the pain of running

I am fighting hard against zzz monster today. Nearly overcomed by it a few times, gulping down mouthful of tea and rubbing medicated oil on my forehead are some of the many ways I’m resorting to.

Real run was held yesterday under the sultry sun at changi. The weather was the toughest part of the 15km run but holding through it gave a great sense of achievement.

I’m finally able to catch up with Isabel. Our timings were almost similar, let’s wait for the final chip time to be released to find out who was faster.

i was in a pretty good shape to do the run; clearing my bowels as planned in the morning, speed trainings with dearie helped tremendously. I managed a time of 1:29 according to my own stop watch. It’s a personal best, as compared to the 1:33 I did for Pacesetters 15km. but honestly, pacesetters’ run was far tougher than the real run.. being able to clock 1:33 to me was an achievement, which I couldn’t have done so if not for dearie who ran beside me. in fact, I felt I put in more effort during the pacesetter’s run than real run, because running beside dearie who is a much faster runner, added pressure to me that I must try to keep up. (actually not keep up, just keep pace. I could never keep up with dearie’s pace =P)

Along the run I kept craning my head out to the other side of the road; where runners u-turn and head off for the return route. I know if dearie was there at the run, he would have been one of those who are in the return route that moment.. and I would definitely call out to him and cheer him on. It was a pretty lonely run that morning, but I’m glad I caught up with Isabel before the 10km mark and we pressed on together till the finishing line.

I shall continue to work on my interval trainings and add on more circuit trainings too, despite the pain of going through them. Indeed, no pain no gain.

I gave the Asics Gel Hyperspeed a miss, although I was telling myself before the start of the run that if I break the 1:30 mark I would reward myself with it. Both dearie and I love this pair of shoes, but after I processed how dearie reasoned if he would get the shoes himself or not, I decided to follow suit and not get it too. I concluded, if I’m fast, no matter what shoes I wear, I’ll still be fast. Moreover, the hyperspeed doesn’t provide me with stability, hence if given a choice, the NB one which I layed my eyes on last week would be a better option.

Next run would be the 35km at macrit. Wish me luck because I’ll have to work at 1pm after that, it’ll be even more tiring than today I reckon. I won’t be able to take leave as I’ll have to rush my budget reports then. =S

Pain. It’s good sometimes to feel pain. Train till it’s painful, because the pain would often makes you stronger.