I should just stick with tennis.

Recall the last time when I ran to the Lyngby lake in singlet and shorts, and took pictures during the run? Well I did my 3rd run again today (only 2nd to the lake) and my 1st with Alessandro B, Luca M, and Gatis.

It was a near mistake.

Why "mistake"? Because I had not expected the run to be one in which they were preparing for an upcoming half marathon! From the initial steps out of campus village, their pace picked up tremendously and reached strides of up to 1m! And I barely even warmed up! Fortunately, Ale was kind enough to ensure I wasn't left out of sight (only before and after the lake, during which all 3 of them sprinted off in front of me out of sight). Moreover, the wind factor was a lot more today, so even with 10 degrees, the wind made it a whole lot colder, especially at the lake. After today, I concluded I should just stick to tennis and avoid running. And well if I had to, at least not so often with them.

Okay now rewind back another 2weeks, when the weather permitted my solidary run out of campus. What seemed like a long run that took 30mins was in fact just a short 1.5km. And then the 2nd time I wanted to run down to the lake, I jio-ed YH and that run (including the stopover at the Viggo house) took about 2.5 hours. In order to make a comparison you will see later, I found that run to be an "incredible" 7km. You can see the 1st run in red below, while the 2nd one is highlighted in blue dotted line.

So then.

In this crazy 3rd run I willingly but unknowingly landed myself in, I found myself keeping up with 2 Italians and 1 Latvian, who were much faster than I was, yet patiently making sure their pace wouldn't leave me straggling behind. It was only when we reached the lake I told them to go ahead without me, and I'll meet them "somewhere". By the time we came back to campus village, my feet was blistering from the incredible run, which I later measured to be about 10km no less! *starts comparing with MacRitchie's route*

Now wait. I didn't keep track of time since half the time I was trying to keep my breath. But when we reached back in campus village, Ale lifted his wrist to press his stopwatch.

Calling out the time to the others, he beamed, "53 minutes."

Immediately, that time raced through my mind and I didn't think I would have made it through without their support and "encouragement". I looked at my watch, and true enough, it was barely an hour that we first left campus village. In the map below you see the incredible route around the lake, marked out in green.

I took up Ale's invitation for dinner in his container B, and over dinner, Ale and Luca were discussing about the run they made, in detail. Luca was calculating how running that particular kilometre made in 4 minutes was slower than another segment which they did in 3 and a half minutes and so on...

*Abel sits quietly sipping his soup, not sure what to say.*

Gatis asked Luca what the standard of the half-marathon was, and Luca replied, "I checked on the internet, in a half-marathon of 3800 participants, the guy who came in at 58th position clocked 1 hour and 25 minutes. So I think our goal is not that hard to reach..."

...

Alessandro to me: "If this weather is good, we might start to run every day, and you can improve if you join us..."

Me: *whines about fatigue and complains of aches*

Luca to me (foreseeing cramps): "Abel you're going to have a good sleep tonight..."