Travelling, Running, and Winnipeg

Joy here...Our flight landed and with less than 36 hours we were on another one.  We had just enough time to dump out our suitcases and repack them.  And then we were seated on the plane once more.  Our bleary eyes and jet lagged selves were in a robotic state as we flew from Ottawa to Winnipeg where I had meetings to attend to immediately upon our return to Canada.

We had our running shoes in our suitcases, and we were all set to run as a way of tackling our jet lag.

Ha!

We pulled off one run of about 60 minutes that had me huffing and puffing the whole way, and a second one of about 75 minutes that had me breathing a little bit better but running at a "slow jog" kind of pace.

Now I know that travelling and running is tough.  It's never easy to keep up one's rhythm while travelling.  I get that.  I've been there, done that (as the saying goes).  Nonetheless, when faced with one's inadequacies, one can't help but feel a little bit down.

I mean, will I be able to pull off a full marathon?  Will I be able to get the mileage in my legs?  Will I be able to build base?  Will I be able to feel some kind of running groove?

I don't know.

And in that not knowing, I hate myself.  I am plagued with doubts and feelings of inadequacy.  And I hate it.  As I get filled with hate at myself, I end up looking for a target for that hate.

And it just so happens, that one of my favourite bands from my hometown (Winnipeg), called The Weakerthans was kind enough to write a song that gives me a perfect opportunity to redirect some of my hate.  Their song is called "I Hate Winnipeg," and while its lyrics outline so many of the things wrong with the city, its tune and tone suggest a kind of lament and elegy borne out of love for their hometown, and I think that's why I like this song so much.  It combines the pain and frustration that comes from being born and raised in a city that is flawed in some pretty deep ways (like the fact that the mosquitoes can eat small children and the winter would frighten even the heartiest Muscovite) with a kind of longing.  Have a listen for yourself:

I just couldn't help but hear this song running through my head as I ran in Winnipeg to kick my jet lag and to keep myself somewhat in shape.

My feet hit the potholed concrete to the rhythm of the band's song...step, step, I, step, hate, step, Winnipeg, step, step...

It's so much nicer to blame someplace or something else rather than oneself, right?

Over and out,
Joy

Leaving on a jet plane...

..don't know when I'll be back again.  So sang John Denver, Peter Paul & Mary, and then my own fellow Winnipegger, Chantal Kreviaziuk.  Now those lyrics belong to me, Joy the peripatetic runner!  I've done my last two runs here in Malaysia; I've taken stock of my paintball bruises; I've hugged and kissed as many family and friends here that I can get my hands and lips on; I've packed my bags; and I'm about to hop on a plane to head back to Canada.

But before I lug my over-filled suitcases down the stairs and out to await the taxi in the early morning dawn, I figure I'll leave this one, last post as a shout out to everyone just to say thanks.  Thanks for running with me; thanks for hangin' out with me; thanks for playing paintball with me; thanks for feeding me; and thanks for reading about my adventures in this part of the world.

And now...I hate to wake you up to say goodbye, but I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Let's Run Around and Shoot Each Other, Okay?

Joy here...So for our penultimate day in Malaysia a group of friends made arrangements to head out and play paintball...

Our friend who organized the game.
Sensei Paintball Master

...and in the process, we turned into 10 year old boys....

Me and The Man ready for action!

Now I had never played paintball before, and so I'll just give you a bit of info about the rules of gameplay:  Basically there are two teams, and each team has a "goal" area.  The point of the game is for someone on your team to make it to the other team's "goal" without getting shot.  Each team's starting position is its own "goal" and thus, you have to make your way across the entire field, hiding behind big, inflated barriers, trying not to be shot, but also shooting opponents.  You are armed with a "mark" that shoots water soluble paint balls at your opponents.  The games are really short, maybe about 2 minutes each, and so if you get shot and are "out" you really only have to wait on the sideline for a very short while before you're back in the game.

Action shot of me running and shooting!

Now there were about 8 of us playing.  We're all grown ups with jobs and lives, and can be pretty serious at times.

But let me tell you, you put a paintball gun in our hands, and we turned into crazy maniacs just trying to shoot each other.

I mean, what's more fun than running around, shooting at your friends???

