update stats of the run:
- chip time - 1 hr 26 mins 1 sec
- average speed - 8 mins 36 secs/km or around 7km/hr
- 3950th place with 819 finishers behind. About 83% of finishers ahead.
That is the provisional time for my maiden attempt at running the Singapore Marathon! No, not the 42km, nor the 21km, but the more achievable 10km run. After almost 4 runs, the girlfriend finally persuaded me to join her in running the 10km run.
To prepare for this, we planned to have some weekly runs just to get ready. But for one reason or another, we managed to complete a single run at the East Coast for around 40mins while I had another two 40mins sessions on the treadmill. And add in a few body combat & pump class, was all the training I did. So the signs weren't that good.
Together with the PopArtGirl, we were all decked out with our iPods, wrist bands and one colourful towel, ready to pound the tarmac into surrender...just me doing the pounding.
The guys' 10km run were flagged off at 7am straight and only arriving just before 7, I was stuck far back behind the main crowd but in a way, it was good as I had plenty of room for me to run instead of having to zig and zag, though I think most of the ziggy-zaggings will be done by the faster runners round me.
Somehow, I think my iPod nano was just as nervous. It froze as I started the run. As for the owner, I had some butterflies in the tummy but thankfully, didn't have to suffer the same fate as Skunk last year. But once I crossed the Esplanade Bridge, with Paul van Dyk thumbing thru my ear buds, I started to get into rhythm that lasted me for the first 3km.
Managed to hit Marina South before dropping into a brisk walk. The blister on the left foot from soccer yesterday grew with each step I took and it was a bother. Thankfully the weather was cool and not too humid, making the run much more enjoyable than I thought.
Half way through, I got bored with the music and swapped to the BBC's Fighting Talk to have some light-hearted distraction from the throbbing pain on both feet. Though the Women's 10km run flagged off 30 mins later, I caught sight of PopArtGirl after I made the u-turn. Prior to the race, I reminded them not to tease if they overtake me. But once I returned to the Shenton area, caught a second wind and somehow willed the tiring legs to move alil faster for the last 3km.
The knowledge that just after Fullerton is the end-point was the spark that I needed to push for the final stretch especially knowing that I might just squeeze it within 1hr 30mins.
It was pretty exhilarating to be running alongside the Padang with hundreds of spectators cheering on, though the main reason for the increased cheering was that the winner of the Women's Full Marathon - Salina Kosgei from Kenya was just steps behind me, but I take what I can. Just hope that there were photographers who remember to snap me when I cross the line.
So after 1hr 26 mins and 7 secs, I crossed the line, completing my first official 10km marathon. The high of completing the marathon made me contemplate running in the next Singapore Marathon, even before I started doing the warm-downs. At the end of it, together with the number tag, the finishing medal, a rather big blister on my left foot and a slightly wonky iPod nano, it had been a great morning run for me.
So when's the next marathon?
