12 February - What a Run (Day 25)

As forecasted, there was light drizzle this morning so I guessed the basketball game would be cancelled. Still I dressed up and headed towards the basketball courts. I don’t really know where it is but guess it should be in the area where physical education school is. On the way, I stumbled upon a small grass patch and on it were many colorful flowers. Their colors were so bright it made them look almost artificial. But I had not brought my camera yet again. So on I went and easily found the courts. As expected they were deserted. There were some people playing street-soccer at a distance but they weren’t my colleagues. Having nothing much to do, I turned back instead of standing in the rain. I thought maybe I should go to town instead but dropped the idea as it was still raining.

Back in my room, I thought why not go for a run. Although it was rainy and the ground was wet, I thought the temperature would be close to 15 degrees which is considered warm here. I didn’t have proper running attire so I just wore a t shirt with a long sleeve shirt (my canoeing t shirt) over it. And a pair of Bermudas. I had no destination in mind and thought of just running around the campus. Within 5 min, I was feeling very uncomfortable. Every breath I sucked in was cold and damp. And when the air got into my lungs, it chilled the internals of me. Still I carried on, running against the wind. There was no sweat at all after 10 min of running. Instead I lose water through my nose. Water just flowed out from the nostrils. Phlegm started to congregate in my throat and it was so distracting that I had to spit them out. But I was afraid I would be caught spitting and sent to jail. Back in Singapore, I always spit when I run. Here, I had to be cautious. However, I couldn’t bear it anymore and spitted a mouthful of spit. Phew! While running around the campus, I would occasionally see ladies running towards me. They were all properly dressed; track pants and sweater. When they ran pass me, I guessed they would be thinking who is this hero that runs with shorts here? Or a fool running in shorts.

But soon my body was warmed up but I wasn’t feeling better. My chest was painful and I guessed it must be the cold air and I thought it was making my lungs contract. I wanted to give up and walk back but I thought I should push on some more. At least run half the campus. I had never been a good runner and even though I am slow, I never give up easily. So on and on I ran until I reached back to INSA. It took me 20 min to finish half the campus. It also almost killed me. By the time I was back in my room, my face was white as ghost and cold as fish. But I was glad that I was perspiring. My head felt giddy but after resting for 10 min, I was back to normal. My stamina had really dropped since I got here. And I thought this weather was really not suitable for running. I wondered what would happen to me if I really play soccer with them. Most likely I would not run much. I also thought of the soccer players in EPL and wondered how they can run in such weather. The air is so heavy and cold. Although it was tiring, I still decide to run every weekend.

I spent the afternoon watching the movie “First Knight” and find it almost a comedy. Sean Connery plays King Arthur and would marry a young and beautiful princess who fell in love with Richard Gere, who played Lancelot. It was really hilarious to see the pretty girl kissing that old man. And when Sean caught Richard kissing passionately with his wife, I was laughing uncontrollably. The couple had a “jian fu ying fu” or “gou nan nu” look on their faces. As for Sean, I was afraid he might die of heart attack. After a good laugh on a serious chivalric movie, I started to do area cleaning. I thought it would be much easier this week because I just cleaned up the room last week. But it was amazing how so much dust could have gathered within a week. And while cleaning, I realized my thighs were aching due to the run. There were a couple of slopes during the run but I didn’t felt the pain then. Probably I was distracted by the rain, the wind and my irregular breathing.

The rest of the day was spent playing PC game and later I would plan tomorrow’s program. I would leave at around noon to town and buy some sandwiches for lunch. Then I would go to the Jardins du Thabor. Thereafter, I would check out where the train station is and perhaps buy the 12-25 card. This card entitles me to 25% discount on all TGV trains but would cost me 49 euros and last for a year. But I guessed it would still be worthwhile. Hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.

This part is an extra addition. While I was playing game, I heard a lot of noises outside the corridor and so I went out to take a look as well as to take a pee. 1 guy was sitting on a chair along the corridor while another was shaving his head with an electric shaver. So I went forth and introduced myself. But I was quite shock that they can’t speak English well because normally students here can speak quite good English. And more shockingly, they have not heard of Singapore! I know my country is small and easily overlooked on the map but I thought those who had some education would have heard about it. Vincent said he read about Singapore when he was in university some years ago and knew that it is a progressing country. Well I guess this shows how much Singapore still has to do in order to be recognized. Maybe that’s why I am here for, as representative of my country. By the way, I had forgotten all their names because their names don’t sound French and they looked like Arabs but speak French. But at least I said hi.