Our group of friends included a guy who used to be a marine and another one who went to military school.  Um, yeah, I think they had a bit of an advantage!!!

The Man honing his sniping skills!

I was the only girl amongst our group of friends, but if you think that means that they took it easy on me and didn't shoot me with the same vigour, you would be sadly mistaken.

I am happy to report that in the world of paintballing, feminism has scored the ultimate goal, and we're all equal.

Equally crazy!

One thing that I learned about myself in all this is that I'd much rather run forward and take all sorts of risks of being shot, than sit back and have the patience to ride it out safely behind one of the barriers.

Don't mess with the ex-marine!

All around it was a great way to spend 3 hours on a Wednesday afternoon.  Now I don't know if I'm going to sign up and join a league or anything like that, but when I want to gather together a group of friends for an afternoon of pure, unadulterated fun, coupled with some violence and athleticism, paintballing is going to be at the top of my list of activities from here on in!

Look at the military school grad turned pilot captain taking aim!

I mean, the rush of running, shooting, hiding, aiming...is really quite exciting.  

Hmmmm...maybe all that paleolithic eating we've been doing is tapping into our more primal instincts!

So while I've broadened my sporting regime this last year to include cycling, climbing, spinning, and strength training, I guess I can now add paintballing to the list!

A little paintballer smoochy smoochy!

A Walk and a Jog

Joy here...

On Monday we decided that we were officially healed from our bout of food poisoning, but just couldn't drag ourselves out of bed for an early morning run.  The alarm went off, the eyes opened up, the hand pressed "off," and the sleeping resumed.

When we eventually pulled ourselves out of bed and chastised ourselves for being lazy, we agreed to run in the afternoon to make up for our little extra sleep.

Ha!  Bad idea that.

Have you ever tried running in the tropics in the middle of the day?  Let me tell you, it's damn hot!  Well, actually the strange thing is that while we ran it wasn't so much the sensation of over-heating that made my feet feel like lead and my legs feel like concrete, but rather the sensation that all my internal organs were about to explode simultaneously.

It was as if my heart, lungs, stomach, pancreas, liver, and kidneys all decided to go on strike, and while they were out there on the picket line, I was suffering.

So we pulled the plug on that run rather early, and decided to run into the closest shop so that I could buy some cold water.  Our run then turned into a walk around the neighbourhood so that we could lock all the sights of the beauty and the greenery in our minds as advance preparation for the winter which while away at the moment, will jump out and bite us in the @$$ sooner than you might think!

After an afternoon's walk on Monday, we promised ourselves that there's no way we were gonna just sleep through the alarm on Tuesday, so when it went off, we forced ourselves out of our deep and sweaty tropical sleep to face the darkened streets and run in the relative cool of the pre-dawn morning.

And while it was just an easy, slow run over the hilly terrain of the neighbourhood, it was nice to get the legs moving at a pace a little more than a walk.  Maybe a jog is a good way of describing it.  We went for an early morning jog.  While I know that I'll have to pick up the pace, pick up the training, pick up the mileage, and generally get my rear in gear for the full marathon in the fall, it's sometimes good to remind myself that I do, in fact, enjoy a nice, slow jog with the fresh scent of rain hanging in the morning air while the crickets buzz, and the odd breeze rustles the large leaves of the jungle foliage.

Here are my run stats for my walk and my jog:
Monday:  Ran for a total of 27:16:52 for a distance of 4.22km with an average pace of 6:28min/km (and that was before the walking!)
Tuesday:  Ran for a total of 1:06:30 for a distance of 10.41 with an average pace of 6:20min/km.

These will be my last two runs in Malaysia...the training will have to begin in earnest once we're back in Canada...and then Nomi and I (and maybe even Lulu) will all sign up for a full marathon and try our luck!

Stay tuned...

Over and out,
Joy

Tummy Troubles

Joy here...Thank you so much to our friend Lulu for posting on the blog about her own running journey.  Lulu's been a character on this blog and a participant in our adventures since July 15, 2010 when she first signed on as a "follower" of this blog.  Sometimes I used to think that Lulu was the only one out there reading this blog!  She's appeared many times as we've described her running and her own adventures, but now she's actually added her own voice to our stories and spoken for herself!

