I never thought I can finish, but I did in the Army Half Marathon today.
The early morning drizzling and my muddy shoes were quite discouraging. However, my left knee, which always gave me problems after about 5km, miraculously never hurt at all. Running in a mass that stretches in the kilometers was another pushing factor that was not present before. I must admit the girls were an extra motivator too. Still, it was a journey not easily accomplished. Previously the longest distance I have covered was 14km which I completed in 1 hour 30 minutes. It was a grueling experience to say the least. Today it was much worse.
There were plenty of water points, some drums and music to replenish my energy, and the scenery was beautiful, yet all I cared was to look for the next distance indicator. The lack of training became apparent after I crossed the 18km mark. Both of my arms started to feel numb. I was exhausted beyond description and was panting desperately as if my whole system was going to stall due to lack of oxygen. The worst thing was that my brain was not functioning properly; I felt giddy and surrounding seemed blurred. Such feeling never occurred before so I stopped to rest, and walked for a considerate distance.
The thought of 3 days off and achieving something mastered enough energy for me to run the last 1.5km in a good pace. I didn't exactly start at 0:00, but when I look at the timer as I crossed the finishing line, it read 2:24:xx. Yes I did it!
Coincidentally, today was also the final for the man's marathon. After reaching home I checked the world record. For men it stands at 2:04:26, and women 2:15:25. So after all the suffering (I can't walk properly, and have difficulties climbing up and down the stairs), I still took more time to complete half of the distance. This leads me to think that, a medal in events such as marathon, triathlon should carry more weight than the other medals in the Olympics. Full respect to the athletes.
