A New PB for SCB Singapore Marathon 7 Dec 2014
I woke up at 2.45am, in fact I did not even sleep for more than an hour. Had some bread and a cup of coffee and drink a cup of water as well. After washing up and changed, left the house at about 3.40 am. I slow jogged about 1km to the MRT station to take a train to the start point, special train service to town was available from about 3am. Reached the start point at about 4.23am and had to wait about 40 minutes for the race to begin. While waiting for the race to start, I felt very relax and calm although I did not put in the sufficient training needed. I just wanted to try my best to complete the run and I was quite confident that I could set a new personal best.
The race finally started at 5.04 am, it took me about 3.5 minutes to pass the start point. As usual, the first km is always slow, with everyone trying to find a way out of the crowd. After the 2km mark, the crowd seemed to be spread out more and there was more room to run, from here on the run was smooth. The first 5km was covered in 31min52sec, I was feeling comfortable and managed to run at a constant 6:20 per km pace, 10km was reached in 1hr4min12sec, the 5km split was 32:20. My stride was smooth and breathing easy, the next 5km split was 30:04 and 15 km covered in 1hr34min16sec. Although I was running well, I was at the same time wondering if my body can take the beating. Reached 20 km in 2hr3min58sec and 5 km split was 29:42. In fact I covered the second 10km in 59min46sec and reached half marathon mark in 2hr10min51sec.
The next 5km split was 30:34, reaching the 25km mark in 2hr34min32sec. I can start to feel some tiredness in the legs now, and around the 26km mark I can start to feel my thigh muscle tightening up. I tried my best to control my stride a little to delay the cramp from starting too early, because once it starts, I will need to apply muscle cream to alleviate tightness of the muscle. As my body is not well condition, the muscle cramp will keep coming back after the first cramp. Finally, at about 28km, I had to start applying the muscle cream due to muscle cramp. This onset of muscle cramp slow my next 5km to 34:23, reaching 30km in 3hr8min55sec. After exiting from the east coast part after 30km, the muscle cramp got more frequent. The next 5km was completed much slower in 37:25, reaching 35km at the Marina Barrage in 3hr46min21sec. The last 5 km to 40km was even slower, it took me 44min21sec. The sun was scorching hot and it contributed greatly to my pace really slowing down. I tried my best not to stop going up the Sheare bridge after exiting from Garden by the Bay. Luckily I managed to run most of the way up and down, although very slowly.
Finally, after reaching 40km, I had to fight the urge to walk more and just had to tell myself not to stop and continue to run very slowly. After the 41km mark, I just ran and tried to speed up a little and finally managed to clear the Esplanade bridge stretch. This last stretch along the Anderson Bridge is the last stretch and then the last 200m, I just opened up my stride and ran as fast as my tired body could carry me across the finish line. Final gun time 4hr51min15sec and net time 4hr47min26sec, a PB by 10min26sec. Although extremely tired, I was overjoyed but not forgetting never to sit down or lie down, I continue to walk around for 10min before lying on the ground.
Mission accomplished, although not a fast time but still happy and looking forward to the next marathon race.
The race finally started at 5.04 am, it took me about 3.5 minutes to pass the start point. As usual, the first km is always slow, with everyone trying to find a way out of the crowd. After the 2km mark, the crowd seemed to be spread out more and there was more room to run, from here on the run was smooth. The first 5km was covered in 31min52sec, I was feeling comfortable and managed to run at a constant 6:20 per km pace, 10km was reached in 1hr4min12sec, the 5km split was 32:20. My stride was smooth and breathing easy, the next 5km split was 30:04 and 15 km covered in 1hr34min16sec. Although I was running well, I was at the same time wondering if my body can take the beating. Reached 20 km in 2hr3min58sec and 5 km split was 29:42. In fact I covered the second 10km in 59min46sec and reached half marathon mark in 2hr10min51sec.
The next 5km split was 30:34, reaching the 25km mark in 2hr34min32sec. I can start to feel some tiredness in the legs now, and around the 26km mark I can start to feel my thigh muscle tightening up. I tried my best to control my stride a little to delay the cramp from starting too early, because once it starts, I will need to apply muscle cream to alleviate tightness of the muscle. As my body is not well condition, the muscle cramp will keep coming back after the first cramp. Finally, at about 28km, I had to start applying the muscle cream due to muscle cramp. This onset of muscle cramp slow my next 5km to 34:23, reaching 30km in 3hr8min55sec. After exiting from the east coast part after 30km, the muscle cramp got more frequent. The next 5km was completed much slower in 37:25, reaching 35km at the Marina Barrage in 3hr46min21sec. The last 5 km to 40km was even slower, it took me 44min21sec. The sun was scorching hot and it contributed greatly to my pace really slowing down. I tried my best not to stop going up the Sheare bridge after exiting from Garden by the Bay. Luckily I managed to run most of the way up and down, although very slowly.
Finally, after reaching 40km, I had to fight the urge to walk more and just had to tell myself not to stop and continue to run very slowly. After the 41km mark, I just ran and tried to speed up a little and finally managed to clear the Esplanade bridge stretch. This last stretch along the Anderson Bridge is the last stretch and then the last 200m, I just opened up my stride and ran as fast as my tired body could carry me across the finish line. Final gun time 4hr51min15sec and net time 4hr47min26sec, a PB by 10min26sec. Although extremely tired, I was overjoyed but not forgetting never to sit down or lie down, I continue to walk around for 10min before lying on the ground.
Mission accomplished, although not a fast time but still happy and looking forward to the next marathon race.
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