Sunday Apr 22 2001

Target: 10 km!

Actual: 10 km

Time: 1:24:19.37

Pace: 8:26 /km or 13:29 /mi

Time of run: 6:40 am

Route: Two-trees to Lover's end, u-turn back all the way to New Jetty, u turn back to Two-Trees for the "Replenishment Walk", resume to Lover's End, u-turn back to New Jetty, u-turn for finish line at Two-Trees.

Weather: Clear skies, warm. No breeze, slightly humid. Low tide.

Post run weight: 158 lbs. (with one can 100-plus and a bungkus of Nescafe Ais)

Comments: Wow! A personal record. This is the longest distance I've ever ran. (I expect to repeat these statements every weekend - hahaha!) I started it with a real slow pace, at the 1st km I was surprised to see about 9 mins had passed. Well, I admit I held back to conserve energy for the later stages of the run. Breathing was simply super-duper today, simply excellent. Since I held back, I did not experience the "tingles" of fatigue like during my regular workout. At the 5 km point, the "Replenishing Walk" went better than I expected. It was a "walk, unlock car, grab drink, lock car, walk & drink, discard, and resume" affair. The can of 100-plus was gone in a jiffy though, felt like no replenishment at all, hehehe! All went fine, even surpassing 7 km. Then at about 8 km my left leg felt like turning into wood, i.e. felt like cramping. I went slower and slower until I had to break into a hobbled walk for about 100 steps, then resumed. Left leg acted up again, so I walked-ran a few times until the wooden effect dissipated. With the symptom gone, my pace resumed, and at 9km I felt I had some reserves left, so I picked up the pace until the "finish line". Whew! What a GREAT run!

And wow! Even with the walk breaks, my pace was 8:26 / km, and that, I think, is not too bad at all. Given I can repeat today's performance, I can easily get a finisher's cert in this year's 10k FIZ run (90 min qualifying time). Yeah!! Awesome!! And even better, if I maintain the pace throughout my training, then I surely can finish before 10 am on Race Day. Yeah, I won't get a cert or anything, but at least I'll finish the race. Yeahhh!! Cool! Awesome!!

Another interesting fact is that I've ran close to half the race distance today. So now at least I know I can complete half the race, i.e. run the bridge all the way to the other end. Does that mean I'm now a Quarter Marathoner? Hahaha!! One thing I'm wary about is the heat. Even at 8am, the sunshine is quite strong. I'll expect I'll have to replenish a lot on the final return leg of the bridge run.

Post run: Cool down walk of about 1km, and a post-run Nescafe Ais Bungkus at Biker's Pass. A day of rest yesterday was worth it. Same left foot sores, but less severe than Friday, maybe due to slower pace. Right leg has no problems at all.

Shoe thoughts: Went to look at some shoes yesterday at the Bukit Jambul Complex, and none caught my fancy. Shoe shops usually know didley swat about running shoes unless the salesman is a runner himself, which is the case for only one shop I've found in Komtar. For the past 5 years, all my running shoes were bought there. I'm more inclined to buy shoes I've read reviews about, usually in Runner's World magazine or Runner's World Online, than to buy a shoe blindly.