17
Mind over matter
Posted by HuiHui
on
12:35 PM
5 hours 24 minutes and 42.19km; that's what all the blood and sweat for the past 4 months had been boiled down to. This maiden marathon brought along so much the hope, pain, magic, rage, fantasy, disappointment and exhaustion, especially with the deteriorating health. X-ray, ECG, other tests on top of countless trying medicine not only drained my energy, weaken my body but also crushed my spirit; just 2 to 3 weeks before marathon. Who won't when you felt like a dead fish all the time? Luckily when I decided to shunt all the medicine a few days before the race, everything turned out to be okay (so far).
Went eagerly to collect our jersey at Queensbay on Friday night. Was so looking forward to know how many had actually signed up for FULL marathon, out of the whopping 21000 participants - Malaysia Book of Records of highest number of participants. To my surprise only 90+ signed up for women open, 300+ for men open and 300+ for men veteran. With that figure, I mentally prepared myself for the worst that would happen -> to be the last one to finish or to be the only one to board the bus back. Indeed at 2.30am on Sunday, I feel like a lamb entering the tigers' den. Very intimidating wait at the flagging off area. Had I not race that day, maybe I'll be able to enjoy the moments of been surrounded by muscular hunks better.
I was so thankful for the smooth first 30km run/walk. God knows how many bad run I had forced myself through throughout the training. To run when the stomach was so bloated, to run even as you see blood dripping, to run even when you had awful stomach ache and to run even when you feel like your spine is going to break.
The real game started after 30km, when glycogen running low and fatigue creeping up, when joint pain setting in and muscle cramp haunting every steps, when stomach nauseating, when the body giving up.... that's when the mind has to stay strong and sane. "Mind over matter" in that "hitting the wall" phenomenon is ALL that I was looking for in the marathon (definitely NOT the muscle & bulking up). Been there, done that. Mission accomplished at the moment I see the finishing line.
Last year, I wasn't that satisfied with my 5.8min/km half marathon. This year, I couldn't thank God enough for the 7.7min/km full marathon (finished 300++th out of ~800 marathoners), especially with so much hoo ha before the race. It was a perfect run despite all the pains. The sunrise was beautiful that morning when I limped past Intel. Well, it's definitely easier to say those words from the hind sight. But when I was limping, I almost swore ( "almost" because to swear a.k.a to use God's name in vain is forbidden ) to warn you all that:
NEVER sign up for marathon unless you enjoy:
Went eagerly to collect our jersey at Queensbay on Friday night. Was so looking forward to know how many had actually signed up for FULL marathon, out of the whopping 21000 participants - Malaysia Book of Records of highest number of participants. To my surprise only 90+ signed up for women open, 300+ for men open and 300+ for men veteran. With that figure, I mentally prepared myself for the worst that would happen -> to be the last one to finish or to be the only one to board the bus back. Indeed at 2.30am on Sunday, I feel like a lamb entering the tigers' den. Very intimidating wait at the flagging off area. Had I not race that day, maybe I'll be able to enjoy the moments of been surrounded by muscular hunks better.
I was so thankful for the smooth first 30km run/walk. God knows how many bad run I had forced myself through throughout the training. To run when the stomach was so bloated, to run even as you see blood dripping, to run even when you had awful stomach ache and to run even when you feel like your spine is going to break.
The real game started after 30km, when glycogen running low and fatigue creeping up, when joint pain setting in and muscle cramp haunting every steps, when stomach nauseating, when the body giving up.... that's when the mind has to stay strong and sane. "Mind over matter" in that "hitting the wall" phenomenon is ALL that I was looking for in the marathon (definitely NOT the muscle & bulking up). Been there, done that. Mission accomplished at the moment I see the finishing line.
Last year, I wasn't that satisfied with my 5.8min/km half marathon. This year, I couldn't thank God enough for the 7.7min/km full marathon (finished 300++th out of ~800 marathoners), especially with so much hoo ha before the race. It was a perfect run despite all the pains. The sunrise was beautiful that morning when I limped past Intel. Well, it's definitely easier to say those words from the hind sight. But when I was limping, I almost swore ( "almost" because to swear a.k.a to use God's name in vain is forbidden ) to warn you all that:
NEVER sign up for marathon unless you enjoy:
- blister ( until we found RM24 nike dry fit sock which works like magic )
- pain, plenty of it, everywhere
- being a running bore. neglecting people, life, social needs and other interest; in order to clock in enough mileage
- injury, everywhere
- tan - i've never been so tanned ever since i left school **snob, snob** had to intentionally run under the hot sun to adapt the heat for the actual day race
- diarrhea, stomach cramp after long run
- etc, etc, etc
Will spare you the details of the lonely journey of the agony last 10km. But, if you really want to "cari pasal" like me, please do some research to get some good marathon tips. It's a 'brutal' sport and can be fatal. For a start, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon .
The aftermath was milder that I expected. I can still drove down to Taiping for wedding dinner after marathon. MH drove us back at midnight. **applause,applause** On Monday, we can still bring my dad and uncle for sightseeing around Penang. Can even climbed all the way up the steep steps of the white pagoda at Kek Lok Si. Loving this energetic moments. I hope it will last forever. Go away, aging process. I want to be at this age forever. Yah!
The results http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_sports.php?id=269306
