Full Marathon 2007

It was a fantastic morning. I had a good carboloading few days before today, indulging myself to mostly mum's food. Woke up at 3:09. (By Mosquito Morning call) Received one sms at 3:00 morning call from Siewlee that she is feeling extremely excited. Haha. Phew, it had been a long time since I woke up so early. I decided to nap till 3:20 instead.

Left my house at 3:58, and I was late to pick up the gers at Shirley's place. In the end, I reached her place late at 4:05, 5 mins late. At 4:20, I reached Parliment house carpark after driving on the wrong of the carpark entrance. Amelia was nice to buy us bananas. I was extremely grateful, as I got a very strong unloading feeling immediately after eating her 2 bananas. I forgot to put on my championship chip which I left on my car boot, and Amelia reminded me. It seems that her comments prove to be some forecast warnings of my later mishaps. Hurriedly, I slotted my chip into the shoelaces.

We reached Esplanade at 4:50, and Siewlee passed me her pack of honey. I was happy to see Yap Shinn, who had postponed his China trip to come for the run. The guys were extremely grateful to Shirley who had supplied Ya Kun Coffee. We did our stretching and did our walk to the starting point, where Peter, Henry, Jason, KK, Siewlee, Ivy, Yern, Yap Shing and me decided to squeeze into the sub 5hr starting slot.

And soon, after 10 mins of waiting, it started! Today, my legs were in good condition. They were aching slightly, but I feel this is a good sign as this shows my legs are warmed up for the run. Siewlee was feeling extremely excited for the run today, and she is running real fast. I commented to her to conserve her energy. Everyone seem to be in a good mood to run. As usual, the lelong toilet point appears everywhere for guys again.

At around 1.5Km mark, Peter overtook me. I decided to go for a quick loo break as well, and I saw chairman at the loo entrance. After my toilet break (It was a long queue for guys), I got the biggest regret of my marathon. I realise I have lost my championship chip! I was extremely disappointed. I regret not securing my chip properly. It was dangerous to search around the road, as the pack was running real fast. I knew that I just had to put these disappointments behind and keep on running. I began to keep my focus of a sub 5 timing to distract my disappointment of losing my chip.

I bypassed the 3km mark soon. People are starting to crowded around the drink station. I decided to stay away from these crowded and not to disturb my tempo of run.

I was hoping to catch up with the gang I start with. My toilet break seems to distance me with them by a lot. At around 3.5km mark, I caught up with the 5:30 pacesetters. And much later I saw Yean finally. I have thought I must managed to catch up with the gang, but rest are nowhere to be seen. I wish Yean a thumb up sign as we usually do during our run, and continue my quest for the gang.

And finally, at 4.5km mark superbowl, I saw the red safra shirts. To my surprise, they are Chairman and Amelia instead. I caught up and pace with behind them for about 5min. Chairman mentioned that I should stick close to the guy with Japanese costume, who had finish a sub 5 last year. Motivated, I overtook them, and catch up with the Japanese costume guy. But at 5.5km, I lost him, which I think he might have gone for a drink session.

I just continue with the run, happy that I overtook the Jap guy. Soon, my adrenaline rushed when I saw the 5:00 pacesetters at 6.5km.

At 7km, I check my watch timing and realised that I had been running for for 55min. Gosh, I was way back too slow. I open my steps wider this time round, which prove to be the consistent pace for the next 10km. I saw Wendy at the opposite direction, and we encourage each other. I was hoping to see the rest of gang in opposite direction, but the sky is still so dark. I mistaken another safra lady for Angela in the opposite direction in dark and 'thumbs up' to her. Haha. The turning point at the marina pier seem to give me some disappointment as I passed by the championship sensor. It reminded me that I have lost my chip.

Nevertheless, I just continue to run. Somehow at 8km, I check my timing again, and realised it had been 1:10. I keep up with my pace, and at the same hope I could to run faster. Somewhere near the exit of Marina Mrt, I saw the 4:45 pacesetters. My adrenaline rushes upon seeing them in sight. I pick up more speed, and overtook them and look forward to seeing the 4:30 pacesetters as well. I felt I was really doing good at this stage.

