Marathon and adaption
I struggled to complete my fifth ever and the second in the same year. Just under 6 hours. This time the usual leg cramps came early at about 25km. Something that I expected from the lack of training.
If it’s such a pain, why do I do it? Because it’s difficult and there is a sense of accomplishment. It’s something called adaptation – our salaries are never enough to bring satisfaction because we get used to the amount. If you run a marathon easily every week, you would probably find it a chore to participate, just like how I’ve completely stopped participating in any runs less than 21km. I’ve adapted. (Read Dan Ariely’s upside of irrationality for more on this.)
This year there was 19000 runners for the marathon, a huge number compared to 10 years ago when I did my first. Back then only serious runners participated and I remembered running to a drinks station that completely ran out of water. With so many dare I say amateurs running, it was a walking festival from the halfway mark. There are so many people walking with you that it didn’t really feel as painful, unlike my run in Melbourne. Officially, I came in rank 3584 among Singaporeans and managed to get my sized m t-shirt. It’s asics though, not adidas. Official time 2:33 for 21 km and 5:51 for 42km.
What the fish! You are still blogging! Should I smack u with a Dilbert comic and ship you out of your literary talent or should I follow u and jump into the same commiserate boat?
PS: I am not coming in goodwill.
Ha ha good to hear from an old friend. Blogging is my way of keeping some form of record. Otherwise, the years just disappears and one wonders what happened in between.