliating. So this morning, I gave it a go and I ran until it started to drizzle.

I managed to run 8km in 1h:12min:43s. I'm so happy. I think I can run the additional 2km in under 30min so I need not worry about taking more than 2 hours to run 10km. Woo hoo. What a relief.

Today's run taught me one thing. I ran out of steam at 8km. Totally wiped out. I'm going to have to fuel myself somehow or running the last 2km would be hard. You see, I run on an empty stomach. This is the best way for me. I don't want to run the risk of stomach aches or needing to go to the toilet. I'm thinking of trying energy gels. I hope they don't taste horrible.

Physically, I feel a little tired after running 8km. It is my first 8k after all. My legs hurt a little and I expect to feel sore the next 3 days.

 

I wore my most comfortable Adidas tempo 7 Boost shoes. Hopefully this pair of shoes doesn't break down. I have 3 other pairs of running shoes and they hurt here and there after running. Not this Boost shoes. I love it to death.

I have to explore new running routes. If I were to run by the canal, I would need to loop twice to get the distance needed. Somehow, psychologically, doing a loop dampens my spirit.

Since I have written quite a number of posts on my run, you must be wondering if I love running. To be honest, I don't. When I started running decades ago, it was for fitness and health. I don't play any sports and I thought running was the easiest way to keep fit. Nowadays I have an additional motivation to run. Running clears the wind in my stomach. The first 500m of my run - I can feel a lot of burps coming out. Yes, it's quite disgusting. But after my run, my stomach feels great. My gastritis still comes and goes and it seems, running is medicinal.

Next week, if I don't feel too sore, I shall attempt 10km. Wish me luck.

Compressport Run 2016

Yesterday was Sunday. You know what most people do on Sunday? Sleep in. Not us. We go running early in the morning. Hub's "prison break" alarm went off at 5am and finally after 15 min, we dragged our asses off the bed to get ready for Compressport Run which was held in the eastern part of Singapore.

I don't even remember signing up for this run. But I did. I don't regret signing up for the run. I just wish it doesn't have to be so early in the morning. We had to take a taxi and we didn't really know the exact location of the starting point. We did find it. Unfortunately after we alighted from the taxi, we couldn't cross the road because there was a road divider. We ended up walking to a overhead bridge near by.

I wondered how hubs had the energy because he had finished work just a few hours before the run so he had only a couple of hours of sleep.

I had tons of energy.

 These are the 10km runners. The start time: 6:30am.

My start time was 7:30 am. I spent 1 hour doing nothing, just slapping insects from my legs.

These 2 guys did the flag off. The one on the right had already completed his 10km run. The one on the left was wearing slippers so I don't think he ran at all.

Good ol' hubs was there to capture my "dash" to the finish line.

Overall, the route was not bad. The paths were really wide most of the time except for a few small areas which is acceptable. The sun didn't shine in my face and it was pretty shady. We ran past the Kallang river and at two particular points, it stank like oh mother crap. I started out very slow, as always. I was right in front of the start line but once the horn was sounded, everyone took off like lightning. I found myself at the back of the pack. So disheartening. At the 3km mark, I noticed I was catching up as some runners had run out of steam. The last 500m, I ran a bit faster and that probably explains why my timing improved! My usual timing is around 45min.

 Carbonated 100 plus. Yuk.

To answer your question, no, I had no idea I had a hanky on my shoulder.

Now to test what kind of metal the medal is made of.

 

The best part is clowning around in an empty train on the way home.