And for any and all you beginner runners out there thinking about taking up running (whether you want to join races or not is a whole other story), I suggest you read what Lulu has to say!

Once you're done skipping down to read Lulu's words and you return to my own...here's what I have to say:  I've got food poisoning!

Okay, I'll back it up a bit.  You see since early April, when I finished my 30km race, The Man and I have been eating Paleo.  What this means is that we've been eating in a way that is more akin to what Paleolithic people ate than what a typical contemporary diet looks like.  The theory behind this is that homo sapiens have not radically changed biologically since the days when Paleolithic dudes were out there hunting and gathering, but we've started to eat things that our bodies aren't evolutionarily designed to cope with.  Since humans are incredible animals with the most amazing traits of adaptation and compensation, sure we can eat things we aren't meant to eat and survive, but will we thrive?  That is what some people have begun asking, and their answer is a resounding NO.  The proponents of Paleo eating suggest that we eat lean protein, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats, and avoid sugar, salt, dairy, and grains.  Sounds reasonable to me.

In fact, eating this way isn't all that different from how we ate before.  Instead of having a dinner of say salmon, greens, and brown rice, we'll have a dinner of salmon, greens, and drizzle it with a bit of olive oil.  Or instead of a dinner with steak, salsa, taco chips and guacamole, we'll have a dinner with steak, salsa (home-made), and sliced avocado.  Or instead of a dinner with stir-fried veggies and chicken and whole wheat pasta noodles, we'll have a dinner with stir-fried veggies and chicken drizzled with flaxseed oil.  You get the picture.

It's been pretty good.  We don't have muesli or anything like that for breakfast anymore, but have the same kind of meal in the morning as we do at lunch and dinner.  And I can tell you that my energy level was consistent all day, and we were feeling lean and healthy.

Then, um, well, we came to Malaysia.

We were really good here for the first month, but then on Monday, figuring it was our last 2 weeks here, we decided to have a curry mee...

...It broke all the rules of our Paleo eating plan.  It tasted sooooooo good going down.  We gulped up those noodles, and loved every minute of it.  But I think that we both knew something wasn't right pretty quickly.

And for the last 5 days we've had what the indomitable Training Payne refers to as "squirt bum."  Let's just say that such a condition isn't overly conducive to running.  So I've had a week off running, and only urged myself out the door to join Nomi for an easy, slow run, because I wanted the company and hadn't seen her all week.  So before the sun was up, me and my roiling tummy were seated in her car to head to the park for our run.

I just took it easy and had only two potty breaks before leaving the park and heading for home.  I take that as a success! ;)

Here are my tummy troubled run stats for today:
Ran for a total of 1:14:15 for a distnce of 11.31kms with an average pace of 6:20min/km.

I guess this food poisoning has clubbed me over the head and dragged me back to my paleolithic cave, where I can resume eating properly and get my gut sorted!

Over and out,
Joy

Lulu's journey...so far!

Lulu writes:

A shot is fired. Several thousand bodies are in motion. Hearts thumping, lungs pumping, bodies sweating. Running - I am now part of this madness but sometimes I do not know why I run. Now, reflecting back over a year ago, on this journey I decided to take with Joy and Nomi, the answer to the question “Why do I run?” may slowly be taking shape.

My journey into fitness started when a friend dared me to join Original Bootcamp. What is Original Bootcamp you say? Well, according to its website it is “an outdoor-based group fitness training system that offers a creative infusion/blend of heart-thumping HIIT (High - Intensity Interval Training), Kettlebell-inspired concepts and bodyweight drill progressions that are structured on the scientific principles of strength and conditioning.” Quite a mouthful, yes? But I’ll just let the Youtube video speak for itself.

Suffice to say, I actually started to take up running so that I could keep up with the Bootcamp recruits! Nomi, a long time friend, (who later introduced me to Joy) suggested that I run with her on occasion. Let me tell you about Nomi and Joy. Nomi is the strongest person I know. Strong, not only physically, but mentally. Her strong legs pound the pavements with an amazing natural ease. Joy is the definition of a runner. Tall and elegant, with the longest legs and a fast, steady stride. And then you have me. With a body built for, well, lying down and doing nothing, running was the ultimate ‘4-letter word’. I could walk with no problems, but I could only hold a run for 30 seconds before I stopped and wheezed like a 102 year old woman with lung disease. I have never been athletic in any way shape or form. Never did any sport in school. I was the fat girl whom no one chose for any team. I hated physical education with a passion and always had an excuse not to exert myself. But both Nomi and Joy showed me that running was possible once I put my mind to it. So put my mind to it I did. I started with a program online called “How to go from a couch potato to a runner in 9 short weeks” in January 2010.

I followed it diligently without fail and in 3 months I was actually running 5 km! (slow but still running!) I slowly built up to 7 km and ran my 1^st race in KL last April – The Bomba run in conjunction with World Firefighters Day. I ran 7k in 49 minutes and actually became 43^rd in my category. I was a runner! And I had a medal to prove it!

                                                Lulu and her 1st ever medal!

I soon became addicted to it – as Nomi said, I caught the running bug. I began to run at least 5 times a week. I was introduced to the wide and wonderful world of running shoes, sweat-wicking attire, compression tights, thorlo pads, power gels, electrolyte drinks, chafing, blisters, sunburn etc. and I wanted more. I pushed myself with every run and I felt disappointed everytime I did not do better than the previous run. My 1^st 10 km race was the Standard Chartered KL Run (June 2010) which I ran with Nomi, and I finished it in 1 hour 11 minutes. It was an amazing achievement but I thought I could have done so much better, and thus was not happy with the result.

Then Nomi reminded me what running was all about. Her blogpost  “Morning has broken” was an “a-ha” moment for me. She reminded me how thankful we should be to be able to run, and thankful for the support of family and friends. I saw the error of my ways and decided just to enjoy the runs, stress and pressure begone! The enjoyment of putting one foot in front of another, the pleasure of feeling the wind on my face, the achievement of finishing a certain distance no matter what the time became my new goals. And I found myself enjoying running more, even smiling during runs, saying ‘hello and good morning’ to passers-by, feeling energized and happy after each run. I completed another 10k run in June, a hot and hilly12k run in September, a crazy but amazing 14k adventure trail with Nomi in October, my 1^st half marathon, the 21k Singapore run in December, and now, another half marathon, the Sundown half marathon in May 2011. Nomi and Joy have inspired me not only to be a better runner but a better person. And I am so grateful to them for that.

And so the marathon awaits. Joy has already signed up for one in Canada and Nomi will sign up for one soon. I should follow my own advice and run one for the fun of it. But 42 km? A fun marathon? That is the ultimate oxymoron if there ever was one! In life, there are certain milestones of physical activity that can define you. 42 km seem like a neverending journey, something unattainable, inaccessible, impossible, exclusive to only a certain number of people. But then, I used to think that about a 5 k run, then a 10k. 21k was unattainable to me last year and now I can proudly say I have done 2 half marathons. Is it something that I could possibly do? The fat girl in me wants to sit down, stuff my face with some Lindt chocolate while watching mind numbing reality shows. But the runner in me wants to try. To achieve the unattainable, to feel the pain of 42k in hot, humid conditions, to be able to say ‘Yes, I have run a marathon and finished upright with a smile on my face’. Am I mad? Why do we always want something we cannot have? Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to do it.

                                               Love always, Lulu xxx

To run or not to run, that is the question...

...whether it is silly in body to suffer the pains and twinges of outrageous distance, or by training, end them.

My friend, Hamlet.

Joy here...Okay, maybe paraphrasing Hamlet's famous soliloquy to suggest that it's really about whether or not Nomi and I should try and train for a full marathon is, perhaps, a bit cheap.  But, hey, I'm an English professor...you've got expect an allusion thrown in every now and then, right?

What I'm referring to in today's blog entry is Nomi's entry about training for a full marathon.  You see, since arriving in Malaysia, I've been trying to convince Nomi to train for a full marathon this year.  We never thought that we could ever run 10kms, and now we've each got two 21km half marathons under our belts.  So is a full marathon really all that out of reach?

