Let's go back to last night, Saturday night, the night before the 16K race that Amanda, Brooke, Allie and I planned to run together. Yes, the one that I haven't been training for AT ALL. If only going on 3-4 mile runs every morning in a different country (with a SLIGHTLY warmer climate than home) would have fully prepared me for the big 10-miler, I may have been more confident about the run. Therefore, despite my unpreparedness to run the miles (kilometers, I mean) I decided to also not be prepared when it came to getting enough sleep.
Due to my new mindset of "living in the moment" I went to eat with Shermaine and her friends at Bakit Timah, a local, Indian, outdoor food place with food as local as local gets. Let me just say that eating Indian food (and I mean REAL Indian food) the evening before a race is not the wisest idea. Anyways, I had a few sips of the Indian Lasi mango-yogurt-ice concoction before I couldn't take any more. It was so overwhelmingly sour because of the different type of dairy that they use in their yogurt. May I also add that I haven't eaten or drank any dairy for 3 months (besides some ice cream and some eggs) so the sour yogurt that tasted like it had gone bad didn't agree well with my poor tummy. Next, instead of getting the mix veg curry which sounded delicious, I was talked into getting a spinach-cottage cheese gravy curry instead...Moreover, we ordered a bunch of chicken, red, green, and yellow, to top it all off. May I also mention that I barely eat any chicken here, because it is rarely white meat or served without skin or bone. However, I ate the chicken last night, which my stomach also didn't appreciate very much. MISTAKE #1
But it was great to get to talk to Shermaine, who is an NTU student but went on exchange for a semester at SDSU. Someone who could relate to my undying love for Yogurtland, and the beautiful SDSU campus, and the convenience of living next to Ralph's was pretty cool. Among the culutral differences we could name, here's what I remember: Toilet Seat Covers, Passivity/Direct, Fro Yo, Being Tan/White, Gum, Riding on the wrong side of the road, etc.
After the somewhat unsettling meal, I had a terrible stomach ache. And it only augmented when our friend decided to eat an entire Durian. It was at that point that I was fully prepared to throw up, for the smell of durian (onions+butt) is deadly. Stay away. FAR far away.
When they dropped me off at hall 13, I felt very sick. But I pushed it to the side when I met up with the girls (Sam, Yun, Julie) and we went to JP to do some shopping. We have found our new favorite store, Cotton On, which sells the cheapest cutest clothes. We met up with the NUS boys to go and see the 9:40 pm showing of Alice in Wonderland (which was, amazing, by the way. A real 9.1/10) MISTAKE #2
By the time I went to bed last night, it was almost 1am. Please keep in mind that I had to wake up at 430am to meet the girls in the taxi at 5am then go to Boon Lay to catch the 530am bus ride to Pasir Ris. Also it is important to note that the race was on the complete opposite of the Singaporean island (East Side). And that we, here at NTU, are on the COMPLETE WEST SIDE. The boonies. Literally.
I set my phone alarm for it to go off 5 times in case I didn't wake up. I also was planning on giving Amanda her bib number and shirt when we met in the cab. After my 4 1/2 hour nap, I woke up to the alarm, feeling queasy from the Indian food but still ready to go run. I brushed my teeth, got changed into my Singaporean singlet and shorts (the standard NTU outfit) and facebook chatted with Amanda at about 445am, telling her I would meet her down at my bus stop at 510am. Bored, and freezing, in my room, I decided to lay back down and "doze off" for a few more minutes before I had to go down and catch the cab with them. MISTAKE #3
One hour later. I wake up, startled. I look at my clock, which reads 550 am. Yes, I had "dozed off" and fallen asleep for an hour. Frantic. Panic. Stress. And cuss words overwhelm my brain. I jumped up from the bed, grabbed my stuff, and FLEW out the door. I still had Amanda's number and shirt to give to her! Yet it was almost 6 am, and our race was supposed to start at 650am. And it was on the complete other side of Singapore.
Amanda calls me from Allie's phone. She tells me that they had waited for me at the bus stop but that I wasn't there so they had to leave to catch the bus (which I paid 2 tickets for). It was still completely dark outside, and I was all alone. I almost started crying, thinking I was going to not only miss my race, but that I let down Amanda! She gave me the number of the taxi reservation company and I called for a taxi. It came in 5 minutes and it was the nicest old Chinese man ever. I told him in a panic that I needed to go to Pasir Ris ASAP. He told me roads were closed down for the run I was doing, but he could get me there in 30 minutes if he drove fast. So while the driver booked it, I came to terms with my stupidity of going back to sleep and screwing everything up. I imagined what Matt would tell me in this situation, and I told myself that this was just life and I would make it.
As we pedaled to the metal, I called Amanda apologizing and stressed and upset and she told me to breathe and calm down. We arranged to meet at the Bag Check In stand near the starting line. The taxi ride cost me 29 sing dollars, which I was not very happy about. But sometimes in life, you just have to suck it up and pay for it I guess.
So there I was, running as fast as I could through the dark streets of Singapore, desperately searching for the starting line. I finally found it, and heard it, and saw all the runners in their matching red singlets, and I sprinted over to find the 3 girls getting ready to run. The girls race started literally 3 minutes after I got there and gave Amanda her number and checked in my bag. We began the race! Amanda and I ran together for the first half an hour then I broke off and wanted to go faster. There were stairs...and lots of sweaty people (it was SO humid) and it was an out-and-back course. Even though I was planning on just running it for fun, my competitiveness got the best of me and I had to play catch up and pick off as many girls as I could while passing groups and groups of guys. I ended up doing the 10 miles in 1:17, which is better than I thought I would get but definitely slower than my time would have been at home. It was a sub 8 minute mile pace, and the most I had run was maybe miles since I've been to Singapore, so I guess it wasn't too bad.
I have NEVER IN MY LIFE sweated as much as I did this morning at this race. I looked like I had just gone swimming. We all did. It was hilarious. And in the goodie bags, they gave us a bottle of "energy maximizing" pills, which was very very ironic...
We MRT'd back home ($3) and Amanda and I had a one-track mind of just getting home and showering. That shower was probably one of the best showers I have ever had in my life.
I am now sitting on my bed, contemplating taking another nap, but this time without the worry about needing to wake up for anything. My body is pretty tired but not too bad. And I have tons of homework to do, but I just needed to blog about this chaotic morning running fiasco. Welcome to my life...
Registration fee for Northeast run: 38 SG dollars
Last minute taxi ride to starting line on opposite side of island: 30 SG dollars
1.5 hour long MRT/bus ride back home: 3.80 sing dollars
Being in a sea of a million asian runners in Singapore: Priceless.
<3
