Running Diary #1 - my first half-marathon

Hi,

I've disappeared from this blog for months. I have been writing my thoughts and reflections about relationship and marriage for this website. It is a project supported by Family Life Society and Family Enrichment Society. My friends and I have been involved in this project for almost a year. I find it challenging to keep writing regularly after my super-energetic-work (aka jumping on trampoline, dancing, and teaching young children), so when I have the time and ideas to write, I devote them for the project.

Two weeks ago my friends and I completed our first half-marathon NTUC Income Eco Run. It was a great experience for me, and the result was better than I expected as I could still walk around (though very slowly) and laughed a lot and alive. I was worried that I would die after the race because I heard there was a case long time ago when a girl was okay after running half-marathon but then died in the afternoon. So I asked my boyfriend to message me in the afternoon just to check if I was still alive. I was also anxious that my legs would terribly ache or I would injure myself that I couldn't work after the public holiday, as there's no spare teacher in my school (and we had a colleague who needed to use crutches after a race before).

Anyway, the experience was good, so I thought it would be nice to write a little reflection or diary just to cheer me up a few years down the road.

I've never been a sporty person. Those who know me after 2012 may see me as a sporty person: rock-climbing, running, trekking, but I was always the last person who was picked up during PE lesson because I could not catch the ball properly. During basketball or volleyball game during PE lesson, I also preferred to chat (yes, in Indonesia you have the option to do that) or sit down and revise materials for the test in the next hour. Woohoo!

I only run more than 200 meters when I came to Singapore in 2008 and joined Eusoff Hall. As part of my orientation programme, the Eusoff Freshmen and the Orientation Committee and Orientation Group Leaders (OGLs) ran around NUS - I guess 5km? I wanted to die!!! I hated it, though I loved the part when we sang "Eusoff Eusoff"when we passed the competitor neighbour hall. The following year, I needed to do it again because I was in the orientation committee, I didn't even running the whole route because I was helping out at the water point. I vomited when we reached Eusoff Hall again. I only ran regularly in 2011 when I joined Mountaineering. As expected, I was always the last or second last person who finished the jog. But I started to like running because the Mountaineering people were so nice. Some of them would run back halfway to accompany us who were always dying at the end. I ran on my own outside training time hoping that I would not always end up as the few last persons, though I didn't do it regularly.

Even when I started running more regularly after graduation (definition: once in two or three months), I had stitch easily and I spent 30 minutes to run 2.4km? I signed up for Run-NUS two years ago and ran 5km in one hour -- just for fun. So when my friends asked me if I wanted to sign up for this half-marathon, I said Yes, without having run 10km before. She said, "Are you sure?" and some other friends said that I'm crazy. We signed up in November.

I'm a stubborn person and once my friend said, the good thing about being a stubborn person is you can change if you want it. So I started slowly (thanks to my patient boyfriend *clap clap*), from 3km, 5km, and I hit my first 10km in January. I was seriously worried that I (or my friends - but they are more ready for a run than me) may die because of the race, so since February, I really tried to train two to three times a week and kinda pushed my friends to train together. Now that I looked back, the best part of the half-marathon was the training with my friends, who are my colleagues! Those days when we would "scream" to each other - "5.30, 5.30, it's time to go home. We need to run now if we want to have time to run." Or another day when we were so tired after work that we decided to walk for a few minutes, that were extended to a few more minutes until we passed one MRT, and did a short run instead of a planned long run.

The hardest part of the half-marathon was after 15km, especially after 18km. I saw the sign 21km at the opposite side (it was a U-turn path) and told my friend "Wow, we are almost there!", then we realised a loooooooong way that we still needed to pass before we reached the opposite side. Now I understand why people always like to use the marathon run or mountain trekking to talk about spiritual journey. The part towards the end is the hardest.

Some friends asked what's so fun about running half-marathon?
I think for me it gives me a sense of achievement and the training gives me a lot of time to think and reflect. It has forced me to really exercise regularly (remember that I was so worried that I will die or injure myself?). At the same time, it helps to understand my body and remind myself that just like mountaineering, it is perfectly okay to stop if my body cannot take it. It also helps me to see that my work situation is not bad. I always thought that my working hours are long. Well, my working hours are still long, but they still enable me to have time to do something else (i.e., exercising) and have a quality time with my boyfriend and my friends.

Yes, I was conscious about the camera and thus was able to give a BIG smile!