The Third Marathon

I wasn't sure what to expect going into my third marathon. The first one was to prove to myself that I can finish a marathon with a decent timing. The second one was to prove to myself that I can finish a marathon with a good timing.

But a third?

I wasn't really sure why I signed up. I sort of just did. Fresh from the euphoria of a sub-4 marathon at Standard Chartered, I thought to myself 'Why not just do it again?'. With army over and done with, I figured I'd have more time to train, and would be able to dedicate more time to running. A timing below 3hr50min didn't seem so far off.

But reality soon reared it's ugly realistic head. When you're working, there's actually little time to run. Imagine waking up at 630 in the morning, leaving at 730, and only getting home 12 hours later. During weekdays, I can only run in the evening. But I have this thing called a 'life', and 'other hobbies' to pursue.

Coming into this third marathon, I certainly didn't train as much as I did in the previous two. And it showed in the results. I ran a race of 4hr36min. That's worse than my 1st marathon by about 10min. Don't think that I'm ashamed of this result, though. 4hr36min is still a pretty good timing.

So back to reality and it's ugly head. I had little time to train, but I did train as much as I could. I ran nearly everyday still, taking only about 2 days off in a week. Distance-wise, I ran less, because I didn't have time to do the crazy mileage I did before. However, I still kept to a reasonable training schedule. And it got me an OK time, and a brutal marathon experience.

Conclusion? Marathoning isn't for me. At least, not for now, when I'm trying to pursue so many other things in life. I wanna read, write, go to the gym, go on a proper diet, go out on dates, and all that. I'm giving the upcoming Standard Chartered a miss this time around, because for the next 6 months, I want some flexibility in my life.

I get why people do marathons. It's tiring, and it's demanding, but at the end of the day, you feel so damn satisfied. If I had all the time in the world, I wouldn't mind. But I don't. I feel that I'm young, and that life is like grains of sand and if I don't take control of it, it's just going to slip through my fingers.

3 marathons later, and I'm tired. It's been a really good phase of my life, but it's time to try out other things. I'm gonna be shelfing my running shoes. I'll be hitting the gym more often, going on a strict diet, and I'll see what works out.

It's 0622am. Having crossed the finish line at about 230am, I have yet to sleep. I have turned my laptop on and off three times. Should I just give up?

You know what they say: Sleep can wait.