During the run back to Esplanade from Marina, I saw Jack! I caught up with him and call him "Chee Hong"(His direct name is Chee Hong as Siewlee and Amelia would sometimes called to tease him) from the back. Haha. We had a short chat, and he mentioned that he was abandoned by his friends. I continue at my own speed after the chat.

I bypassed Esplanade, which was great, with all the cheering and the music, which gives my tempo to keep up my pace. My timings was really bad then. Just after Esplanade, I saw the 13km. I check my timing and it was 1:30. Damn it, I must have got confused by the road markings for 21km route since the 6km mark. All my 6, 7, 8km marking might be all wrong, and I missed those 9 to 12km markings. However, I knew that I never de-toured as I have remembered the route from the map in SCSM website. Nevertheless, I was glad I was running well within target of sub 5. I leave those confusion behind and took my pack of honey here. The feeling was sweet. Haha.

It was a slightly hot run from Esplanade to Ford Road. I was encouraged to see students and costume supporters who provide me with the music and cheers. The past long distance training has really equiped me well, as I was now accustomed to running this route, from 14 to 17km.

And finally, I catch sight of Peter and Jamie at the entrace of ECP park, the 18km mark. I greet them and keep up my pace here, hoping to see the 4:30 pace setters, and of course, looking forward see Jason, Henry, KK and Siewlee as well.

At 19km mark, I overtook the the Malay guy friend(I cannot remember his name thou, used to thought he was Indian) from MF Safra while he was getting water. He had always had a consistent run during our training, and I was happy to overtake him, and wished him a good run.
At 20km mark, my legs start to feel aching, but good. I motivate myself that tell myself I could run another 21km with this pair of legs. "Wayne! you have conquered 21km before, and you can do it now", I told myself

At around 20.5km, the crowd is starting to clear up, but they remained obstacles to overtake. I was comfortable running at a good pace, which I seldom was during training. I needed a pacer to keep up my motivation and interest. I pace myself with an orange singlet sweet-looking lady for motivation. Gradually, we began pace each other and run together till Macdonald, where she left for toilet break. Sun is coming in, and I was starting to cool myself with water at drink stations.

I just kept on running till I saw Henry just after the 22km mark at costa sands resorts. He was applying rub-on, and doing stretches. Henry was a fast runner during my training, and I always wanted to pace with him. I wanted to stop and run with him, but changed my mind, as I did not want to stop to disturb my tempo.

The weather was hot now at the lagoon. Jason, KK, Siewlee and the 4:30 pacesetters remain my motivation to keep up my pace. I was a feeling a bit tired now. "I knew that this is my 'home ground' to my marathon training for the past 2 years, and I should have no problem conquering them," I told myself.

Just after the food centre, I saw Colleen in the opposite direction. She encourage me to run, and somehow my adrenaline rushes again. Somehow, these elite runners always give me good inspirations to carry on my run. I reminded myself again to keep up with this pace.

At the 25km mark, someone shouted my name while I was getting water. It was Albert in the opposite direction! It was nice to have so many people encouraging you and running with you. I continue my run, happy that I have not walked.

Run was starting to get boring as the sun comes in hot. I was looking forward to meeting Safra guys again. Just 5mins later, I saw Jason from far. Phew, I never thought I could see Jason from that far. I knew that I was still alert and was extremely happy with my form today.

At 25.5km, my legs are getting really tired somehow. I might be running too fast, or hunger might be starting to set in. Free power gels become my motivation to reach 26km mark.

At 26km, I finally got my power gels, and as expected, it contain caffeine. (Double
Latte favour, 2X caffeine somemore). I had some problems of taking caffeine based on history, and hence I decided to keep it for Amelia. I took out my Vanilla 0mg caffeine power
gel and start to eat it at this stage. This prove to be a turning point for the next 10km.

It was disastous taking the power gels! Though I was not feeling hungry anymore, indigestion started to set in. My stomach don't feel good. I decided to drink at every station to clear the power gel in my stomach. Somehow, I just continued my run with indigestion. Weather is very hot now. Many people are starting to walk now, but I just keep on running. The first thoughts of walking appears in my mind.

