My First Quarter Marathon…

Quarter Marathon, something that is a total stranger to me until I saw the BHPetrol Orange Run 2009 link posted up by a friend in his Facebook page.

Orange Run which is an annual event on the BHPetrol calendar will be held for the fourth time this year. The Run which is scheduled on 12 April 2009 (Sunday)

I’ve never heard of a quarter marathon though, only half marathon or a full marathon. Never knew it even exist...hahaha...I’ve had a thought last year that I might want to take part in a walk, or maybe a half marathon but I was too unfit to do so. I started going to the gym middle of last year so I thought since there’s an 11km run, maybe I could give it a trial run at the treadmill and see if I’m capable of doing so.

Off I go to the gym, started off with the speed at 5.5km/h (3% gradient), took on a 10 minutes each of jog and walk interval on my first hour. With jogging at 7km/h and walking at the speed ranges from 4.5 - 5.5km/h.

I reached the 7km mark not long after my first hour and continued with only walking speed as I was already running out of breath. Increased the gradient to 6% while I was walking and catching up my breath. Then I finished off the last 2km with 8km/h at 0% gradient. Completing the whole 11km run with the time of 1hr 57minutes. Approximately 4 times slower than the world marathon record. HAHA...During my second hour walk I could feel a little pain on my left ankle but surprisingly my left knee which has been aching once in a while had no problem through the whole 11km.

The result wasn’t at all great but I’m happy that at least I could complete the whole 11km walk/run. I was totally drained after the session. I guess I could plan for a next session and see if I can improve. I’m still thinking if I should join the Orang Run 2009 but I’m contemplating since it’ll be held in just 2 weeks time.