Yup! Yesterday was the day of the much anticipated run. But I wasn't entirely prepared for it as I was chatting with Ah Gong the day before about the personality test (website: http://www.personalitypage.com/home.html) we took last week during our Civics tutorial class, and after he went to bed I went around guessing the personality of others (well only for izack, the twins, dorcas and seow ken).

Anyway I was so sleepy that I slept peacefully onboard bus 168. Actually I expected myself to travel all the way to Bedok before deciding what bus to transfer to get to Bedok reservoir. But by God's grace, I woke up near SAFRA and realised that 168 actually travel pass it! Thank God too that I woke at the time when the bus was approaching Bedok Reservoir. Wa so blessed.

I was MA01, number 1 lei.. hee.. Felt butterflies in my stomach =/ . That was my 1st 9km run, and truly the 1st as I had never run 9km before. The closest was 5km last week in my entire life. There seemed so many experienced runners around. Don't even dare to think about winning, not even about the race. I just wanted to get there, do my best, shine for the Lord as best as I can, never to regret.

That place was peaceful at 8.15am..

Not given much time to write on my notebook. All too soon we were asked to gather around. The journey was changed to 9km (it was 10km earlier). After a 5min break, we went to our starting point, 400m away from the finishing line. 1 round around the reservoir would be 4.3km, and the finishing line has a marking of 0.0km.

As we walked, I prayed for strength and Father's presence. All around me group of friends talked, while I was there comptemplating. Anyhow we started the race.

The 1st few hundred metres was alright. Its somewhat like my 2.4km NAPFA run, with me passing a few people. All too soon however I started to tire at around the 1.5km marking. I perserved, remembering my 5km run last wek. I remembered the feeling of the 12 rounds on lane 6 and I was strengthen to continue. All happened so fast, yet so slow. I passed from one winding to another, yet it seemed like eternity to reach the 2.5km marking. At last I'd reached the marking. The finishing point was just opposite the reservoir. I've completed 1/4 of the journey.

The road was now fairly straight, but the ground was nevertheless hard to run on. The gound was covered with stones which impedes my push on it. Passed through one waterpoint to another (waterpoint is a place where they provide water for funners. I passed some earlier.). I resisted the temptation to slow dwon for rest. The road was long. I looked far around me. The buildings were slowing falling behind, all too slowly. I was tired.

Seeing the finishing line ahead, I gathered up speed to finish my 1st round. Finally made it though. However so tired was I; my legs were like heavy burdens. Can't take it. I gave up and walked. I drank some water at the coming waterpoint.

I prayed for God's strength and perserverence, and tried runnig again, but with no avail. I was not used to long runs. I believed that if I were to continue running I might collapse. Perhaps its this belief that was holding me back, not my legs. But too strong was this belief. My prayer was not strong enough.

Runners passed me by as I walked along the road. Suddenly one of them slowed and went to the grasses. He vomitted! Omg; I went to attend to him. Apparently my help was not as necessay as it seemed, but we walked together while he was recovering from bloated stomach. After awhile we agreed to a slow jog back. I was reminded of the time when Dorcas was in the same situation. It was a college-wide cross-country in CJC and I happen to crash into the college (it was PAE period). She was also felt like giving up, but her friend came up and cheered her on, and both of them ran together. Now my run was filled with purpose, with strength. NOt as fast, but certainty more fruitful, we paced each other, cheering each other on, like: less than 1/2 more round to go! Jia You! Along the way we cheered for others too. The run was slow, but the time seemed to accelerate. Soon we came to the 3.5km marking, 800m more. Soon we came to the 4.0km marking. I sprinted off while he jogged the rest of the way.

Well this was the end of my first 9km run. 50min12s. Not too bad for a beginner. Average timing 2min 13.9s. If not for the walk it could have been faster. I promised myself to train hard for the upcoming 10km quarter-marathon at the end of the year. A tribute too to my friend, Daniel from SIM.