Have (Healthy) Knees, Will Run

Last Sunday, Sept 9th 2012, I did something totally out of my norm. I woke up really early at 4.30 am, took my bath and went for a simple McMuffin at a McD near Sunway Pyramid with my husband. Waking up that early on a Sunday was not normal for me. What's more abnormal was that I sacrificed my (beauty) sleep to run. 

My husband and I took part in the 2012 adidas King of the Road (KOTR) Malaysia. It's actually an annual event organised by adidas in 5 Southeast Asia countries (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore). There were 2 categories in the KOTR M'sia leg we went to : 10km and 16.8km. Well, of course, a self-proclaimed short-distance runner like me would naturally avoid any running event that is longer than 400m. I have to say, throughout the last 29 years, the longest distance I've ran at any one time was a 5.2km. That was in May 2012 when Standard Chartered held a pre-Standard Chartered KL Marathon event in Putrajaya. And my 5.2km, for goodness sake, was only a Fun Run category. :-)

Almost 5 months after my biggest achievement (I meant the 5.2km), I made myself to believe that I could hit the road and run again. This time around, let's double the distance. 

Yeah, I ran the 10km on Sunday. How did I feel about the run? 

At the starting line : **yawned** sleepy, with butterflies in my stomach

After flag off : kind of dizzy seeing runners of all sorts of sizes & shapes running past my husband & I 

At 1km mark : "What am I doing here?"

At 4km mark : "Where's the finish line?"

At 5km mark : "Shoot.. She's here. I can't let her overtake me".. (read : She = an ex-colleague I was not so fond of)

At 7km mark : Body finally warmed up and felt lighter. Suddenly blown by the running spirit, especially when seeing many runners became walkers. 

At 8km mark : Pain felt at the toenails. New pair of Skechers failing on me? Please, don't.

At ~8.5km mark : "Shoot!!! I'm not going to make it in 100 mins." Checking on my feet now. There you go, black toenails on both right and left feet. No excuses now. Just <2km more.

At 9km mark : When seeing an official photographer snapping away photos at the right side of the road, "Dammit!!! Why am I always on the wrong side of the road?". My husband was spotted, twice!!

At 10km mark : "Where's my husband?"

My unofficial 10km timing was around 1:32:53 (10.72km was logged from MapMyRun which I had switched on in my pocket the whole time). Not a fast time, I know. But hey, it's still MY personal best. :-)

After 3 days, I still have the black toenails. Decided to take matters into my own hand, I popped the fluid out. No pictures of the 'surgery', though. That's 18SG-rated. Plus, it's gross.

Despite getting the black toenails on my first major running event, I have a feeling that I'll be hitting the road again. Just like the recent KOTR, I just loved the way I felt and looked after getting a real good workout. The other plus point was, I got myself a fancy Finisher medal. Weeeheee...

But I guess the best part was just spending time with your special person, running on the road, feeling young, and believing that you're just as capable...

Now, let's get back to the physiotherapy session, pls...

p/s : photos from facebook, courtesy of Mr Daddy..