Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2013
This is the run that I have been waiting for in fear and anticipation. It's always difficult when you do not train enough in a proper way, but you still want to challenge it. Woke up at 3 am on 1 Dec 2013, Sunday. Bought breakfast the night before, just bread with some sugar topping. There was even train services provided by SMRT, I took the train at about 4.15 am, run to the station from where I live. Reached Orchard Station at 4:28 am, had to walked all the way to Wheelock to get into the holding bay. After that just walked to as near the start line as possible, it was a good turnout. about 16,000 runners.
The atmosphere was full of excitement, everyone was anxious to start the run. I had a start delay of about 6 minutes, it was very crowded at the start and you can only slow jog. The pace for the first 1.5km was never much faster than than 7min per km. I can only pick up speed after exiting from the Ford Canning tunnel, but GPS tracking was abit off while in tunnel with no signal.
Most runners would normally try to get over with the 1st few km as there is still a long way to go. For me, I kept thinking of getting into the bush to clear my body of excess water, the feeling of going to the toilet was getting to me. Finally got the chance to do it at the 8km mark, I wasted 2 minutes at the 7 km mark when I saw some mobile toilet but they were locked.
Passed the 10km mark in 1hr7min34sec, still feeling ok. I did not try to go faster as I know it's still a long way to go. The next 5km was my fastest, covered it in 30min43sec, reaching the 15 km in 1hr38min17sec. I found the next stretch of 5 km extremely boring along the ECP service road, was just trying my best to finish it. Reached 20km in 2hr11min33sec, I think from this point, my body started to get tired. Getting to the 21 km mark, seems like a long time, still ok, no muscle cramp yet. My time for this 5km dropped to 36min15sec. Fatigue really starts to set in rapidly, I found the going really tough now, I almost wanted to give up at the 28km mark. Reached the 30km mark in 3hr36min1sec, this 5km stretch took me 48min13sec to complete. After the muscule rubbed down and consuming a banana and drinks, I started to run again. This stretch goes into a construction area and I speed up a little, running non-stop for about 3.5km and stopping for short water break. I continue at a slow pace but managed a 42min40sec for this 5km, already passed 4hrs for 35km. Feeling tired but can still run slowly, felt better than at ECP. I know the killer stretch is up the Shears bridge, but surprisingly I managed to run slowly all the way up. My stomach was feeling not too good and walked the down stretch all the way, reached 40km around 5hr1min. Was feeling tired but run walk all the way till 41km and I told myself to just give it all my strenght, to run all the way till the end. As always, I find strength to do a sprint finish for the last 100m to cross the finishing line in style! Final time 5hr 16min 31 sec, no pb but I still find it satisfying and will do it again next year !
The atmosphere was full of excitement, everyone was anxious to start the run. I had a start delay of about 6 minutes, it was very crowded at the start and you can only slow jog. The pace for the first 1.5km was never much faster than than 7min per km. I can only pick up speed after exiting from the Ford Canning tunnel, but GPS tracking was abit off while in tunnel with no signal.
Most runners would normally try to get over with the 1st few km as there is still a long way to go. For me, I kept thinking of getting into the bush to clear my body of excess water, the feeling of going to the toilet was getting to me. Finally got the chance to do it at the 8km mark, I wasted 2 minutes at the 7 km mark when I saw some mobile toilet but they were locked.
Passed the 10km mark in 1hr7min34sec, still feeling ok. I did not try to go faster as I know it's still a long way to go. The next 5km was my fastest, covered it in 30min43sec, reaching the 15 km in 1hr38min17sec. I found the next stretch of 5 km extremely boring along the ECP service road, was just trying my best to finish it. Reached 20km in 2hr11min33sec, I think from this point, my body started to get tired. Getting to the 21 km mark, seems like a long time, still ok, no muscle cramp yet. My time for this 5km dropped to 36min15sec. Fatigue really starts to set in rapidly, I found the going really tough now, I almost wanted to give up at the 28km mark. Reached the 30km mark in 3hr36min1sec, this 5km stretch took me 48min13sec to complete. After the muscule rubbed down and consuming a banana and drinks, I started to run again. This stretch goes into a construction area and I speed up a little, running non-stop for about 3.5km and stopping for short water break. I continue at a slow pace but managed a 42min40sec for this 5km, already passed 4hrs for 35km. Feeling tired but can still run slowly, felt better than at ECP. I know the killer stretch is up the Shears bridge, but surprisingly I managed to run slowly all the way up. My stomach was feeling not too good and walked the down stretch all the way, reached 40km around 5hr1min. Was feeling tired but run walk all the way till 41km and I told myself to just give it all my strenght, to run all the way till the end. As always, I find strength to do a sprint finish for the last 100m to cross the finishing line in style! Final time 5hr 16min 31 sec, no pb but I still find it satisfying and will do it again next year !
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