After much sweating at the gym, I completed the 10K race – without embarrassing myself by kneeling over or getting picked up by the bus (which happens when one is so slow that they’re blocking traffic). Indeed, I managed to keep running the whole way (albeit at a snails pace. People were walking faster than I run), and completed the race in 1 hour and 9 minutes!!

I’m slightly amazed myself. According to primary school maths, that means I ran at an average speed of 8.7 km/hr. A speed at which I’ve never even managed to do on the treadmill for 20 minutes – even if I have very good TV show. But I’ve decided to attribute it to one of the differences between running indoors and outdoors.

Despite the ungodly hour of the race (at 7:35am, I had to wake up at 5:30am on a Sunday!), and the unfortunate weather (for a while, it was like running inside a shower – evidenced by the condition of my number bib above), it was an incredibly satisfying experience. There were so many points at which I wanted to stop and take a breath (especially at around 6K, I couldn’t believe I was only a little more than half way through!). But seeing all the people around me still running, especially the girl in the Stitch costume (I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must have been to be running wrapped in wet fur!), pushed me to keep going. And once I hit 8K, well I figured that I owed it to myself to keep going, since I’ve come so far. And then, it was the final surge to the finish line! There’s something to be said about persevering and overcoming a personal goal, even though your lungs are bursting and your thighs are screaming. For my next 10K race in February, I hope to complete the race within 1 hour!

I’ve come a long way from my high school days, when I couldn’t even run to the second pagoda (around 2K) without stopping to catch my breath.