Warning: Choppy thoughts and bad English ahead!
So about 6 months ago I had this crazy idea to run the Penang Bridge International Marathon although I've never, ever joined serious runs, apart from some fun runs like UM's and the Terry Fox run. And even that was only about 7, 8km.
I decided to sign up for the 21km event.. simply because I knew I wouldn't have bothered training for the 10km event, and why go all the way to Penang without proper preparations?
I wanted to sign up for last year's run but I was in Singapore. So after debating with Chow Ping, we decided on the 21km because we're both slightly impulsive and wanted the challenge :P (Although, at the time of signing up I could barely complete 3km on a treadmill at a pace of 7km/h.)
So I kept procrastinating about training... and about 2 months back I realised that I was totally slacking, but I didn't want to give up on my 21km! I joined a 10km kidney charity run to gauge my current level back then... and oh boy, what a dismal timing - about 1 hour 25 mins! I suppose 1 hour 25 mins would have been good if I still felt good at the end of the race, but my legs began giving way right at the beginning of the run and it was a horrible feeling all the way to the end.
Then I started training.. not too heavy, sem had started and I barely had the time to run long distance. Besides, my early runs were only about 3km, 5km, before my body just refused to cooperate any longer. Nevertheless, I persevered and ran every 2 days, slowly increasing my distance from 3km to 10km. It was tedious in terms of my uni schedule, I would rush my work and rush to the gym and work out and come back and do more assignments (20 credit hours this sem!).
Then I signed up for a World Diabetes Day run about a week before my half-marathon, just to see where I stood and also as my final warm up. The route was supposed to be 10km, but after running my GPS showed that it was 11km... and it was pretty hilly so I struggled towards the end. But my timing had improved to 1 hour 11 mins, and considering it was actually an 11km run I felt pretty happy with it.
I rested my body after that pretty taxing run, and headed to Penang with my Joash on Friday evening :) Broke all pre-marathon rules by feasting on everything good that Penang had to offer on Saturday! Hahaha. It was a good break for us :)
I was pretty excited but also anxious about my first half-marathon ever, my training had begun so late, and I felt very ill-prepared for it (considering the longest run I had prior to it was 11km, and that was just a week ago. Before that I had only ran 10km twice.)
As usual, Chow Ping and I were late, and we reached the starting line (at the very end) when people had already started running. Haha. We started jogging, and maintained a pretty steady pace all the way to the bridge. I realised that all my uphill training before this paid off! The terrain was pretty flat, so I didn't feel tired early on... a good sign, I thought. Maintained a pace of between 7-8km/h, reached the middle of Penang Bridge and camwhored with Chow Ping. Hahaha. :D
It was beautiful, and the weather (although a slight drizzle) was just perfect for running in. I've only joined runs that start at 7ish in the morning, never 3am. Perfect weather for running! I partly understand why the Penang Bridge Marathon attracts so many tens of thousands of runners every year (47 000 this year!), so many people were taking photos at the bridge.
Plus with so many water stations along the way, I had no worries about dehydration. The charity runs I've joined weren't as professional as this, so I was often dying of thirst halfway through. Lol.
Halfway through, Chow Ping asked me to go ahead, she wanted to walk. So I did, and by about 14km I was excited to discover that I wasn't panting yet! Haha. It was a new high for me, I've always wondered what it's like to run long-distances without panting. I suspect I kept too slow a pace, hardly ever going faster than 9km/h. I kept worrying that I would tire out if I went too fast, so I kept an extremely comfortable pace.
In my final km, I speeded up and ran at about 11km/h, and raced towards the finish line when it was in sight. (Had a false end, saw a brightly lit arch from far and ran towards it, then suddenly realised that all the runners were turning left! Haha then I saw the final km sign, and debated whether I should slow down since I was going a bit too fast for my comfort. But decided to maintain the speed, and push my body for a bit.)
It was complete satisfaction when I reached the finish line and the clock said 2:42:?? But my official timing was 2:40:14 as I had started at the very back of the line.
My long rambling is about to end - just wanted to capture my excitement of my first half-marathon ever! haha.
The moment I reached the finish line, I vowed that I would do this again, and again, and again. It was a remarkable experience, and I never knew I would enjoy running so much. I used to hate it, but I realised it's because I never got the runners high before :P And also it used to tire me out.
I've still got a lot to learn about my body and pacing for the half-marathon, and I'm looking forward to improving my timing for future runs. I believe I kept an overly comfortable pace for this run, because I was deeply worried about tiring out. I guess this is where experience comes in, knowing your body :) I was targeting to do it at about 3 hours, so accomplishing the run in 2 hours 40 mins was a really sweet victory.
The thing about running is that you are your only enemy. Not dependent on your opponent's skill, but entirely dependent on your mental and physical self.
Maybe, just maybe, I'll join a full marathon one day. ;-) Not in the near future, but one day.
As for now, I'll be taking a short break and only run on and off to de-stress. Final few weeks of my final semester, and due to all my training for the half-marathon, I'm now horribly behind in all my classes.
Have a wonderful week ahead! :)
Jo
