Monday, December 10, 2012

What's next?

With the Singapore Marathon thankfully in the rearview mirror it’s time to look ahead to what is next to keep me motivated to get out and run.

Our time in Singapore is coming to an end and Andrea, Anna and I are excited about moving back home to Texas. We have been thinking about what it is we want to do before we leave Southeast Asia.

I told Andrea a while back I wanted to hike to the top of Mount Kinabalu – the highest peak in the region – on my birthday. She said, “Go for it.” My plan was to hike alone because it is hard to stay on pace with another person. But then I started thinking about the times Jakeb and I have trekked and it just so happens he will be out of school then. I called and asked him if he was interested and didn’t have to convince him at all.

On May 9th-14th Jakeb has finals at Texas Tech. On May 15th he gets on a plane to Singapore. He gets to Singapore on May 17th at 12:20am. Then on May 18th he and I board a plane to Kinabalu in Borneo Malaysia. At 7:00am on May 19th (my 46th birthday) we will attempt to hike to the summit of Mount Kinabalu and back down in one day. Most tours require two days to climb to the summit. There are only four permits issued a day to do it in one. Then we fly back to Singapore on May 20th.

Jakeb will be worn out just from all of the travel. I will be worn out because I am getting old.

As if that were not enough we found out that the Sundown Marathon is on June 1st in Singapore. It starts like at 11:30 pm at night and you run to beat the sun - which is good because it is cooler. Jakeb pleaded with me to sign us up. So I did. Maybe I am foolish to think we can do both. I have been told already that I am. But what would we be if we didn't try - you have to try ...

I have plenty to train for. My goal is to train to go up. Then add enough miles to finish a marathon.

Afterwards it’s home to Texas! I can’t wait.

Monday, December 03, 2012

Singapore Marathon 2012

Like I wrote in my previous post I did not feel well prepared for the Singapore Marathon. And my feelings were true. But I finished and I have a medal and a finisher’s shirt.

It was weird not having Andrea around in the couple of days leading up to the marathon. She is in Vietnam playing Christmas music with the hand bell choir from church.

My race can be summed up in two halves. I mostly ran the first half and I mostly walked the second half.

I didn’t run with a watch and thought it would help me run an easier pace but I think I ended up pushing way too hard in the beginning because I felt like the pace was slow. Even though I realize now I was probably running way too hard.

I ended up slowing and running with the 4:15 pace group for a while. Then at 10k my legs started feeling bad. At 15k I felt like I was going to throw up. At 17k I ate my PB&J sandwich and my stomach settled down.

I made it to the half-marathon mark at about 2:10 or 2:15 and if I would have had a way home I would have dropped. I thought to myself that I had to get to the finish line to get my stuff anyway so I may as well walk there.

So I started walking fast. I didn’t pay attention to kilometer markers. I just kept drinking water and walking at a fast pace. After a while I felt okay and would jog a little. Then I would walk. I did that until the end and finished in 5:04:19.

I thought of my mom some along the way and near the end especially. It is kind of fitting that I struggled with this marathon. Mom and dad have always made sure that I knew that they loved me no matter what I did. They taught me there are consequences to my actions like running a slow marathon when you haven’t trained well. Still I can hear my mom say, “That’s okay Tommy.” And I know it is.