flagoff was at 530am in kelanajaya stadium. i got there, ran on the track and stretched a little to warm up, then proceeded to the starting line. all geared up, we were told by the mc that unfortunately the water stations weren't ready yet. hence our start time need be delayed. everyone was a tad bit unhappy. some performers put up a flag show, to be boo-ed. personally i thought that was quite rude of the crowd. i mean, it is not the performers fault and to make them feel like their performance is unappreciated is uncalled for.
flagoff was a good 30 minutes later.
and my horrible running journey started. almost immediately, i could feel a stitch on my right side. it took me a good 7 minutes to reach the 1km mark. i gave up on trying to place. but i did not give up on finishing the race. i could see plenty of people passing me. it felt slightly demotivating for me. my stitch was so bad that at the 2km point, i had to stop and stretch a little. i pushed on but the pain did not alleviate. i was so glad i saw the water station at the 4km point. i took 2 shots of 100 plus, and went off running again. i could feel my right stitch starting to subside, but, now it hit me on the left side.
it was not an easy run for me at all. basically in short, i had a stitch on the right side from flagoff till 4km, on the left side from 4km till 8km and both sides 8km onwards alll the way till the finishing line. imagine my frustration.
well, we have good runs, we have bad runs, and im glad i endured the pain and pulled through. i however certainly hope that i won't have this painful experience in my coming runs. does anyone know any tricks when it comes to stitches? or any rituals to perform to avoid stitches? i would much welcome advice.
yeahh bumped into alwyn there too. he was doing a 10km run. it is always good to see familiar faces at runs.
often people like to focus on the negative side of things. but i want to highlight the positive things about this run. the traffic police did a terrific job. the volunteers certainly did their jobs well. at one particular station, they were even singing, to cheer the runners on. that spirit was great. the medic team was amah-zing. they would come up to me and ask if i were okay or whether i needed any help. very proactive and kudos to them.
i managed a 2 hour time. well tough times like this, i'm glad i pulled through. here's to better runs.
and not to forget the feast post-race =) did i mention this was after wantan noodles?
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