I've done it again!

The Army Half Marathon that is!

A race that I almost didn't start. The training which I hardly got into. With knees that caused me to doubt if I should even do it. All the odds were against me going to the start line. With the hubs and helper away, who was going to sort out the kids? What if I couldn't play tennis for a long time to come because of my knees? V and I already had discussed the week before, and somehow instead of egging each other on, we were almost on the brink of giving up, even before we even started! I'm so glad we got there in the end... never mind that I went with the intention of walking as soon as my knees started to complain... never mind that I was prepared to clock a worse time than last year given the lack of training especially in the last 2 weeks without any help at home...never mind the I didn't get much sleep the night before. (D woke at 3am, and I couldn't get back to sleep)

BUT I DID IT! In 2:37.30. 9 minutes faster than last year. At a faster pace as well. runpix.com says I ran the first 11km at 7.6kph, and the next 10 km at 8.6kph! Wow! I surprised myself! I felt good throughout the run. Knees started to ache at about 9km, but I knew that was not going to stop me. I wanted to get to the 15-16km mark, and then decide what to do after that. When I got there, I felt better than ever, and just kept going! It helped that the route this year was much more enjoyable, taking us past Marina Bay sands, and again along the F1 track. The end was also much less demoralising, as there were no u-turns after the Nicoll Highway as they did last year, and no bottle-necks where the 21 and 10 km runners met.

Post-run, I had some knee swelling, and pain in my feet, but today, the day after, I have no post-race effects to speak of, other than mild muscle soreness! The knees feel great!

After the race yesterday, the adrenaline high took me through the whole day, even managing to take the 3 kids to watch Sesame Street live on stage in the afternoon.

I finally hit the sack at 930pm with the kids, feeling thankful that the Lord took me through the race, and the day, full of energy, preserving my body, and teaching me that in any race we will never see the finish line if we give up even before the race has begun...

Denise