Sweat and blood marathon

The Singapore marathon 2007 featured 12,000 full marathoner. The total participation is 40,000 strong. I anticipated that the race venue is gonna be packed and so left my house at about 4.10am. When I reached the Raffles City Car Park, there are about slightly less than 400 lots remaining. Not too bad.Reached the start point at around 5.15am... The atmosphere was electrifying... I quickly slotted myself at the back of Pen 4 (for sub 5hr finishers). Race started at about 5.30am sharp... The crowd started to slowly inch forward... Once I past the official start-point I started my jog...

Over the course of the next 21km, I had no trouble as my pace was comfortable. I only had to make one stop into the bushes mid-way to answer to nature's call. At the 25km, I can feel a little chafing in the nipples and soreness in the legs. Whilst these are tolerable, I decided to slow down. At the 26km, saw the power gel station and promptly asked for a tangerine flavoured gel. At 30km, started feeling a little pain in my left knee (may have twisted or sprained something) so I commence the jog walk strategy.

At 38km, stopped jogging completely and was walking for long stretches. Think I hit the wall!! After the 41km mark and with about 700m to go, I summoned all my energy to start jogging again. The pace was slow but at least it was better than walking. Crossed the finished line with a gun-time of 5 hour 08 mins :( (chiptime of 5 hour 06 mins).

I had wanted to do below 5 hours but I guess the last 6km killed my hopes...Overall it was an enjoyable run. No cramps as I kept myself well hydrated. Just lots of sweat and blood from the chaffed nipples (see below)...

(above: SGrunners group photo)