Standard Chartered Marathon

Ok no prom picts because i am lazy. LAZY :D

Completed the standard chartered marathon last sunday with a timing of 5:55 thats 5 hours and 55 minutes. No point memtioning the seconds. Suffice to say it was one of the most mentally taxing and difficult things i have ever done. DId not train at all for it. Last time i ran was during the new balance real run. Maybe only the bike rally in june is tougher than this but in terms of a sheer mental test. This one wins hands down.

Ok firstly i seriously underestimated the ardousness of the whole thing. The 1st 20 km was smooth sailing enough. The next 10 also ok, could still run. Then when i hit the last 12 km. all of a sudden my legs start to cramp up. It was the final straw and boy oh boy i just HAD to slow down to a walk. Its agonizing really when you are walking and you can roughly see the outlines of suntec city in the distance ( the finishing line is somewhere slightly beyond that ) and then you slowly see the sights move past you. Its a real psychological challenge. You start to have thoughts of 'will i ever make it back to the finish line at this rate' and of alot of other weird stuff. Example, like how good will a cornetto taste now or what i want to eat for lunch. ( Yea they mostly revolve around food but well when you are running you do end up hungry. ) It was also painfully boring ( and painful ), so much so that i was actually yawning throughout the walking part. Your legs arent exactly hurting, just a feeling that they will cramp if pushed over the limit just abit and your soles feel as if it is slapping the concrete below you. The cushion on my adizero LTs are DEFINITELY not enough for a full marathon despite being great for 10 km sprints. Feet felt squishy after that.

Oh now since my legs arent paintful so what is the root of the pain you might ask. Well i dont know if its the distance or the energy gels i took but during the concluding 10 km of the race. My bladder just felt VERY VERY wrong. You got the urge to pee as if your bladder is bursting at the seams but when you go to the toilet. Only a feel drops of urine comes out ( I know i am grossing some of you out now but too bad its my blog :P ). Seriously its the worse feeling in the world. Imagine running your lets say 2.4 km with a full bladder and not being able to pee it out and multiply the distance by about 5 times.

Sprinted the last 1 km because, hmm its the last km and with all the spectators at the finish line cant bear to lose face by walking. Did i mention that towards the end as we were passing by the F1 pit building, ferrari was having some sort of an exhibition there, and there were like 50 ( estimate ) different models of ferrari for us to drool over. Amazing vehicles. Crossing the finish line was more of a relief than anything. You feel 'hey i actually did it, wow'. Its a sense of a justification of the belief in yourself. The finisher shirt is nice. Slightly different from last year ( and i dont mean the 2008 replacing the 2007 on the logo ), which is good because i feel that the shirt from the previous years are getting abit too common.

Thanks to gab, wh, wl, jc and gh for coming down to support. Very much appreciated. And also congrats to dong lin, kwek, chek keng, and chek keng's friend ( didnt catch his name ) for finishing this hell. Scrapping plans to do the 84 km sundown ultramarathon next year. My standard isnt there yet. Obviously i could complete it and walk the last 50 km but i would take like 24 hours? lol.

Be back next year. Target: under 5 hours

Looking forward to sundown marathon, please let there be a finisher shirt.

p.s. abit lazy to blog lately so.. erratic posting.