Let me tell you something, we've decided that it is, in fact, within our reach, and so we're gonna do it!  Armed with some guide books for how to train, a positive attitude, and this blog to keep us on track, we're going to turn our group attention to a fall marathon.  I will aim for the same weekend in October as my first half marathon, and Nomi will aim for the same weekend in November as her half marathon.  There's a kind of beautiful symmetry to all this.  We ran our first ever race one year ago in Singapore, and then ran at that event 12 months later, completing half marathons.  Now, we ran our first ever half marathons in October and November 2010, and wouldn't it be sweet to finish our first ever full marathons in October and November 2011?

So take today's declaration as my commitment to train for a full marathon over the summer and run it in the fall!  I'm throwing my hat over the fence once again!

...

Maybe.

Um, I think so???

...

Maybe I should just focus on the present for now and not on the marathon.

Yet.

So focusing on the "now," today, Nomi and I went for an easy run in the garden where she is loathe to run by herself at 5:30am in the dark.  I was supposed to go for a bike ride, but that was cancelled so at 5ish in the morning, I sent an emergency text to Nomi to see if she was up for a run...and my trusty partner in crime was more than ready.  So off we went...

A view of the park where we run in the wee hours of the morning.

...The sun was rising as we began our hot, humid run, but there was cloud cover and the promise of showers, and so I didn't have to suffer the tropical rays of the sun.  We took it easy and did about 5 loops of the 3km route around the park, and I tried to make each successive route just a little bit faster.  So while I started running at around 6:30min/km, I finished my final loop running around 5:35min/km.

Then I bought water.

Then I drank it in one gulp.

Then I was done with running for the day.

Nomi and I drove our sweaty selves back home to get on with our Sundays, feeling accomplished and happy that we can have an easy peasy run with each other on a Sunday morning through a green and beautiful park.

My run stats for today are:
Ran for a total of 1:10:11 for a distance of 11.5kms with an average pace of 6:02min/km.

Over and out,
Joy

Shall I, shall I, shall I ?

Nomi says,

So, i have run a few 10km races, a trail race, two half marathons....time to move along? Shall I, should I, more importantly, can I run a full marathon? Prior to this, i thought that all i could manage is a half marathon. And while running 10km races, in the beginning of this adventure, that was all i thought that i could do to. But, i progressed to half marathons, painfully i must add....and now i am comfortable running them. A few months ago, while running my first half marathon, I thought that every piece of my body would fall apart at 18kms. But not so during this recent half marathon a few days ago. A few months ago, it would not have even crossed my mind to attempt a full marathon. No doubt,  my timing for the half marathon is not excellent, i do not win prizes...but i finish upright, and as Joy says...with a smile on the face.

I have absolutely no idea or even where to begin with training for a full marathon. So, i wiped the layers of dust off my Runner's World Complete Book of Women's Running which i bought more than a year ago, and had read only about 19 pages, for ideas. In Chapter 9 -  Conquering A Marathon- there is a beginners marathon training schedule and an advanced guide on training for a full marathon. So, the beginners guide seems very doable. It's a gradual, relatively easy training guide for a newbie runner, the main aim being just to finish the race. Which sounds like what i could do. Without having to quit work, sell a kidney or trade in my soul:) So, chapter 9 in somewhere between Chapters 1 and 21, which means that i glanced through all the other chapters, which i technically should have done when i first started running seriously. I remember Joy writing all about the principles of training in the beginning of this blog. I should have retained what i read then, cause it sure would have been helpful. But, better late than never. So, here's to another new adventure....hmmmm....now to rope in Lulu along for the ride, as Joy is well on her way into one.

1/2 Marathon: From Sundown to Sundown

Joy here...On Saturday, May 28, 2011 I ran my second ever half marathon; it was exactly one year from when I ran my first ever running race, both were at Singapore's Sundown Marathon running event.  Last year, for my first ever running race, I ran the Sundown 10km race, and 12 months later, I ran the Sundown Half Marathon 21km race.  In 12 months between May 2010's Sundown race and May 2011's Sundown race, I ran a total of 6 races:  (1) May 2010-10km Sundown Race; (2) September 2010-5km Army Run; (3) October 2010-21km Toronto Half Marathon; (4) November 2010-10km Cookie Run; (5) March 2011-30km Around the Bay; and (6) May 2011-21km Sundown Half Marathon.

6 races in 12 months is a good record by anyone's standard.  For me, who only took up running 4 years ago and was convinced I would die if I ran for more than 10 minutes consecutively, it is an achievement that staggers me.

