BIM 2—8 Weeks To Go!

We have just passed the middle of August. It's less than 8 weeks to go to the Borneo International Marathon 2 which will be held on 11 October. I'm still surviving the training so far, and I'm still hoping that I won't injure myself before the big day.

Last Sunday, I achieved a new frontier—28km. I've never covered that distance before. And let me tell you that the temptation to stop at 20km-24km was quite something. By the time I reached 25km, I could feel all sorts of pain in my legs. I really had to push myself to actually finish that 28km. It took me 3 hours 1 minute to complete the distance, which I thought was a decent time, but obviously nothing to shout about.

Yesterday, my legs were still sore, but I forced myself to the track anyway and did 8km. And this evening, I did another 13km. If I can still move my legs tomorrow, I'll try to do another 8km. I'm confident that if I go slow, I should be able to complete the mid-week runs. But the dreadful run will be this Sunday—30km, yet a new frontier for me! So far I've not cheated on my long runs, so I hope I won't cheat this Sunday!

Meanwhile, Dr Liaw and Dr Helen were already talking about the Singapore International Marathon. I wasn't sure that I'd sign up so soon. And even if I did, I'd probably do the half marathon in Singapore. But the doctors encouraged me to go for the full course anyway. Then last week, I met Johan at the track. He said he signed up for the half marathon in Singapore. I'd like to get over BIM2 first before making up my mind about Singapore. After all, it's gonna be in December. But unfortunatley, I don't have the luxury of time. The quotas will be filled up pretty soon, and registration will be closed long before December. So in the end, I signed up for the full marathon. I signed Mia up for the half marathon.

Earlier on, I was also toying with the idea of doing the 25km Penang Bridge International Marathon again. But then I decided against it in the end. I did the 25km last year. It was quite an experience running on the bridge. But although the run was fine, I can't forget how I was forced to drink "dirty" water. Several of the water stations had no cups for drinking, and many runners had to drink directly from the huge water bottles. I tried to endure my thirst at first, but in the end had to drink anyway. At some stations, the drinking water was in a huge pail, and runners had to use cups to scoop water from the pail. You can imagine how all those sweaty hands went into the water too. Yet I had to drink anyway because at several points of the run, I felt like fainting because of thirst. So I guess I will pass on Penang Bridge this year. Hopefully if the organiser can improve the situation at the water stations, I can always join again next year.

Well, 30km this Sunday. Then a bit of rest with a 22km next week. Thereafter, 2 more long runs of 32km and 36km before I taper for the actual event. I still can't estimate my target time for this marathon. But I should be able to get some idea by the time I've covered the 36km in a couple of weeks from now. The excitement is mounting... keeping my fingers crossed.