NB RealRun, so real, so real.
i am going to use a lot of 'real' here. so, be real-ly prepared.

the race we faced, the treacherous 4km trail + 0.6km sand road + 5.4km taxiway terrain, the pain of the momentum of 10km, the camaraderie and pride incorporated, the glory of completion and the rheumatism we might develop when we're 30yr-old is real. as real as the calories i have burnt.

i woke up on a sunday morning 4.45am praying that i will have the guts to sms my friends that i won't be going (like every other school day). well, God didn't answer THAT prayer, so i went to the New Balance RealRun 2008. from the small talks we had on that morning, i figured that i wasn't the only who said that prayer.

well, the run wasn't half as bad. it was actually, rather professionally done and well-executed by the organizers (even though the t-shirts' sizes saga was quite sad). the terrain was difficult though it kind of resembles the macritchie trail, just 5times more tiring. it was my first ever run in my life and i thought i learnt a lot from it.

the girls did the entire run together and there were many times we had to wait up for each other, eyeball each other's location and pace up with one another. there were some moments when we lose each other for awhile but there's always a sense of camaraderie that will eventually bring us side-by-side again. and when emma, yen and i ran towards the finishing line together, i could almost hear the deafening cheers we share with each other (though we were really too tired to whoopee together).

we saw a few young children participating in the 10km run too. it was such a heartening sight, when after almost 2hours, we see a small shadow hurtling towards the finishing line with every traces of the exhaustion and morning sun towards the line and into the mother's proud arms. we saw friends joined in hands running together towards the end, couples with fingers entwined urging each other on and many individuals who defied pain, age and the relentless sun. it was a run that displayed the human spirit.

i realized i didn't have to use the word 'real' to portray how real this run was. i think this in itself, is the success of everyone who took to the roads on the sunday morning.

i guess i would go for another run like this, just so i can soak in the Real spirit again.