Berita Basi: THE DAY I RAN MY FIRST FULL MARATHON

Believe it or not, it took me almost 9 months trying to finish summarizing my experience of running my first ever full marathon.

Okay, maybe the first 8.5 months were just filled with pure procrastination.

Which is why I’ve decided to just sit here, nail this damn blogpost down and spill whatever comes to my mind about that day, regardless of whether it makes much sense or not. I just wanted a record of it, for my own sake, even if I can’t translate my feelings into words in any language. Just assume that whatever you get from what I write, it is like one of those sachets of powdered juice that have had way too much water added to it. The reality is an undetermined number of times stronger than what I can describe.


Well this particular race certainly went right up to the list of the biggest achievements in Eliana Anuar's life. (Oh shut up, it was kind of like a big deal to me).

My Lucky Number

I’ve been asked “how’d it go?” a lot for weeks after I completed the race. Possibly the hardest question I’ve been asked in a long time (since I no longer have to solve trigonometric equations after high school, probably). I don’t know lah guys. I wanted to say “it went great” because I finished but I also want to tell you about how I had moments of pain (physical and mental) that I thought would be beyond my abilities to overcome (so, in that sense, not so great). It was horrible and amazing and painful and joyful and brilliant and terrifying and exhausting and energising and every other adjective in the Oxford English Dictionary. It was like a whole lot of emotions that you’re supposed to feel over a long period of time (days, months, years) all condensed in a few hours. I laughed, I cried, I felt worried, relaxed, tired, distracted, focused, happy, sad, and all the other emotions in between. I took my body and my mind to a limit that I wasn’t sure they could take it and I crushed the voice in my head that kept telling me to stop. That I didn’t have to do that. That no one needed to choose to be in pain. That I could just go to a bakery and go sit in a nice cafe with a book while having coffee and a slice of cake. That’s what I wanted, a slice of cake. Why the hell was I not sitting down enjoying my cake? Because I wanted to be a marathoner more than I wanted to have a cake (and that’s saying something because I really freaking love cakes).

I won’t lie to you: I was scared shitless that morning. Just freaking terrified. Thank goodness for the support from experienced marathoner friends who were also there with me that morning.

From L-R: Hatta, Ezra and Yusnor

There we were at the starting line of the Penang Bridge International Marathon....

As I was anxiously waiting for the Women's Open category flag-off at 1.45am, the sky was still pitch black (duh, obviously) and the chilly midnight breeze topped with the nerve-wrecking thought of the 42km ahead certainly didn't help at all. That was it right there – the culmination of months and months of training, hours of running in the middle of nowhere, long group chats about what the hell we were getting ourselves into.

We counted down from 10 and, just like that.... we were off onto running the World's Longest Bridge Marathon!

A couple of hours into the run, I gradually switched from taking it one step at a time to one kilometer at a time. I told myself to re-assess the knee pain at every kilometer marker and gave myself permission to give up if I thought I was causing permanent damage. “There’ll be more marathons,” I thought. But there was also this one, right now, and I was mentally strong like I hadn’t been before and I didn’t want to waste that. 

So every kilometer marked the decision to run one more. And then one more. And then one more. At 35km, I had 7km to go. I told myself that 7km was something I could do before breakfast so there would be really no excuse to give up now. I bargained with myself “5km to go and we can worry about the knee again”. And then there were 5km to go. I kept switching between running and walking and making quick stops to stretch my legs along the way. The extra pressure caused by the knee pain was getting the rest of my body extra tired too. During one of my walking intervals, I decided to record a video of myself, just to see how retarded do I look like after running 30+ kilometres:

"Ummm.. we're at kilometre 35, i don't know if you can see that. Yeah? Umm, as you can see the sun is already upppp! Soooo yeahhh... I am.. umm.. pretty much dying here.."

