Road to ING New York City Marathon 2012 - Episode 2
A great day (Picture courtesy of Tee Morgan) |
51 days to Gold Coast Half Marathon
177 days to ING New York City Marathon
But today, I wasn't only managed to RUN the whole distance but my legs felt good and I was not totally drained. I still have some steam left to keep going if I want to. It was my best run ever. I even recorded my Personal Best time for 10KM en route (1:01:13 hrs). Well my 6'10"/KM running pace wasn't actually running in a true sense of word. It is more like jogging for most people and I was miles behind the rest of the guys in my running club.
I was running solo the whole way. Entertaining myself with my own thoughts. It was a scorching hot morning with 33 degrees Celcius when we started and rose to 37, but it did not bother me that much. Maybe I was not thinking about it too much. I was concentrating to keep an even pace. I was hoping to regroup with the group at the water stop, but no one waits for me. What happen to "No one left behind" I thought. I was quite sad to be honest. What's the point of running with a group if you were left alone. But then, I realised, that is what actually happen in the real race. No one will wait for you. So stop sulking already. I was not sure about the route after the water stop. I saw someone running at the Diplomatic Road, so I went. But I remember that we were supposed to continue to the West Bay beach near the Inter Continental Hotel, so I turned left and went into the road near the big white villa near Rainbow Roundabout. Then a guard with a rifle chased me away and shouted something in Arabic. I later found out that the big white villa was a Sheikha's house. I went back to the Diplomatic Road and ran towards the Corniche. I was totally alone and confused. There is no way I could catch up with the rest of the group. Then I remember my kakak May Lee aka my fitness coach's advice, not to compete with anyone and run at my own pace. I felt good after that. It was 11.9km when I arrived at the 0.00 marker, so I continued the remaining distance on the Corniche. Well I may be the slowest, but I am the one with the "IM IN. To finish 2012" badge. I will be running in the New York F*%^#ng Marathon in November and I can only get better. I am still on track to achieve my goal to finish the 42.2 km sub 4:30:00. Thank you Doha Bay Running Club for all the support and motivation.
Next week I will be running with the Fun group at the desert track in Izghawa. At least I wont be left behind, so I hope. I am far from able to run with the elites of the club at this moment.
I managed to run at a steady pace |
Today's split |
Pre run pic (Courtesy of Tee Morgan) |
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