Singapore

OK, I guess I can finally admit it officially- I ran my first ever (and at this point, the way I'm feeling, probably LAST) marathon, at the Singapore International Marathon. I hadn't planned on running the marathon, but I failed to register for my intended event (the 21k) in time, and the entries were closed because the total had already reached 22,000 entrants. I had contacted my running friends, asking them to check around if there were anyone who had registered for the 21k but can't make it to Singapore for whatever reason. Results- NONE! There were no bibs for the 21k. I then found out that pm22 had registered for the FULL, and not wanting to miss out on a world class event, I decided to run the full, despite not properly training for it. How so? Well, I only had 1 long run (30k) and the rest of the workouts were 12-15k of fartlek, or medium paced, or easy workouts. Training for the marathon takes up a lot of your time and with everything going on in my life this year- marriage, job change, moving into new apartment- I had little time to train for the marathon.

Anyway as the race drew closer I began to have doubts and wondered if I had bitten off more than I can chew. I mean, I think I can run races of 10ks and 21ks without much problems- I can also pretty much speed all the way- but the marathon is just a different proposition altogether. I would suggest that it is more of a strength event and one's training should be specific towards increasing the strength and endurance required for the event. Anyway I'm digressing here. Allow me to give a brief report on my marathon experience.

Friday
Took the First Coach bus from Bangsar. The bus left Bangsar at 7pm. There was a slight panic before that because I thought I was not going to make it in time. The boss had summoned me into his room at 520pm and I was still in there an hour later! I managed to excuse myself and rushed back to my apartment, changed my clothes, collected my already-packed luggage, and rushed to Bangsar. Thankfully I managed to reach just in the nick of time. As soon as I sat down, the bus moved.

The journey itself was uneventful. Traffic wasn't so good. I was tired, and grumpy. And hungry. We were treated to the movie Pearl Harbor which isn't my cup of tea. I'm not a big fan of movies with those sort of themes. And besides, its the usual BS that Hollywood dishes out- setting a fictional "Drama" or "story" in the middle of a historical event. Like Titanic, Saving Private Ryan, etc.

Arrived in Singapore and was dropped off at Novena Square. Waited a good 40 minutes for a taxi cab for what was essentially a 5 minutes drive to the hotel my wife was staying in. She happened to be in SIngapore for a few days too because of company meeting.

Ordered room service- the food arrived at about 12am- after that, had a quick shower and went to bed at 1am.

Saturday
Woke up at 10.45am. We had ordered room service by placing the "breakfast room service" sign on the door knob before going to bed the night before. I had ordered American breakfast- scrambled egg with sausages, together with a basket of carbs in the form of breads, croissants, muffins and so forth. Wolfed my breakfast down.

I then proceeded to the Suntec Convention centre to collect my Race Pack. Like last year there was an expo comprising various sporting associations/clubs, vendors, promoters of other marathons, scuba diving school, rock climbing and so forth. I wandered around there for about 40 minutes. Bought a black adidas t-shirt for SGD24.

Proceeded to the shopping centre after that where I chanced upon some nice tops. Bought 3 tops!

Then I headed to Borders to meet the wife's friends. Wolfed down a turkey sandwich. Also met up with my ex-uni mate and his girlfriend.

We then headed to the wife's boss's house. He's a runner! And he was participating in the 21k event. He told me that his PR for the 21k is 1:18!!! But that was when he was in his 20s. Fast fella. Now at 48, he still looks fit and trim.

Then, we headed to Pastamania at Funan IT Mall for carbo loading dinner with the gang. PM5, PM2, PM22, Sim, DK, Rohaizad, KNN man, together with ST, Alex (from Singapore), Lawrence, were all there. What else we chatted about, apart from the race?

Thereafter I went back to the hotel, got everything ready and went to bed at 10pm.

Sunday
Woke up at 415am. Took a PowerBar for breakfast, with some drinks. Taped my nipples, bodyglided certain areas of my body and headed out the door.

Arrived at the Esplanade around 5:20am. Deposited my bag, peed and headed to the starting line. Saw Jamie and Gavin Bong. We noticed lightning and sounds of thunder. I was happy. I had hoped that it would rain.

We started at 6am.

1st 10k
Uneventful. I was with Jamie for a while and I just treated myself to the eye candy. Running at well over 6min per k pace, I completed the 1st 10k in about 1:06.

