Steady Run to Tasek Lama, 23 Dec ’13

Phew, was it hot!

This Tasek Lama route is becoming a bit of a favourite now. It’s not bad really. There aren’t proper pavements for the first kilometre, followed by some treacherous narrow road edge treading for the third kilometre, and then a full blown deep excavation/construction site that I manage to casually dawdle through.

Monsoon Clouds of Doom Running Philosophy

I’ve not run in ages and I blame this awful weather. The clouds of impending doom have been gathering, threatening to storm it down like the holy mother of angry watermelons. I mean, what is the deal with this weather? It looks like it’s going to chuck it down any minute and it doesn’t for some hours. Precious hours that I could’ve filled with gaining some good miles. It leaves me feeling absolutely helpless!

The Dilemma

Do I brave the outdoors and risk getting caught out in a full-blown thunderstorm, not forgetting the possibility of getting struck by lightning?

Here is a list of reasonable responses I have come up with:

1. Yes, because YOLO. Running under the clouds of doom could actually be a godsend. Those clouds are not the enemy; they’re protecting you from the hot sun. Yes, the sun, that thing you hate to be directly under other than those scary-looking clouds. Remember who the real enemy is. Sure, it’ll be humid and you’ll sweat buckets, but you sweat buckets anyway without the humidity prompting you to. You want to run outdoors, then go and bloody do it, fool. Worried your expensive GPS watch may get ruined? Wear a waterproof layer. If it starts storming though, find shelter until it subsides. Call someone to drive over and rescue you? That said, on a serious note, this option of braving it out would be least dangerous if you stick to roads with possible shelters along it.

2. No, because you can go on the treadmill to bypass the risk of death by the holy mother of watermelons. But it’ll be boring. The same stupid wall the treadmill faces would be staring at you throughout your run. What’s a virtual hill compared to the real thing? But if you’re not willing to risk your life this could be the solution to ALL your running problems. Running outdoors poses all sorts of risks for the fainthearted. What if you trip over a massive tree root and break your ankle, and nobody finds you? What if some reckless driver runs you over and leaves you to die from fear of getting prosecuted for reckless driving? What if some rabid dog bites you? List is endless. Stay home, or go to the gym.

3. No, run later/tomorrow/next week/month/year because you don’t want to die. Don’t fool yourself. You will die anyway, and you don’t want to be fat. Rethink your life’s priorities and refer to 1 & 2.

I realised in the middle of writing this that I kept putting down “you”, “your”, “yourself” instead of “I”, “me”, “myself”. This post is really meant to be just me reasoning to myself. If you’re someone who is actually reading this and finding it useful (which I doubt), then cheers to you! You are making a difference to my life by giving me some attention, putting pressure on me to actually do as I say I would.

Oh look, it’s raining again. Gym, here I come.

Love, Brunei Runner. x