Real Run

I wonder why they called this the real run.

Well went for this. Thought I'd get an early night before the run, but there was dinner with some old friends. So I took an afternoon nap. I think I more or less napped this weekend away. Then there was the sudden appearance of Wong Li Lin and Allen Wu. The first time I saw her in the flesh while not 7 months pregnant. We were at Dan Ryan's. This is the 3rd time I was in Dan Ryan's. The first was in 1993, the second was last week, and by coincidence the dinner took place here again. I remember the 1993 occasion when I went there because it was 1 week after I had finished a 20k route march at scouts and it was almost like a reward to go there.

So incredibly I got up with the alarm sounded. It was 5. By the time I had fully woken up (I'm cold blooded so it takes a while.) and checked the internet for soccer results (what the fuck happened to Man City?) it was 5.30. But still OK. Drove to Changi. Today was one of the rare times I drove the manual car without getting horned at or into a near accident, so I'm glad. I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up at Changi Naval base. This is scary, I could have been blown up by JI operatives. So when I got there there was a massive traffic jam (which is weird, a traffic jam that far away from civilisation.)

Bumped into a friend who had left my company, it's interesting like that. It's nice to be running with everybody like this. I used to hate exercising because I was always running alone. I started exercising every week and making this a compulsory routine around the turn of the century, so it was nice for a while, some structure and discipline in your life. But then it became a chore. Many chicks who are physically fit. It's good to have things to watch when you're running, although mostly you're just overtaking or being overtaken. You turn to one side and you can see planes taking off and landing. Then after that you can see nicely toned bared midriffs as flat as those runways. And sometimes you get hot teenagers in St Johns' Ambulance uniforms. Fairly pleasant.

Yes, I'm alone, though. Shingot and Nat were supposed to be here but for various reasons they opted out.

I think, though, I can only run 5k at a time. What happens is that I run roughly 5k, then I take a rest and walk, then repeat. Think this is how it's going to be in the marathon. I don't have a steady running pace I can sustain from start to finish. I didn't feel like I was going to die at the finishing point although I was tired enough as it was.

Was a hot day. Just as well most of the route was shaded. Good for them. There weren't 4 different surfaces. Just 2: asphalt and sand. And for the beach run everybody copped out and trampled on the money plants next to the beach, either to avoid the sun, or to avoid the sand, which bogs you down. Other than that, not much complains. They know how to time this run, it's quite obviously a dress rehearsal for stanchart marathon.

Timing was crap - 1:59 for 15k. If I extrapolate this linearly (take into account I don't have to run on sand), then it should take me 2:40 to finish a half marathon. Was never really that much a sportsmen. I'm just doing it, getting the T shirt and then moving on.

Oh, there's this very interesting boil that I got on my left foot. Like the liquid in there was red, so there must have been some blood mixed with it. I pricked it with a needle, and already got ready the tissue. But it was a splatterfest, just like a horror film. That's cool.