My legs are really starting to ache now. I stop over to apply some deep heat and did a 2 min stretching. I knew that this is too early to apply more deep heat as this would make my muscle relax and enjoy to the buring sensation. I was determine to keep on running and keep my legs muscle conditioned. At around 29km, I got another encourgement from Rose Mary in the opposite direction. I was motivated and remind myself to keep my steps bigger then. The feeling of indigestion lingers in my stomach still.

At 30km mark, I got a fantastic relief from safra supporters, a pineapple/lime sng pao(ice pack). This was the greatest sng pao I have ever eaten before. It can be consumed internally and can be used externally (for cooling) too, as what we chinese called. Haha. It was a perfect gift.

I was too engrosed in enjoying my sng pao. Without knowing, I have reached the end of ECP park. :) Phew. 33km mark. 3:20. I began to start calculating my ETA at finishing line. I decided that this mark should be a point to cream up my legs. I got deep heat from the organisers, and as expected they were always generous with the potion.

The route from ECP to Esplanade prove to be my slowest part of my run. Though indigestion was starting to go away, I was starting to feel hungry again. My legs felt like cramping, and I was really struggling. I decided to switch a different running style - taking smaller steps but at a faster pace. I began to feel comfortable with this style as I was feeling less ache on my legs. I really wanted to walk at this stage, but the cheering from supporters kept me going. Occasionally, I would give myself an excuse to stop to do some stretching at water points. I saw Rose Mary's son at the 35km, and say 'Hi' to him. I kept pace with him till the stadium, where I lost him. I continue to run at a slow pace.

Finally, at 36km, near the nicoll highway, I found Jason 100m in front of me. I pick up speed to catch up with him. He was doing his stretching, and I finally caught up with him at under the highway bridge. He encourage me to go ahead. Yes! I was really motivated here as he is my target man for sub 4:45. KK, Siewlee and the 4:30 pace setters remains my final target.

However, at 37km, I was begining to lose confidence in catching up with KK, Siewlee and the 4:30 pace setters. I was running real slow. Hunger starts to set in, but luckily, the bananas stations came to my rescue. I decided not to take my power gels, and took the bananas and drinks instead after having the bad experience.

I was getting really tired at the turn at Kallang Road, near Lavender MRT, and I have to conquer the steep slope up, near the Beach Road underpass. This slope kills me last year even though I was relegated to walking then. And finally I was happy that I managed to conquer it
with the least effort. I was so thankful to the MF safra trainers at this point. I was feeling so rewarded with those hill trainings for the past 3 months. And of course, I give thanks to those bananas too. The bananas really helps!

My last remembered markers is at 38km. I miss the distance markers after that, but I just continue to run, demoralised I still have another 4++ km to go. Luckily, the past long distance training at Esplanade run had equiped me with the estimation of the distance left. I checked my timing. It was 3:19. I knew that I could not complete 4km in 21mins, and hence I gave up my 4:30 timing at this stage.

Roughly at around 39.5km, the 4:45 pace setters overtook me. Gosh, somehow, I was way back behind my 4:45. Injected with 100ml of agrendaline, I began to pick up speed. The pace setters are running real fast. I was surprised that my aching legs were gone all a sudden, and I started
to run very fast. At this point, I almost trip on a cone, as I was following too closely behing them. More people join the pace setters and I felt like flying.

Soon, I saw the 41km mark. The pacers started to pick up more speed. I continued to keep up with the 4:45 pacers. This is my fastest pace for the entire marathon. Surprisely, I was able to run this pace at 41km mark. I could not believe I still have that much energy to do that. Perhaps the bananas have really helped me. I was so happy at this point that I am finishing finally.

At around 41.7km, the pacers slowed down. I overtook them and get ready for the final dash. I start to comb myself with my hand, with the running shadow as my mirror. This is to prepare for finishing photo taking, of course. Haha.

The last dash was good. And finally I cross my finishing point. I turned back and look at the guntime finish - 4:49:06. I have did it! Thank you. Mount Faber Safra Running Club.