I was exhausted, drained out. I wanted it done. I started thinking about the things I’d been told by people who’d done this before. But boy, I was completely knackered. And not the “that was a tough day at work” kind of knackered, more like the “I just want to sit here and not move forever” kind. I needed something to motivate me to keep going. So I took the tough love approach with myself and thought about how I really shouldn’t be such a wuss. I got emotional in a sappy gooey way. I thought about my life and how truly wonderful it is; like how I have a job, got offered to continue my postgraduate study, have my health and my family and friends, and how I get to travel and explore the world and do the things I had always wished for... yadda yadda yadda. And so I kept moving, my brain in a puddle, thinking about how I could have it so much harder and this was nothing compared to what other people go through. “Smile through the pain” got replaced with “stop being such a freaking baby”, which I said out loud a couple of times.

As I was busy working my way out of those bad thoughts, I spotted the 40km marker. That was all I needed to see. For some reason, 40 seems like a much bigger number than 39. I had run 20+ kilometers before this race but I had never reached 40 in my life. I had a “holy shit, these legs just did 40 kilometres on their own!” moment right away. Only 2 tiny little kilometers to go. I was happy.

And so I ran. And ran. And ran. I turned down the final bend at the end of the Penang Bridge to see the finish line, right at the end. I wanted to walk a few steps, my knee was complaining again. I walked maybe five steps and a girl came up from behind and told me to keep pushing through. So I did.

Not too long after that, I looked ahead and there it was, in the distance: “FINISH” in big bold font. There’s no giving up now. I ran with the happiest strides in my life towards that finish line, could not have stopped smiling if I had tried, my mind in a mess of emotions, barely able to believe I was going to be allowed to stop.

Maybe one day I’ll get to a point where marathons aren’t such a huge deal. This one was my very first one, though, and it’ll forever have a special place in my heart. It was the first time I realised I could do it. The girl who hated track running in school, had just become a marathoner.

A friend told me a couple of days before, that completing the distance will take me on to discover an overwhelming sense of possibility, like nothing could stop me from doing whatever I wanted. That stupid knee couldn’t stop me and neither could exhaustion... so I guess he may very well have a point. Ever since I crossed that finish line many many months ago, I’ve been the happiest runner I’d been in a long time. Feeling proud of myself is sort of a rare thing for me, because I’m one of those “too hard on myself” types and always think I could have done better. On that day, however, I left my heart on those roads and now I’m just enjoying this weird feeling of complete satisfaction.

Le medal. (And boy, that Pace-Tat thing is the shiznit!)

 It’s been over half a year now and I’m still in that state of wonder about it. It still amazes me that I managed to run that far in about 6 hours, since I’ve been surviving on a diet of cheese cake, nasi lemak and iced coffee.

Since that moment on, I can officially call myself a MARATHONER, part of one of the most special tribes in the world. And no matter what I do with myself in the future, I’ll always be one of them. I think this is what they call life-changing.

And no, no Ultra Marathons for me.

OKBYE.

Post race. Happy smiles, positive vibes all around! #KVRC

Gettin' Down and Dirty at the Viper Challenge 2014

I guess the true sign that you had a good time being outdoor is putting a load of laundry in the machine and having to set it to "heavy duty" washing mode and cross fingers your clothes will go back to their actual colour. :D

That's what happened after completing the very muddy Viper Challenge held in Sepang International Circuit for the second time two Sundays ago.

WOOHOO.

It started looking upwards when I arrived at the event venue in Sepang International Circuit after an hour of driving from home (yes, it is THAT far), and met up with Emma (my running buddy from KVRC) and her friend, Cikut.

I have never tried my Salomon shoes on really hardcore muddy trail since I bought it, so at first I was quite worried that it will fall apart - like what happened to my Nike in the same event last year. But considering that I didn't have any other choice, I wore it anyway and thought to myself that this is probably a good time to test it out and see if it can endure what Viper has to offer.

