happytreefrenz

thought i should quickly log my first marathon before i get lazy, although i think the pain in my legs are gonna be a reminder for the rest of the week.

2315 took the shuttle bus at pasir ris together with nicole, changi village was super jammed and we only reached at around 2345
2345 rushed to the toilet one last time and deposited our bags. proceeded immediately to the start point where i was supposed to meet up with winnie and friend.
2359 horn went off just as we squeezed ourselves further front. no warm-ups! but both nic and i are blessed as we don't usually need much stretching. no time to look for winnie.
0006 took us a while to cross the starting line. started timing on my watch. first stretch on changi coast road towards ecp was extremely humid with the throngs of runners. was feeling pretty strong, good start!
0030 nic stopped for a drink at the 3km mark and asked me to go ahead. met winnie at the 6km mark. was expecting a severe bottleneck described by yen (she ran the 10km earlier) but there wasn't any. realised that it was because they closed the road from 12mn to 2am as well. stopped for my first drink at the 8km mark.
0115 turned into ecp from safra resort at 10km. still feeling good. noticed a guy who was about the same pace as me (and we continued to meet each other all the way till the 35km mark where he passed me and i didn't see him again).
0120 was on familiar ground since i had run the ecp route several times. at 15km, started to wonder how i would feel after 21km (the longest i had ever run), which i knew was the point we turned out from ecp. told myself not to think about it, and started to recite the mantra 'focus on putting one foot in front of the other'.
0130 20km. took out one powergel and quickly glupped it down. dwang. no effect. and my left hand was all gluey from the gel. shucks, just passed another waterpoint not long ago. bad tactical planning.
0140 the half marathon mark, and where we turned out into the longggggggggg stretch of siglap park connector. any distance i clocked now would be the furtherest i have done, and an overhead bridge kickstarted this challenge. actually attempted to run up the handicapped bridge till i realised everyone was walking. and so i stopped for the first time in the race.
0210 once i crossed the overhead bridge, started to gear up again. the siglap park connector is probably one of my better stretches but was demoralised when i saw the 24km marker. only??? alot of road crossings and two more overhead bridges to follow from here.
0250 another 3km of park connector which was quite hilly. struggled at this point and ran at a pace equivalent to walking. but refused to walk 'cos was afraid i might cramp up. looking at the map again, realised that the park connector is only 5km? it definitely seemed longer than that.
0310 bedok reservoir next. deep heat was provided and i smeared a generous amount on my calves and thighs. another push. we ran on sand for most parts of the 3km at bedok reservoir. so not fun. when we left the reservoir, it was 29km. stopped to grab a banana although i didn't really need it. ended up holding the banana for a good 3km.
0320 next stretch was tampines. was really exhausted by then.
0345 all timings above are pure guesstimates. the only confirmed timing i knew was that when i reached the 30km mark, i had clocked 3 hours 45mins. felt a sense of satisfaction knowing that i had ran 30km so far in a pretty good timing. i have always heard that your run would go downhill after 30km. i really wanted to walk then, it was so tempting especially with the number of people doing so. but the mantra came into my mind again and i continued at whatever snail's pace i was doing. then another of my better stretches came. i hit the autopilot mode and did the next 3km quite comfortably. i started harbouring hope that perhaps, just perhaps i could finish in about 5 hours.
0410 alas, it all went downhill from there. met with a couple of long slopes and i just didn't see the point of me huffing and puffing up the slope. once i have tasted the ease of walking, i stopped a couple of times as well, especially when i felt that my lungs were gonna burst out. so by the time i reached the 38km mark, it was already 5hours.
0500 the last 4km was a pure torture. so near, and yet so far. the mantra kicked in and i didn't stop, although at some points i would have been better off walking with my jogging pace, ha. once we passed the 40km mark, which was also when we started to enter changi village again, there was no marker anymore.
0525 when the park connector route on the ground stated we had about 1.5km to go, i gathered speed and charged all the way. had to make at least five turns before i saw the finish line...possibly the longest sprint i had done. i totally wanted to collapse on the ground when i crossed the finishing line. my finish time was 5 hours 35 mins, a timing i'm very happy with.

it's hard to describe how i felt then or even now, but i was pretty overwhelmed that i started to tear abit at the homerun stretch.
we all know the saying mind over body but i felt and utilised it this morning. my body is obviously not prepared for the run but all i focused on during the run was the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other. this really helped when i was so down and out.

my simple goals were achieved - i completed and i really enjoyed the run overall. my legs are in the same state as when i came down from mt k - but slightly better. lots of stretching needed! went for a foot massage just now......heavenly!