My very first race by Jenette del Mundo

(Introduction. On Sunday morning, I woke up early to cheer on some friends of mine who joined Standard Chartered Bank's 10km run. The atmosphere was very festive. The runners were having a nice time inspite the difficulty. This was Jenette's first race and she wrote such a beautiful account of it. Jenette, thanks for letting me post your piece. You are my very first guest-blogger! Missy)

The thought of joining a race or a marathon, let alone a big one like the statewide Standard & Chartered HK Marathon was no less daunting. Be it a 10k or full marathon, a race for the big part to me, meant stress. The advance training, gigantic crowds and time pressure, not to mention the awfully early wake up (3.30 am for a 6 am race), was nearly enough to put off the slightest intent to sign up. But like anything, a positive mindset and a good support network, with a little encouragement from your friends or family help ward off all these evil anxieties. Exactly how it worked for me. I have great friends who believed I can do it. And I always thought that - if you don’t go, you won’t know. And so I did, and I looked back with melo-dramatic emotions, that anything is possible, as long as you set your mind to it. You don’t need to race with the crowd, or with your friends, but just with yourself. Every little bit of training helps. A little reading and research here and there as well as regular small runs and cross-training as early as 3 months before are all very useful. I remembered how painful my first few runs were some years ago when I could not sustain even a mere full kilometer without pausing to catch my breath. It took me some time to build up, and endure longer distances without getting winded. Its amazing. Running I thought, was one of the most mundane and tough physical activities that you can subject yourself to hence a nice and fresh environment always helps. A lot prefer to take their I-pods with them. But like others, I don’t use my i-pod, as I like to run on empty… but not quite though… I ran with my thoughts and ideas, stresses, and worries. It’s both a release, and a boost.

Getting closer to the race day, I could not recall trying out a sample run that exceeded 5k, which freaked me out at the last week, where doubts of my actually finishing a 10 k are starting to crop up. I supposed that’s all part of the package that I signed up for- the uncertainties, self-realizations and self-discovery. As we’re running by Victoria harbour, it made me think how long I have lived in Hongkong, and for the first time, I saw the busiest thoroughfare along the Eastern corridor cleared of any transport. They have been blocked off for the duration of the marathon, and runners rule the road even for a few hours. It’s also the first time I saw day break in HK island, as I hardly come out this early, or go home this late. But seriously it made me think that all these years that I am still here, HK has been nonetheless good to me.

Whether it’s a good strategy or not, thinking of the finish line sends me fireworks. As the kilometers add up, the energy in me somewhat builds up, pushing me to accelerate even more. The cheering squads may not realize how much of an impact they make to those critical racing moments. They do a spectacular job uplifting the morale of several thousand strangers and virtually make them go on. How much more if they are your own friends or loved ones. And as the race drew to the 10k mark, I was hearing drumrolls and whistles, cheers and chants. Applauses everywhere, it was overwhelming. It moved me in a way-- in a big way, that here I am finishing what I set out out to do, surrounded by people who care, even if they don’t know you. (My time was 1 hour and 23 minutes for 10k.)

Here's Jenette just after crossing the finish line:

The runners and the fans:
At the back Franco (runner), middle row Esther, Sheila, me, Michel and in front Jenette (runner), Ivy (runner), Soy (runner),Xavier (runner) and Ginger (runner)




Celebrating with a big breakfast at Parklane Hotel's Cafe O: