Productive Procrastinator

Woke up at 4 am to catch a bus to Disneyland.    Disneyland in the wee hours is not much different from Disneyland at night.  This photo of the fountain was taken around 6 am. Sunrise wouldn’t occur for another 15 minutes.

The race started at 7 am.   There were apparently in excess of 3000 participants for the half-marathon.

On the countdown to start at the stroke of 7:
“7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!”

Everyone then started walking.  It’s difficult to job if there isn’t any space.  I may post the photos when I get them off my friend.  Yes, one physics graduate, and two physics PhD students doing a half-marathon.

It was fun.  I hadn’t trained for 2 weeks before this, due to exams, and the freezing week we had.  Nevertheless, I managed to run 16 Km without stopping.  Then my mind lost the mental battle with my complaining thighs, and I had to walk for a bit and stretch my muscles to stop them from cramping.   Final time taken – 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Not too shabby.

The entire experience was a first for me.  Having over 3000 participants meant that the actual line of runners was probably over 1 Km long.  Most of the people around me looked very fit.  No stick figure limbs to be seen.  The actual jogging was very different from when I usually train.  Running as a pack helps drive you on.  I spent most of my first half of the race searching for a suitable stalking candidate who could help set my pace.  I finally settled on a long ponytailed, green-shirted young lady.  I never saw her face.

Blind people over took me.  Fat people overtook me.  Old people overtook me.  Females with beautifully toned calves overtook me.  I didn’t mind being overtaken.  It is more of a self challenge than a race.   The taste of sport drink right after the finish was the best ever.  Sports drinks just don’t taste a good without a hefty dose of exercise beforehand.

Current after-effects only include a strained right knee and inability to walk down stairs, but I’m sure the list of pains will grow exponentially tomorrow morning when I wake up.  As one of my friends said – there are only 3 states that you can be in while running: not aerobically fit enough, not physically fit enough (my thighs are severely overworked) and being fit on both accounts and breezing through.  My legs died.  My cardio was fine.  Maybe cycling will help this out.  The three of us gathered and left around 9:30 am, and went back into civilization (Festival walk) for a big breakfast.  Fun with time to spare. =)

Sidenote:

The other day, I was in Central, and I spotted this on the MTR.

If you know him, you know him.  If you don’t know him, you don’t.  I wish him luck.

Sideside note:  Thank you Isilwen for the edits.  And the text messages.