Perspective

Emerging from the typical Chinese New Year binge, I reckon that my fitness survived quite well, and I was able to resume my training. Speaking about my training, I have always felt that I am progressing quite well. That is, until I got a sense of perspective a couple of days ago.

I met up with an ex-teammate of mine, Jia Hao. He's also a runner, albeit a sprinter. Like me, he also decided not to hang up his spikes after hightailing it out of Chung Ling. Of course being a sprinter his goals deviate a bit from mine, as there are no road races for him to shine in. Instead, he's aiming for the Malaysia Games later in the year.

Being a runner and eternally curious about personal bests, I inevitably shifted the topic to what his current best for the 100 is for. 10.9 seconds was his answer. Though it didn't surprise me, I was still a bit taken aback. Here I was, thinking I was the shit every time I finished a tough workout, and I couldn't be further away from the truth. While it is strange to draw comparison with a sprinter, the truth is that he is relatively further along in his training, and I have to really work harder to be on a similar level statistically.

As for getting the hurt on, I already started on it since the afternoon right after that meeting. I just went and did a 40 minute run on the field. Of course, I would have to neglect the fact that I projected a 1 hour run instead. Sigh, life is tough for a distance runner.