As per regular perusal of Marathon Foodie’s blog, I am keep abreast with the various upcoming races for the next couple of months. Its cool that there are many races to choose from. You will never be “raceless” so to speak. You always have the prerogative to either sign up for that particular Sunday’s race or just do your own run.
I’ve joined in various 5K races already since I started running. I have to say, I am beginning to like it. ( and it’s not just about the photo-ops during race day) Another race is coming up this Sunday but I will not be joining in it. Need to do something unrelated to running.
Anyway as I was thinking back to the time when I first mentioned to Joy that I am interested to join the 33rd Milo Marathon, I can’t help but grin at myself. She did not look surprised at that time but the first thing she asked me was that, am I willing to wear shorts outside, in broad daylight? For a moment, my lofty thoughts of running in a race was brought down to earth, crashing. I was like, do I really have to wear shorts? Is it compulsory? ( I have nothing against wearing shorts, I’m not just used to wearing it except when I sleep) So, I was disappointed for a moment but I wasted no time to searched on the Internet about running in races. I even paid the Milo website a visit. I learned that you can wear anything. So, I reported this back to Joy and even manage to convince her to join too. That was the start of my “love affair” with running. I can still remember feeling excited when we finally registered and got our race packets and t-shirt. We started “running” our asses off at Abellana , three weeks before the race day. I could not stop singing ” We Did It” ( Dora’s song) over and over again while we made our way home after finishing our very first 5K. I was very happy despite feeling dog-tired.
After that initial taste of racing, we’ve become determined to join every races we knew of. We fought off the urge to stay inside when there was deluge of a rain on a particular race day, instead, we forge ahead and still run. I had the best experience, running in the rain. ( though afterward, my foot hurt so much)
Joy gradually improve her time since she started running. During races, we’ll start running side by side then a few minutes later, she would be ahead of me, while I lagged behind, huffing and puffing like crazy. She had become mindful of her time that once, she threw me an “impatient look” when I asked her to wait for me, during a race. I kidded her about it every chance I got. I’m glad that I am able to get her into this. I’m secretly hoping that I can outrun her one day:D
Its been three months when I first immerse myself in running. Nothing much has changed worth mentioning. I don’t look at the scale anymore to see if the numbers budge. Though, I have discipline myself to forgo watching movies on TV so late at night. I’ve always been a morning person so waking up early is not a problem ( but I still set the alarm, just in case). My reading repertoire has now include anything about running. I spent hours reading other runners’ blog. I read articles that interest me at Runner’s World. And now, I’m keen watching on TV, shows that relates to running ( still, Roger Federer top my list) On the physical side of things, I still run slow. I need to work on that.
I can cite all the myriad thoughts that goes through my mind during a race, fortunately, I manage not to give in. I think it’s so tempting to just stop and quit when you’re feeling so slow and almost out of breath, while faster runners speed past you, what I do is I’d always imagine the finish line and the feeling of getting there….it work, always:)
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