Some Pre-race Thoughts

Some days, we wake up slightly groggy. While on other days, we wake up excited and full of energy. Today is one of those days where I wake up feeling totally inspired, excited and ready to conquer the world! It’s also my last day as a 24-year-old, so I’d want to make the most out of it.

Remember the half-marathon that I have been telling you about? Well, I’m finally running the race today at 4pm (I think it’s a weird starting time). I’m totally psyched up and excited about it! It feels like yesterday that I told you about my decision to sign up for a half-marathon. I can’t believe how quickly time flies.

Unlike the usual half marathon, this run is a 25 km race - gulps. I’m not sure if I am as prepared as I hope to be, because my longest training run is 22 km, and I have not been following my training plan consistently after falling sick during the Easter week. When I recovered from my cold, I found myself experiencing some knee pains when I did longer runs. It was then that I realized how much I needed yoga (I’d share about this another time). Since then, I have only been doing 2 short runs and 1 long run every week, and have been doing yoga almost every day.  I do find that yoga helps me recover faster, and the knee pains are since gone; it has build my mental endurance too.

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While I may not be as physically prepared for the race, I am prepared for this mental game. Running is ultimately 90% mental, and 10% physical.  I do not have that much of a timing goal this time. All that I hope to do is to finish this race strong, both physically and - more importantly-mentally.

I have done loaded my iPod with my favorite songs,  hydrated, carbo-loaded with some lemon spaghetti last night, and familiarized myself with the route. I’m just waiting for the time to conquer the world race. But before I leave, I thought I should leave you with this quote. We can all be pretty hard on ourselves sometimes. It helps to tell ourselves every morning that we are stronger, braver, and more beautiful than we think we are!

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What inspires you today?