Thursday - View from the Bench

I did not run yesterday. I deliberately left my T-shirt and shorts at home to stop myself from running. Otherwise on the day I was supposed to rest, I know I would end up running at KLCC park.

I miss the days when I could just run any day without giving a second thought. Run at any pace I wish and run faster if I wanted to. Now, I have to consider my injury and train accordingly. No speed traning, no fast pace runs , keep distances short and no long runs.

I was at KLCC park yesterday too but as a observer. I sat on the bench near the mosque area. I bought along two cans of Gatorade. I drank one can as I walked along to the beach. The second can I bought for one the runners. It was a blazing hot day.

As i sat on the bench, the regular runners ran by. Some wondered why I was not running because when I was there, I was always running. Yong, Newton and Ah Loong ran by first. A bit later , I saw Kenneth who complained about the hot conditions. More runners turned up and soon a group of four runners formed; the first three guys were joined by Adam.

For a while Ronnie and Kenneth stopped by the bench to stretch. They were planning to do a fartlek session. They were soon off running for the fartlek session ; 100 m fast, 100 m slow over the 1300 m lap. The session must have been hard because the agonised expressions on their faces.

On the bench, John joined me, wearing slippers. He was taking time off training due to injuries.

I don't usually get a chance to observe other runners at KLCC for a long period of time. After seeing my friends run lap after lap, what came to me "It was not easy to do what we are doing". We make it look easy to run lap after lap. In most cases, we were the fastest bodies moving on the track. About half of the people on the track were walking, the other 1/2 were joggers/runners.

I have to say again, my friends make running easy. It is not easy to run 8-10 km in 80% humidity and 30 deg. C. But we look good doing it. I guess by Malaysian standards, at least at KLCC park , we were like the Kenyans.

A few years back, I overheard a two women walking past me after I had finished my run at the KLCC park. "He looks fit" . Yeah that remark was about me.

Running is not easy. We could walk, even do brisk walking but it's the same as running. When I run (I am sure other runners share this as well), we feel more alive. Our hearts beat faster, blood courses in our veins and capillaries more vigorously and the breaths are more rapidly. We sweat, we curse (if it'shot), we get wet and sometimes become smelly.

But we do it anyway.