Sunday morning dawned cool and balmy, clear after the previous night’s rain.

I put on my running shoes, geared up with my Samsung MiCoach heartrate monitor and earphones (the stride sensor’s busted), did a few stretches, and slipped out of the house while my children were still sleeping soundly. [NB: DH is in China until Tuesday, in case you're wondering why I seem to be living a 'single' life today.]

This run also marked the debut of the New Balance® Long Sleeve Motion Top that I bought from Capetown (ironically made in the land of my birth — the Philippines) which features New Balance’s new Lightening Dry™ fabric technology, said “to keep you dry and comfortable by managing moisture transfer through the use of hydrophobic polyester yarns.” (It worked like a dream!)

There was no fanfare, no people cheering on the sidelines, no timing chips embedded in specially designed bibs, no commemorative t-shirts nor medals nor certificates. It was just me and my dogged determination to achieve my goal of running 5 kilometres today, the 28th of June, despite not being able to join the KL Marathon.

The sky was clear, a calming shade of robin’s egg blue. The only sounds I could hear were the pounding of my heavy feet on the asphalt pavement, the squish of moist green grass, the chirping of birds hiding somewhere within the branches of dew-laden trees, the occasional hum of approaching cars, the thumping of my unfit heart against my chest. I met a few other runners and walkers along the way but they all seemed too preoccupied with their MP3 players or just plainly avoided eye contact.

And I did it! Never mind if it took me almost an hour (my original goal was 40 minutes but a side stitch slowed me down on my last 800 metres). Never mind if it was more of my run-walk-pant-repeat routine rather than a steady run. I. Did. It. I ran 5 kilometres and proved that if I just set my mind to something, I can do it. My only fervent hope is that I can apply this determination into every other aspect of my life from this moment on…