The human jam of a run

So I joined the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge this year, to my own surprise. For the record, I hate running, and I still fervently do. (Not as much as I hate SOC though; that dumb obstacle course is #1.) But running’s something that I can never quite escape from, since I’ve got years of IPPT to clear.. so might as well start training in the long run eh?

Today’s weather was nothing next to atrocious though, and it rained the entire afternoon. I was actually looking forward to the run being cancelled, since running in wet weather sucks but heh the rain stopped and so y’know the story goes on.

(While waiting for the rest of the team members to arrive.) Look across the road, whole load of runners walking to the Padang.

Sneak shot of my company people.

Sneak shot #2, while walking to the start point.

I’d only intended to take a general snap of the scene, but it turned out that the girls in front looked pretty good, as I realised later on.

Tortoise crawl at work; we were like miles away from the starting line even after the run’d officially begun. And you notice those umbrellas? It makes you wonder why idiots like that even join runs carrying umbrellas.

Random snap of the other runners.

And the starting line’s still so damn far off.

I finally reached the start line and started running, approximately 5 minutes after it’d begun. That was when I realised, the run isn’t actually a run. It feels more like a combination of basketball, running and leapfrog. I was constantly brushing past people, doing sidesteps to get ahead and sprinting for short distances whenever I could. People were strolling like they owned the damned road or something.

Like what one of my company guys said: “Wanna talk with your friend? Hellooo, move to the side!”

The human traffic is horrendous IMO, it’s a wonder why no one falls and gets trampled or something; having 11,000 people run and not have accidents is truly something spectacular.

And my final timing? I got 40:20, but shave off the 5 minutes’ time difference and there you have it: 35:20. The timing is atrocious IMO, I’m certainly not very proud of it considering I sweated my arse off and gasped my way through the final 1.6km to get that. But I’m quite happy I pulled through and finished the entire 5.6km running without a single moment of pause. The mental endurance’s definitely something to be pleased about, for now.

Next up? Maybe the Sheares bridge run in September.

This was me after the run; blur and frazzled.

Katsu Don. Not too appetizing, but it filled the stomach.

Headed down to Nooch @ Citylink Mall after the run w/ my company people for dinner. They’re avid runners, and friendly people at that; I’ve already had invitations from them to join the upcoming OSIM triathlon in July, the Sheares bridge run in September and weekly Monday runs at MacRitchie. Gees : )

The rest of the time at dinner was spent listening to the ghost stories they were recounting about the workplace, and one lady in particular was squealing her guts out over the tales. I found it all quite funny, since it was highly unlikely that I’d visit all of those places they mentioned ;p

And one of them is actually leaving the company tomorrow? Which means it’s probably the first and last time I’ll be seeing him around, sighs.

Crawling home on the MRT, I mused for a bit. Yeah, it was a good decision to join the run. Got to know new people, tried something new, and I got a nice looking tee too. No shit, the JPM tee really looks good.

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A quiet lunch w/ the mother over at Genki Sushi; limited varieties on the conveyor belt sushi as always.

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Addendum:

- Woot, a portable version of VLC media player! Anime lovers should like this.

- TechCrunch shows a new Yahoo! layout in the making.

Quote of the day:”think woke up too fast, the brain no oxygen. u dont know meh? when u squat, cannot stand up immediately. same theory.” – A suggestion as to why waking up too fast could cause fainting.

Reminder of the day: Relax, relax, relax. The temper is something that should be controlled.

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You might be interested reading in these posts:

• The Big Walk
• Runtime
• Off to the zoo! – Werribee Open Range Zoo