We registered for the 7am wave, but for some reasons, flag-off was delayed for almost 45 minutes and by the time we started, sun was already out. Meh. Once the run started, all the climbing and sliding down muddy trails felt far too fun for my crankiness to survive and I ended up having a blast (with minor cuts and bruises included, of course). It did feel a little bit demotivating at first when I realized that 4 of our team members can't make it that morning, but thankfully the other participants of the event are the nicest people you can find and with a push here and a hand there, we aced most of the obstacles and the feeling you get after completing each obstacle was nothing short of amazing.

We took it slow and steady through the entire course and sometimes I caught myself smiling like an idiot as my shoes dug through the pits and puddles of the orange-y brown mud. If there is one secret to enjoying wet trails and something as grueling as Viper, it's really to just not give a shit. Once you stop caring, then you'll be able to enjoy the fun.

Knowing that I will be covered in mud, I didn't dare carrying my phone along while I was on the course. So I made you a really realistic representation of what I'm pretty sure I looked like from behind:

(My drawing is so good, it looks almost 3D, don't you think?) *pats self*

The body balancing classes I took at the gym came in handy with the slippery downhills and I managed to complete the entire course without breaking any part of my body - an absolute victory in my books. To be frank, can't say that I loved every second of it (definitely didn't feel any love for the 4-hours-under-the-scorching-sun bit), but once I got into it, the time I spent enjoying it far outweighed the time I spent in the beginning wishing I was back in bed.

I didn't train myself enough for the event (well, for most events actually), so the muscle sore I had from Viper stayed for a good one week. Anyhow, I was happy that the following week rolled in nicely after a fantastic event that brightened up an otherwise pretty dull Sunday.

Since I didn't have any brag-worthy photos to show off here (except for the medal photo), here's a pretty awesome video (recorded by one of the participants) that brings you through how some of the obstacles we went through that day looked like. It's a 10-minute video, so you might wanna grab a can of soda and 3 big bags of chips before you press the start button. (Yeah, I'm all about eating healthy). :>

Here's the link to the video in case the damn widget won't upload: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy03WtXO7tw

If you may excuse me - now I need to go and figure out the quickest and easiest method to thoroughly get the mud off my shoes, which I believe is a whole workout in itself. *cry*

Anyone wanna help me? 

Race Report: Melbourne Marathon Festival 2014

Well, it wasn't really a marathon for me because I only ran in the half category. And this isn't really a race recap coz there is already one very well written here. The title is simply what it is because I just wanted to generate traffic to my blog. You know, SEO and stuff.

ANYWAY.

It turns out that, in spite of my many, many, many talents (shut up), it is actually impossible for me to find the right words to adequately tell you how cool Melbourne Half Marathon was. This whole time, I’ve gone full 90s-teenager-in-the-same-room-as-Britney and the only thing that comes out is “OMG SO AWESOME” which, really, doesn’t make for a very interesting blog post. But since I’ve just dipped into my savings to fly my ass over to Melbourne to run, I’m going to get over my little mental block and just tell you about how cool it was and add that, if you’re contemplating on your race calendar for next year, you need to get your shit together and squeeze Melbourne Marathon in now. Yes, even if you're living in Alaska. Take a second mortgage and start looking at flights.

The 2014 Melbourne Marathon Festival happened on the 12th of October and the weather on that day was simply bee-ee-ay-yewtiful! Clear blue skies, not a breath of wind and just perfect. As I was walking towards the race venue that morning, these full marathoners have already started their run:

Of course, I have to get in their way to snap a photo.

It was a little chilly in the morning but it began heating up a few hours after. There were thousands (I'm too lazy to Google the exact number) of people who entered the 42.2km distance category, breaking the record for the most people in Australia to finish a marathon. 11,000 people were in the half marathon category itself. 

It was a VERY flat course.

The race didn't quite start on time. I guess the amazing weather really helped in turning me into a more patient person.

I know these two guys in the foreground made my photo look a bit awkward, but this was supposed to be the starting line shot. 

