There were a lot more "sweepers" this morning as the ground was littered with twits, small stones and puddles of water. Our Captain, Lady Speedster briefed us on the logistics for the Time Trial and encouraged all to break their own records. Wow.. Stressed but looking forward to the race as well. I also had the privilege to lead prayers for the Time Trial.

Knowing God's protection is with us, we were all focused on breaking records that day. One by one, we did our sprints. We saw awesome performance by Viruses CK and Bear as they ran like they never ran before. Wow.. my "Oh Xiang (Idols)...."

It must have been the 10th or 15th round as I was happily skating with Virus TT's faithful boots and doing pretty alright so far since the start of the race. Tailing behind Junior Speedster (Sean) for a few rounds, I realized that there might be a chance for me to overtake this strong kid. So I sped up and sensing I was trying to overtake him, he sped away too.

This went on for a while until I was so focused in catching up with him that I lost my balance at the bend and fell in an awkward manner (with my feet in the air) Haha.. Those coming up from behind me must have been busy trying to avoid this road block, especially at the infamous danger zone. Wow.. my first fall during time trial! Nah.. no champagne or medic team rushing to my rescue over such small incident.

I've learnt that Viruses are a tough lot, any time someone falls, they simply pick themselves up, pat away the dirt on their tights and continue to go again Ð unless of course, someone sustains a serious injury, then the team medics will stop the injured Virus from the time trial and go through the checks and give the necessary medical attention.

There was the encouraging shout from Virus Evocative, "Get up and go again gal!" So I picked up my sore bum and tried to recover from my shock. I started to look around for my target who was gone by then. Slight disappointment overcame my mind as I wondered if I could still break my record in this less-than-ideal condition. I figured I just had to skate hard since my original momentum was lost. Finally after what seemed like eternity, I was on my way to the last few rounds. All the Viruses were already resting at a corner and some were cheering me on. Thank God! I made it to the finishing line in one piece. Moral of story? You must learn to protect yourself by wearing your guards (if possible, RoboCops guards) Hee..

The new league has begun with a bang. Reason? All the Viruses are now in their speed boots! That includes me who never expected to "Go Speed" so soon. I guess the one nervous thing for me is to sprint in the speed boots during the Time Trial. I mean, I can't even sprint properly in my recreational boots (termed "lokok" boots by Lady Speedster). However, it was a good start as the training I received weekly has helped me tremendously to improve in my technique and confidence.

Virus CK's sms the day before prompted us to pray hard for good weather for the time trial. Thank God for the beautiful weather He gave us this morning.

Well, it was a great time trial as most of the Viruses broke their records - great job! Not to mention our dear Virus Ken who was protected from injury that day. Praise the Lord and train hard, guys!