<<Thanks to my daughter Pauline for designing the header.>>
Unilab Trilogy 2010 - Leg 3: November 2010
Result here: Run-United 2 Leg 3 10K Results
It was my first run after a 7 year hiatus.
Back in the first quarter of 2003, I got invited by my officemates to join fun runs. For 2 months, I was able to do four 10ks. All of them sub-1 hour, the best of them at 53 minutes. I self-trained by running 12k once or twice a week on an old pair of New Balance sneakers. Those pair are still alive, would you believe that?
Work overwhelmed me after that. For 7 years, I stayed under the radar.
In June of 2010, I got assigned to Brisbane, Australia. In the first week of August, a lady officemate, Renee, invited us to join a 5k walk or an 8k run. I enlisted for the 5k walk. My friend went for the 8k run.
Along the route, younger folks continuously passed me by on my walk-jog-run pace, and it did not matter. All of a sudden, a 57 year old woman (she won her age bracket) breezed by me. "That's it!", I told myself. I picked up my speed, and tried to catch up. I began to by pass younger runners and it felt good. At the 5k u-turn, I ignored it and proceeded to the 8k route, now running full steam. By the time I hit the finish line, I look at my time and saw 57 minutes.
I felt the exhilaration, and I got hooked.
Back in September, I got home and just did walking and a short sprint after every walk. But after a month of it, I picked up the speed and distance. The rest is history.
Today, I have logged 600+ kilometers, ran 8 official races and "burnt" my first pair of running shoes.
This is my story.