Thursday, December 13, 2018
17th Marathon done!
SCSM has been an annual, habitual routine that I will try my best not to miss. In fact, I'm loving it so much that I can even say that I look forward to it. I'm not sure how it sounds to you. Crazy? I myself can't explain it too, probably it's that Runners' High that I chase after and savour, or perhaps it's always that huge sense of achievement after the race, or probably that possibility that I can once again try to erase my PBs.
This year, I joined Running Department's weekly training programme since around August. As far as possible, I attended the Wednesday evening runs and the Saturday morning runs. They were great, and I can't tell you how much better it is to train in a running group than to do solo runs. I've realised that in group runs, I could run faster and at a more consistent pace, and at the end of the runs, feel less exhausted than my solo runs. The sessions were just amazing! Throughout this year's SCSM training, I've almost ditched my solo runs! (But on hindsight, it is still important to add in solo runs outside the training programme, so as to achieve sufficient weekly mileage)
So yes, thank you Running Department for the weekly training and the positive energies that I took in every week. You guys really made me more hyped up for the actual day, and were definitely a great source of inspiration and motivation.
I chose to train with the 4:00-hour marathon pace group, which to me was a little stretch. I can do a 2-hour half-marathon comfortably, but to do it for another 2 hours is still a challenge to me. Nevertheless, I was hoping a little stretched training would do some good to me. But this wasn't going to be my target pace for the actual day, as I really wasn't confident in a 4-hour marathon.
Alright, so leading up to the marathon, I felt really prepared to knock down a 4:15 timing.
Race Expo
The race pack collection expo was pretty well-organised, with plenty of counters available and just a 15-minute queue wait time. One change that I have to compliment, was that the race bibs were not pre-printed with the runners' names. Instead, whoever comes next would collect the next number, and all they had to do, was to do a digital match to the runner. This was SO EFFICIENT! I hope all other races follow such a practice.
Race Day Pre-Run
I bought a seat on the 3am bus shuttle from Eunos. This year's buses were provided by ShareTransport. Unfortunately, this was one little hiccup. I reached punctually at 2:55am and the bus was already there for runners to board. I waited patiently in line and went up the bus, only to find that all the seats were taken. Together with about 10 others, I was asked to leave the bus and wait for the next bus, which were to come at 3:30am!
I checked the websites, the app, the Facebook accounts, and didn't see any bus scheduled at 3:30am. I started to get a little uneasy. (I remembered last year's race when I had a terrible morning at the baggage deposit and missed the flag off by 1 hr 40 mins. I don't want to be late for flag off again!) Thankfully, I've learnt my lesson to not bring any bags -- so once I'd reached the venue I could get to the start line immediately.
Phew -- at 3:30am sharp, another bus came. I was so relieved. I had already planned to get a taxi if there wasn't a bus at 3:30am. Luckily, the journey to the F1 Pit building took just 15 minutes or so. I was already queuing for the portaloo by 3:50am!
I took a peek at the baggage deposit areas. Wow. The organisers had really listened. All runners have a designated Pen entrance based on their estimated timings, and each Pen entrance has their own designated baggage deposit area. And to make things even more efficient, they had already given all runners a sticker (with bib number) prior to the race at the Race Expo, so people who had to deposit stuff, just had to drop their bags at the counter and go. SO EFFICIENT! All other race organisers, please refer to this GOLD standard of bag depositing!
Race Day Run
I was already in my Pen D by about 4am. Nice atmosphere there, really! The spotlights, the music, the adrenaline, it all made the pre-race so hyped up. And there was also our National Anthem being played, which I believe was the first time I've heard it at a local race.
Pen by pen, the runners were flagged off. The 4:15 and 4:30 pacers were also in the same Pen D, but they were 1 wave ahead (approximately 2 minutes apart). So when my wave was finally flagged off, I knew I had that 2 minutes to catch up to be with the pacers.
But by this time, I wanted to pee again. So I spent some 3-4 minutes of precious race time to queue at a public toilet, before coming back to the race course and continued chasing the pacers.
It didn't take too long before I caught up with the 4:30 pacers, and then a short while later, I joined the 4:15 pacers. Yay, all's good.
Fast forward everything, I was with the 4:15 pacers probably from about 3km to about 20+km. I gradually lose them as I made more and more stops at the Aid Stations, to refuel myself with the energy gels and to drink up. I could still see them at a distance, and I kept wanting to close the gap, but that would mean increasing my pace, but I soon realised that I had little left in me to still increase my speed after 25km.
The 4:15 pacers seemed further and further, and the weather got hotter and hotter. I paused at many Aid Stations and had begun to resign to the fact that 4:15 is less and less possible now. In fact, after 31km or so, I had reduced to a run-walk strategy which totally threw all strategies out. Now, it's really back to the age-old saying that "A marathon only starts after 30km". Yes, always true. And I've never conquered this wall yet.
So the part from 31km to 42km seemed eternal. It was made worse by the relentless 8-plus morning sun overhead. I jogged and walked alternately, and at the same time, fighting all negative thoughts and silencing the internal profanities. It wan't easy. This is usually the most challenging part of my races, and is something that I knew very well that I had to endure and conquer. Kilometre by kilometre, I counted down the remaining distance and brought my legs across. And at the same time, hoping that the 4:30 pacers don't catch up so quickly.
40km. This was where the 4:30 pacers overtook me. My little comfort was that they had a 2-minute head-start over me, and that the pacers usually run with a little time buffer on hand. I continued with my jog-walk poor strategy, and pushed myself to the finishing line.
4:27:36.
Still within 4:30! It was 40 seconds slower than my PB (set in Ottawa), but this was still the best timing I'd clocked in Singapore. Still a little cause for celebration!
The Good aspects of this race:
1. Hydration stations were long in length, and at some stations, they were present on both sides of the course! Last year, they had a sign to indicate the distance to the next hydration station. This seemed to be absent this year. Please bring it back as I found it useful!
2. Road closures. This year's route was covered extensively on closed roads. The organisers listened to the public outcry last year and changed the route, and it was still nicely designed. Bottlenecks were almost non-existent, probably due to the rolling wave starts, and wide roads.
3. Less of ECP. Ths year's route continued to have relatively shorter ECP portions, as runners were also brought to the West Coast Highway. It's a refreshing route, but honestly, West Coast Highway was boring to the max.
4. Route-side entertainment was nice. There wasn't the elaborate orchestras like last year, but I enjoyed some really nice musicians' performances along the way.
5. The cold towel at the Finish line was great! The muscle rub was OH-SO-NICE.
6. Very international field. The emcees were saying that 127 countries and territories were represented in this year's race, and I could tell. There were international supporters along the course, and it was heartening to see how far SCSM had come since many years ago. Perhaps one day, SCSM can be one of the World's Marathon Majors?
6. The start/end at F1 pit building was a good choice. Ample space, good signage, and no worries of the muddy Padang field!
Race day analytics in the next post.
人生是黑白的.
5:41 PM <3
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