Friday, December 25, 2009

Of running and crying toddlers

Our weekly LSD today started at 6.35 am. Our attempt today was 18 K. Not much hu-ha there but this was hub's first attempt at that distance barefoot all the way.

Our target was going 5 and a half laps in a 2 mile loop at the Lake Garden which beats going round and round 18 times at the 1 km loop at the Rakan Muda Complex. This may seem taxing to those who hate running in loops but it's all okay really once you psyched yourself really good.
From experience, the first round was ran in silence on my behalf. If it's too cold, or too early or if I talk too much too soon, I'll be wheezing and struggling to catch my breath. So I let hub babble along and try not to snap if he asks me a question. By the 3rd km it usually gets better and I'll suddenly crack jokes and hub will be like ,  " I reckon you feel better?"

To make our run bearable, we like to people watch all the way. We deduct that old people are the best, greeting people with beaming smiles in the dark of the dawn. People in my age group are occasionally friendly but the young ones will almost always have their game faces on. You smile at them and they look at you like you're a nut.
Thumpers ( people who like to stomp while running) will try hard to pace with normal runners and occasionally attempt to overtake them, but will ALWAYS stop half the way. There was this Uncle Power Walker who walks way faster than we were running , and to me , this made the 50K walk world record in 3 hours plus more fathomable ( I kind of wondered how this was possible the first time I read it in the news). There was this chick who was also running 11 miles solo in the opposite direction and never got bored saying hi every time we passed ( which was really nice but commented, " Aiyaa, sakitnya" at my hub's naked feet on the last lap).

Sure in the middle of the run it got a bit tiring going through the same scenes over and over again but I try to psych myself with some encouragement. Instead of thinking, " Oh man, it's this hotel again. If I'll pass it again I'm gonna scream", I 'll say something positive out loud like, " Hello Hotel, I'm here again. See you later" or "There you are Zoo. How are the animals holding up? I'll be back". I know it sounds corny but it helps. And to catch a glimpse at people's faces when I say this is such a gas.

And by doing all these distractions, sedar-sedar our run was over. Hub's ankles and knees weren't acting up and all is well. The only downer was when I called Dad and he told me Adik was having a tantrum when she woke up. Tapi yang kelakarnya , bila ditanya " Adik, mama pegi mana?" , tau pulak jawab ( in between sobs) ," Mama kami pi lawi"

Aiseymen, kesian la pulak.

7 comments:

  1. I am one of those who hate to lawi in small loops, esp hilly small loops (my neighborhood park) and I truly respect people who can do lsd in small loops.

    Way to go!

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  2. Thanks. Next week in the schedule is half marathon distance around the park. Let's see what I have to say about that nanti..hehe

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  3. wah, mental! LSD rounds and rounds. I did mine last Thursday night - mental! hahahah

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  4. Julin: I did 30KM around Kiara Park before and also more than 2 hours of running on the treadmill. Yes, it can be done. Go for it! Why not next weekend join me at Bukit Aman? 20-24KM camtu?

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  5. amsyah : mentallll...yang besnya bila dengar orang kata " Akak ni bila nak stop nih?"
    Kak Kash: Mak aii..2 hours on the dreadmill? I can barely pujuk myself to go on 45 minutes. Love to join you at Bkt Aman but it'll be a 4 hour drive! Maybe next time when I'm in the city. On another note, everytime I read your name, I have the urge to sing " Kids, kids. Kash, kash...Kiddddsss and kaaassshhhhhh" ( Please refer the Captain Cash add kat Astro Ceria). You could use it kat Trikids..hehe

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  6. The lake where I run is is only about 1.1km and I have tried doing more than 10k there. The worst thing about running in a small loop is when you lost track on how many circles you've done - and I always lost count after 5km! It was a mental challenge for me to 'igt balik' how many loops have I completed which takes my mind of the running. konon2 strategy lah.

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  7. Me too! I always lost count after the 3-4th loop so now I use a Garmin and let it do the counting.

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