Tuesday Morning Run

Despite the haze and sleepiness, I dragged myself out of bed today at 4.43 a.m. to eat and then went back to sleep until 6.22 a.m. whereupon I did my Subuh prayers. Then off to Gardens to do the designated 15km run (5 small and 5 big rounds). As I was doing my pre-run stretching in the car park, a dog kept trying to sniff my ass. I told it to go away but it did not comply so I just started running (albeit really slowly). Not sure exactly what time I started, probably around 6.48 a.m.

Reached Gardens, did 5 small rounds mortifyingly slowly. Saw at least 2 other runners who were slightly faster than I was but I kept telling myself, don't try to chase them because normally those who do a mad dash just run one round and then die out, so, not worth wasting your energy. And I was just warming up anyway. After the 4th round I sort of entered 'the zone' so things become relatively easier. Then after 5 small rounds I started on the big one. Up the slope; don't swing your hands, increase your stride, you are an antelope, power in the legs, one foot in front of the other, in in out out in in out out, hey look, you're at the top. Then easy going (the downhill provides more than enough time for recovery). Repeat four times. Easier said than done. I tried to focus on only one round at a time rather than thinking "Oh gosh, there's another 3 to be done". But really, once I'm in 'the zone', everything else doesn't seem to matter and all the other people around me are just little figures in the background. There's just me and my head and my legs; my steady breathing and the rise and fall of my chest. Nothing else.

I could literally see the hazy particulates in the air. Because I was sweating quite a bit I started getting cuts on my face where the wind chafed my skin. Um, anyway, I did 5 big rounds (the last one was a little faster). But I was still feeling great so I did another small round (to make up for the fact that the small rounds are slightly less than 1 km, so that I'd hit the 15km mark). I think I looked a bit insane because I had this really contorted look on my face as I was running the last round (I ran it really, really fast, like I was being chased by a rabid dog). I stopped for about 30 seconds at the gate. Then I was like screw it, just run to the car park okay? So I ran to the carpark. Which is about 500m away from the gate. So I definitely hit the 15km mark (That should suffice for the day).

When I stopped, red in the face and feeling wonderful in all my sweaty glory, a nice-looking lady was getting out of the car next to mine. "Training for something?" she asked. "No, I just love running," I said. "I did too," she said. Then we talked a bit about knees and how not to strain them too much, etc. She was really lovely.

So I'm not really sure how long I took because I spent about 5 minutes talking to the lady, and when I started the engine the clock showed 8.15 a.m. But anyway, today's objective was not about timing. It was about mileage. Although 15 km sort of pales in comparison to the weekly distance covered by some of my other running enthusiasts.

Sigh.. It's never enough, is it? Hard to be content with what I am, and what I have. I mean pushing for more is all very well but then what happens when you push till you get to the edge and there's you, looking down into the abyss, wondering what will befall if you step into the dark chasm?