Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007

Well, the big day arrived. Got up and took my milo bar and had one full bottle of water with Berocca (thought I gave it a try). Hahaha "one full bottle", now doesn't that sound awfully familiar. Tied out championchip to our shoes and so me, Dan and Jingzhong flagged down a cab and headed to the event site.

I must say its quite a hassel going to such events without a car.
1) Gotta wake up pretty early

2) Queue up for baggage deposit

Well, I guess that all part of getting into mood for the event. Tons of people were already there when we arrived.

We did a little stretching, had our dose of powergel and of course spammed ourselves with deepheat and Rosiden gel for my knees. Last but not least went to the loo. Like duh, thats the most important thing to do. Hahahah.

Went to the start point. By then the queue to the starting line was way back all the way to somewhere near the 2 durains. And in no time, the race had started. Row by row, runners sprinted off. And it took me about 15mins to get to the starting line to start off so you can imagine how many people were there.

Headed to the gents less than 10mins into the race, it must be that one full bottle of water I had in the morning. Continued with the race after that. As I ran, I just kept my mind of my body and enjoyed the wonderful scene of thousands of people running with you. It does gives you some sort of motivation. And of course reading those runsipration tags on the bag of runners. Runspiration is what motivates you or what you would like to say to those who are running the marathon. Here are some that I actually remembered.

1) To overtake that skinny little bitch in front of me

2) The road is long, but the heart is strong, I must not give up (thats dan's)

3) If you see this (runspiration tag) you should not overtake me

4) I'm here for you to overtake me!

5) Hi, I'm a Japanese and I ran 304 marathons!

6) Think so much for wad? JUST RUN!

7) 42.195km only what! So what?

8) Say Hi when you pass me!

9) For (name) who lived for what she loved doing.

10) To mark my Birthday!

While I was running along Marina South, I saw those Kenyans already passed the first loop. So I thought to myself, I cant be that long from the first loop. Boy that loop didn't came till 45mins later. By then, the sun was already rising, but the day still remained pretty much cold. And so I continued running trying to keep a lookout for the distance marking by the road. And so after passing the first loop, I headed back to the starting line. Thinking to myself I should have completed about 10km already. What NONSENSE! It was only 8km larh!

And so we headed down to Kallang area going towards East Coast Park. By then my knee started to feel weird. There I got the medics to smear me with lots of deep heat. I and mean ALOT! And so I continued my race whilst telling myself constantly not to stop unless my knees collapse. Finally I saw the 21km. Happy that 1/2 the race is completed but sad that there's another 1/2 waiting for me to complete. Met Dan somewhere and we ran together. His foot was giving him problems too. So we slowed down together and chatted as we run. Finally we reached the 26km turning point. He stopped while I pushed on. Finally reaching the powergel station. Had one full packet of powergel and water. And after 1km or so, the effect kicked in. Boy I was filled with energy. The kick was there but I forced myself to slow down to conserve the energy. The sun was finally up. But thankfully the cold sea breeze managed to curb the heat from the sun.

And so we hit the road again. By then my knees almost gave way, so I stopped and did a little stretching before running again. As I reached the turn into the national stadium, the cheerleaders were there to cheer us on. One of them shouted that the race was gonna end soon. She shouted that the finishing point was round the corner. And so believing her, I quickened my steps. What corner, the race wasnt even near ending larh! I only realised that when I saw the road markings. By then it was too late, my quads were on the verge of cramping up. So I jogged and walk and stretch at times.

Finally I saw the ferris wheel. The race was almost over. I passed the esplanade and again my quads almost crammed. So I limped and jogged at the same time. Mr "To mark my Birthday!" came and ran with me. We encouraged each other. Finally the last bend to the finishing line was in sight. I picked up my pace and when it was approximately 75m, I sprinted to the finishing line. Boy the feeling of completing my virgin marathon was ecstatic I tell you. Mr " To mark my Birthday!" was just behind me and I thanked him and wished him happy birthday before submitting my Championchip to collect my finisher's medal and finisher's shirt. Me and Dan met up for drinks and went for massage after that to ease the pain on our legs. Both of us were limping all the way I tell you.

I must say after all those long runs that I had and those gruelling 21km and 15km races that I took part, the feeling of finally completing the marathon is great. I've never in my life felt such great satisfaction. I completed the marathon in and estimated time of 5hours. Not too bad for a first timer though. And finally to note, my 2007's New Year Resolution of completing my first marathon is accomplished.