Singapore Conquered!

Finally, after a short 4 months training, I was able to finish my first marathon with an official time of 5:45.01 (my Garmin clocked in at 5:36).  Now I know how it feels and it’s great to follow lots of tips (especially from BR) which I experienced personally before and after the race. Initially my goal time was 5:30 (that was what I submitted) as I know the training would be short, I just tell friends that I’ll try my best to cross the line before 6hours.  But deep in my mind, doing 5:oo or lower would be a big bonus for me but since I’m not breaking any PR here, I just ran my pace and made sure that I finish the race with aplomb. Here’s some snippets on my run:

Woke up at 3:00 am and ate 1 Granola bar, 1 Powerbar chocolate, 1 boiled egg and 1 banana which I brought from Manila on Friday. At 5:00 am, me and R started our trek to the starting line eventually linking up with hundreds of runners walking to the starting line. 

While at the pen, I was actually savoring the excitement in the air and thinking hard if  I’m doing the right thing but when the DJ said that finishing the race is not the “Miracle” but the Miracle is actually why we started the race at all.

I got my inspiration from this and suddenly we were off, at Km 11-12, I stopped at the heating station and smothered my legs with Mentholatum as I was already feeling the heat.  At the turn-around, I finally saw Bards and Monica (my officemate) as we were closely bunched together.  When I tried stetching somewhere at Km 22-23, I suddenly felt cramps behind my right leg which made me pray aloud as I was only halfway so I started to walk and try to feel the leg.  Fortunately, the walk-run sequence neutralized the cramps and I was back in the race.

At Km 30-31, I started my mantra by repeating ” I did not go to Singapore to quit” since I was already feeling the heat and my feet was actually the one bothering me.  I stopped and tightened the shoelaces and this worked since It somewhat lessened the pain .

The last 2 kms gave me an added boost just thinking of finishing the race and suddenly after turning right at Andrews St, I can see the signs like last 150 meters, then 75 then the finish line itself where I belted out the loudest shout of joy and victory.  While getting the medal and shirt, I really felt a lot of things going on inside me, I felt dizzy and want to throw up, then my legs were buckling as I exited the pen, where the wife gave me a big kiss!  I went to the massage area where I had my 10 mins massage as I felt I couldn’t walk anymore, I tried telling R that we just take a cab going back to the hotel and just order lunch for me, but my sis-in-law told me the roads are still closed so, I have to use the wife as my crutch going to the hotel but not before taking our lunch first at Raffles Place . After that hearty lunch,  I immediately took a shower and guess what, I went out of the room (and the bed) the following day already as I just concentrated on rehydrating myself, and my muscles were really sore at this point, but the thought of actually finishing the race was so overwhelming that I managed to sleep for short periods only. 

Oh well, it’s back to work for me but I will always treasure the feeling of finishing my very first marathon!

Sleepless in Singapore

With Mesh and Bards at the expo, two of my fave runners

At the entrance to the race packet collection

Arrived here yesterday noontime and after having lunch with the wife and Sis-in-law with her 1 month old baby who is based here, we headed to the Singapore Expo to claim my race packet.  The system was very orderly as there were separate chutes for the different distances and got mine in a breeze, then went straight to the expo where I was able to buy (all on sale ) Powerbars, Adidas running shorts, and a race number belt (Nathan).

Was able to meet Bards and Mesh window shopping and after some photo ops, went on our separate ways.  I also spotted Coach Rio and Doray, my officemate Monica who’s also doing the 42 as well as the guys from Sta.Lucia (Engr as I call him).

Had my carbo loading last night at Suntec, where I ordered Steak and Salmon with eat all you can pasta grabe!( the place is called Sizzlers)  My brod in law treated us as he just had his birthday last Dec. 2 that’s why ang sarap ng kain ko kasi libre ha ha!

To all Singapore Runners, good luck to all of us!