Adidas Sundown Marathon 2009

Finisher's Medal

It is one day after the marathon, but well, this did not happened to me... haha. Anyway, I had a good laugh.

if you have a good laugh, drop me a comment la... at least I know that I am not the only person who thinks this is funny... or at least tt my sense of humour is not skewed from the general population. lol.



Saturday 30th May 2359pm marks the start of my first marathon, a night marathon.

Pre-race - I think I did a good pre-race nutrition, fully loaded with sugar to sustain the gruelling 42.2km (some say its 43.5km according to their devices.. lol) I did not hit-the-wall, in fact I felt energetic throughout the whole race. All thanks to lots of bananas, bread and peanut butter, isotonic drink and a can of red bull for its sugar 1.5 hours before the race.

I reached there at 1045pm. I can already see the ultra-marathoners running as well as the 10km ladies. After a toilet break to clear my bladder (took me 20min of queueing). Went off to do a proper stretching... by then left with 10min. Jog to the starting line, and I managed to stay in front... hehe.

images taken from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adidas-singapore/

The atmosphere was a relaxing one... and the countdown started...

Well... I did not rush to be th first, as I have set myself to complete each 10km at 1:10hrs... that is about 4:40hrs for the marathon.

During the race:

My first 10km was along changi coast road, I started off too fast. Things were still great. Run was easy. Weather was good. The road was straight and even, an easy run. I did not drank a sip of water. Still fully hydrated, so I do not want to weigh myself down with too much water, in case I need to seek for a toilet.

After finishing the first 10km, we ended up at East Coast Park. The run at ECP continues for the next 10 to 20km. The people camping/barbequeing at ECP were cheering us on... spirit was high. But the smell of food is certainly distracting. haha. I went to the washroom just in case... Things are still good. Then we have to run across the first overhead bridge to Siglap Park Connector.

The run along Siglap Park Connector was ok. This continue for until 27.7km. Although I was still doing fine, not thirsty, but I start to drink 100plus along the way to replenish loss salt and water as it takes time to hydrate and your body to absorb the elctrolytes . The path starts to wind up and down, left and right, lots of turns and it is really undulating. The terrain starts to gets challenging, I must say. My knees starts to hurt a little, and my ankle starts to feel stiff. I ate half a banana and grab 3 powergels at the 24.9km mark. I ate one chocolate powergel, and kept 2 in my pocket for later use.

27.9 to 29.4km was at Bedok Reservior. Running on sand and gravels. I hate the 2 km! The sound of the gravels is like noise to me in the silence, and my ankles are very bad at this point... I went to a medic and asked for deep heat cream but it does not work for the ankle. Now I stop by at almost every water station now to drink 100plus, I knew I need the electrolytes for the next 10+km.

At this point of time, I still manage to meet my targetted timing.

The run along Tampines stretches from 29.4Km to 34Km. This is the part I did badly. I stop and walk, but i cannot walk, i cannot run, i cannot pause, because I know that once I stop it will get worse, it might cramp, and this might just be the end of my race. But my running and walking continues... shit, i thought to myself, as my ankles were stiff and numb. Morale was at a all time LOW. I ate half a powergel hoping that the sugar boost can boost my morale as well. lol

Finally reached Pasir Ris station, and morale was high once again, because Pasir Ris station was where I got off to took the shuttle bus to the starting point just a few hours earlier, and so ending point is nearing! At this point, a lot of people around me were too walking, jogging, stopping, jogging at a veryyyyyy slow pace. I got into a slightly faster jogging pace, shuffling my feet fast, but with minimum impact to my knees... and I can see myself slowly overtaking... one by one...

I remember I saw the 38km mark, and God-knows what got into me! I looked at my watch, I must make it within sub 5! Someone driving along the road was shouting to us, you guys still can make it within sub 5! So I went into a full running speed again! My mind was a blank, all I know was that my speed was picking up, I forgot about the pain. The 39km marker soon came into view, and the 40km marker came into view even faster this time round. My speed is picking, and I must not slow down, because I knew that it will be very difficult to pick up my speed once i slow down.

I went past the 40km marker, 2 more km left! I went into a full speed chase with time! 4:50hrs, 11 more min! I cannot remember much about the 2km except that I was running and running, breathing very hard with each step. I did not see the 41km... but I saw the Ending point! My Goodness... but there is a big U-turn to do before getting to the Ending point.

4:58hrs, This was the time I saw when I went past the finishing point. I was elated. I managed to make it within sub 5. =)

Then... after my joy was over... I realised how freaking tired I was... lol. The pain came back... my ankle was stiff like concrete, it cannot even bend!!! how did i run the last 4km?!?! This is the power of mental strength!


Me relac at one corner, waiting for my friend's "arrival". NB1222 my marathon partner. =)

While waiting for my friend, I went around taking photos! But i dunno what I'm taking lah...

There was a movie marathon as well.. 3 super hero movies for 6 hours from 12 to 6am

Snap the finishing point...

My journey back... NB tights and NB shorts... true blue NB fan... hehe.

Left one unopened Strawberry banana Powergel... save it for my next marathon!

My Official Timing

Out of about 4000 marathon runners, I came in 420+... I am contented!



Some random pictures of finishers...

Marathoners of all sorts....

The "garang looking" one

The "Happy" one

The "happier" one

The "wear-specs" one

The " Tired" one

The "OMG, I want to sleep" one

BECAUSE EVERY RUNNER IS DIFFERENT