I finished the race in 2:35, which isn’t my best time, but on the bright side, it’s also not my worst (thanks to Bromo!). That said, it was still an amazing run for me. Mostly because of how it allowed me to really see some of Melbourne's beauty throughout the race course. And for the first time in my running experience, participants were allowed to bring their personal refreshments to be handed over to the organizer, who will then take their drinks to the designated "Special Drinks Station" somewhere along the route for these runners to collect later on and consume in the middle of their run - which I find was pretty impressive.

Oh and the 42.2km runners were also given the option to sign up in the Slow Marathon category if they knew for sure that they will not be able cover the first 22km within 2hours and 40mins. Yes, there is such a thing. #notetoself

Amidst all of the random, nonsensical, funny, and irrelevant stuff I think about while I was running that morning, I also managed to draft a mental summary of the things that I learnt from running these last couple of years, which are:

1) To be sure of your goal (whatever it may be)
Make up your mind about the goal you want to achieve in every single run. The goal for me this time in Melbourne is not only to grab as many gummy candies as possible from the volunteers during the run but to also take as many *cough* selfies *cough*, and random photos along the course. So stop criticizing me for spending so much money to run in a half marathon in a different continent only to clock in such crappy timing because I did achieve my "goals". 

Exhibit A to prove that I fulfilled "one of my goals"; A SELFIE.

2) Don't worry too much about the weather
Just because you nearly got blown off while trying to walk around the race venue the day before, it does not mean you can't wake up to beautiful sunshine and almost no wind the next day. Case in point: Melbourne's schizophrenic weather, which was very much a pleasant surprise on race day. Stop worrying, dammit.

3) Good or bad, you’re 21km closer to where you want to be.
I know this sounds like terribly hippie new-age crap but it’s a comforting thought to know that you finished a half marathon when half of the entire world population can't even run 15KM.

4) Running events are the perfect excuse for a holiday.
Flying to another city just because of a running event might sound silly to some runners but if you know how to make the most out of it, you'll get the best of both worlds - like exploring new cities, and landing a new job in a different country and bringing home another running medal. :)

5) Stop whining.
Running 21km and crossing the finish line is pretty damn awesome. No one cares that it took you five minutes longer compared to your previous PB. You shouldn’t either. 

The summary stopped there because I got distracted by another volunteer handing out more gummy candies.

So obviously, I didn’t break my 2:15 PB (because I keep stopping every few kilometres to snap photos) but I’m still happy I got out there and bagged another half. The weather was perfect for running, the course was rather flat, the volunteers were super nice (read: super generous with the candies), and I got to make new friends with people who are crazy enough to get up at stupid o’clock on Sunday for stuff like this!

Despite the hefty race fees, I’m definitely glad I signed up for it and I also can’t wait to do it again next year.

With Marina and Ena, my girls from the Klang Valley Running Club

This was my absolute favourite race so far. I very much doubt anything will be able to top that any time soon.

Now before you start rolling your eyes so much they disappear to the back of your head, let me tell you this: I am now much more determined to get smarter about this whole running thing.

No, really.

Coz in less than a month from now, I will be at the start line of my very first full marathon - the Penang Bridge International Marathon. The clock is ticking and it’s time to catch-up on my training. According to the marathon training plan on my RunKeeper, I’m already behind (surprise surprise). Though it may sound a bit too late now, but training will be an essential part of my life in the next few weeks. I’ll probably even talk about it all the freaking time. So, dear friends, if there’s a holiday that you have been meaning to go without me, or any plans that involve not having contact with me, now is the time to put those into action.

It’s good to be back in training mode with a major goal in mind.

To prove that I’m taking my training seriously, the evening after I finished the Melbourne Half, I headed to Walker's for some jam doughnuts to officially mark the commencement of the final phase of my full marathon training.

Told ya I was serious.

So that's pretty much it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a very important slice of cake waiting on the table that I need to finish. ;)

Laterz.

