My race thoughts:

Starting line: This is so exciting!

1km: Cannot walk now, everyone’s still running.

1mile: I’m already a little pooped now. I don’t know how I can sustain this. I so want to stop running and walk now but everyone’s still running.

Half way point: Why did I sign up for this??!! I should have signed up for the competitive walk instead. I can’t believe I still have 2.5km to go. I don’t know if I can keep on running. I am so out of breath. OK, I don’t care if everyone’s still running, I have to stop running and walk a little bit now. Oh no…so many people are passing me now.

2mile (water break): 1 more mile to go. Cannot look behind, must move on. 25:11, OK, I think I can run under 40minutes if I keep this up. I’m so tired. I’m so out of breath. I’m running so slow. Oh no, I see a hill.

Small hill: No way I can run up this hill. I’m going to walk up this hill.

Another hill: What another hill! I’m going to walk up and then run down the hill.

400m to go: OK, just keep on running now, don’t walk.

200m to go: Keep on running, don’t walk.

Saw the clock: Whoa! I can get under 39 mins. Better run as fast as I can now.

Finish line: Water! I need water! Where’s the water?!

15 minutes later: I’m so glad I did this!

My best time(s) ever!

According to the different timing devices, I finished the race in different times. Here are my times (most accurate to least accurate):
1. Ankle timing band chip: 37:09 (Chip gets activated when I pass the starting line and time is recorded when I pass the finish line)
2. Gun time: 37:52 (I was way back together with other 10min/mile ladies, so when the gun went off, we were basically still standing around till the fast people unfront ran off, and slowly slowly we could start running. That’s the reason the guntime is usually slower than chip time for majority of people)
3. My timex watch: 37:08 (pretty accurate)
4. My ipod+nike: 37:53

I went to the Race Expo today to get the race shirt, bib and the ankle timing band. I’ve never had to wear an ankle band before, so I guess this race is slightly bigger deal than my previous races. The ankle band has a chip in it that gets scanned when I pass the finish line for my official race time. And no, I don’t get to keep it after the race. If lost, I’ll have to pay a $25 lost-replacement fee.

There’s a place on the bib for race dedications. Instead of leaving it blank, I thought I might as well dedicate the race to someone, so I dedicate this race to my aunt (3-2-ma) and my mom.

I’m searching for music that will miraculously make me run faster this Saturday. Since it’s too late for training now

Some races are for kicks, some are for glory, this race is for LIFE!

No, not in any race that matters, it’s just another Nike challenge - The 2nd Asian Challenge (check out My Run+Walks thing on the sidebar and scroll down to see Malaysia). So far, I’m the only person running for Malaysia. I hope more Malaysians join soon because at the moment it looks like Malaysia not-very Boleh.

I’ve registered for the Women’s 5K Classic that’s on October 13. It’s another pink ribbon breast cancer awareness charity race. I’ve been doing some of my crazy running training stuff…sometimes slow, sometimes slower, rarely fast, but I think I’m beginning to really like this running thing.

Here is one reason I’ve been out running/walking consistently the past few weeks, I’ve joined one of Nike+ challenges and I’m among many runners running for the Ist generation of iPod nano. The Ist gen (represented by my black nano) and 2nd gen (represented by Victor’s silver nano) have been neck to neck the whole time, but it looks to me like 2nd gen is winning Since the challenge ends September 18 at 5:59pm, I’m going to make sure I add another 6K to Ist generation by the deadline. 1st generation is going to win because 2nd generation is only climbing 10 flights of stairs at the moment…hahahaha!



Update:
Eesshhh…2nd gen won.
But I did run 61.28km for 1st gen.

Yay! Finally conquered the 40-minute barrier today.

This coming Sunday, I’m organizing a gotong-royong BBQ together with the other Malaysian and Singaporean students. Five of them are graduating very soon and leaving Lehigh for good. So the BBQ is a farewell and graduation party for them. Duh’s backyard has several bbq stoves, picnic tables and chairs, big shady trees, and lots of grass, which makes it the ideal location for a BBQ. There’s also a tiny river nearby, not that we’re going wash anything in it Coupled with the nice weather, I think it’s going to turn out great. There’s one problem though, I don’t know if I should invite the two malaysian professors. I wonder if their presence will affect the party atmosphere. But even so, I think I should.

