I haven't blogged in a while. For that, I apologise to everyone who's been following this little back-to-fitness journey of mine (yes, all three of you!). You see, I've been a little lost trying to figure out where I'm going with this series. It started out as a plan to get back in shape, first by working towards a series of challenging but realistic goals — maintain a regular fitness routine, complete the Men’s Health Urbanathlon, pass my IPPT, scale Mount Kinabalu, reduce my weight from 75 to 70 kilograms — all of which I achieved. Then I decided to aim a little higher, and set myself a more ambitious goal — running my first half-marathon, which I did at the Adidas Sundown Marathon last month. And after I accomplished that, I wasn't quite sure what I'd do, or what I should aim for next.

It took a while, but the answer was obvious: run and complete my first full marathon. Once I'd decided, I signed up immediately for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2010 taking place in December. My urgency in signing up was partly because I'm cheapo and wanted to make sure I got the earlier-than-early bird discount, but also so I could immediately start to plan and work towards this new goal. I may have managed to wing the half marathon on very little training (I'm still rather disappointed in myself that I didn't put in the right amount of training that I should have), but I know the full 42km is another beast altogether. I know I'll have to train seriously just to have a glimmer of hope of finishing it.

I may have completed the 21km at the Sundown Marathon, but it was by the skin of my teeth. By the 17km mark, different muscles in my legs had begun to cramp up and I was reduced to mostly walking the rest of the way to the finish. I'd try to run but after every hundred metres or so, I'd cramp up again. I would then walk briskly for a bit, give another go at running, and cramp up again. It was a terrible 4km or so to the finish line and I completed the 21km in a poor time of 2: 45. To be frank, I was extremely bummed out that I did not manage to achieve my goal of running from start to end without walking. However, that's not going to stop me from aiming to do that for the full 42km.

My disappoinment at my first 21km race has reinforced the belief that I need to be better prepared. I also know I can run a lot of faster if only I trained regularly and properly. I'll admit it — my problem is discipline. I just haven't really been disciplined enough to put in the training runs, and I keep getting complacent. In fact, I'd almost forgotten all about my disappointments at the Sundown Marathon and it's barely been a few weeks since that race. But as luck would have it, my invitation to run in the Gold Coast Airport Marathon was finalised this week. That means I'll be running my second half-marathon on 4 July — yes, that's two weeks from now. Just the jolt I needed to wake me up from this inertia, and into a state of panic from having not run once since the Sundown. Let's hope I don't slack off again after this, or I'm simply not going to even make it to the starting line for the full marathon at the end of the year.

I've got to start running...today. I've got to make the time, and de-prioritise other after-office-hour plans. So what if the World Cup only comes round every four years? (I can't believe I just said that.)

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Read about Day 00, or what Gavin Gets Garang is all about.