Race Report: Bromo Half Marathon 2014

Oh wow. I just realized that the last time I posted on this blog was exactly one year ago. ONE FREAKING YEAR.

Okay, help me out. Pretend there’s a paragraph here where I give you a really good reason for not having written anything in a year.


*awkward silence*


Ummmm, no? :B


Ok finnnnnnne.. finnnnnnne, I know I've been slacking off A LOT. Like, A LOT A LOT.


But don't worry, I haven't stopped running (and being awesome). In between hours of sitting on my ass eating cakes and all sorts of other junks, the past year has been pretty kickass for me. I completed my 8th half marathon, traveled around Asia for a bit, explored some nice trails in and out of town, started my Master's Degree (while still being attached to my full-time job in Publicis), tried scuba diving, completed my French refresher course with Alliance Française, chopped off my waist-length hair which I've been keeping for the past 7 years to a short bob, picked up yoga, climbed a couple of volcanic mountains, drank an unofficial world record number of Vitagens, and did a bunch of other cool stuff I can't remember now. But from all those things I've mentioned, traveling to Indonesia last month is still my favourite topic to blabber about up to this moment, and I think it'd make an interesting blog post too. So, let me make it up to you for disappearing in the last 12 months and take this opportunity to do some quality bragging, since I don’t get the chance to do that very often. 

Prior to the Bromo race weekend, I had notoriously spent the entire week being a beach bum in Bali and Gili Islands. But as I was reaching towards the end of the beach bumming portion of the trip and should be ready to head West to Surabaya for Bromo, I suddenly had a slight flinch. I was even genuinely considering skipping this run, but then since all my flights and everything else have been booked, I decided to just go anyway and thought maybe I was just being bratty because I had spent way too much time on the beach, that going to a mountain area to run a half marathon doesn't sound appealing at all.

And here's something I don't often get to say about my decision: It was a good one. I guess it's true that the only run you regret really is the run you don't go and Bromo proved that once again.

 So why was I so ecstatic about the fact that I finished the race?

BECAUSE IT WAS THE HARDEST AND MOST GRUESOME HALF MARATHON I'VE RAN IN MY DAMN LIFE SO FAR.

No I wasn't being a drama queen. If you know how to read elevation charts, you'd look at the below, and understand why. If not, don't worry. It's perfectly normal to be clueless about things sometimes.

Look at all those threatening pointy bits! *_*

Just about every non-runner I know has asked me at least once why the hell I get out and torture myself with these things (especially since the next few days are spent mostly limping around and bitching about it). I find it such a transcendent thing that I have no skills to explain. I can only hope they assume there must be a really good reason I willingly put myself through the pain I talk about. Because that pain is just the result of a major rush of happiness and genuine feelings are supposed to leave you exhausted. Other runners know. We’re not as stupid as we look. We wouldn’t spend all this money, travel hundreds and thousands of miles, abuse our bodies this much for something average. For that, we have PlayStations.

So yeah, it turns out that Bromo had some unexpected surprises in store. The first of which was the journey itself as it took me a solid half a day to travel to the race venue. On the map, it didn't look terribly far away from Juanda Airport in Surabaya. After about 1.5hrs on the plane from Lombok to Surabaya (Lombok Airport is the nearest airport if you're coming from Gili), I then endured the 6 hour bus journey to get to Probolinggo, and another half an hour with a smaller van up the mountain where the race venue is located - a small village called Wonokitri, and caught up with my KVRC running buddies before we collected our race-kits and stuffed ourselves with a couple of bowls of Bakso.

I was glad that I came prepared for the weather in Bromo because IT WAS FREAKING COLD. Though I somehow felt like a retard for having to lug thick,warm clothing to Bali and Gili Islands before that where bikinis seem the only essential piece of clothing required, but it was worth it.

At about 6pm, race kit collected, tummy stuffed and happy, we eventually made our way to the villa and checked in at about 7pm. The villa owner even set up a small bonfire after dinner for us to sit around and warm ourselves up before going to bed, which was nice.

