Before the race, the longest distance that I have ever run continuously was 20.2 km which took me 2 hours and 13 minutes. The Marathon distance of 42.195 km is more than twice my own personal record. I was banking on the support from the race organizers to realize my dream.
The full Marathon flag off was scheduled at 10pm and I left my house at Clementi at 7pm. Under normal circumstances, the trip will take no more than 2 hours and I would have an hour to catch up with my friends and students. I stood for more than an hour in our notoriously overcrowded MRT. But the worst was yet to come. The shuttle service from Singapore Expo to the race site at Changi Exhibition Center was jammed packed too. Nobody minded as the ferry was moving at a brisk pace until it got caught in the earlier races which caused the traffic to come to a standstill.
I stood in the bus for close to 2 hours and naturally I was late for the start of the race. I was frustrated that the organizers did not learn from last year experience which was widely reported. I dropped off my bag, a quick warm-up and off I went. As far as individual race timing is concerned, it should not be a problem as everyone has his own start time registered electronically.
Lesson 1: Must be at the race site before the start of the very first race. The 10 km race started at 6pm. How to?
Soon I caught up with the slower runners. I made the first mistake: I should have skipped the first hydration point as this stop caused me to be bunched up with a huge crowd moving at a snail pace. At 7 km, I tried to snake my way out. The maneuverer was too much for my knees, I could feel cramp coming to my left calf. Fortunately, the next hydration point was just around the corner, I took the opportunity to queue up for my drink and to rest. As I wanted to rest more than I was thirst, I queued up patiently for my drink. I could see that this hydration station like the one before it, was not able to cope with the runners’ demand especially for the 100+ drink. The scene was not a pretty sight to witness – temper flared, some even banged table.
I drank 100+ for the salt. 100+ is a gassy drink which caused me to burp and I need more time for my stomach to settle in so I avoided it.
Lesson 2: Bring you own salt tablet and skip the 100+.
There are many overtaking along the way. Whenever, somebody tried to overtake me, I would tell myself to relax and let him overtake, this will prevent a vicious competition that will hurt both runners. Similarly, when I want to overtake someone, I will also relax, if my slower pace is still faster than the other runner, I will overtake.
I was in this 'slow and long distance' mode so I felt good for most of the time until at the 36 km mark. I began to feel the strain. Despite putting in a lot of effort, I was not progressing as much as I thought. I was crawling until the last 2 km when I caught my wind. But that stretch was also one of the most poorly lit areas. We were literally running in the dark. As I crossed the finishing line, the giant clock stood at 5:56. I will need to go to the website to get the final corrected timing.
I must thank Jun Wei for inspiring me to take up this challenge. He reasoned that we are given about 9 hours to complete the run. On the average, we need only clock 5km/hr. With that, I started training in early January 2011. Before 2011, I used to run about 2km everyday quite regularly. My legs almost cramped when I pushed myself to do 5km on my first training. I was tempted to give up at various points in the process but thank God I pulled through.
My wife and I saw her NIE lecturer running the Marathon. Age is not the only wow factor for him, he is legally blind! And he finished the race.
I heard a saying that goes like this: "There is no greater sorrow than regret".
Yes, no regrets for me.
Updated timing: 5 hr 44 min
Close to 10000 ran the full Marathon.
7637 completed the race and I was the 2812th finisher.
