10km run BIM

I am a 10km finisher for this year's Borneo International Marathon. Never mind others ran faster or ran farther. I'm just glad I followed through what I said I'd do earlier this year.
Two days before, I had felt the tell-tale flu signs coming out. Sneezing, blocked nose, greenish nose mucous.. and mild fever. Ate some flu meds to try and halt the attack. My period came early as well..dang.

Small matter, said I to myself.

Slept around 9 pm last night and woke up after clicking off the snooze alarm TWICE on my mobile phone. Got ready and drove to Likas Stadium. Wah..what a sea of yellow-shirted runners! (yellow being the NB sponsored running shirt).
Saw Dr.Khairul(one of my Oral Surgeon who did my jaw surgery), Dr.Fatimah (my orthodontist), said 'hi' and they took pics with me. Saw JJ and Ian (Hitz.fm dee jays), and had an IanWright moment.. Cuaiii..



Chuckled when I overheard this dialogue from a participating runner somewhere to my back.
"hey, i see JJ and Ian."
"yah, they running oso."
"Which one's JJ ah?

Whaaatt?.. So obvious didn't know who from who.



I was standing probably 15feet behind from the starting arch so when the horn was sounded to indicate the start of the race, plenty of runners had an early running start. I adjusted my own Casio wristwatch and clicked on start to mark my run. Wah..this is it! I thought. Jog jog jog... Saw runners pass me by, some were impatient (or ate too much energy gel?) and ran along the grass on the road dividers. The only reasons why I would jog a bit faster was to escape halitosis from front runners or of course, the runners in front had slowed down.

By the 4.5km mark, I had begun to feel cold from the morning city breeze.
jog jog jog...
pass the drinks counter..
"water...water...water..."
Grab
"100 plus..100 plus..100 plus..."
Grab

Saw some radio friends standing on the roadside.

Me : OTO -san!! *wave* ..OTO-san!!...OTO-san looked a bit lost..then as recognition came, smiled.
jog jog jog..
Me : Kilo Zulu Mike!! *wave*
KZM : hai Nat!! *waves back*

Jog walk jog walk...

By the 5km mark.. felt relief.. 5km more to go..
I heard Skylar Lane's song "I'm Coming Home" playing in my head.. wheeee..

by the 6km mark.. i was frothing at the mouth and the nose..I think..
I had loosened the laces of my right shoe earlier..now I had to loosen the one on the left.. are my feet swelling?
My knees also had started to tingle and I could feel mild pain.. Oh gawd..my knees are unhinging themselves..

Jog jog walk walk..

Saw this older Indian fella in front of me and decided to make him my pacemaker.. Tsk tsk.. and I thought..If old Uncle Muthu with the swollen (bandaged) right knee can run.. why can't I?

Walk jog walk walk jog..

I'd jog pass Uncle Muthu..walk..and Uncle Muthu would catch up..and I'd jog some more.. till Ahhhaa.. passed Uncle Muthu definitely.. (D-uh.. pacing with an old uncle)

Walk walk jog jog... jog dammit..jog.. knees so pancit!!

Aaaaanyway.. when I passed the finishing line..got my 10km finisher medal..i looked at my watch..timed out at 1hour 28minutes..

Not bad.. not bad at-tall.. for someone who hadn't had much practice run. :)