Yep, the alien-lookalike in our group photos is usually me

I have nothing much to complain about the villa, though the facilities kinda made me cringe a little. I then told myself to suck it in and be grateful that we at least had a fairly decent place to bunk in, because I did hear that some runners struggled to find a place to crash for the night. So, not too long after I've changed into my 37 layers of pajamas and used up all my 5 lives of Candy Crush, I dozed off.

Morning came, and next thing I know, I was already standing amidst the crowd with my running buddies, waiting anxiously for our half marathon flag-off at 7am.

Of course, it's pre-race pikcha timmmmme!!

I have to admit that the whole event was pretty well organised (as compared to the Jakarta Marathon I went to last year which was really messy). The weather in Wonokitri that morning, for a start, couldn’t be better...

Ah-may-zinggggg

We also got to run through some truly amazing scenery from the top of the hills, as far as your eyes could see.... (before the salty sweat threatened to burn them, that is).

Yup. That's what I'm talking about

The whole run was a very good reminder of how different trail running can be from road running. At only around KM6, a really steep incline had me and pretty much everyone else around walking up (and not even walking straight). The hill seemed to go on forever and there was a point when I seriously wanted to move to the side and just sit on the ground and give up on life. My legs felt heavy like they were two iron bars. I kept reminding myself of how it was all a big mental game and how I should be ashamed to ever lose a game against myself.

So I carried on up...

 And up......

 And up......

I had all my fingers and toes crossed for those bastard hills along the route to finally disappear but… nope! It keeps on going, in all its steep glory....

Clearly, I was already dragging my feet halfway through the distance. The dirt pathways made it very challenging for me to run as my shoes kept scooping in the sand and it annoys the hell out of me.

After about almost 3 hours into the run, the rolling hills on Penanjakan eventually tamed down a little, and the route took me running along the ridge of the mountains where I then came around a turn to a stunning view overlooking perhaps the most eerily beautiful thing I have ever seen:

The Tengger massif. Clockwise from bottom left: Mount Bromo (with the blown off top), Mount Semeru (the highest of them all), Mount Kursi (next to Mount Bromo) and Mount Batok.

Seeing that was enough to make me forget about half of the things I bitched about in the earlier part of the route and then I realized I wasn’t so cranky anymore. Amazing what some nice scenery can do for you. :)

I continued on with my little journey and after a few minutes (which felt like a few hours), I spotted the exit point arch of the Bromo National Park.

I ran faster to catch up with the only other runner in sight at that time and, as I got closer, she smiled and said to me in her thick British accent “we’re almost there!”. Not long after that, there it was – a sign saying we had only 1km to go. The final kilometer that, of course, felt like a whole marathon. I looked at my Garmin and was somehow relieved that I could still make it to the finishing line within sub-4 hours. After going through the difficulty of the course, I began to understand the rationale behind the 7 hours cutoff time set by the organizer (instead of the usual 5 hours for most half marathons).

I ran, ran, and ran, and eventually reached the finishing line to a loud cheering crowd along the final stretch (where I even heard some random locals calling out "Upin Ipin!!!" to me because I was flaunting the Malaysian flag.) -_-

(Thank you Rino Irwan for recording this! Note: Video only viewable from desktop)

I FINISHED THE RACE! 

And believe it or not, when I checked my results the day after, I found out that I actually made it to the top 100 from the total of 645 participants in the category! *throws confetti*

The day I completed the Bromo Marathon reminded of one of the most important things in life: beauty and amazement are all around us if we can only look past our temporary discomforts and inconveniences. If we let those stop us from connecting ourselves to the nature that surround us, we will miss so much wonder and so much breathtaking beauty. There is beauty in our friends, our families, our workplaces, and even in the stranger we pass on the street. I hope that you see some of that beauty today, that you find something that amazes you and inspires you to endure cold nights, long bus rides, or whatever has been leaving you feeling exhausted and worn out. Until next time, keep on keeping on and know that it is all going to be so very worth it.

