Long time no post

It's been some time since my last post, and with reason! The settling in process, now 6 months old, has taken longer than expected. One would have thought that there were few differences between Boleh Land and The Lion City but the fact of the matter is, the differences were sufficient enough for me and the missus to take 6 months (and counting) to settle in and assimilate. Work has been the focus of my life and running has taken a back seat. Gone are the days when I could leave by 6pm sharp and head to Lake Gardens/KLCC Park for my daily workouts. Nowadays, it is a roughly 12-14 hours per day in the office. I usually leave the office around 8pm and it is dinnertime by then. Luckily the weekends are still free, for now. On average, the workouts have reduced to around 2 to 3 times per week, with the 2 usually packed in during the weekends. But, as Der Dr said, if I really want to maintain my level of fitness, I would have to just find some time during the day to do my workouts, even if it means waking up at the crack of dawn to do so (something which I am not exactly keen on doing, but I seem to have little choice). I realise that I need my mileage to maintain a certain level. I lose my fitness very quickly, unlike other runners. And, no other form of cross training would make you run faster other than running itself. Which brings me to the Stand Chart Singapore International Marathon.

I printed out my acknowledgement form the day before I was due to collect my bib for the 21k and realised something- during registration day (refer to my last post), on the registration form, I had optimistically penned my projected finishing time to be 1:33!!! I suppose I had reason to be confident- I had finished the previous year's race in 1:35, and I thought that with some high quality training (longer runs on the East Coast Park, tempos etc) I would be able to finish it within that time. Obviously, that all went bust because I didn't factor in the settling in process, and the longer hours at work. So I chuckled when I saw the projected finishing time, because obviously, I was not in 1:33 shape by any stretch of the imagination. Not embarrassing myself (which meant finishing under 2 hours) would be a much more reasonable expectation. In the preceding 3 weeks prior to the event, I was able to leave the office by 630pm. Work had slowed down and I had to take that opportunity to put in some last minute workouts. I attended RPM classes for 1 hour, following it up with 30-45 minutes running on the treadmill (the latter at which was at an approximate 6:00 per km pace).

3 weeks of real workouts did help marginally with my finishing time in the 21k, which was 1:52 but I was never ever comfortable throughout. As was the case with the previous Stand Chart Marathons, it was a carnival-like atmosphere to what can be best described as a world-class running event closest to KL. This year alone attracted some 40,000 participants. The organisers had wisely staggered the starting times between those running the full 42k and the 21k. The additional 15 minutes meant that the 21k-ers started at 615am, a full 45 minutes after the 42k-ers were flagged off (or rather, "horn-ed off"). It did help, to certain extent. For the first 12k, it was relatively smooth. There were runners of course, but not to the point of impeding or affecting my running pace. But, as we passed the Esplanade and on the road towards the East Coast, that was where it started getting pretty jammed up. I suppose many of the marathoners were slowing down by then, but the narrow roads (2 lanes and the curb) meant that my pacing was affected and I had plenty of zig-zagging to do. And it didn’t get any better until the u-turn point, when we made our way back in the opposite direction and the roads were clear again. My breathing even more laboured than it already was at that point, form ragged, arches for both feet killing me, I literally willed myself to the finishing line. I couldn't kick or go any faster even in the final 200 metres. I was just happy to have completed it.
I stayed on for sometime to look out for my friends who had run the full distance, and updated PM1 and Der Dr on their finishing times. Kenny Tan ran a superb 3:52 but it was Loco Lai who astounded me with a superb time of 3:45. After a full year of despair, he has finally fulfilled his potential. Details are still not entirely clear on his mileage and training but I was informed that he had run a few 30ks on Tuesdays in the month leading up to the race. Whatever it is he has done, the finishing time says it all and I take my hat off to him. Congratulations on the 3:45, Loco Lai. Something stirred inside of me that day. I want to be running at the level I'm used to again. And I must do something about it.

So, what lies ahead for me now? My weekends are reserved for my workouts. If I can't workout in the evenings now, I have to make time for it at the crack of dawn. No 2 ways about it. I plan to wake up early at least twice a week to workout (don't want to shock the system, just gradually do it so that the body gets used to waking up at the crack of dawn). And move on from there. This will be a pre-New Year's resolution for me, which I plan to execute to fruition.

I hope to see some of my comrades in arms when I get back to KL during the Christmas and New Year weekends. I'll be running during that time, so please feel free to join me. But I'll be slow…