May 6th run
Distance: 3.11 miles (5K)
Time: 40:10 minutes
Pace: 8:02 min/km
Calories: 316

I like running on the rubberized track - it’s mindless running, just round and round. Unlike the cross-country trail, I don’t have to look out for uneven ground or holes or sandy areas or muddy areas, and I don’t have to run uphill and deal with the physical and mental toil of the hill. But other mental toils exist at the track. Right now it’s the track and field season and LOTS of student athletes hang out at the track. There’s something very intimidating about “running” in the midst of hungry-looking athletes in training.

Anyway, I had planned to do a 2-mile run/walk at the track. I walked all the way to the track only to be faced with a group of training students. I did get on the track, walked a whole circle (or oval) and decided I couldn’t possibly run here so I proceeded towards the cross-country trail. I still see athletes on the trail but at least once they past me they disappear! So I set a distance of 2 miles on my iPod, and using my interval timer watch, did a run-5min: walk-1min thing. When I reached 2 miles, decided to push for 5K (3.1 miles). I’m thinking of setting a 35-min 5K goal for my next official 5K run, not even sure if that’s realistic. That would mean I have to run 1km in 7 minutes..no more penguin shuffle or tortoise crawl.

May 8th run
Distance: 5K
Time: 41:56 minutes
Pace: 8:21 min/km
Calories: 316

The cross-country trail is great too. It winds around corn fields, a tiny river, some houses, many trees, a football stadium, softball field (ewww), and just lots of grass. My dad would love going for his walks here. I’ve seen squirrels, chipmunks (really!), rabbits, deers, and birds. Running on the trail also strengthens the ankles as the muscles adjust to the varying terrains.

Today, I didn’t even bother going to the track, just went straight to the cross-country trail. This time I set a distance of 5K on the iPod and then realized I had forgotten to wear the interval watch, so using the Nike+iPod as a guide I just ran 1km walked 100m and repeated that. I wanted to try and do the 5K in under 40 mins - have to somehow pass that 40 min barrier. At 1.86 km, I bumped into Mary, my fellow small group member. We stood around chatting about the cross-country trail, exercise schedules, running in water, swimsuits and self-image issues. We parted and I continued on my run realizing that I won’t be able to go under 40min after that chat-break. I’m surprised that I completed the run in 41:56 minutes. I’m sure the chat was longer than 2 minutes and the run today really felt like the tortoise crawl.

This afternoon was a wonderful spring day. It was very sunny but at the same time it was cool. A great day to be out, so I drove to the mall to get some unneccessary things - all for the sake of being out. On the way to the store, I noticed the check engine light is on again!! Well, I resprayed the ignition with the miracle substance, and I’ll see tomorrow if that actually works.

After the shopping trip, I went out for a run, though it was more walk then run. I also calibrated the nike+ipod sensor to my own pace. It was quite warm (11C) and I could go out in shorts and let my legs get some sun. They haven’t seen bright sunlight for 5 months now.

I went for the STAR tutoring session on Saturday and my tutee was absent. She was absent the session before that too. I heard from one of her schoolmates that she was suspended from school for fighting. Anyway, I “tutored” two high school girls instead. Not much tutoring going on, they were both working on their homework and at the same time chatting about their tumultuous love lives.

Nothing much happening lately. I even thought of taking a picture of the catfish curry that I made this afternoon, and blog about it!

Jinglebell run

I ran the jinglebell run today. The idea of running in a race with jinglebells tied to my shoelaces sounded really fun. Actually running the race was torturous, especially when the road seemed to be going uphill a lot, and everyone seemed to be ahead of you the whole way. All the graduate students wore long-sleeve t-shirts that say:

Grad students are like penguins….
We’re always cold and hungry and we look funny when we’re running.

Which I disagree because several runners from our team won top placings in their age groups. I think, I may be one of few true penguins in the group. As for my goal of running the 5K in 35 minutes or less (hahaha) maybe next year. I ran/walked this race in 40 minutes and 2 seconds. It’s still a personal best