The Sorcerer and Bug slayer!

Finisher trophy

So, my inner demon was at work again. This time he got some help from his minute friend of the electron microscopy type. Bogged by an intestinal bug, I was losing precious electrolytes. I had two minds of making it a DNS (did not start) for health reasons. That is when my haloed friend turned up. I thought I was not running for my life or living to run, so run as much as I could and then I can always take the shortest way home! With that defeatist outlook towards completing the race, I armoured myself ready to slay the demon in me.
The race, this time around was chaotic. My suspicion of the demonous businessmen making headway in the arena of recreational appears to be true with every race. The registrants keep growing bigger but the goodies gets smaller! Somebody must be laughing all the way to the bank!

The Sorcerer

Starting off was a non-event, minus all the pomp and usual excitement. I had to wait a good 4 minutes of crawling to clear my chip on the mat. As I started running in the back of the pack, I kept bumping into others and getting away from the pack proved futile. I thought it was either I was getting slow or the runners were getting younger and faster but of course the real reason was the sheer number! Nobody actually had any space to run. It was beelining and beehiving all the way and I thought it would clear after the treacherous hills, it never did materialize. The 10km fun runners were at it again - jaywalking, wiping their profuse sweat again and again and chit-chating, holding hands. Even at 20km mark, runners had to manouvre themselves away from others' sweaty bodies and posteriors!
As for my running, as if manouvering my sub-optimal lethargic body through the crowd was not difficult enough, I had to combat the humidly hot climate of 28 degrees C and still air. After 9km, the going was getting tough. Power gel popped in then proved its mantle by 12km and slowly its effect waned by 15km. With all the shuffling and shoving, I almost wanted to saunter off to my car to drive back home....
Being the lazy runner that I am, I just continued with the pack albeit at a slower pace. Negativity to stop came in many forms. Seeing the St John Ambulance's paramedic at km 15 performing CPR on a collapsed runner did not boost anyone's confidence.
Dragging my weary body, against all odds, managed to complete the race but a much slower than usual timing. Oh, what the heck! The first outing as a senior Veteran did not have to gone well. But it will definitely be the last outing in Brooks! The much sort after run in the grandiosity of the National Stadium also never materialized. Like what someone commented, "The nearest we got to the stadium, beside the car park is the toilet!"