13th Feb 2010 – Road to Recovery: Why do we keep running

It’s now exactly 1 week after my 2^nd official marathon at the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2010. It felt good finishing my marathon strong without the need to go on MC on Monday to recuperate in bed.

Of course my legs were tired, my feet sore… but the fact that I didn’t limp around for the next few days gave me a great sense of achievement. I’d asked myself, does this mean that I’ve mastered the marathon? How much faster can I go? Do I really want to go much faster? Of course! Shall I just keep to this pace in my next Marathon? Maybe!

Plenty of questions keep pouring into my head each time I’m not on my feet running.

It is after all, my first marathon in 2010 in a series of 4 marathons that I’ve registered to participate in as part of my training program leading up to the super-human Adidas Sundown Ultramarathon. Amidst my other shorter races, I have registered to take part in the following full marathons:-

1. Putrajaya Night Marathon, 6^th Feb 2010 (Completed @ 4:34.33 PB!)
2. Koh Samui Inaugural Marathon, 28^th Feb 2010 (Coming Soon!)
3. Energizer Night Marathon, 27^th March 2010 (Coming Soon!)
4. Borneo International Marathon 2010, 2^nd May 2010 (Coming Soon!)
5. Adidas Sundown Ultramarathon 2010, 29^th May 2010 (Finale – Coming Soon!)

It is ironic, while running a marathon that I tell myself “Never again…” but somehow the next day I seem to find myself looking up the web for upcoming races!

"A must have Runners' Movie! Truly Inspiring" - James Wong

I've recently had the opportunity to watch several videos on running – one was the “Spirit of Marathon” and the other was of course “Ultramarathon Man: 50 Marathons, 50 States, 50 Days” starring Dean Karnazes. Look him up; as he has a very inspiring story of how he started running only when he was 30 years old! I have to thank my friend, John Wong for acquiring the videos for me even though it is very difficult to get this in Malaysia.

"Dean Karnazes - the running superman"

In one of the video, a runner pointed out how funny it is when runners get together and all they talk about is running but when they are actually running, they seem to talk about everything else! It tickled me inside but when I did think about it. It’s so true!

After watching these videos, it is so inspiring that you just want to get up, get out and just run! Let me know if you want a copy, I can loan it to you. Just drop me a comment below and let me know how to reach you.

So, why do we keep running, really? What is it that keeps us runners consistently going back to the starting line?

Does this have anything to do with the attraction of danger? We know people actually can die from doing marathons. Is it purely to prove ourselves? Maybe it is for our health? We don’t need to run a marathon to be healthy right? Or perhaps, are we transforming metaphorical running into literal running so that we can run away from our reality? The runners high?

Well, for me, I’d never thought of running as a dangerous sport. It didn’t even cross my mind when I started running that people actually die from it. Truth to be told, it is only after I did my first half marathon that I realized someone had actually died from running. The first case I’d encountered was this young chap named Gary that passed away apparently due to severe dehydration after completing the Adidas King of the Road in 2009. In the most recent case, during the Putrajaya Night Marathon 2010, a 43 year old Mr. Yau who had collapse and died of a heart failure after completing 15km of his half marathon. So, we all know the dangers, and yet we go back doing it day after day. It keeps me wondering, why is it?

It is a good opportunity to remind myself, and perhaps other runners out there to listen to your body as my good running kaki YS Lee and Daniel Tan always say.

"We won! We won... argh..." (thump) - Pheidippides, 490 BC

In the origins of the marathon, it was told that a Greek messenger named Pheidippides traveled some 25 miles which was the approximate distance from the battlefield to the City of Marathon to announce that the Persians have been defeated in the Battle of Marathon but when he arrived, it was rumored that he collapsed and died. These are just hypotheses of how the marathon started and why it goes for approximately 25 miles – but the actual distance of 26 miles 285 yards came about because apparently some VIP (the Queen of England, I think) wanted to watch the starting of the race so they had lengthened so that it can start from Windsor Castle and the marathon still ends at Olympic Stadium in London, 1907.

Oh well, so during my 2^nd marathon I didn’t get any blisters or injuries this time round, thank god! No chaffing, no knee pains or cramps but good ol’ regular sore muscles after a long and hard route. I did the whole nine-yards of the marathon recovery program. I stretched, refueled, stretched, walked and did light runs… it helped but I just can’t wait to get back running again!

On Tuesday, 9^th Feb 2010, I’d coaxed my mate John to do a light recovery run with me. Because I was planning to do a real slow run, I decided that I would do it barefoot! Only 2 miles, and as we were running I told myself to take it easy as my feet needs time to toughen up my tender feet. We did several loops around the Kiara Park and on the last lap; we decided to run real fast! I know I shouldn’t but going slow was mentally draining… so we both sprinted several hundred meters before we called it a day. I knew it would mean disaster but my heart took over my brains. I ended the run with several blisters on my feet… 5 to be exact. It was funny that I completed a marathon without an injury and had 5 blisters running only 2 miles.

At this point, I remembered our fellow fulltime barefoot runners and it increased my respect to Mr. Tan Wah Sing and Mr. Ngai for being able to endure the torture of the modern asphalts during their full marathons. Will I try barefoot running again? Hell Yea! It does feel good, having nothing in between you and mother nature, however I don’t think I would run naked though. J

Well, work for the past few days was bad, there were plenty to complete before the Chinese New Year and this was coupled with a few dinner obligations that I had to attend. How I wish I could be out running?

In light of the good ol’ Chinese New Year reunion dinner coming up soon, I will now sign off, but perhaps I would just sneak in a run right before it now. J

So, why do you keep running? Let me know!

"Gong Xi Fatt Chai to all my friends, family and fellow runners!" - James Wong