EHF 2012 Update #2

Today, I fell in love with running. It was about time I tried running the actual distance of the half marathon which is 21 km. I planned out a completely new route because I wanted to avoid doing continuous laps around Arthur's Seat. Beautiful as it is, each lap is only 5.5 km and by the third lap I'm bored out of my mind and loose motivation.

I woke up this morning to amazing weather, which automatically puts me in a good mood. This is the sunniest day I have ever seen in Scotland. I set off on this new route and I really enjoyed it. This route took me all the way to the edge of Edinburgh, along the coast lines. One part of it I was jogging along the beach, in front of the various seaside cafes with people enjoying their cup of tea. There is such a serene atmosphere where you get this sense of tranquility. I am definitely going to run this route from now on.

Running back was more of a challenge as it requires navigation to a certain extent. Running out was a no brainer. All I had to do is run towards the coastline and follow it all the way. Running back involves finding your way through the city. This is where I got hopelessly loss. I had this general idea of which streets I should be following but I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.

Luckily I somehow ended up on the right path and the street names started to look familiar once again. I remember at one point I was running though this massive area with tons of shopping complexes, which I liken to the one in Kota Damansara back in Malaysia. Never knew this place existed. It's funny how I've seen more of Edinburgh in one day than in the past seven months.

Also I finished the run in 2 hours 12 minutes. I think it's pretty good for a first time but definitely has much more room for improvement. I still have a good two months of training to go so hopefully I'll be able to keep shaving time off as it progresses.