I am really proud of my baby who finished 2nd in the MR25 cross country marathon on Sunday. To me, he’s the most impressive, to think he ran an extra loop out to Rifle Range and managed to finish 1 minute behind the 1st guy. Imagine if he didn’t do that extra loop out, I’m sure he would have been way ahead. There weren’t many runners on the event that day, as most had opted to go for passion run and the saab duathlon. Not many competitors nor people to pace or chase after during the run. Nontheless, MR remains a tough place to run, especially of a marathon distance. Running alone at most of the course became a personal and mental challenge. A test of willpower to hold on and finish the 4 loops. Maybe I am just weak but I had to give up after 2 loops because my hamstring pulled my left leg so badly I could not bend it properly. The inability to bend really made going uphill an arduous task. I could still hobble downhill and the flats but going uphill my slow jog was reduced to a walk.
I felt really frustrated as the pull began to set in at less than 12km mark, which I have already tried to delay by running a really slow 1st loop. I was tempted to turn back but I told myself I would slowly finish the loop even if I had to walk. Indeed I took a long long long time to complete the 2nd loops, the longest ever for me, of 1 hr 45 mins for a 10.5km route.
It was painful to give up half way but I was not left with much a choice. I felt so sore, so frustrated and so disappointed.
Coach says I’m not peaking yet, just moderating out. I feel I am at a low point now, with this idiot hamstring strain which cripples me totally. I’m thankful for the support dearie, coach, christin,
God is good and gave me a gentle perk yesterday after the demoralizing run. As we were walking towards toa payoh for lunch, I found a $10 bill on the ground. It brought a smile on my face and I used the money for our you mee lunch. I had wanted to bet $2 on 4D as I was feeling a little lucky. =P unfortunately, the number 2008 was sold out. Oh, why 2008? Because my tag number that morning was 2008. so nice a number, too bad I was a lousy runner.
Christin’s timely reminder made me halt to reflect: I have the choice to see the cup half full or half empty.. indeed. I have always been a person who saw the cup half full, remembering the first time this question was posed to me. and I always reminded myself I want to be a person who would see the cup half full. So in light of that, my consolation is: Too bad I didn’t finish a full marathon, but at least I did a half marathon =)
With the closing of this episode, I have made a resolution to work towards breaking my own pb at the ultra at year end. The same route will be up again. And this time, I will have a previous record of 7 laps (in 10hr 50mins) to break.
On the way out that evening, dearie and I constructed a possible training plan we’ll be undertaking starting from july. It’ll be exciting. It’ll be painful in many ways. It’ll definitely be mental. And I am confident we will emerge from it stronger. Coupled with coach’s training, I hope I will be peak in time to soar for SCSM and then following that, the ultra. I am garnering all I have for these 2 events and my focus and eyes are solely on these 2.
Meantime, I’ll be going through 2 weeks of rehab to let my hamstring strain recover. During this 2 weeks I have set the following guidelines to adhere to.
1. no running of distances more than 10km in a day
2. I will do a lot of aqua running, swimming and gym work to strengthen and upkeep my fitness.
3. biking will begin as I still hope to do PD tri.
4. I will stretch 2 times a day, concentrating more on my legs.
5. I will intake more protein so that it will accelerate muscle repair. Protein intake will be whey as it’s low in fat (good time to clear the whey also)
I leave myself with this quote, “Adversity causes some men/women to break; others to break records”.
I want to break my own record, for myself.
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