I write that I am staggered by the achievement of learning to run and race not because I want to be full of myself and be a braggart.  I write that not because I want to toot my own horn.  I write that not because I want to impress you.  I write that not to overblow my meagre achievements in comparison to true and real athletes.  I write that not to expose my swelled-head and monster-ego.  I write that as a way to softly and gently pat myself on my own back.  I follow another blog, Hook & Eye, that is co-authored by one of my colleagues at the university where I am a professor, and she wrote an interesting entry about how difficult we as women find it to boast about ourselves.  Now I don't know if this is a gendered trait or not, but I definitely find it hard to both take a compliment and certainly to give one to myself.  So by starting out today's race report about my second-ever half marathon, I wanted to start in a way that unabashedly pinned my pride to my shoulder.  It's hard work this boasting.  Really it is.

But you know what's even harder?

Running a damn half marathon in the tropics!!!

The starting line...and...we're off!

All along the plan was for Nomi, our friend Lulu, me, and The Man to head to Singapore to run this half marathon event.  At the last minute, The Man was sick and opted to be "support crew" for the three ladies, and not run the event himself.  And in all honesty, that was fine by us.  It was much easier for us to have someone there to hold our bags for us while we ran.

Here's our little race report from my perspective, and I'll get Nomi and Lulu to post their viewpoints as well, because every race is different for every single runner in the race!

The four of us piled into a taxi from our hotel in central Singapore and with nerves starting to take hold, even though each of us felt woefully under-prepared for this race, we arrived at the race site and went to get our race kit (our numbers etc.).  There were over 26,000 racers at this whole event - which included a 10km race, a 21km half marathon, and a 42km full marathon (with the 100km ultra marathon being held on a different weekend) - and the atmosphere at the start was pumped and lively.  There was a band playing on the main stage, and the smell of cotton candy hung sickly sweet in the humid air, giving the racing village the feel of a fair ground.  Everywhere around us we saw sweaty finishers of the 10km race with their finisher's medals around their necks, and we saw other runners gearing up for their own events.  We tried on our race shirts, and Nomi was too shy to wear the size small (although it looked really good on her).  Lulu wouldn't even wear any size of the race shirt as given, and preferred her tried and true pink T-Shirt.  Under the setting sun amidst the scent of popcorn and sweat, I stripped down to my sports bra to change into my new race singlet and pin my number to my stomach so that I could get ready.

Then we took some photos, drank some gatorade, and made a few jokes and some small talk as we could feel ourselves getting a bit nervous.  As the sky changed from a bright shade of pink to a deep indigo and then darker grey we were corralled over to the starting line.  While Lulu and Nomi waited and stood with those runners who thought they'd take more than 2 hours to finish the race, I couldn't contain my growing race excitement and I went up to the start to stand amidst those who figured that they'd be done in 2 hours or less.

Crammed in there, close to the starting line with all the other eager runners, we began to heat up.  The air was still and humid, and with all those bodies crammed in there, we began to sweat.  I could feel it running down my back between my shoulder blades, and already I wished that I was holding a bottle of water rather than gatorade so that I could drench myself, but it wasn't to be.

Sweating and hot, we danced and we jiggled our nervous run energy until the announcers called us to close in on the start line.  I was about 4 rows from the front, jammed in with the rest of the smiling runners, and Lulu and Nomi were somewhere behind me in the crowd.  I looked up at the dark sky one last time before the gun went off and wished my friends well in their own race, and then BANG the gun sounded and we were off!

At first I was feeling good.  I mean, I hadn't really trained for this run, and I had barely put in any time running since arriving in the tropical heat and humidity of Southeast Asia, so I was only planning on running at about a 6:00min/km pace.  I figured that was about as fast as I could pull off for my 30km Around the Bay effort, so I should be able to do that for this one, even with minimal training.

But as I started running, with my eyes scanning the asphalt ahead keenly watching for the first hydration station at kilometre #2, I looked at my Garmin to realize that I was running a 5:30min/km pace.  And while that felt good and felt as though I could keep that pace for the whole time, I knew that such a feeling so early on in the race could be really illusory, and halfway through I would be regretting not reining myself in.  So rein myself in I did.  I kept my pace at around 5:45min/km thinking that wasn't too much quicker than my 6:00min/km plan, and if I could pull of 5:45min/km then finishing this half marathon in under 2 hours would be within my grasp.

