Malakoff 12k

Thanks to Runwitme for the photo. Ran the Malakoff 12k this morning. Well, that was what the organisers have promoted the distances, although I'm reliably informed that the actual distance covered was 11.17km.

I had fully intended to treat this run as a training run, but not too relaxed and easy paced either. The plan was to put in an "honest effort" in the race, which, under the circumstances, I think I did. The night before, Mrs Rabbit and me went to Cheang's house for a Christmas party. Thanks for the invite, Cheang, great party! Despite going home fairly early in an attempt to catch some precious shut-eye, Mia had some stomach pain and she kept us awake with her semi-cries. I describe it as as semi-cry because it isn't exactly a full, lung-busting screech of a cry, but neither was it a whine either. Managed a grand total of probably 2 hours of sleep (at most) when the alarm rang at 515am to wake me up. I was tempted to sleep in but soldiered through the (painful) waking up process, hauled myself into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and out on my running gear, before heading to the kitchen for a cup of coffee. I arrived at Taman Rimba TTDI yawning my head off.

Although this was a relatively smaller race, there was a big group of the more serious runners that I knew personally or merely by name, including Ronnie, Frank, CM, Jamie, Kit, Anil, Kenny, Jessica, Shahrom, Wong Ah Thiam, Lawrence, Kei Ming, Gerladine, Lynn, Michelle, Cheong, RunWitMe, Raymond, Richard, Stanley, Chen.

Was with Kenny at the start, and once the horn was blown, I settled into my own perceived effort of decent pacing. Once out of the Taman Rimba, we were greeted by a long climb on a sufficiently steep incline (approximately 300 plus meters, I think), which was alright during the start of the race (since you get pretty amped up and excited the start), but by the time it was time to negotiate that incline again on the 2nd loop, pretty much knocked the wind out of me, sending me into deep, deep oxygen debt and reducing my strides to a mere choppy shuffle. It took me almost 4 minutes to regain my breath.

Throughout the route I might have mistakenly heard people calling out to me, but if come of you out there did call out to me and I didn't acknowledge, my apologies. I was just too beat to respond!

The u-turn back in the 2nd loop was easier, and perhaps safe in the knowledge that the race was already ending soon, I pushed the pace on the way back and ran pretty hard (if I may say so myself). I finished strongly, in 55:48.

Over the races, I've identified a certain trend- I start fairly strongly, die in the middle miles, and finish very strongly. I need to work on the middle miles.

Otherwise, it was a good way to spend a Sunday morning. It was great to mingle with like-minded individuals.

What started as a mild itchy sore throat which started the day I arrived from Singapore has developed into a flu. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose alot these last 2 days. The cold has also forced me to take the drastic step of sleeping in a separate room from the wife and baby, to minimise the spread of germs to both, since both can ill-afford to be sick. I attempted running yesterday evening with fairly disastrous results- a planned 10k run had to be cut short by 2/3rds, when I stopped after 3-odd km, unable to push any more despite my best efforts. I had to forego today's planned 25km with Ronnie and gang as I was simply not in any shape to run. I'll have to ride this out for another (hopefully) couple of days, loading myself with vitamin c, horseradish&garlic pills, with echinacea and staying warm.

It is rather irritating to be down with the flu, but I suppose the (numerous) late nights of studying for the exams, combined with caring for the kid and training hard for the 21km in the Singapore Marathon have taken their toll on me. I was hoping to consolidate the hard run and strength I gained from that race, but I need to take a step back for now and focus on getting better.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/2008/07/01/Shorter.cuw/

What Frank Shorter's up to nowadays.

Der Hopper at SCSM

Singapore International Marathon 7 Dec '08

Another edition of the Singapore International Marathon has passed. As I've mentioned before, this is probably the closest thing we have to a world-class running event in and around our immediate geographical location. As always, the event was well run, although there are some things I would like to comment on this years' race:-

1. The race collection centre, located at the Singapore Exhibition and Expo Centre, while convenient and easily accessible by MRT (i.e. there is a station there), is a tad far.

2. The women's vest has changed slightly in design, which is a welcome change. Sadly though, the men's vest is exactly the same as the previous years'. I understand the need to keep the sponsors' colours but it was dead boring.

3. This years' race pack was pathetic. Only a Berocca, with (yawn) and another Deep Heat sachet.

As usual, the race collection centre was filled with poseurs who are more interested in style over substance. Plenty of branded stuff worn, plenty of BS being talked. I'd say, let your running do the talking!

Time for 21k- 1'41.11. Not too bad considering my lack of training in the crucial final 2 weeks (or less) leading up to the event. The 21k route has been changed and the marathoners and half-marathoners were pretty much separated from each other, so there were no usual problems associated with the half marathoners and marathoners merging and running along the same route. Although it was relatively flat, it was nonetheless tough. Not to mention the pain I experienced which felt like what can be best described as a hammer continuously knocking my right middle toe. When I removed my sock, I saw the "souvenir" in the form of a nice black toenail. Midway during the run as I began to suffer and the pain became more apparent, I was questioning myself-why do I choose to put myself through this torture every year. When I crossed the finishing line, I got my answer- a direct quote from Steve Prefontaine, who said "You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement."

Some sidenotes-
1. I ran in the Lunar Racers. The only time I truly felt comfortable running in them was my 2nd or 3rd time in them. Since then, the right shoe has developed 3 holes at the shoes upper. The so-called Flywire technology amounted to nought if you ask me. Maybe its the way that I run. I've had to perform emergency patch-work by placing a piece of cloth underneath the hole and sewing it with gray coloured thread over it.

2. Despite getting proper Nike socks for the shoes, I developed a blister on the same spot- my right Achilles. And after the race my right middle toe has developed a blood clot, which means that that particular toe nail will come off sometime in the next week or month, maybe.

3. I bought a new Timex watch at the expo when I went to collect my goodie bag. Before I could even put it on, the strap came off. I tried in vain to reconnect the pin into the strap and onto the watch. Thereafter I went to a City Chain store and the sales assistant successfully reconnected the strap to the watch, but when she pulled the strap ever so slightly it came off. She mentioned that there was something wrong with the pin. I tried calling the vendor of the watch yesterday but they were closed. With the marathon expo ending yesterday, I couldn't even ask for an exchange. And I'm going back to KL on Monday already, so it seems that there I can't change it in Singapore. Their warranty card does state that there is a dealer in Malaysia I can refer to, so I shall either go to one of those small watch shops and hopefully they'll store a pin of that size, or I'll go to the dealer in Malaysia.

So the shoes and the watch were the 2 things that irritated me because I had these things to do a day before my race. I wore the Lunar Racers anyway (hence the black toenail), and I wore one of my old watches, without any split function. If I do send it to the authorised dealer in Malaysia, they had better not charge me for the repair. I will see to that that does not happen.

Anyway enough of that. I have something to look forward to- my trip back to KL tomorrow! Will probably leave only in the afternoon, so no chance of a run. With my black toenail, I can barely walk on it anyway- I've been treading around gingerly, so I think I'll cycle on the stationary bike.

Phew! It was very hectic but the exams are finally over. I'm not entirely confident though. All the late nights/early mornings have reduced my immune system, causing me to sneeze at least 10 times, although I don't feel any onset of a cold, fever or flu. I think its just lack of rest, so that is something I need plenty of. I was tempted to run today after 2 days of inactivity but decided not to risk it as the race is this Sunday. Will start running again tomorrow, and another time on Friday before resting the entire day on Saturday. I just need some sleep.........