I have been saying I wanted to join a HM and thanks to
Charles who pushed us for signing up. 3 of us i.e. Charles, Isaac and myself
signed up for HM whilst Robert prefers to do a 5k. That was great. It is nice
to have some buddies to run the race, just like those who did it with me for stand
chart when back in Singapore. I miss xibin, zhijing, and daozhi. Hehe…
4/28. Pre-race day. We went to La jolla Cove to collect the
race pack and I was super excited. Have been stuffing myself with lots of carbohydrate
for the past 1 week, in the name of HM storage. Kekek. Minimal exercise too. Muahah…
4/29. The race day. There was a traffic delay at Via de la
Valle. Charles was more gancheong than I am, maybe because he was driving and
not me. In the end we decided to park nearby and walked to the starting point. The
distance is about 1km, I think. Wwhooo, we were in the second wave. 6000 participants
for HM, not too bad. Woman seems to be more than guy and I saw quite a number
of older folks too. Here comes the gun shot and the cheering from the DJ.
I don’t quite like the small route which we took. Turned here
and there. Partly because it is a huge crowd, so I feel a bit stuffy. I wore
long sleeves and pant. Start to feel warm shortly after the start of the run.
No sun, quite cloudy and gloomy. I do not like the feel. Hehe… but it is
definitely pleasant to run in that weather. The pace of the runners is fast,
they do not seem to slow down for whatever reason. Not for the first 4 miles. Hoho..
1 mile = 1.66 km. I ran with Charles at first and then I told him to go ahead
without me. In fact I feel less pressurized when I am running at my own pace
and without chatting.
Lots of residents woke up to cheer us along the way. So nice
of them. Some brought banners, a few offers bananas, some ring the bell. Great scene.
FYI, this HM route is pretty scenic as it passed by Del Mar, Torrey Pines State
Park, La Jolla Shore and La Jolla cove. Due to its strategic location, those
housing estates are quite expensive. What I am trying to say is…those resident
are very rich. Haha.
I am only familiarize with part of the route, so I told
myself I need to look forward to the Torrey Pines hill which is at the 4miles
mark. Hehe… so I just kept going and pace myself in preparation for the
toughest hill in this HM. A lot of people started to walk while going up the
hill. I was so temped to do so too. In some ways they were blocking those who
want to run. Arghh… for once I was considering that I may want to walk up
instead. phew, thanks to the stubbornness to me, I managed to convince myself
that I am here to run the HM, not walk. Also, I have been coming to TP for the
past 5 weeks to get used to the hill, how can I walk during the race? No way. So…
I slowly ran up the hill. I must say I enjoyed it. It wasn’t as tough as I was
creeping up slowly.
When I hit the flat trail on the top, a runner ran beside me
and said to me. “Good job. You made it to the hill. I saw you running up the
hill”. That was a great encouragement. Ha. I was surprised that people noticed
that. Blehs. That was so nice of him. He too ran up the hill. Hehe…
I feel the sharp pain of my right foot and hip after 7m. I know
it has something got to do with my stride, and I did not become suspicious of
my relatively new shoe. Again, I kept pushing my own limit. Partly because this
is my first US HM. I do not want to screw it. Very crude word but I hope to
have a fond memory on that. As I was paying attention to a surfer by the road, I
suddenly realized Charles was just beside me! Hoho. I managed to catch up
unknowingly. He said he has no strength especially he was really hungry. He
pointed out that I was fast? Hmm where got. However at 7mile mark, the time was
(75-7)min, that was a pretty impressive pace for me. We then ran together for a
while and I grumbled about my pain. He told me to rest for 15s then run again. I
refused to. I took the water drinking opportunity to slow down but not stop. I
know I can make it within 2.5hrs but do I want to push it further? Making it a
better personal record? Hmmm
The last 1mile stretch was killing me too. Uphill. Almost felt
like walking again as I can feel the tensed muscles and the pain in the hip and
foot. Again, I persisted and ran slowly. I hope to sprint towards the finishing
line but I just couldn’t do it. I sensed that my legs were at the ‘cramp’
threshold, any further stretching will trigger the cramp immediately. It will
be super awful and embarrassing to have cramps in front of the large crowd of
spectators at the finishing line. I then took the decision to slowly run past
the line.
I made it. 2:23:09. What a relieve. Thank God for the
protection. No cramp though the sore and injuries come after the race.
We high-fived and went to collect the medal, banana and the
acai fruit juice. Tempted to rush to church since it ended earlier than we
thought. The bus ride took us 50min to get back to del mar and thus we were
unable to make it to the service at 11am. That was a long bus ride, my legs
were well rested. The next thing when I got down from the bus, my gosh. The right
foot and hip were so painful. I literally feel that the nerve is complaining out
loud. Whether or not it is nerve or whichever part, the pain is very real. I
did not experience it during my past HM and FM and now I am suffering the pain!
As we parked the car further away from the designated parking lot, we need to
cross the freeway. Wowow. The pain was a bit too much. So I seriously grumble
like a kid, telling Charles that I can’t take it. We then walked very slow.
Charles must have shocked by my reaction, my kiddy side. But it was really
painful. It was beyond my control and unable to hide it.
I have a friend who was unable to be there to cheer me on yet
he had very nice and kind encouragement for me. It does keep me motivated
throughout the run. Thank you, SR!
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