Iblawg Runs in the SJ10K 2006

It felt good this morning. I had breakfast and left for MPSJ at about 6:50am. (Yeah the reporting time was stated as 6:00am but, hey, get real :p). Parked somewhere opposite the complex in USJ11, and warmed myself up along the way. Flag-off time was 7:30am, for categories A and B (10 kilometers), and the man who flagged us off was none other than the ‘youthful’ MB of Selangor, Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo. I was wondering if the distance was really 10km.

Hmm. Fair enough. Everything was good until somewhere around 3/4 of the distance, just after SMK USJ13. My right foot developed a blister. It was very distracting, and at times I had to force my left leg to work a little harder to minimize the pain. Nevertheless, I followed this gwai lo until somewhere near the USJ9 mosque and met a fellow Toastmaster, Mr R. Had a little chat and for a moment I forgot about the pain. You may not realize this, but the road was actually going slightly uphill after True Fitness Taipan.

I was practically doing a slow-jog on my way up, and upon seeing the MPSJ complex, I thought of nothing but the U-turn that I had to make at the end of the road. That was also when I noticed that I had lost sight of Mr R (who was in a complete marathon outfit, and is going to participate in another running event in Singapore -_-”). I couldn’t push any faster after that, so I kept to my pace, and jogged, and jogged. After the U-turn I was determined to get past some other runners, despite working my legs off in the final 200m. Needless to say, I was no longer in a medal position.

There weren’t any drinking checkpoints along the race, so those booths set up in the MPSJ complex giving away free drinks were a hit. I gulped down mineral water, Ribena (I think it was Ribena, it was purple - I didn’t think much about that drink :p), and Milo. I sat by the field and assessed the blister. When I was running, it felt more like some needle poking my foot (I actually wondered if I had stepped on a thumb-tag!). I think I made the 60-minute mark, but I’m not sure. I asked one of the participants near the finish-line about this, his watch showed 54mins. I just hope I wasn’t too far behind him.

In any case, it was fun and satisfying. Like the PJ Half, I didn’t suffer from any major injuries other than the blister. (Come to think of it, this blister alone was damn distracting and could have ruined the whole race). No pictures at the race - duh. But I have a picture of my foot, taken after bath just now.

Sigh. I was surprised how a seemingly ‘minor’ blister like this could cause all that irritation. I checked the shoe; a layer in the inner sole has partially come off. The blister is no surprise, then. Another km or so would have resulted in a peeled skin!