That started to be my plan:  finish in under 2 hours.  So as I made it to the first hydration station - one cup of water over my head and one down my gullet - I began to hear that mantra in my head, under two hours, under two hours, under two hours...


And overlaid atop that mantra running through my body with the rhythm of my feet against the hot asphalt of the road were my more conscious thoughts:  thoughts about feeling lucky that I've found running in my thirties; thoughts about what is meaningful in my life; thoughts about where I'm going professionally; thoughts about what I'd like materially out of life; thoughts about my family (um, both the good thoughts and the bad ones about that topic); and generally the things that I like to think about when out for a long run.

I like to just let my mind wander so that running can be like an extended prayer or meditation.  Those ancient Greeks knew what they were up to by holding athletic games to honour the gods; there's something about the connection between the body and the spirit that so often we seem to have lost or squashed in contemporary society where it's so easy to be secular, so easy to be fat, so easy to be disconnected, so easy to be individualistic... but out there on a run with thousands of other runners both together and separate in a hot Singapore night, I couldn't help but feel connected.  And not just connected to the other runners, but connected to something larger than myself.  Now, don't worry, I'm not going to be all artsy fartsy right now and write about some grand plan that links us all one to the other with some Star Wars like "force," but I will say that if you are thinking about running and think that it's just about being fit or being in shape, you are missing the best part about running.  And you'll just have to run and run and run until you find what that best part is that I'm talking about.

So I kept on going...under two hours, under two hours, under two hours...drinking water at every 2kms and dumping another cup over my head each time.  I was drenched.  I could feel sweat and water making my shirt stick to me like a second layer of skin, and my shoes squelched with each step.  But still I was H-O-T.  But then, before I knew it, I had been running for nearly an hour and I was already at the turn around point!

I looked at my Garmin and realized that I had run 10kms in the same amount of time this year as I had run it last year.  Only last year after 10kms I was done and over the finish line, but this year I still had 11kms to go!  But I could do it!  I was feeling good, hot, but good.  Surprisingly good...under two hours, under two hours, under two hours...

The route turned so that I was running along the coast and in the dark, hot night, I could hear the crashing of the surf beside me and could see the low waves rolling against the bulkhead.  I could hear crickets in the trees and my own heavy breathing.  It was going to be okay...under two hours, under two hours, under two hours...

And then I reached kilometre 16 and things started to feel a little less okay.  My feet started aching.  My knees started aching.  My hips started aching.  And then...worst of all, my dreaded running demons showed up.  Those running demons are the thoughts that go through my head that have no business being there, those pesky, little negative voices that undermine me when things start getting tough.  They never fail to show up, those voices in my head.  I hear them with their insistent suggestions undermining my confidence:  "you haven't run enough long training runs, you can't finish;" "you're not used to the heat;" "you're straining your internal organs;" "your pancreas will explode;" "you're giving yourself liver disease;" "you've probably broken your toe;" "your patella has come unattached;" "you're having an apendicitis attack" etc. with each crazy thought more nuts than the first, but nonetheless negative and insistent.  By kilometre 18 I was just concentrating on my breathing and tuning out those negative voices threatening to undermine me.  I knew that I could run 3 more kilometres, I just knew it.  But could I run those 3 more kilometres in just over 15 minutes so that I could finish in under 2 hours?

...now I'm at kilometre 19....only 2 more to go...1:49...in October I was finished at this point...only 10 minutes and I can make it in under 2 hours...

Dammit.

I just couldn't will my body to go any faster without hurting myself over those final two kilometres.  I hung onto my 5:45min/km pace and just couldn't finish within 2 hours.

My final race stats were:
Ran a total of 2:01:45 for a distance of 21kms with an average pace of 5:45min/km.

And here's how those finishing stats place me overall:

Result in Gender (Women) - 52nd place 1977 finishers behind. About 3% of finishers ahead. Result in Division (FEMALE 30-34) - 10th place 371 finishers behind. About 2% of finishers ahead. LEGEND The location of the figure on the line shows your position in the finish order of the race. The closer the figure is to the right, the closer you were to the winner. FACTS Who's who Of the 5549 who finished, 37% were Women and 63% were Men. Opposite Sex For the record, you were ahead of about 94% of men finishers.