PHEW, THAT WAS A LONG READ, WASN'T IT?

(Pic credit: Since my phone decided to be a diva halfway through the run, I had to steal a couple of photos from my running friends, Alfonso and Ena to complete this post. Many thanks to both of them).

Two is Better Than One, They Say

T-Minus 13 days to my BSN Night Run, followed by the Adidas King of the Road on the morning after. I've never done two separate races with just about 8 hours of gap in between, and to be honest, I'm not sure what was I thinking when I signed up for both of the runs. You can pretty much assume that this is what I'm feeling right now when I think about it:

I’ve temporarily benched myself for a few days in hopes of miraculously recovering with a few days rest since the injury I had before AND after the Standard Chartered KL Marathon last weekend.

The pre-SCKLM shin splint :(

I’ve been icing, massaging, KT taping, foam rolling, stretching and soaking like crazy! I’ve been drinking Coke Gatorades while silently stewing over my frustration of being, once again injured and sore so close to a race. No, make that TWO races. :/

For almost two weeks now I’ve been struggling with an injury that at first seemed like a small nagging pain, that’s gradually been getting worse and more painful and more debilitating as the days go on.

I’ve been in this position before and I know many, if not most, of you have been there too.  It’s a tough spot to be in and it’s beyond frustrating.  I’m not at the point yet where I need to withdraw from the race, however, I do know I’m going to have to keep my ultra-stubborn, bitch of an alter ego at bay and check in with myself throughout the race to ask myself when enough is enough. And speaking of enough, that’s about enough of my whining about being injured.

To those who are running the BSN Putrajaya Night Run on the 19th of Oct and the Adidas King of the Road on the 20th, all the best for your races. Stay hydrated and fuel well! Good luck and have fun!

An Ode to Injinji

Ok, well I *TRIED* writing an ode to my Injinji socks to illustrate just how much I love them while also keeping my post concise. It turns out that ode writing is really hard. I’d rather my poems just rhyme with each line. So, no ode.

Sorry about the title. Hehe.

Anyway, let me tell you about my love affair with Injinji.

Like most runners, I’m a total junkie when it comes to buying my running gear. I find it really hard to resist trying out the next best thing, and I'm fairly obsessive about what I put on my feet.

Ok, maybe that's just the feminine side of me, trying to justify my running gear purchases. :p

When I first started running a couple of years ago, I hadn’t a clue about what kind of kit I needed. When I ran my first race, I had a terrible time with my trainers and not so great socks. I came away with blisters and vowing to learn from the experience although it took me a while and a number of blisters and trying out of different socks to get it right.

Before I became an even more serious runner, I've never really given much thought when it comes to buying socks - being a woman, as usual, one of the first things I'd look at will be the colour. Other than that, who needs to give them much of a thought? They're just socks afterall.

Then I came to realize that when you step into your running shoes, comfort, padding, thickness and blister prevention are paramount... and ‘any old pair’ just will not do! Even if the colour is right, your feet deserve better. That's how I found out about technical running socks... or rather known as performance socks.

So when it comes to performance toe socks, one brand stands out above the rest: Injinji (pronounced in-gin-gee).

ike most runners, I’m a total junkie when it comes to running gear. I find it really hard to resist trying out the next best thing, and I'm fairly obsessive about what I put on my feet.  I’m therefore somewhat surprised that it took me so long to try out the Injinji toesocks. If you’re not familiar with the Injinji socks, they basically look like a normal pair of socks with one major exception – they provide individual pockets for each of your toes. Sure, I’d seen other runners report positively about their experiences with them, particularly about their ability to prevent toe blistering, but the strange looking socks always seemed like a gimmick to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong - these socks are awesome!

