Daily Lesson from Life 06 December 2008

** Today is the last day before the Singapore Marathon! I have perhaps overdone the carbo-loading bit with lots of eating the whole of today! Actually I feel like throwing up now!! Haha!**

Well, I will take it easy today as I prepared myself mentally for the 42.195km jog/walk tomorrow starting at 5.30am.

It will be a wonderful experience to complete it though I am a bit apprehensive as I had not completed the full 42.195km in practice. The longest I did was about 27-28km about a month ago along the actual marathon route. I am aiming to complete the full course tomorrow in about 6.5-7hrs without the 1st 10-15km of continuous jogging and then jog/walk to pass the half-way mark in about 3hrs before turning around for the last 1/2.

I envisioned the most trying part will be the last 1/4 where I will be leaving the leafy East Coast Parkway tree-lined footpath onto the public road where shelters from the 1100-1230hr sun will be minimal. Since I have not done that distance before, it is anybody guess how my body will react. It is realistic to expect my mind to take over to push the body to move towards the finishing line! It should be a trial that I will remember. ;-)

Some friends who had done the marathon and the half-marathon shared some tricks to forget the pains and focused on the joy of the mission! e.g. think of the family and loved ones, think of the good time and those positive moments in life, etc.

I had a few positive moments in life that will push me on for sure. e.g. a lovely family with a capable wife and 3 smart-alec kids! e.g. the meaningful chats with friends over the year. e.g. the fun of conducting a meet-the-parents session for the Probation Services Branch as a volunteer. e.g. the many kind and generous souls who have pledged to contribute to the charity fund of S$5100 I am raising for the Singapore Cancers Society. Etc...

Of course, there is the need to use some short term focus of getting over the next 100m! e.g. look up in front and focus on something 100m away and get pass it! e.g. counting from 1 to 30 or 50 or 80 or 100 and then from 100 or 80 or 50 or 30 to 1 to break the monotony of trotting along.

Well, it is time to go my friends. I have envisoned, enabled, empowerd, and now I have to execute and then energize myself with some relaxation at the end of the race tomorrow!

I will post the result of my 1st marathon tomorrow night!

Wish me happy marathon-ing! ;-))