Pleasant Torture

Lynn and I completed our 2nd half marathon! Can't believe I can still do it, and I think I ran faster this year. :)

But right now, I need to sleep and rest my poor feet which have been subjected to so much torture. Could practically hear them thanking me profusely when I finally changed into my nice airy sandals.

Post edited:

Tips on deluding yourself / legs into moving non-stop for 21km:

(1) The start is the worst. At 5am, you haven't even woken up and you have to run. Nevermind, tell yourself, 'I haven't waken up. This is a nightmare. Will wake up soon. Don't be scared.'

(2) At the 2km mark, you can't believe it's only 2km, but you tell yourself, 'WAH SO FAST 2km!' (even though you don't mean it at all)

(3) At the 11km mark, you've to 'restart' your brain, trick it into believe you've only just started running, and say to yourself, 'oh I'm going for a 10km run today.

(4) Repeat step 3 every 2km from then on.

(5) When your legs are aching and screaming at you for a rest, think this - 'oh my gosh. I can't believe my legs are not aching yet.'

(6) No matter how much you feel like panting, DO NOT PANT. Just keep your breathing steady.

(7) If it's physically possible, sing a song. Otherwise, think of a song in your head and tell yourself you won't stop while the song is playing.

(8) From the 15km mark onwards, always think, 'If I stop now, I've to run the whole damn 15km again when I try again.'

(9) If you're running among slacking NS guys who look more like they're taking an extended morning stroll, tell yourself how you're making them look bad.

(10) Do it mechanically. Convince yourself that your legs are battery operated, you can't feel them, and you can't stop moving them even if you want to.

In short, distract yourself. Not all the strategies work perfectly, but hey, while thinking such stupid thoughts, you're distracted for a few minutes! Strategy (3) works the best for me. I'm so tempted to be 'geh kiang' (erm, however you spell that hokkien term- basically, try to act beyond my abilities) and crash the Standard Chartered full marathon this Dec.

But as I was telling Lynn, I'd need to fully 'erase' my mind at 21km. In fact, I'd proably need a completely concussion to wipe up all memories of having already ran 21km before being able to convince myself, 'hey I just started on my half marathon.'

haha. I'm being stupid, as usual.