muar half marathon

the past 2 and something weeks have not been easy for me. 

i recently, some 2 weeks ago, underwent a surgery. i'm all good, recovering well, but of course the doctor's advise was strictly no running. and of course, me being me, 3 days post-op, i went for a run. 900 metres in, i collapsed. i kid you not. the kind whereby you collapse on the ground unable to move, yes that kind of collapsed. the most apt thing was said by wenshan. mel so stubborn. doctor says don't run, she straight away goes run. so yeah, lesson learnt the hard way, it was strictly no running for me. 

of course the bunch of races i have signed up for included the muar international twin city half marathon. and of course, being out for close to 3 weeks, i didn't think i was in the condition to run, so let's not even talk about a half marathon. it was only on thursday, very last-minute (my modus operandi) that i decided to go down. afterall, it remains my favourite running route. so booked a hotel, and went down on friday. 

it was going to be a gamble for me. because i couldn't run, ive been doing bootcamp. my coach has said that to run fast, it's not all about running more. conditioning is very important. so, i was about to see how see the significance/insignificance of bootcamp training. and honestly, placing never crossed my mind. i was just going to do the best i could, given my circumstances. 

it was a great run for me. because i completely did not struggle at all, every passing kilometre put an even bigger smile on my face. because i felt i could still go strong. i didn't push myself too much because i didn't want to die in the ending kilometres. so i just tried my best to maintain what i could do, to the best that i could do. 15 kilometres in, my ankles started hurting, both. i suspect it is due to close to 3 weeks of no-running, the insufficient mileage and the sudden shock my body was going through to have to run 21km (mind you, i seldom run anything more than 10km). 

i managed to come in 2nd place for this race. exactly the same as last year. so i'm a happy girl. 

honestly, i did feel, without bootcamp sessions, i would have completely died. my legs didn't feel like they struggled. my breathing was maintainable. seriously, thank you bootcamp. 

anyways, raced this in my wave emperor. my first half in them shoes. and they worked super well for me. my favourite pair currently. 

many thanks to my sponsors - mizuno world of sports malaysia, moolabar, and dinomultisportz.