Back in June, I never thought I would end the year running in a 12k race. I was pretty out of shape then, barely completing 3k in a single run.
After the Mizuno Run, I was bitten hard by the running bug. Before I realize it I was running 5 times a week; over 3 evenings, and Saturday and Sunday.
It felt liberating, pushing my body to do things I never thought it could do, and as I picked up more speed and distance, it felt like I could keep on improving.
Alas, the frailties of my body began to show, and I realized that I was not superman after all. First came the shin splints, which luckily was overcome by changing the running technique. Then came a painful ankle sprain after a long run one Saturday. I was in pain for more than a month and had to wear an ankle support. And finally, I was hit with ITB syndrome towards the end of the recent Malakoff Run which, again was probably due to improper running technique.
Getting all these injuries reminded me why I wasn't too much of a sportsman during my younger days. I got acquainted with the anti-inflammatory powers of Ibuprofen, which greatly relieved the pain and the swelling.
Sometimes my wife would look at me as I stood at the door in the evening putting on my running shoes, shaking her head as she wondered what crazy thing has possessed me to torture myself :)
The Malakoff Run was a weird 2 laps of 6 km, no thanks to a last minute safety concern of running on a highway, but it provided a rare opportunity of watching the front runners in action, who usually zoom off into the horizon after the starting gun goes off. And my, are those guys fast. They were practically sprinting, eating up the hills like they were nothing. And among that group of elites was a 50 plus Chinese uncle!
I finished painfully in 1:15, hardly my best effort. But as I reflected on the past six months of running, I only remember the joy and exhilaration. Looking forward to another year of running in 2009!
