Hello 2015!

This post is long overdue. I was thinking of writing again after the Cyberjaya Marathon but I was too excited about returning home. After 3 months, I get to see my parents and savour the good food of my hometown, Ipoh, once more. Just a brief summary of what transpired at my last marathon of 2014, I could not break my Penang timing. In fact, I got slower. I blame the hills as well as an upset stomach. This is the first time I have such severe stomach ache that I went to the toilet twice during the run and twice afterwards. Maybe it is due to the orange-flavored gel that I took before I start. Truly a horrible experience. I can only apologize to any runners who entered the same toilet afterwards. Yes, I was running without much cleaning too. Sounds disgusting but there is nothing I can do about it. Thankfully I did not get any infection or inflammation.

After the rest, I still have a few more days till the new year. I think long and hard on what happened, why it happened and what I want to do in 2015. First of all, I decided to drop the Gold Coast marathon due to financial constraints. Even though I took up freelance writing, there is no way I could fund 3 overseas trips without burning my savings. Therefore I decided to only go Hong Kong and Nepal. After much calculation, I am still running short because Nepal is not cheap. And the price of everything is increasing. Gym, education loan repayment and most definitely living costs due to GST. I cannot drop gym nor do I want to relocate to a cheaper room. So, the only thing I can do is cut food. Previously I tend to consume 2 plates during lunch but after the return to Ipoh somehow I can stay full even with one. Maybe it is temporary because I ate a lot and I am just burning my reserves but if I can cut around RM5 per day, that is 150 a month. I can only hope my increment would be substantial but most likely it will hover around RM200. I already cut out movies, outings and a lot of stuff and I am really running out of ideas.

By cutting out food I hope that I can finally have a cool body figure. Before I started running my abs disappeared as I concentrated on strength training. Now they returned but I look pretty strange right now because my muscles are uneven. Maybe it will continue since I am still exercising my upper body and back but with more definition. Unfortunately, with the decrease in food, I might get irritated much more easily now. As if I am not sensitive enough already. Throughout the year it was a roller coaster of emotions for both me and the people around me. I think I improved a lot and running definitely helped but I still lose my composure when the event is truly retarded. I realized I really have a mental issue when I feel better due to the pain of running. Most likely subconsciously I treat it the same as cutting myself. It is as if all the hidden anger are channelled out through the pain. I feel as though I finally exhaled. I know this is really bad and I remember there is even an article that says we should not treat running as therapy and get the underlying issues fixed properly. Perhaps I should really see a shrink?

For 2015 I have several resolutions. First and foremost I really want to break the 4 hour mark for a full marathon. I am excited to try out a new training plan after the Hong Kong marathon. I read about the 'killer week' concept and it involves increasing your weekly mileage by 30% or more only for that week. Hopefully I will not end up with an injury. Maybe my weight loss will contribute to this goal as well. Secondly, I want to finish a 100km ultra marathon. I have my eyes on the Penang Ultra and the 16(?) hour cut-off time seems pretty possible. Well, I will not know until I attempt it. My third resolution, I will start seeing the world. If the Nepal trip fails, that means I have around 5K to spend and I will definitely use it to travel to Korea. I don't really have anything else I want to achieve though. Maybe learn Korean, learn to sing or to dance. But those seem highly unlikely. I am really curious about what will happen in 2015. Work might get more interesting. I foresee my social life will remain non-existent. In an ironic twist, I am actually thankful I do not have a girlfriend or a 'life' right now. I seriously could not afford it. Hope one day I can stop saying that.