Running with a Metaphor

This year, I took part in three fun runs and may yet participate in one more before the year wraps up. My most recent dash was at the Brighton Beach Fun Run on October 17, in which I managed to reel in and out-kick the fastest pace-marking green dragon in the last 2/3 hundred meters. My official time for the 10k event was 40 minutes and 4 seconds.

In the Blackmore Half Marathon on Sept 19, I clocked 90 minutes and 3 seconds and, earlier on Aug 8, I completed the 14.1 k City2Surf in 62 minutes and 44 seconds. Not bad for a recreational runner who pounds the dirt only 3/4 times a week. Having said this, I would dearly love to improve my times by a couple of minutes next year.

Why run? More specifically, why run in fun runs? Personally, I find running in a vacuum mentally and physically tough and unsustainable in the long term. I need some sort of goal in order to motivate myself to lace up my running shoes and hit the road regularly.

In the lead-up to the Blackmore Half Marathon, I ran a half marathon every week for 5/6 weeks, one of them at work before a late morning team meeting in which I turned up feeling slightly dizzy and nauseous. Right after the Blackmore Half Marathon, I felt drained of all motivation and will power to run half marathons, which I have done only once since. This is where fun runs come in. They provide an excuse and catalyst to go out there and run week in and week out, helping to raise funds for charities at the same time.

I specially love the final week before a race day and the race day itself. Runners typically taper down in the final week or two before the big day, which basically means scaling back training and allowing the body to rest. On the day before the race, there is the delightful ritual of assembling the running gear, securing the bib and timing chip, arranging transport, and resting and drinking a lot of water.

On the race day itself, you see a lot of runners on the streets and public transport, some of them garbed in expensive lycra running rags and heart-rate monitors, and most of them bristling with bibs, timing chips and that quintessential trapping of all image-conscious modern runners - iPod.  Even though most fun runs are just that - fun runs - you sense tension in the air as most runners would be aiming for some kind of 'PB' (personal best), which may be nothing more ambitious than finishing the race.

Walking along the streets with other fellow runners, sharing public transport in expectant silence or milling about in the crowd waiting for the starter gun to fire, one feels a keen sense of kinship with other runners, all of whom would have busted their lungs and legs for weeks and even months to be where they are. In the early morning air, with limbs taut with coiled energy, one feels this adrenaline-laced cocktail of anticipation, tension and excitement that alone makes all the solitary runs worth the while.

City2Surf 2010: Running for Fun & Charity

I am taking part in this year's City2Surf fun run to be held on Sunday, August 8. The run starts at Sydney's Hyde Park at the heart of the city and ends 14.1km later at Bondi Beach in the eastern suburbs. This will be my third participation in this event, which is regarded as the world's largest fun run. More than 75,000 people took part in it last year.

This year, I am raising funds for RSPCA, which is Australia's only truly national animal welfare organization. If you can, please help me raise funds for RSPCA via my HeroPage here. Your tax-deductible contributions will help RSPCA accept and take care of unwanted animals and investigate cases of animal cruelty.

My City2Surf 2009 Performance

My preparations to run this year's City2Surf under 60 minutes were derailed by a combination of flue, nasty weather and good old inertia (the complete list of excuses actually runs longer than the world's biggest fun run!) Anyway, I clocked 69 minutes 9 seconds, improving last year's result by 39 seconds.

The unexpected 'improvement' - after a month of inactivity, my preparation consisted of four comfortable jogs over the week leading to the event - illustrates what I suspect is the exponential nature of the efforts required to improve one's speed. After a certain point, disproportionate inputs seem to require to exact minuscule gains in speed. Conversely, comfortable pace is not necessarily a prelude to a catastrophic loss (or, is that gain?) in time.

In a sense, running, even the fun ones, is all about timing. One has to know when to hold back and when to give all. As my preparation was far from ideal, I checked my impulse to go all out in the first kilometers even as other adrenaline-fueled runners zoomed past me. It was not until after around 10 km that I upped my tempo. When I crossed the finish line, I still had enough left in the tank to run another 5 km. Perhaps, I held myself back a bit too long but this did not prevent me from feeling very satisfied with my performance, especially considering the comfortable pace that improved on last year's result, which was achieved through far more lung-busting efforts.