I am proud of myself!
As a command appointment holder in my National Service Police “D” division, I was being asked to take part in this real run that was jointly organized by SCDF and SPF. I thought since I am working towards my year-end work plan to complete my first full marathon under my run for my life project, it was a good training interval. It was a time where I harvest the fruits of my 3 months plus training.
I had invested significant amount of my time and effort in preparing for my year-end full marathon. Needless to say, the training was tough. Learning from the lesson of Sundown, I knew that I can’t take any 21 km run for granted and so I have persevered throughout these period of intense training.
From a health perspective, the training was very good. It had helped me achieved the two key goals in a systematic way: (1) It had helped me lost weight. From my incredibly heavy weight of 88 kg when I did my Sundown half marathon to the current 74.5 kg, I have come a long way; (2) It had made me very fit. Given the nice schedule of Real Run (just slightly less than 2 months for my full marathon), it served as a good point of reference for me to see how much I can push after all these months of training. I wasn’t disappointed.
On 16 Oct 2011, I have completed the New Balance Real Run 21 km. It was arguably one of the toughest 21 km in Singapore. Having a few km on a trail and a few km on the beach and the rest largely on the road. I have completed the half marathon at my personal best timing: 02h:14m:36s. Compared this with my Sundown Half Marathon official timing of 03h:27m:43s on 28 May 2011, I have improved my timing by close to 1h:13m. That was a really impressive result by any of my standard. I probably could do better if not for the beach run and the hot weather.
A sense of pride and confident overwhelms me when I reflected upon this long journey towards running. I have overcome one hurdle after another. Started with Army 10 km in Sept 2010, then Standard Chartered 21 km in Dec 2010, then 2XU Compression 12 km in April 2011, then Sundown 21 km in May 2011, and now New Balance Real Run 21 km in Oct 2011. I have witnessed the dramatic transformation of my physique and my will power. Applying what I have learnt in running to life, I have rediscovered myself especially what I am capable of once I put my heart and soul to something. When I started this journey in June 2010, I have never thought I can come this far and become this good with something that I never thought possible in the past. As a result, I have learnt to trust my instinct more now. I have developed a strong confidence about my ability to deliver.
It reminds me of the famous saying: “When there is a will, there is a way”. I will never let anyone tells me otherwise.
Posted by Viva la health – a “Run for my life” update « 牛牛Babe's Blog on December 14, 2011 at 10:48 am
[...] (see here for my initial workplan): (1) Sundown half marathon; (2) 2XU compression run 12 km; (3) New Balance Real Run half marathon; (4) IPPT incentive pass (IPPT running passing timing: 11.18 minutes); and (5) Standard Chartered [...]