2015: One of my ex-collegemates posted online that she was going to join this obstacle race called Viper Arena. Apparently it was the first obstacle race in Malaysia to be done at night, in a stadium, with "urban obstacles", whatever those were. She was looking for more people to join her team.
I decided not to think so much of the fact that I was overweight, or that I had not had a proper workout for close to 3 years since I quit the gym, or that I didn't know the rest of the people on her team. Instead I told her, hey why not, and booked a ticket. I just crossed my fingers and hoped I wouldn't let the team down. We still had about two and a half months to go.
One month passed and I hadn't done anything except for some yoga. I was caught up with work and everything. I still couldn't hold a plank/high plank pose for over 60 seconds. Don't ask me about cardio. Coincidentally, I had a 5km run coming up. Since it was not really a race, no timekeeping and such, I figured it would be the perfect training for me, as there would be no pressure to win.
As a preparation for the run, I went jogging after work at the KLCC Park. Believe it or not, I had never gone jogging in my entire life. Not of my own accord anyway. So the first time, I felt very self-conscious. This was KLCC after all, full of expats and the more affluent locals. And they all seemed to have been doing it their entire lives, with their full sports attire and flashy sneakers. I was wearing my old Reeboks, a free T-shirt I got from work, and a pair of shorts I normally wore to sleep.
One round of the jogging track at the park was about 1.3km. My first round was spent worrying whether I was running correctly and watching people to see if they were laughing at me. On the second round, I was able to focus more on myself, my breathing and my running techniques. By the third round, I didn't care about nobody's sneakers anymore--I just wanted to die.
I only got to train three times before the run. Mercifully, it all went well; I managed to finish it within one hour or so. Still, that was not enough preparation for Viper Arena. So I signed up for a boot-camp, also held in KLCC Park, which I got to join for about 4 or 5 sessions, and then lo and behold, it was already 23rd May, the day of the race.
I met my team members for the first time that night, and after some warming up and getting to know each other, off we went! It was over a 7-km course with 15 obstacles. There was a lot of climbing. We had to climb over four walls even before the starting line. There was one challenge that we had to carry a 30kg sandbag up and down the stairs around the stadium. I kind of enjoyed that one. Stamina-wise, I think I fared quite well, but climbing was another story. I pity the people below me who had to help hoist me up.
Nevertheless, we all managed to finish the race, and earned a T-shirt, a finisher medal and a certificate each. I was barely able to get out of bed the next morning.
