At the beginning of the 2015, I was very ambitious with my running goals. I was planning on finishing 4 full marathons this year namely:
- Sri Chimnoy Princes Park Winter Running Festival - 19 July
- The Tan Ultra - 9 August
- Melbourne Marathon - 18 October
- Bangkok Marathon - 15 November
I signed up for the Sri Chimnoy race in February, giving myself 5 months to train which should've been the ideal amount of time to spend on training for a full marathon race. However, my work schedule and my state of mind just didn't allow me to train as much and as hard as I wanted to. I was ready to give up training any day on the first hint of excuse that I could find - I'm tired... it's too cold outside... it's raining... I tried to make up for it with running on the treadmill and cross training with Fitness Blender but I knew from the get-go that this was not going to be enough.
On the week of the race, I knew I wasn't ready. But since I already got the race bib, I told myself I should still give it a try.
Day of Reckoning
This Sri Chimnoy race was also happening in the middle of winter, so this would be my first time to run in really cold weather. When I say cold weather, I was expecting somewhere between 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.
On the 19th of July, it just so happened that we were having record-breaking winter weather in over 15 years. That morning it registered -2 degrees Celsius on the thermometer. There was frost everywhere! On the leaves, the cars, the grass... it was literally freezing! If I wasn't ready to run a marathon in cold weather, I was totally caught unaware by the below zero temperature on that day.
I suited up for it though. You would've thought that the amount of layers I was wearing that day would be enough for me to pull through a respectable finish, but we all thought wrong!
 |
| Totally covered from head to toe |
To finish the race, the participants need to complete 8 loops of the 5K route around Princes Park. The route was fairly flat until you make the turn towards the Melbourne zoo which had several metres of downhill and uphill ascents.
Since I was running in uncharted territory (mostly weather-wise), my plan was to take it slow and try to finish the race in 5 hours, instead of my original plan when I first signed up to finish my next marathon in under 4 hours and 30 minutes.
I was doing and feeling fine during the first 2 loops. I discovered that it was a fairly steep climb back up when we make the U-turn from the Melbourne Zoo, so I had to keep adjusting my pace so that I don't put more stress to the muscles of my legs.
I've never liked running around loops several times. It bores me the hell out of my mind, and the monotony puts a lot more emphasis on how much further you need to go. The music I was listening to was not enough to distract me. Observing the other runners kept me preoccupied for a bit, but I got tired of it as well.
After completing 3 loops, I started feeling the warning signs of a cramp on my ankles and calves. After loop #4, my ITBS started acting up. On the 5th loop, while I was climbing up the ascent from the Melbourne Zoo, I can hardly bend my ankles it was just so painful. I had to make a decision. Either I go on and risk cramping up in the next 2 loops, or I stop now so that I can fly to Brisbane the next day for work and still be able to walk decently.
When I crossed the loop marker, which was also the start and finish line, I did a quick assessment of my well-being. Pain was shooting up my ankles. I was feeling jolts of pain on my ITB as well. My calves were giving all signals that they're about to cramp up. So 50 meters out after crossing the loop marker, I decided to quit because it made the most sense to do.
So for the second time in the last 5 years, I walked towards the baggage counter with my head down and a heavy heart. After changing into dry clothes, walked away to get a cab - it was the most difficult walk I had to do both physically and mentally. I was hurting all over, I couldn't even stand up straight! I even had difficulty getting into the cab because all the muscles of my legs were crying out in pain.
When I look back, I think it was still the wiser decision to make considering the circumstances. I promised myself that I will run this race again and when I do, I will smash it. I will be better prepared for it in all aspects, including the environmental elements. For now, I have this memory of the sky lighting up beautifully at sunrise to take with me to remind me that there will be a day when I will rise up to the challenge and conquer this race in the future.
 |
| Sunrise hues at the Princes Park |
No comments:
Post a Comment