Monday Mumbles

Dinner at Nando's ... RM20.95 after tax. *gasp*



I ran about 42KM over the weekend and I feel giddy with achievement! =D

27KM on Saturday and about 15KM on Sunday, so can I not be proud of staggering through the distance? Yay, me!

Last Saturday's run marked the last of my Long Slow Distance runs and I'm kinda glad that I'm almost done with my marathon training. It has been a struggle to wake up before 6am just to ensure that I complete my run done before 10am and only to stay awake through the afternoon with a glazed look upon my face.

It was quite tough to have covered the distance without power gel nor isotonic drinks, and I felt really foolish to be so ill-prepared. I was having my regular battle with my fat butt to get out of bed the minute the alarm rang. Sigh. So upon wasting almost an hour, I disregarded the need for power gel.

If you were right behind me during KM21 to KM25, you would have heard me repeatedly swearing at myself. I was mad at myself for being weak, and the lack of stamina and endurance frustrated me immensely. I came to realise two mistakes that morning: 1) the first 10KM felt too fast (but I think I was about the right pace); and 2) not having power gel or something to the equivalent to power me up after KM12 was a huge mistake.

I was more angry at myself this time instead of being dejected during my 32KM run the week before.

Trail running on Sunday morning on the other hand, was so much fun! I'm sure it was because I was running with a bunch of clowns who were good sports to see everything from a humourous perspective. You need this sort of people to make every activity a fun one, going through the pain and misery of climbing one hill after another in togetherness.

The funny thing was that we only had 2 things in common, the first being running as our hobby and the second being part of the GCAM run clinic. It was no surprise that our regular topic of conversation fell back onto our coach/dato/dr Jamie, him disliking trail running yet scampering uphills with such luxurious ease. 

There was just so much laughter that I can laugh again as I recall yesterday's morning run. ;D

But then came an emergency of somewhat which snapped me to my senses. With no knowledge of first aid or girl scout skills, I was worried that I had to deal with a fainted friend and it would be my responsibility. Thank goodness he did not faint but the panic in his voice made ME panic and I was on the verge of freaking out, too!

Almost.

And of all days to have left my phone at home ... what the hell.

I could only call Jamie with CY's phone to call Nick to come back up Steroid Hill to help us out, and the guys came running up, 20 minutes later or so. CY and I laughed as we imagined Nick's horror and mortification of having to run back up the blasted hill just to help us out.

But being good sports and friends as they are, everyone came back up with a can of 100plus each and offered their advice and help. I'm sorry but we were hopelessly making jokes as usual. There was no way you could stop us all from having some laughs!

But in all seriousness, we decided that we needed to know some basic first aid or take a first aid course as should we need to assist another runner again during a run, such knowledge would be vital. 

Having said that, while trail running, one would always have to be equipped for such emergencies. I only had a tub of salt to kill leeches and some sports jelly beans. Great help they were. *roll eyes*

(But there were plenty of leeches so the salt came in handy!)

In terms of health and safety, it is also important to know your limitations and concerns before and during the run. If you have any concerns, do voice it out immediately and we will be able to arrange something together. Only you are able to gauge your capability and your body's signals.

Trail running and hiking are both serious business, that's all I can say.

My knee is a bit better now. Resting on Friday must have eased it a bit as it did not hamper both my weekend runs. I'm making sure that I'm not skipping my glucosamine anymore (as I'm not a fan of routine, taking my supplements on a daily basis is very difficult or me) and I'm keeping the knee guard on.


Oh, crap.

I was hoping to make this a non-running related post but oops, there I went again.
So sorry.

I will put up some food pictures tomorrow.