Thursday, April 13, 2006; 6:21 AM;
e day arrived. e day we've all been awaiting. e day to glorify, impress and run. 12042006.same place, same scene. yet it felt so different. it was e nationals' and e VJC/VS super elaborate banners are, as usual, hung up on e grandstand. there were alrdy many ppl there, and e nervousness was there, okay duh. yea, after putting our belongings aside, we went to sleep again. [in sch we slept alrdy; from 10-12] actually to be honest, who can really rest and be at ease ?i mean, we were all tensed up and thinking about e race. i kept visualising e big run in my almost-rotting brain; when im gonna accelerate, what to think about if i cldnt take it anymore. e mental preparation was quite well done, because when i was at e start line i wasnt scared. but anyway we did warmup, then drills and Coach &tan briefed us. i felt very blessed and umm, it was quite a morale booster. i rmb, Coach said, "if you dig deep and ask yourself why the heck am i even running here, you'll be able to run your homestretch fast" [ok i admit e last phrase isnt like this. i forgot la okay ;D]and then it was reporting, and racing. .e start was what i expected-- moderately fast. after e horn sounded, i was alrdy telling myself, "okay this one !" *picks someone mentally* "overtake. every person counts." and yea, this was why i quickly caught up with yuxin &kexin, with claire on my ass. then there she was, my main opponent throughout e race. [she was e MGS girl, e one who is comparatively short &petite. i ran with Claire &her for most of e whole race.] now up e hill, i knew i was supposed to overtake quite a few ppl here because i can tahan climbing hills/slopes, esp when we've done so many bloody tough workouts on it. it was time to conquer. and so i was confident and kept on running.at e split of e girls &guys routes, i was almost drained alrdy. i dragged myself up e lil gradient and continued running on e grass. was really quite exhausted alrdy but i kept going. [haha obviously. i cannot possibly stop right.] then all of a sudden i had e strength again, at one point of time, i was just 4 ppl from yuxin which was quite an accomplishment for me la. (: then aiya just ran &ran then i came to e U-turn.i was very touched. i realised how blessed i was to be given this chance to run. although e trngs that came before this were rather tough and we had so much preceding us-- Cgirls top2, all 4 in top20 individual-- it was all worthwhile. now im running this race, supposedly e race of my life, and whether im gonna regret, it depends alot on this moment, whether i wanna sprint and give it my all.then &there, e MGS girl was running shoulder-to-shoulder with me AGAIN, for e gazillionth time throughout e race. but anyway i saw that there was another MGS girl in fronta me and so i wanted to overtake her. "every person counts. every person counts. every person counts..." i picked up speed and went to catch up with e one in front. e crowd grew noisier and halfway thru e homestretch, i sensed/saw carrots at e side and opened my strides wide. my legs wanted so much to catch up with that MGS girl so i went faster &faster and i found myself running like never before. it was my fastest strides (: yay yay.and then. it ended.
; ran