Blessed to have been able to participate and I absolutely enjoyed and treasured the God-given opportunity!
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| Alongside. |
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| Gratitude. |
I had always wanted to run for IVP. This year (or I should say, in the AY 2017-18), I found out with minimal notice (essentially about a week) that qualifying for the 5000m was possible. Yet the other consideration was - when was the 5000m - as there was some variation in schedules across previous years.
I can choose to attribute my qualification for the right event at the right time as pure coincidence or God's blessing and I choose to acknowledge that it must have been the latter.
Consider my circumstances. I was in the midst of preparation for MBBS, therefore was running minimally (20-30km a week, a far cry from the mileage and intensity I was doing just a year ago). After MBBS was over, I would fly to Taiwan from 15th January onwards. This meant that I could only take part in IVP if the event I participated in fell on 13th January 2018 (Saturday). Furthermore, I had to qualify. God opened the opportunity for me, and I seized it.
The week of MBBS was a challenging one, physically. I was unwell. Thankfully, much of the preparation took place in the months preceding. It forced me to recognise my limitations and rely on God for His providence. I write this prior to receiving my results but I write this confident that whatever the outcome, He wills for it and is pleased with what I chose to do.
On the day of IVP itself, I was still unwell. I had an uncomfortable throat and lingering lethargy. The weather was drizzly (as it had been for the past 120 hours?). Though a little excited, I was joyful. Sheer joy at the privilege and blessing to be running that afternoon.
We were flagged off just after 5pm. It was still drizzling and the ground was damp - in fact it had been persistently drizzling for about the past 3 days.
I settled into a decent pace, perhaps a tad too fast for my fitness at that moment. Surprisingly, the first 2km felt absolutely comfortable. I was running with Yurong for the first few laps, before he started to drop back ever so slightly. Ahead of me was a pack of about 4 runners. I could hear the cheers suggesting I catch that pack, however I knew that even trying to speed up by a few seconds would cost me dearly. In fact, I was probably running a few seconds too quick.
The pack ahead maintained an amazingly consistent pace, gradually pulling further ahead. This left me in no man's land. Yet I realised I was in 8th position - which would actually enable to me to score points. It wasn't long till one of the pack dropped back and I caught him - I was now in 7th! I was surprised to even be in a position of getting points for NTU, having seen the start list. However, a couple of podium contenders did not start.
It was a largely uneventful race till the second last back straight, where Yurong pulled up beside me. Were we going to complete this race again? The bell rang. And I guess Yurong realised we were only starting the bell lap. Yet another miscalculation on his part hahaha.
I saw it was just around 17:32 where we started the bell lap. This meant a sub-19 was still possible! I remained conservative for the first 200, before starting to kick as I rounded the final curve. It was well within control, yet immensely satisfying. In previous races, satisfaction was best attained by running intelligently, running negative splits, or really running till I got myself nauseous. Today, it was just about running. That was enough.
I have seen how God has opened up this opportunity - and other opportunities - over the past few months as I returned in Singapore. I have gotten my spiritual life into better order and perhaps as I contemplate my circumstances through clearer lenses, I constantly am awakened to the blessings that have saturated my life.
To God be the Glory.
The chief end of man is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.
