“I can’t do it,” I panted. “It’s too deep.”

“So, you wanna give up?” asked the lifeguard.

I pondered for a moment.

No, you can’t say that, stupid! There is no such word as “can’t”. You can. It’s just your mind you have to psycho. A fail, is a fail! You can’t afford to fail!

“No, I’m not giving up. Let me try another time.”

* * *

“So, why are you here?”

“My dream is to teach orphanage children swimming. I’m hoping that I could join your team, so that I could learn to teach them one day.”

“That’s a very noble cause. I hope you’ll be able to achieve them one day.”

“Thank you.”

“But first thing first, you would need to complete our swimming competency test.”

My eyes widened.

Test? What test? Swimming also need test?

“Alright.”

“After you’ve done changing, your lifeguard will be waiting for you over there.”

The interviewer pointed to the male lifeguard who was busy rolling up the pool dividers.

I changed and walked up to the lifeguard.

“Hi, you must be Jude. You’ll be the one accessing me, right?”

He looks at his checklist board.

“Chua…… Siewwww… Lin…..”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s me.”

“Okay, Siew Lin. Please take a seat.”

Jude, the lifeguard, sat down, and I follow after him.

“Okay, so untuk competency test ni,” he spoke in Malay, “there will be a few task that you will need to complete.”

I looked at him, as he fiddles the pen in his hand.

“First, is to swim breast-stroke 100m in 1 minute.”

“Second, freestyle 100m in 1 minute.”

“Third, you would need to float in the water for 10minutes.”

“10 minutes?” I repeated.

“Yes, 10 minutes.” He confirms. 

“Fourth, you will need to retrieve dua batu ni kat dalam air. No time limit. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Lepas tu, ambil dua batu ni, swim dari sini sampai hujung. Last sekali, swim 1,200m in 20minutes and wave simulation.” 

By the time he had finished briefing, my face was stoned, and the only thoughts in my head were…

What. The. Fuck? Did you get yourself into, Siew Lin?

“Okay? Understand? You may do your warm up or stretching first or you may rinse your body before entering the pool.”

I don’t know what I was getting myself into, I just know that…

I’m fucked.

It was my target to have a good closure run for 2017, prior to my training for full marathon next year, but the experience at Newton Challenge 2017 just left me feeling worst. Even now, the experience still haunts me as I sat here writing this article.

After completing 3 half-marathons this year, my performance for long distance running gradually improved. Not only in terms of speed, but also in terms of consistency. So, I decided to up the challenge by completing another 21km + 9km. Just so happens, that Newton Challenge 2017 was the only running event so far that offers this distance. As naive as I am, I eagerly signed up without doing any research on the terrain and elevation difficulty. Boy, how wrong I was.

One week before the race, me and my partner went for a 2 lap training at Gunung Nuang "Never Ending Road". Which was a total distance 19km++ in 4hours. The next few days were mostly rest days and there weren't much workout. I was supposed to complete my 15km+15km run training, but it was raining for the past few days, and was also caught up with work (actually I'm just giving excuses to myself so I won't feel bad lol).

On the actual running day, although slightly anxious, I still felt great.

The race started on time, and we were flagged off at 5.30am. At 6am, the Quran sounded and some of the Malay runners went off in the opposite direction to the nearest mosque.

Surprisingly, there weren't a lot of participants compared to other running events, but I can tell that these group of runners were pretty serious runners from the pace that they were running.

At 2km, I felt like I wanted to puke. I overate on my breakfast instead of following my usual pre-run meals. This feeling continued until after 10km, but this was the least of my worries. Because I became more worried when I realized that the first water station only appeared after 5km. My negative mind begins to set in because I was afraid of getting dehydrated throughout the run. Luckily, after numerous training, I didn't had to rely on water at such an early stage so I was doing fairly good.

At 6km, the running route slowly starts to ascend. Being naive again, I thought it was only a temporary ascend and descend terrain, so I became hardworking and kept to my 7min pace. But after each km, the hills and slopes seems to like never end!! Like what the farrrrkkkkkk.... the only words in my mind were only cursed words. Even the water stations were so far from each other, some even don't have isotonic drinks (isotonic drinks were alternate for each station). I decided to changed my strategy by taking turns to walk uphill, and run only if it's going downhill.

At 15km, my left calve started to ache. Wasn't sure if it was cramp or muscle ache, but I tried to stretch it once in awhile. The pain didn't bothered me after 17km when my left knee died on me. It became very painful. It felt like someone had pierced needles into my knees. Nevertheless, I still slow jog whenever I can until the pain bothers me, then only I'll walk.

BUT!

At 22km, my right knee also gave up on me, and now, both my knees hurt whenever I run or slow jog. I didn't wanna further pushed and injured my knees, so the only thing I could do is to walk. And for once, I felt that the water stations were really enough lol. Even my partner, who went toilet 3 times also caught up to me! I really felt like I wanna die. Words of regret came flooding into my head and the only thing I wanted to do was to really go home. The worst thing was, all the first aiders at all the water stations didn't have muscle ache spray or cream. *Faints*

I crossed the finishing line together with my partner running beside me at a 4.43 timing. 43 minutes more than what I had expected to finish. It was the worst personal timing I'd ever run. Turns out I was the last 21 females to finish :( I felt even bad when my friends had to wait few hours for me :( :(

I didn't had much muscle pains after the run, the only problem was my knees. It was really no joke.

But nothing else is more painful than the feeling of regret of not being able to do better. Really dissapointed in myself.

But few things I learnt after this painful experience :
1. ALWAYS go SLOW on hills. Even if it's running up or running down, GO SLOW to reduce impact on knees.
2. Bring a knee guard if I'm going a long run.
3. Make sure to do research and read reviews on the running terrain. I wasn't expecting so many hills either. 

All in all, here are my reviews on the Newton Challenge Run 2017. Although having to hear many good reviews from runners, I would like to give my fair view of the negative and neutral feedback from my experience.

Price : ★★☆☆☆

Race Pack Collection : ★★★☆☆

Set Up, Event & Program Flow : ★★★★☆

Running Route Difficulty : ★★★★☆

The first 25km of never ending slopes, uphills and downhills were mind challenging even to the most hardworking ones. The constant U-turns is enough to make you go insane! Good training for those who are intending to spice up their boring running routine, especially for those who are intending to train for a full marathon. Running route mainly covers newly developed residential area. Area is well lit and safe to run.

Water & Carbo Stations : ★★☆☆☆

No water stations at first 5km route. Water stations were frequent after that for every 2-3km. Not every station has isotonic drinks. Still think that there's insufficient water stations and isotonic drinks. All stations should have a balance of both water and isotonic so that to prevent unnecessary cramps and dehydration. The carb station was good though, the sufficient quantity of bananas was enough to keep the runners going.

First Aiders : ★☆☆☆☆

Plenty of first aiders across all the stations. But, NO muscle cramp spray or cream to apply! Only have ice packs for injury. Next time need to bring your own self medication.

Route Marshals & Volunteers : ★★★★★

Good! Very well entertained and motivated by all the hardworking volunteers who helped manage every station, and to direct the traffic so that the runners are all safe. The energy shown by them with their smiling faces was really comforting!

Overall Rating : 3.13 / 5

Event is simple and organized. All the necessary runners welfare are met, but could be better in terms of delivering quality experienced for the injured and under performing runners. You're a branded organizer, you shouldn't try to save costs on minor things that could affect the runners performance.