In the end, I didn't make it under 2 hours, but one of the important things that I've learned about running races is that most of the time, the goals are important both before and during the event, but afterwards, the accomplishment of finishing and keeping those running demons at bay is more important than any timing, any placing, or any medal.

It's not when you finish the race that counts...it's simply finishing that counts!

Over and out,
Joy

Strangers In The Night......(Nomi's 1/2 Marathon)

Nomi says,


There we were, thousands of runners gathered at the site of the recent Sundown Marathon in Singapore. And well, except for Joy and Lulu and maybe a few other acquaintances that might have been there, we were literally strangers in the night, all gathered for a single goal...to finish a race, may it be 10kms, 21kms or 42kms.

One reason that we come all the way from wherever we are to run the Sundown, is that the race is very well organized. All traffic is cut off from the race site. Registering just prior to the race is so efficient and barely takes 5 minutes. Plus if the organizers state that there is going to be water stations every 2kms and hydration fluids every 4kms...it will be there. So one can literally just run without a water bottle or even a camelbak.

But, boy was it hot and humid. There wasn't an inkling of a breeze and it was just heat emanating from the tarmac. We were oozing sweat even before the race started at 8pm. For the half marathon, the start off time for the participants were staggered. Those who expected to finish before 2 hours started first, followed by those at 2 hr 15 mins, 2 hr 30 mins and so forth. As usual there was the countdown to the 'blast off'  and with a loud blare of some fog horn sounding like thing...the racers took off.

One thing about this course is that it is almost flat. So, it's a very good first race for newbies. Plus it is so well organized that one would be put off future races due to bad organization. The only downside is the hot and humid weather. It really tires one out fast, and you feel like you've run 10kms after only 1.
Throughout the race, i sort of paced with different strangers. If someone was running my pace, i would just follow behind for a few km, then move on to the next person and so forth. Joy was waaaaaaay in front of me and Lulu was somewhere in between. So i ran with strangers and it did help. There was tall , slim bald Indian guy; tall portly silver curly haired Caucasian guy; 2 slim , fit young Chinese girls, super fit 40 something petite lady....and thank you to all these people who helped me stay focused, put one leg in front of the other and just ran....

During this race i choked down a power gel (it tasted really bad) every 50 minutes or so and it really helped. I didn't feel as tired as the last time i ran a half marathon and at every water stop, i poured water over my head and arms. It was really hot and  at 10kms or so, i could feel a bad headache coming on. Like my head was going to burst out of the hat i was wearing....However, running this time was easier that the first half marathon. This time, i didn't feel like my joints were going to disarticulate at 18kms, and i had run the distance before so it wasn't that bad.

During the last 2kms or so, parts the path back to the finish line on my side was pitch black. And the full marathoners had started off on their race on the opposite lane. There were these huge stadium lights acting as a backlight for these marathoners. At that point of time i was tired out, probably hypoglycemic and these runners on the opposite lane formed bars of shadows on my side giving it a strobe light kind of effect which was surreal. I felt like i was running, but not moving at all. Towards the last 800m or so, i was running, literally sprinting with this wonderful lady in a pink T shirt by my side. We knew that we were almost at the finish line, so we ran as fast as we could, encouraging each other towards the finishing line. We didn't know each other, never saw each other in our lives, but in that race it didn't matter. There was a spirit of camaraderie and we had a single purpose and it was to finish the race, in good time.

This year i discovered that there were actually statistics for all the runners, and this is mine. I enjoyed this half marathon with my girlfriends and hopefully we will run a full one next year:)

Result in Entire Field - 689th place

4859 finishers behind. About 12% of finishers ahead.

Result in Gender (Women) - 140th place

1888 finishers behind. About 7% of finishers ahead.

Result in Division (FEMALE 35-39) - 21st place

230 finishers behind. About 8% of finishers ahead.

Opposite Sex

For the record, you were ahead of about 84% of men finishers.

YOUR SPEED

YOUR FINISH - a bird's eye view

	Nomi    Runners in your division (FEMALE 35-39)      Other Women runners       Men runners