Ever since my major health scare a few years ago, I've been trying to get healthy. To work out more. A few of my friends got to do a little walking and also jogging. My doctors said that walking will do, no need to over do it. Well, thanks to my friends who are avid runners, well actually they are experienced Marathoners and Ultra-marathoners, I signed up for a few walks, the last one I signed up for called the Super Hero Rat Race, it was a five point one kilometer walk.
I was optimistic going into this walk, I was hoping I could finish the walk in an hour maybe less, well that WAS the plan but as plans go, well, we can always plan but many a times things don't go as planned. The day of the run came, it was May the 1st and I was ready...sort of.
The turnout for the Super Hero Rat Race this year was really good. There were a lot of "working heroes" that day. I was at the back of the pack, trying to take a few pictures. Overall I would say the response to the Super Hero Rat Race was very good this year. It was a fund raising run as well in aid of SOS Kids, so it was good to see so many people supporting this event.
Here's a picture of two experienced marathoners in Borneo, they've had more runs than I can remember. The dude wearing is Cow(??) headgear is Yahya also known as FOMR as in Fat Old Man Running, you can check his blog and Facebook page, his Facebook page is
www.facebook.com/Fat.Old.Man.Running or you can visit his blog
http://yamiska.blogspot.com/ and the Ninja warrior next to him is Nasa. Both are my dear friends who have encouraged me to be more active. If you're wondering why they're in costume, well participants could come dressed as any super hero. I just wore the T Shirt they provided.
Well, we got started, a little late but we got started. Everyone was scrambling to get to the front of the pack. My strategy was to walk part of the way and maybe run a little. I started off slow, that was my plan. Unfortunately as I mentioned earlier, plans usually have a way of going south or going awry on me. And on that Sunday morning, it really went awry on me. I started feeling at first a little bit of pain in both legs. My shins were slowly but surely starting to hurt really bad and sure enough barely a kilometer into the run, I was in full blown pain, both shins were hurting me. I was starting to slow down, my pace wasn't fast but the pain had caused me to slow down even further. I had two choices, to stop and go back or to suck it up and go on. By the time I made my mind, I saw I was at the point of no return, I was past the halfway mark. I decided pain or no pain, to go on. Well I made it to the finish line, barely. A race official saw me struggling and he had to slow down to make sure I could make it to the finish. I was in so much pain as both shins were hurting so bad. Then to make things worse, the muscles in my legs became stiff and hard. Then to make things even worse, just in front of me, walking faster than I was, was a kid dressed as Thor, Hammer, Costume but no cape. He was walking faster than me. Well finally with a time of over an hour, I made it to the finish line. I was in so much pain that I had to apply A LOT of ice that morning. The organisers were however a nice bunch of people, despite my coming in FOURTH from last, they gave me this.
They said that any participant who finished the 5.1 kilometers would get this medal. I didn't feel like I deserved it but I took it as they insisted. Well I decided to give up on doing these runs because of the pain but then someone encouraged me to try again. They said that I should NOT give up. Well I decided to try again but this time, I would go in prepared. I went to a Brooks store to get a new pair of shoes. The fine folks at Brooks checked out my feet and made some measurements and voila I got a new pair of shoes which were more suited to my feet. They had more padding and protection for my feet.
These are really comfortable and they fit my feet, not too snug, just nice for me. So along with the new pair of shoes, I was given an entry form for another run. I was hesitant at first but then I realised that I should try and go again. So I signed up for another 5 kilometer run. The run took place this past weekend, May the 21st. It was the "When The Bell Rings" Run.
With my new pair of Brooks Shoes, I was ready to try again. This time I wouldn't be alone as I would have an experienced Marathoner with me, yeah my friend Yahya said he was going to walk the whole 5 kilometers despite the fact he was fasting. Well I joined him and hoped that I would be able to make it to the finish line this time. Well, as luck would have it, I managed to go for at least 2 kilometers before my legs started hurting again but this time it wasn't as bad. This time the pain was bearable and my new shoes were holding up pretty well. I thought to myself, there's only 3 kilometers left to go, so with Yahya leading the way, we walked to the finish line.
That's the look of pain on my face but despite the pain, I wanted to finish this run.
It was deja vu when a race official decided to follow us to make sure we arrived safely at the finish line, he said It was his responsibility to see that we finished this race. Well it took me an hour plus again to finish this run. What's different this time, well I was able to run the remainder of the 5 kilometers. In the previous race, I practically limped to the finish line. The feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. I didn't give up, I didn't stop and the encouragement from Yahya and my nephew who also took part in the race really pushed me to take the next step to the finish line. When we arrived at the finish line, everyone gave us encouragement as well. It was a good feeling of being able to finish the race.
I was still smiling at the finish line so it's all good. I managed to get the finisher medal and it felt good to be able to share it with Yahya.
Yahya and I also took a picture with Megan Soh, who is a member of the organising committee for the "When The Bell Rings 5k Run". Overall it was a good Sunday for me, I managed to complete this run and after the run I was still standing and feeling pretty good. I thank my family and friends for their encouragement and also the new Brooks shoes. Am I going to join another run? I was told that there would be another one soon. Would I join the next run? The answer is Yes. I will.
Thanks for dropping by and reading about my misadventures on my Long Walk.
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