30 List: #6 Take Part In A Sporting Event

Posted on 03.04.10 to 30 List, Family, Personal by Joan

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My sister, Bernice, and I before the run. Excuse the pimples. My body may think I’m 30, my face still thinks I’m a teenager.

My 19-year-old sister (NINETEEN! I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’S ALREADY NINETEEN! I cleaned up her poop when she was a baby!), Bernice, decided to help nudge me along my 30 List by asking me sometime ago if I wanted to do a running event with her. I decided to to go for the Safari Run because [a] it was two days before my birthday; [b] it was 6.2km (and not some ridiculous number like 10!); [c] it was in the zoo so even if I couldn’t run, I could enjoy the animals.

The problem was, I didn’t anticipate wrecking my body from the mountain climb, and I did it a week before the run. So I spent most of the week recovering from it, didn’t train (again!), and was actually still in a little bit of pain during the run. I was worried because the most I ever ran was 3-4km at one go. 6.2km sounded like a massive effort.

Strangely enough, despite the fact that I was complaining a lot in the first half (I LOVE YOU BERNICE FOR PUTTING UP WITH IT), I kicked into cruise mode after that and the run was actually doable! Kinabalu has changed my life in so many amazing ways, but the most notable of all, has got to be my fitness level. However, I nearly killed myself by drinking too much water in the beginning. I was terrified of getting dehydrated, like I did in Kinabalu, so I stopped at every rest point for some water. Mid-way, I felt like puking all the water out so I stopped! Other than that, I was surprised that I finished the run without much fuss.

Although, 200m before the finish line, I ran over some gravel and just as my sister was warning me to be careful (I’m the super clumsy one in the family with weak ankles) my ankle gave way and I fell. SPLAT! I ploughed my phone right through the gravel too. That hurt as much as my scraped knee. But because we were so close to the finish line, I told my sister that we should pretend to run through it because our photographs were being taken. So, painful ankle and bleeding knee, I finished with a flourish.

I’m glad I did the run with Bernice too because it was such a great bonding session for us. We’re both so caught up with our own lives, and because we don’t live together, it’s so easy to take each other for granted.

I was so inspired by the run that I decided to start a new resolution this year: keep up with the fitness level I’m at (if not, increase it), and lose 1kg a month. So far, I’ve been running a few times a week, 4-5km each time, and I actually feel fine. I have been monitoring my weight and runs like a nazi. But this past week though because I have been doing a lot of other outdoor activities too that are making every other muscle in my body hurt. I’m slowly losing weight too and I generally feel great! Way less sluggish and healthier. Maybe I’ll be ready to take on Kinabalu again in no time!

After the run, too weak to aim the camera properly. We were more eager to eat the free ice-cream given to us instead. Yes, that’s the only reason why we ran — free ice-cream and 100PLUS.

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