My first competitive run in more than 2 years, and what a layoff it has been ! I am all of 55 years young and still at a sport which is normally meant for young adults.Throwing that concept out of the window, I decided (together with the help of my 2 running buddies Timothy Lee and Ricky Ng) to make a 'comeback' of sorts.
I had done and dusted 10 full marathons in the past 15 years and work and age concerns were on my mind. But hey, you only live once so the last 6 weeks was getting my overweight body onto the East Coast Parkway and just hauling the kms day in day out, 'just like the old days'.
Wefie with some acquaintences of Ricky's prior to the start of the race
Last week was pretty hectic with a full workload, and then driving the roughly 20 km to the east coast park in the evening to run 13K, 10K, 10K rest, 4K and 15K just 1 week prior to the race. My body took it very well to be honest. So I am in better shape than I originally thought!
The body metabolism slows down dramatically after the '50s so I must be very mindful of my diet, reminding that wine, beer contain lots of calories, chocolates are a 'no no' and eating grilled foods, meats and snacks sparingly. An idle mind is a dangerous thing, so it is better to keep the body (and mind) active and then everything is in fine balance.
The night before the race, I ate more than usual (need to remind myself of this anomaly) and watched my football team Wolves, draw 1 -1 against the mighty Premier League champions Man City. Heading to bed at 9 : 50 was very unusual given the fact I had to wake up by 2 : 30 just 5 hours away. Anyway, I believe I fell asleep close to 12 midnight, so I only had about 2 plus hours of sleep. Fortunately I rested on sat afternoon, so had another 2 hours add ons.
Ricky picked me up around 3 : 15 and we drove to his condo near the start point. The usual banter and preparation was muted for me as I was just focussed on what I had to complete never mind the others. Finally at 4 ; 30 we were off !
I took on a faster pace than usual doing 6 : 30 / km speed and managed to keep that for the first 10K (63 mins) the second 10 K I felt fatigue gaining the better of me, but I held on popping my GU Gels every 5 km. nearing the 15 km mark, I was preparing my 3rd power gel when I carelessly knocked it onto the ground. I had a foggy recollection that when I turned around another runner had stepped on it and so I said " to heck with it" and carried on.
" I really need to lose that visceral fat" I told myself ! so there I was plodding away and taking in the kms, fortunately I was not down with cramps or any the worse for wear and tear, so on I went slowly for the next 10 K, I easily slowed down to about 8 min per km, hence the second 10 K I figured I did around 80 minutes
The last km or so was the hardest, so I gamely plodded on and drank at the remaininng water stations. I finished at a pedestrian time of 2 : 38 : 9 though in hindsight I did not push it, as I had not run this distance in a long time.
Thanks go out to my lovely wife May for being understanding and letting me continue my hobby. She was a trouper and went to the market (every Sunday) with the maid to buy fish, meats, vegetables and otehr stuff.
My 2 friends met at the end of the race and we all went and had a nice prawn noodle along Beach Road just to round up a perfect run !
I am back !!!
