Picture courtesy of Ben Swee.This is my 1st "race" after my surgery recently. After a one-month lay-off with zero activites - not even cycling, I knew my fitness level is far off the level I need for a competition. I struggled all the way to-and-back Hartamas last Sunday - I took almost 2 hours for a run that could be finished in 1 1/2 hours.
As I planned to treat this 11-km run as a Sunday morning work-out, I queued quite a distance from the starting line, together with Ironman Lee Puh Heng, IM-wannabie Bobby Wong and come-back-kid Tan Chee Wee.
As soon as honk went off, we were sandwiched by crowd of runners. Obviously, the response for this zero-entry-fee race is overwhelming! Suddenly I felt the urge to go loo, so I ran to the nearby McDonald outlet to ease myself - it's kind of first for me in this run.
After that "pit-stop", I waited for a while as I knew the organiser is going to release the female "bulls" soon. True enough, the honk sounded for the second time and within seconds, I saw Lian, Lee Chin, Yu Fang, Michelle Tan and other top ladies came charging.
Suddenly my wife called out, "Hey! What are you doing here?". I told her I would like to pace with her. And off we went.
Her pace was fantastic. I felt quite comfortable throughout. I led on the uphills and she was ahead at the downhills. It felt like two oranges rolling and see who gets to the finishing line first!
With about 5km to go, my wife signalled me to go ahead as she is still tired, recovering from her recent 3-day ritual walk from Batu Caves to Maran (total distance 204km). We bade farewell to each other. I increased my pace and soon I found a new pacer in Lok Jr. This 16-year-old young man is excellent and fast. I just followed him closely and prayed hard that I could cope and not be outrun by him!
Thank goodness, my prayer was answered and I managed to pull away with about 1km to go. I felt really good as I could still finish strong. And not forgetting to thank my two pacers - my wife for her consistency and Lok Jr for his speed. It was indeed a good work-out!
Next stop: Bidor Half Marathon on 26 April 2009 - A test of endurance for me.
