Saturday, June 16, 2012

Run Terra, Run

About two months ago, I went ahead and did something quite crazy. I signed up for a local 5.5 km run through the social and sports club of my workplace. Now while running itself is not usually associated with being crazy, for me it was because I used to detest running while I was young and in school. I dreaded the yearly cross country event we had to take part in and would walk the whole 1.5 km and pretend I conquered the world at the end of it. I never had the stamina nor the interest to run for the sake of running (I didn't mind running around while playing hockey though) I was also always prone to my sides aching after putting in some effort in running. So, it was a BIG thing for me to sign up for this run, which was a competition, and definitely would have real runners competing as well.

I immediately started focusing on running in the gym. I tried building stamina by running for as long as I could. The first day, I jogged for about 15 minutes, brisk walked for about 5 minutes, then jogged again for another 15 and then walked for about 10. I covered about 4.5 km that day and went back with swollen feet. I was not deterred, though - I took a one day break and tried again the following day. I tried running about 3 times a week in the gym and while I could last longer jogging (I graduated from 15 minutes to 30 minutes in about 3 weeks or so), I didn't have enough stamina to last one whole hour. 

I was about to head out onto the roads for trial runs, but I unfortunately met with an accident. Although I was physically fine, I met with a mental block. I thought I'd be back on my feet in a week or so, but I allowed the mental block to fester and hardly did any running or practice. I looked at the calendar with nonchalance as the days flew by, but panic greeted me as June arrived. June 10th was the day I'd run along the streets of this town I grew up in. It was the day I'd have to give my all. Towards the end, I only had 2 objectives:

1. Finish the race within the qualifying time
2. To not embarrass myself (by fainting, or worse - coming in last!)

June 10 arrived. Not being familiar with how runs are handled, I arrived just in the nick of time to register (which means dumping my card into a box for the lucky draw later) I didn't know they had a warm up session, otherwise I'd have gone much earlier. At 6:45 am they flagged off the 12 km runners. At 7:00 am, the 5.5 km runners were flagged off. We jogged, ran and walked along the race route, the 5.5 km feeling like the longest distance I've ever had to take on foot. Towards the last 1 km or so, the 12 km serious runners started overtaking the non-serious runners of the 5.5 km. Nevertheless, I reached the finish line in 45 minutes, and had no reason to feel embarrassed over anything. Objectives achieved. On top of that, I received a finishing medal and a certificate. I have a weird feeling that I'll be participating in more runs after this!

The bib, the finishing medal and a goody bag



30 comments:

  1. Well done Terra.

    "Care for run, keen to succeed" is rather an odd slogan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is rather odd. I suppose they wanted to have a slogan where they could fit in words that begin with a C and a K (CK Car wash is the main sponsor of the event)

      Delete
    2. I thought it was Calvin Klein :D

      Delete
  2. The medal looks great and you achieved a really good time there :) So congratulations to you Terra. I've gained some more stamina lately thanks to my exercising efforts but I'd never be able to move 5.5k in one go, much less in that amount of time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's quite amazing how quickly our bodies can adapt to the changes we put it through. All the best in building up your stamina. :)

      Delete
  3. Congratulations! 45 minutes is pretty good timing btw. Keep it up. There is the TM Fan run tomorrow, 7KM distance and you can still sign up tomorrow and run the event :D

    Loads of races for you to take part in the next two months. Check my blog out for the events available.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw the race flag off on TV just now. 7km may be a bit too much for me at the moment... I sure need to practice more.

      Delete
  4. Not bad timing at all, congrats.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good for you! I did a part-run, part-walk 5K last year and now that I know I can run that much at a stretch, plan to run the whole thing this fall. It's kind of addictive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is kinda addictive. Totally agree with that.

      Delete
  6. very proud of you, you stuck to your personal objectives. ultimately thats what matters. all these physical feats are always to challenge your own self. i never take it to compete with others. try running in parks, maybe with some music on, it probably can make a difference.
    :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I should definitely start looking for proper places to run. The stadium is still a wee bit intimidating.

      Delete
  7. Congratulations from me too Terra xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well done. I kind of detest running too, but I went to watch the LA Marathon with a friend, and there really is something quite emotional about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never seen people running a marathon before. Should probably give that a try.

      Delete
  9. Well done! I like the fact you were determined enough to hit the gym in the first place. It's always the first step that's the hardest :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha... I've been a member since 2008 and do go as much as I can, but I always try to not run. I think the fear of embarrassing oneself is the biggest fear of all

      Delete
  10. Well done! I've never run a race, but I'm quite the runner. I usually just run around my neighborhood, even if people see me in my hoodie and think I'm a terrorist/rapist.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kind of makes me wish my neighbourhood was safe enough for me to do that as well.

      Delete
  11. Very admirable of you to sign up and see it through! Just thinking about it makes me lazy LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha ha... That would have been me a few years ago...

      Delete
  12. That's very impressive! Well done! You're certainly in better shape than me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I have to move around a lot with the job I do, so I end up being unintentionally active. Lol.

      Delete
  13. You know i wanted to sign up for the Standard Chartered run this year and had actually started training for it....like you, i quite detest running. But as expected i was not consistent with my training, then my bathroom wall attacked my knee (beware inanimate objects!!!!) and now i can only walk. *sigh* But there's still the penang bridge run at the end of the year.....wanna go for that?? :p

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Damn... Hate how these inanimate objects go around and cause so much damage! The Penang bridge run sounds good, though...

      Delete

IT's THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

Time for the Annual Appraisal again.  It's a cloudy Sunday afternoon, and I had just finished giving scores to my subordinates on their ...