Limping Marathon Runner

There are days that I wonder what did I get myself into and this is one of those days. Waking up at around 5am to shower and get changed for Mizuno MF Run. IMD gave me a lift to the race venue. Many familiar faces were there and we chatted until 7.30am. Without much announcement, the horn sounded off which sent many clueless about what had just took place. The race started and the usual stretch of a few 100 metres of people walking. Petia and I ran together for the first stretch leading to Morse Rd. After the first slope, I widened my steps till I reached the top only to find IMD taking pictures of runners. 'Don't slack!', I gave him words of encouragement. While downhill tends to be a little steeper than then Morse Road slope, I narrowed my steps and slowed my pace to avoid pounding on my knees. I saw a lot of runners overtaking me at this part of the circuit. Sotong caught up with me. I spotted Cokiee with a knee injury. I hope he recovers soon. That is one of a runners' nastiest problems. Then again, we have no lack of nasty problems. Looping back to the start point again, there were already plenty of runners at the finishing line, cheering for others. How slow can we get? I collected my race Tee and for AlecChua as well. I did not get to see Yankee and Taz. Time was running out. I grabbed my bags from IMD's car and left to meet Kops21. He just finished his run elsewhere and we need to get to the Kayaking course before 10am.

With NASCAR driving skills, we reached at 9.45am and was informed that the tide was too low for us to get into the water with our kayaks. In fact, we spotted signs of low tide (really low) while walking to the SeaSports Centre. Asked to take an early lunch, we took a short drive to Macpherson for prawn noodles. I took spare ribs noodles instead. Recalling that we will not be having any breaks once we start the class, we bought a bag of butter rolls before heading back. The tide definitely looked higher and we were given a green light to launch our crafts. We did some pactise and learned the side move: Classic Draw. Rescue drill was next. The four of us switched roles each time we practised the drill. Next instruction given was to head out to the "open sea", at least near to the condominiums at Tanjong Rhu. Nice Condos! We practised our Rescue drill there. We were asked to perform a mass capsize and how can we perform the Rescue drill to get everyone back into their kayaks again. That was fun. One of the classmates is rather huge in size. Finally getting him into his Bandit was no easy feat. Another classmate's and my kayak got more seawater into our crafts just by rescuing the victim (getting him back into the kayak). It was funny and we laughed at having to do a capsize drill ourselves to be rescued again. By then, lightning flashed across the dark grey sky and we were instructed to head back. One of the ladies paddled faster and capsized due to lack of control. Eventually, the instructor rescued her and asked us to proceed. Being one of the last few, I could see that there were a handful of us who could not paddle straight. *Phew* I was not alone. Reaching the shore, we cleaned our gears and Roentgen mentioned how we can have less chances of injuring everyone's backbones. We showered before we did a debrief. More like delaying tactics than debrief. Ha! I checked with some of the classmates who intend to sign up for a 2 Star course. It would be fun to see familiar faces. A pity that KJ wasn't keen and Roentgen has technical difficulties. I hope they seriously reconsider!! Meanwhile, we can rent the kayaks and practise.

Attention all jiak-ers - Dinner time. We hurried to Beach Road hawker and KJ ordered claypot rice for four. While waiting, we tasted one of the best Grass Jelly dessert and Sour Plum Juice around! Next time, I know where to get some whenever I come to Beach Road. We sensed weird stares from another table (a family) at us on why is there a need to snap pictures of all the food. There was still just that little room more.. for a fish and chips. We shared the western food and I was feeling bloated already. No match against the three bottomless pit eaters.

I cannot remember when was the last time I enjoyed the sun so much (minus the charring part). Thanks for the company, guys! Armed with a 1 Star Kayaking Cert, I am fatter and darker at the same time. Tired. To bike! Iron backside.