Monday, December 08, 2014
My 9th Full Marathon completed! There's only one thing that I remembered from yesterday's race -- the sweltering heat. The sun beat me totally, and the humidity was reported to have reached a high 95%, yet there were hardly any cloud cover at around 9 to 1030am. I saw exhausted people sitting down along the route; some even lying down at the pavement / benches; some asked volunteers where the next water point was. I heard that there were some water points that ran out of water eventually. Luckily I've had past them. Unbearable heat, totally.
The day, however, started fine. I actually had 4 hours of sleep before the race, the longest pre-race sleep in my 8 years of running. Certainly not as lethargic this year. Armed with the RunKeeper app in my hand, I paid close attention to my pace per kilometer. I was able to keep to my target pace for as long as half the race.
Speaking of the app, it seemed that it recorded almost 1km more than the official route distance. I finished the race with a GPS-tracked 43.3km. It was also interesting to hear many phones sounding at the same time at around the 1-km mark -- all with the same Runkeeper's lady's voice.
The first few runners were already leaving ECP when I entered -- that's about a 20km lead! I also spotted our national champion Mok Ying Ren in the opposite direction soon after, with many people cheering him on from my side of the route.
Oh yes, I got treated to a nice Sunrise at ECP, and stopped briefly to Instagram it. A few Caucasian female runners were also relishing the sight.
After the turning point, at around 23km-24km, there was supposed to be an Energy Gel station, but it was nowhere to be found. Together with the lack of a Banana station, the organisers are now finding themselves with quite a number of criticisms in the logistical aspect. Luckily I brought my own Energy Gel, which made me last a bit longer.
The Full marathon has always been one that not only challenges one physically, but also mentally. I feel that my mental determination wasn't at its best yesterday. The voice in my mind to ask me to 'stop and walk' was consistently present after 25km, and it was tough to fight back the temptation, especially with an unkind sun right above. I alternated between slow jogging and walking from 23km or 24km, which was earlier than previous years. I took consolation that I covered the first half of the race not-too-slowly, hence there's a bit of time to buffer some walking time.
The 29km-37km part of the race was the most dreadful and toughest part, particularly due to the scorching sunshine and the far-and-few water points. It didn't help when all the runners around you were walking -- so there's not much motivation for you to pick up speed either. I was overtaken by the 5:15 pacers at around 36km, which was a little demoralizing! But because I started the race some 20-minutes after flag off, there was still some buffer time between us too.
I jogged/walked the rest of the journey, while keeping close tabs on the time. Determined to close up on last year's time, I picked up speed at times. It was 5:14:22 when I crossed the finish line. It was a far cry from the PB timing just 3 months ago, but well, a Bali Marathon and a Singapore Marathon can never be compared on equal terms.
Results of SCMS2014
Time taken: 5:14:22
Net Overall position: 2994th / 10658 finishers
Net Age Group position (20-29 years): 462nd
Net Gender position: 2596th
The past 9 Full Marathons at a glance:
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007 : 5:06:14
adidas Sundown Marathon 2008 : 5:07:58
Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 : 5:01:04
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2010 : 5:13:35
Volkswagen Prague International Marathon 2012 : 4:53:22
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2012 : 4:59:49
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2013 : 5:17:47
Maybank Bali Marathon 2014 : 4:48:08
Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2014 : 5:14:22
人生是黑白的.
12:12 PM <3
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