My initial reason for buying a pair of Injinji’s was so that I could
Read more at http://www.runblogger.com/2009/10/review-of-injinji-running-socks.html#f5fFBt7iVj5MFgZz.99

Obviously, Injinji are distinctive for their patented tetratsok design, which is a cool (if hard to spell) word they invented to describe the separate toe coverings; it’s the foot equivalent of putting your fingers into a glove instead of a mitten. This design has several intended benefits: it enables your entire foot to perform in a more biomechanically natural manner, and prevents the moisture - See more at: http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/07/injinji-performance-socks-review.html#sthash.FLPoTSBM.dpuf, if you have blister-prone feet - you might want to give these guys a try. 

I’m somewhat surprised that it took me so long to try out the Injinji socks. If you’re not familiar with the Injinji socks, they basically look like a normal pair of socks with one major exception – they provide individual pockets for each of your toes. Sure, I’d seen other runners report positively about their experiences with them, particularly about their ability to prevent toe blistering, but the strange looking socks always seemed like a gimmick to me. I couldn’t have been more wrong - these socks are awesome!

Obviously, Injinji are distinctive for their patented tetratsok design, which is a cool (if hard to spell) word they invented to describe the separate toe coverings; it’s the foot equivalent of putting your fingers into a glove instead of a mitten. This design has several intended benefits: it enables your entire foot to perform in a more biomechanically natural manner, and prevents the moisture buildup and “toe on toe” friction that leads to blisters. - See more at: http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/07/injinji-performance-socks-review.html#sthash.FLPoTSBM.dpuf

 At first, I admit, I thought they were the weirdest socks ever. Seriously. I mean, look at them. Weird.

And weirder still was putting them on. Poking each toe into the individual slots -- sleeves? toe thingies? -- well, whatever they are called, poking each toe into them was . . . odd.

But why would toe socks be more beneficial than regular socks? Well, there has been a shift in footwear, a shift to lighter weight shoes that give more ground feel. A more natural approach to running. Having toe socks allows for each toe to work independently. After all, toes must serve an important evolutionary role for them to have developed the way they have. They help with balance and while running, they splay with every footfall. With a normal sock, that outward movement is impeded because the sock will tend to hold the big toe and little toe closer together due to the design. Toe socks allow your toes to function much more naturally than a normal sock.

Now, this is all well and good, but let’s be honest; the shoes you wear have a much greater impact on the function of your foot than the socks you wear. So what if you don’t buy in to the minimalist movement? What if you’re a cyclist, can these possibly have any benefit for you? In short, yes. A lot of people suffer from friction blisters between their toes while running. One of the main causes of these friction blisters (besides tight toe boxes) is moisture. Normal socks do absolutely nothing for moisture between your toes. Injinji socks on the other hand are made of up 75% coolmax material (and 22% nylon and 3% lycra) which, as I’m sure you know is a very effective wicking material.

The individual toe things really keep my toes dry when I run, which is nice since I'm still feeling nervous about getting blisters after the Viper Challenge event.

The pair that I bought retails at RM59.90, not cheap for a pair of socks - but it is so worth it. If you're living in Kuala Lumpur - I have only found two shops that carry them: Running Lab in Tropicana City Mall and Athlete's Circle in Jaya One.

I love my Injinjis and they've become my go-to socks now. In fact, I wore them to almost all of my runs now. They are comfortable, thin, low-profile -- just right.

My new favourite socks!

Thank you, Injinji, for being so weird. And so great to run in. :D

Obviously, Injinji are distinctive for their patented tetratsok design, which is a cool (if hard to spell) word they invented to describe the separate toe coverings; it’s the foot equivalent of putting your fingers into a glove instead of a mitten. This design has several intended benefits: it enables your entire foot to perform in a more biomechanically natural manner, and prevents the moisture buildup and “toe on toe” friction that leads to blisters. - See more at: http://www.runningandrambling.com/2009/07/injinji-performance-socks-review.html#sthash.FLPoTSBM.dpuf