Mind over body

One hour and twenty minutes. Yes, this was the time I took to complete the 12Km Singapore Bay Run a.k.a Safra Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon yesterday. I clocked a better ten minutes timing as compared to Y2005. Despite my knee injury which kept me away from running long distance in the past one year, I think I was quite happy with my personal timing this time round.

It was really a mind over the body thingy as after passing the 8Km route, the knees started to get abit cranky and threatened to give way. However,seeing contingent of OCS(officer cadet school) and Commandos running pass me in high spirits, that psyched me on to push myself on...afterall I was thinking just another 4Km and I will be done with. Some people stop at a little pain thinking Okay, that's all for me. Most will stop when they find it really too hard to take it anymore. For the amazing one, they take it beyond their mental threshold. I guess I am somehow smacked in between the 'most' and 'amazing' people category, although most of the time I tried to persevere on and push myself to the limits.

Thankfully, I made it back safe and sound. Unfortunately, it was not the case for the 25 year old captain from OCS (an Office cadet instructor). From what I've heard, he collapsed just after completing the 21km marathon and die. It was really tragic.

My advise? Mind over body, yes, use it well and train wisely. If you are not feeling well, it would be advisable to just train less intensively or take a good break before resuming any intense exercises. It's your life you are betting on for every long distance race you run...so don't play with it.