2nd 10k
Still ok. I was running alone at that point, but I was good. 2nd 10k- 1:03. Any hopes of rain quickly dissipated because the skies were very blue. Very clear.

3rd 10k
Now here comes the interesting part- when we were running at the East Coast. Things started to get interesting for me here, if you can call it "interesting". Despite the shade in many parts of the park, the sun was absolutely relentless. It was unbelievably H-O-T. I saw runners who had made the u-turn on the other side of the park and throughout this part of the run, I kept wondering "when the f**k am I gonna make that u-turn". The kilometers seemed to really drag by at this point. In fact, from the East Coast portion onwards, I was already suffering.

We finally made th u-turn around the 27k point (if I remember correctly). PM2 was ahead of me at that point and he made an almost desperate cry out when he called my name "J-j-j-usssstin..." He was suffering too. I overtook him about 10 minutes later. I also saw pm5 who was about 1k or so behind me.

4th 10k
Just about left the East Coast side at around the 31k mark. This portion was really bad for me. I was sorely (pun intended) tempted to stop. My legs were badly fatigued, I was not relaxed. My face was grimacing, jaws tightening, gritting my teeth. Mentally exhausted as well. I told myself not to stop. I knew that if I had stopped running and started walking, that would be the end of the race for me. It would be impossible for me to run again. I plodded along with some positive self talk, although, at this point my horizon didn't extend beyond completing the race- I was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, and maintaining my cadence. Literally, I took it one step at a time.

35k-40k mark was sheer torture. The sun was on my back and the heat was unbelievable. The fact that I doused myself with plenty of water by using a whole mini bottle of mineral water at EVERY water station didn't seem to help. The chafing between my thighs was getting unbearable. I entertained thoughts of DNFing, taking a taxi, quitting. But I persisted and told myself to put one foot in front of the other.

Final 2ks was just a matter of survival. Somehow I managed to summon enough strength to sprint the last 300 meters. Rohaizad was screaming out for me near the end. Thanks man!

Finishing time- 4.32 and change.

Post run
Was dead after the run. Collected my medal, t-shirt and checked into the tent for massage. My legs were very sore and the chafing was bad enough for me to walk around as if I had been "butt-f**ked", in the words of my unsympathetic non-running friend.

Headed back to the hotel, where I soaked myself in the bath. When I got into the tub, I was in extreme pain. The water had reached my chafed area, so you can imagine how it felt.

I then went to Marche restaurant and wolfed down lotsa food. Now, that felt good.

Went back to the hotel, collected my luggage and headed to the Peninsula-Excelsior Hotel, where the Pacesetters bus were leaving Singapore at 3pm. Saw many runners there and chatted with them. The consensus was that it was extremely hot again in Singapore this year. Many cramped, or finished way off their PRs. Ths bus arrived late, around 330pm.

Boarded the bus, and the trip back to was KL was ok, except that we were stuck at the Seremban portion of the highway for a good hour (as usual, but I think many of us, already dead tired from our exertions, just wanted to go home and were irritated with the traffic). There was also another jam before the Sungai Besi area.

We arrived at Bukit Aman around 1055pm, 7 plus hours after leaving Singapore. Arrived home at my apartment and crashed. Woke up this morning at 815 not feeling much better. My body and legs are aching.

Post marathon analysis
It's been said before, but I'll say it again- the marathon is an event to be respected. Proper training and preparation is absolutely essential if you are to fulfil your goal of finishing within a certain time. Speed matters less. The plan is to run the distance as aerobically as possible. You should complete a few long runs (at least 35k) prior to the marathon. While you can run 10ks and 21ks fairly easily, the mrathon is an entirely different proposition. I found that cardiac and breathing-wise, I was absolutely fine. I was never out of breath or breathing too hard at any given point of the race. But the legs muscles were giving me problems after the 30k mark. That is why long runs are vital. You need to build the strength for your leg muscles to endure the distance. As the great Arthur Lydiard said, "the failure is muscular, not cardiac".

Overall, my aim was to complete the distance and I did. With the lack of training and preparation, I couldn't have asked for more. At this point in time, I am feeling so tired and sore, and I really can't see myself running another marathon, unless I have enough time to do the training. But who knows- I might change my mind one week down the road and get hit by the marathon bug. But for now, I will stick with the events that I run best (and have the time to train for)- 10ks and 21ks.

pm19, signing off, over and out.