(At the Finishing Line Beside Padang with my poly classmate)YES !! Finally I completed my 1st Marathon of my life. Today was another great experience for me since this is my 1st time running a full 42km Marathon race.
This year, it is estimated that there are about over 21,000 runners from all the categories.
This morning, I woke up as early as 3.15am and was preparing my way to broad on the bus at 4.30am to the race venue at Esplanade. Unfortunately I did not have a good rest the night before due to some unforeseen incident and also cannot get to sleep.
The flag off for the 42km Marathon race started as early as 6am and the atmosphere at the starting point was great. We started running off from the Esplanade Bridge and towards Marina South. Running along Marina South, I noticed that the sky started to turn dark and there were also some lightning appearing on the sky. My first thought was worrying that if it really started to rain heavily, the race might be cancelled and the registration fee would be wasted. Luckily as the race progressed, the sky was clearer and there was no sign of rain.
The funny thing I saw when running along Marina South was that there were 3 weird person. The 1st one was a guy running but was wearing a female's bra over his shirt and the 2nd one was another guy, but he was holding a bouquet while he was running. Maybe he wanted to propose to a girl after the race. ha. The last one was an auntie running the full 42km also. Dont play play. Even auntie wants to run Marathon. hehe.
After running past Marina South, I by-passed the starting point again and proceed towards East Coast Park, where this is the toughest and longest route of the race. After slow running past the 22km mark along East Coast Park, my knees and ankles started to ache and I was forced to slow down, do some leg stretching and started to walk instead of running. Luckily along the route at the East Coast Park, I met 1 of my poly classmates, Kelvin Teo whom also join his 1st marathon this year. We encouraged each other along the way and were chatting so that we can temporarily forget about the aching and stress.
After that, for the rest of the 20km or so, we have to walk all the way instead of jogging, since our legs really cannot take it anymore. We have to stop almost at every water points to hydrate ourselves and to do some stretching before continuing on. Along the route, there were also cheer groups who had helped to cheer us, to carry on with the race and not give up. Then at the 40km mark, under the Benjamin Shear Bridge, I was surprised to saw 1 of my NTU schoolmates whom was helping out as volunteer at the water point. I waved to her and continue with my race.
Following that, after walking past the 41km mark, I started to jog bit by bit, struggling along the way towards the finishing point. Finally, after passing the 42km mark, there was still a short 195m distance to go before crossing the finishing line. At this last stretch, I started to speed up a bit and running a bit faster as I could and when I crossed the finish line at The Padang, I was feeling extremely happy as I had finally completed the 42.195km (to be exact) after a long distance of struggling and endurance with a timing of 5 hours 37 min 4 sec (quite a slow timing, but still okay since it is my 1st time). Ü
However after the finishing point, I was too tired to walk around and I rested on the grass patch with my poly classmate. But after a while, I was not able to take it, and have to vomit out the mineral water and 100 plus drink that I had drunk along the run. Think I drunk too much water and 100 plus along the last 20km and having the same taste of drink all the time, but it is quite unavoidable since I have to hydrate myself along the last 20km since it was quite hot when the hot sun was out.
After the race, I boarded the MRT home, but I was sleeping all the way in the train till my home, as I was really too sleepy and tired.
Yah. I forget to mention that I really admired those female runners who has the courage, determination and strength to take on the 42km Marathon challenge, and some of them even continue on slow jogging when the male runners, including me, have to walk during the last 20km. 佩服 佩服。
But definitely, it was really a great day for me, as I had received my finisher's medal and T-shirt. I was still thinking whether I would participate in next year's Marathon since I know it is not an easy task finishing the race. But I still hope I will have the courage, determination and strength to take part in the Marathon again next year. I would like to give it a try again.
Lastly, while I was typing this blog, my body was still aching and I think I need at least 2 days to fully recovered. haha. Ü
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