Because I didn't want to turn into a pumpkin

I had wanted to finish the Putrajaya Night Marathon before the clock struck 12. I had wanted to write a post about how I was gonna be Cinderella and all, and that I wasn't going to turn into a pumpkin, or something like that. I had even thought of running with a tiara.

Well, thank God I didn't.

Because I was late. a whole 30 minutes late. Something like that. heh.

I made so many running no-nos that I, an experienced runner, should be truly ashamed of myself. Some of them are quite ridiculous, now that I've given a thought about it.

I ran on a pretty empty stomach. Like Hello! Sportsci 206? Sport and Exercise Nutrition? I had a light lunch at about 2 ish in the afternoon. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, and I've been cutting down my rice for so long, it became a habit. I didn't want to overeat, i didn't want to put on weight. *oops* I didn't have dinner because I had to leave my house at 5.45 pm. But when I heard my tummy growling at about 7 pm, I knew this was gonna be a pretty loooong run.

I didn't have a full 7-8 hour sleep the night before. And even though I had been advised by my brother to have plenty of rest throughout Saturday, I was out and about squishing my way through the warehouse sales in USJ. hahaha...don't we all love the word SALE. :)

I forgot bananas. I never forget bananas. But I forgot bananas.

And last but not least, I had close to no mileage in training from NB 30km till yesterday. So clever right? I'm unbelievable.

So I had a rather crappy run. I was reduced to walking speed by 25 km and I enjoyed every refreshment station like it was a cuppa on a lazy Sunday afternoon. And that was every 2.5 km. I ran-walked the rest of the way. Wanted to give up at 30 km thinking I had probably already lost to 20 other women in my category or that they probably don't want to give up to 20th place anyway, or I simply just didn't want to run anymore. I wanted to go home. And sleep. Like a baby.

Maybe that was what it felt like to "hit the wall". Can't say I've experienced it before. But I felt like every muscle fibre in my legs were shutting down. And i couldn't quite breathe.

Then a sweet runner came along, whose resemblance to Lily was uncanny, and urged me to go on. I had my ipod on so I didn't know what she was saying, but her smile was encouraging enough. So I told myself I was gonna run all the way. I tried. It was a good try. I stopped again several times. But never too long. There was always reason to pick up the pace again. Such as seeing Lydia, seeing a photographer, seeing another female runner just 20m ahead walking.

I completed, in agony, in 4 hours and 30 minutes. Dennis was waiting for me at the finish line, so that was a really nice relief. Later on, I found out I had gotten 8th place. And this was the prize.
Let's just say I'm SO GLAD I didn't give up. =)