A mass of blue. Smiling faces. A sense of camaraderie.
Heart-pumping music at the start of the race. The anticipation of the road ahead.
Ah! How I missed this feeling!
This is the first time I am back running at an organised mass run, after a hiatus of 5 years. It marks a significant milestone, because it means that I am officially back on track after a period of disruption from pregnancy and motherhood.
The last time I participated in a race was before I had my two kids. That seems like a thousand years ago!
It seems like my life is divided into two eras: Without Kids, and With Kids. How totally, absolutely different these two eras are. So imagine how carefree I feel, running down the road, as I hark back to the times pre-motherhood when all I cared about was Myself, Myself and Myself.
Aside from that, I really LOOOOVE to run.
There is something about these kind of races that makes it really fun. It is different from running on your own in the park. For this kind of organised runs, there is a definite start and end, so when you finish your race, there is a wonderful sense of achievement. And there are thousands and thousands of people, all wearing the same clothes as you, running down the same path. I suppose this is the closest to joining a cult I will ever feel, where everybody is united in the same path and working towards the same objective.
The activities at the end of the race also makes it doubly fun. There is this carnival feel in the air, where all the endorphins-pumped individuals go around taking photos with each other (hey, I did it!). There are also silly activities such as taking (more) photos with a giant can of 100-plus, Zumba-dancing (the most popular form of exercise now), and "like-ing" products on facebooks to get free gifts.
To top it all, I participated in the mass run with my sister. If it feels great just participating in a run, it feels doubly-great when you participate it with fantastic company. We had fun on the road taking selfies of ourselves, and pointing out all the "weird" people you see along the way. (There was not a lot of "interesting" people in this particular run, but still there were one or two. For example, there was this lady that ran barefoot, and displayed her shoes prominently so people will notice.)
All in all, we had a great time! I really enjoyed the laughter, the companionship, and the blast of endorphins as we reached our "runner's high". So the logical question to ask is, when is the next run?
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Hi, I would be very happy if you could leave some comments or words of encouragement!