Another item ticked off

Do you have a list of to do things that you wish to accomplish in life?

Well, this past weekend, another item was ticked off on mine. It was never on my "to do" list until recently. As some of you know, the hubs has been running quite a bit. Well, he decided he needed company for a 10km run, and who else best to buudy him but his wifey. Well, I have never been a runner. Never could run in school, never did. BUT, because he needed company, I signed up with him, and going for a 10km race became an item on my "to do" list.

I have been walking long, long distances recently, first 3km, then 5 km, 6.5 km, 8km and then 9km - but no running. You see, everytime I tried to run, my knees just wouldnt co-operate. So I didnt want to push it. So I decided that I would walk the 10km while he ran. We would then meet at the finish point.

Well, I dreaded the thought of the 'run'. Imagine, my poor lonesome self walking 10km all by myself. How sad, lonely and boring that would be. BUT a wife has to do what a wife has to do , and go with the hubs!!

So yesterday at 6am, saw hubby and I making our way to the starting point of the Nike 10km Singapore run. As the start time approached, hubs inched nearer and nearer to the starting line. There were 12000 runners that morning, and he wanted to start near the front as he wanted to achieve a time of under 1 hour. As he inched nearer to the front of the crowds, his wife followed him. For me, my objective was to finish the race, and if possible to do it in under 100 minutes (averaging 10 minutes a km).

Well, when the starting horn sounded, hubs said goodbye and he was on his way. Poor ol' me found myself all alone in a huge crowd of people all running, and being near the front, I had no choice but to run along, or I am sure I would have been scolded (or even cursed) by those behind me, for being near the front and yet not running for a running event!!

Well, my legs, the adrenalin, and the crowd "carried" me for about 1.5km, before I decided I could run no more, and started walking. MY brisk walking was actually as good as some people's running. I used people as pacers. As I neared the 5km mark,I heard the announcement that the winner for the event had already completed the run! Still I pushed on when I found that my walking was in pace with the lady in the green shorts who was running near me all along since the start. But as we approached the 7km mark, I saw Ms green shorts pull away from me. It was the water break that slowed me down. I then decided to use another lady as a marker as I had noticed her going at my pace all along the run. AS we approached the 8km mark, it was really tough as we had to go down a "tunnel" and then up again. Having trained on a flat walk path, having to go up the incline was a torture. Fortunately, there was a DJ blasting music there, and that spurred me on to run out of that "tunnel", as I couldnt take the loud head pounding music that was played.

About 20m from the finish line, I saw a young girl collapse! GASP! Fortunately there was medical personnel around to help her. I then whipped out my camera to capture my time as I approached the finish line.

I finished in under 1 hour 33 minutes. Well ahead of my personal target, and in front of a quite a few hundreds of people!! Well, I think I am going to hang up my running shoes for a while. My thighs are now aching and the knees are complaining. The next big event we are going for is the New Paper Big Walk in November. But that is only 4km, and I think with a 10km under my belt, it should be a piece of cake!!