KLIM 10k race report

hehe.. sorry.. advertise diri sendiri kat sini :) Hopefully more runners will come from Taiping batch 9495! Aini MY FIRST 10 K - taken from here Can we fix it? YES WE CAN! I woke up for KLIM at 5am n determined to run my 10k event. A stiff neck has been plaguing me since wednesday. I'm not sure whether the swim or my lousy pillow was the cause of it. Had a bath n woke up hubby to send me. Got out of the hse at 5.40, stopped at 7-11 to buy Gatorade n Mars bar - post-run snack. Arrived at the carpark near lake gardens at 6.10am and walked to Dataran. Put my stuff at the designated area n started warming up. Stretched a bit, ran a bit. Then checked in near the starting line. A few minutes in the starting box, the announcer said, 4 runner from 42k were approaching the starting line. The marathon started at 4.30.. which meant that they finish less than 2:30 hrs! At 7 am, we were released from the starting line. There were so many ppl that I can only run properly 20 seconds later. Not far from the start was an easy slope n then was the roundabout near KTM. Right after the roundabout was a flyover! Man, I was reduced to a very very small stride(if I can even call it a stride) n many were already walking. NO WALKING was the order of the day, for me at least. Breathing was every 2 steps. Somehow, my heart rate gone haywire, probably due to the muscle relaxant pill that I took the night before. Muscle relaxant? What was I thinking??! The doc gave me the drug for my aching muscles but I think, it has an effect on my heart(heart is made up of muscles) n my guess was my heart was working extra hard to pump blood in my body. Why was I so clever to take the pill the night before???!! The rest of the run was a struggle for me. It was a juggling act, if I can call it that. My legs were OK, back didn't hurt, but my neck was the main problem. It was so bad that it actually caused a headache N just imagine having to run 10k with a splitting headache. Run too fast, my heart would be pounding too fast n my headache was so bad that I can only half-open my left eye. Dalam hati, This is the last run that I'm going to enter.. no more after this!(Hubby would be happy to hear this) Especially not when I am experiencing crazy headache n a stiff neck like this. At the first water station, I took a cup of water n splashed it to my face. Lega. A few times on the run, I drank Gatorade while running. I was already behind the pack n stopping for a drink will slow me down even more. One guy was taunting me about the bottle in my hand. I told him, just in case they don't provide any water, at least I know that I'd be OK. Hehehe(SMART tunnel run sounds familiar?) In front of Westin, I was beat already. Kept looking at the signboards.. Bila la nak sampai Dataran ni? In front of Sogo, I asked one guy, Do u know how far along is Dataran from here? He said, I think about 1, 2km away. I looked at my watch n said, it's late already(my watch was showing 1:08 and cut off was 1:30). He said, Just enjoy the run, janji habis! Yeah true. As long as you finish, u are already a winner in your own right. The longest long run that I've done was 80 minutes. About 500m to finish line, it was already 1:20! 500m more to go! I thought of sprinting but the headache was too much to handle, so I'd better stick to my pace. I was afraid that if I go any faster, I'd faint before reaching the finish line. 100m to finish line, I had to stifle my tears. I could see the finish line from where I was running. It was overwhelming, to think that I had a slip in the bathroom 10 days ago, running while nursing a stiff neck n sore shoulder muscles and a deadly headache. I managed to finish in 1:25. I survived, Alhamdulillah! Back home, I showed my medal to my family at the dinner table(my parents were around). Hubby didn't look too impressed(probably controlling his happiness for his wife HAHA I wish), but my dad was ecstatic. The gem of the day surprisingly came from my mom's mouth: "Ada la yg ikut jejak ayah macam ni.." My dad was active during his youth, in athletics n sports of almost all kinds. N he would always bring a medal or a cup home after his matches. There's a cupboard full of trophies n medals at home n a few of my medals n trophies in the cupboard too(from my netball n sprinting days). My dad was smiling from ear to ear during lunch. He kept on asking me, "U ran 10k? How long did it take u?" I told him, "Normally I could do it in 1:10 but I wasn't feeling too good today, so my timing was 1:25." Then he asked me, "What's the next running event after this?" Aik! Is he planning to run 10k too?? C'mon ayah! We can run together!