Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 Race Expo 8th Anniversary Special Date: 28th - 28th Nov 2009 Venue: Marina floating platform
There was a lot of hype created before the event. The organisers were making it look like as if the 8000 people selected to collect their race packs at the platform were really privileged. However, the mood at the place was dull. No booths from sponsors. Only pure race bag collection. It means if we want to buy any stuffs from the sponsors, we would still need to go down to Expo during the race expo next week.
Morning view from the balcony. Could see QueensBay Mall in the background on the left.
Today is the last day of the trip. Its sightseeing and makan day!
Negotiating with the staff at the hotel door on hiring a transport for the rest of the day. We decided to hire a van to bring us around.
In front of the hotel lobby.
Inside the van. The driver was a friendly guy and was trying to introduce Penang to us.
On our way to Kek Lok Si.
At Kek Lok Si. The beggars can "kiao kah" while begging.
Micheal's favourite stretching posture. And I heard they purposely take their time to take this photo. Kau ..
Went to this place called 新天地, New World Park for lunch. Everybody was looking to digging into the local delights. Especially Penang laksa! However, the laksa stall was not ready when we arrived. The staff were still preparing the food. Sigh .. Anyway, still managed to try their horfun and char kuay tiao. Also tried their chee cheong fun and yam cake. Yum Yum!
After lunch was followed by a tour ride along Georgetown.
The driver fetched us to location to eat Penang laksa. It was a coffeeshop like places. However, the laska stall was not open. Hai .. just our luck.
At the airport.
AirAsia AK5806
AirAsia AK5806
This marks the end of the Penang trip. My first overseas full marathon. It was fun. A good experience.
Got this band from Beach Road to attach the timing chip to my leg. So there is no need to tie it to my shoe laces.
Took a cab down to the starting line at QueensBay Mall.
Elite runners.
At the starting line.
Only a total of 850 participants taking part in the FM. Not really a large number.
This PBIM was officially my 2nd FM. The first was at SDM in May this year where I ran until almost overexerted myself. Was feeling so weak and dying after the run. So I do have my reservations on how to run the PBIM. Even when my friends told me that since I had completed 50km at TNF therefore a 42km would not pose a problem to me, I am still a little worried. Was aiming at sub 5. If I am not able to achieve it, then too bad. Did not give pressure on myself at all.
Decided to adopt the 14:1 run walk I used at TNF. "Go slow," I told myself. I let my friends go ahead first after the start of the run. The weather was cooling. The temptation to go faster was there but I managed to overcome it. Past the roundabout and turned left into the expressway. Other runners keep on overtaking me but I still stick to the slow pace. Did not feel any pressure on the running speed during this part of the run at all. Finally reached the U turn at Seagate. It was during this U turn that I realised I was way back behind all the runners. There were only a few handful of people behind me. Ok, seems I AM really slow. So slowly I picked up my pace. Slowly.
Steadily, I approached the bridge. The bridge that this run took the name from. 13km in length. Will be running to the opposite end and back. After conquering the bridge, more than half the FM will be over. I tried to take a photo of the bridge but the shutter speed indicated a value of 0.2s. It was too long for a handheld shot so I have to forgo it. The 10km mark was some where past the start of the bridge. A check on my watch showed 1:06. Not bad. It was windy on the bridge.
One of my friends had warned me before. The road surface on the bridge was banked. So running on it would easily hurt the knees. I had noticed the banked road surface. Was just hoping everything would be fine.
It was starting to get windy on the expressway. I purposely ran close behind some of the runners, making them take on the head wind for me. This method is something I learnt from reading the book at the airport. It is called drafting. Hahaha ..
At the center of the bridge was a water point. It was at this point that something happened which I will vividly remember. Everything happened quite fast. I was trying to take some water for myself when I heard one of the volunteers holding out cups of water and shouting out "water!" At this moment, I heard footsteps from behind me. Just at the moment I turned my head to the side to see what was it, a group of runners speed past me. They were running so fast I could only manage to catch a glimpse of their back view. I am not even sure if they managed to catch hold of the water when they passed the volunteer.
They were from the HM'ers. They had started 1hr after us. They were the Kenyans and some other elite runners. I had seen those Kenyans run before during SCSM. However, I had never experienced having them speed past myself. The speed at which they were running. And the close proximity they are in with each other. If the front person were to fall accidentally, those at the back will surely not be able to avoid collapsing onto him.
Makes me wonder if I were to be able to run like them, how much time and effort I need to put in. It was an eye opener looking at how the elites run during races.
Back on the run. There were sponges available at the water stations. However, I did not know it was soaked with ice cold water. I took one from the volunteers and put it on my head and squeeze out the water.
“Wah lau eh!”
Damn cold. Grrrrrr .. :s
The view was the same on the bridge. There was nothing else but lamp posts and lamp posts and lamp posts. Different people have different way of running when faced with such situations. Some people look at the ground as looking ahead would make them feel demoralised. I am used to looking far ahead. Look far, aim far.
I was expecting the roundabout at the mainland to be a big round but it was not. Very soon I was back on the bridge again. Near the mainland side, a smell of gas lingered in the air. I was thinking it was due to some factories near there. The problem was I need to take in deep breathes during running. The smell was terrible. Breathing in was a problem. Not breathing in was also a problem. How I wished I could quickly run through away from the area.
Saw the 20km distance marker. The time was 2:09. Ok, seems my pace was getting a bit faster.
Somewhere past the 20km mark, I suddenly saw a huge mass of people in front. It was the point where the HM’ers did their U turn on the bridge. Suddenly the bridge became so crowded. There was a water point further down. I was yearning for some 100+. However, I only managed to see 100+ cups littered all over the ground. The volunteers told us they had ran out of 100+. It seems like the HM’ers finished all the 100+. Hai .. :s
I could slowly start to feel something strange on my right knee. I remembered what my friend told me about the banked road surface. I just hoped that it would be temporarily and my knee would turn back to normal after exiting the bridge.
The rest of the journey down the bridge was the same. There were people at the side trying to stretch their leg muscles. There were people who were simply just walking their way.
Finally, we reached the land. We were running on the expressway again. I was on a lookout for the 30km distance marker but I did not seem to see it. I need to check my progress with it as I did not have a foot pod with me. With my timings at the 10km and 20km, I was expecting to hit the 30km mark at around 3:15. I was wondering if I had slowed down so much due to the tiredness. I am virtually “lost” now.
We came to the point where the HM’ers did their U turn and head back to QueensBay Mall while the FM’ers went straight on. Suddenly the road became deserted. This was when the miserable part of the route began. The next runner was either way in front or way behind. Street lamps along some parts of the road were not even lit so it could get quite dark. So we were like running alone in the dark.
At this time, my right knee started to develop a pain. It did not go off after coming out from the bridge. I was doing self talk to myself to encourage myself to run and to make the pain go away. All the while I was still looking out for the 30km mark but I still could not see it. I had gone through the running map and knew there was going to be a U turn in front at the toll center for us. However, it was like taking forever to reach there.
I was getting tired. Some runners had already overtaken me. All I could do was to try to maintain the pace. There were already runners passing us heading back to QueensBay Mall. Where is the U turn?!!
At 3:30, I finally made it to the U turn at toll gate.
“What’s the distance here?” I asked. “35km,” replied one of the volunteers, “7km more to go! Steady! Steady!” “Steady!” I was looking out for the 30km mark and yet now I had already ran 35km. There was this sudden bout of energy running in me now. Only 7km more to go! Yes!
Looking at the watch, I was way ahead of a sub 5 timing. I might even be on time for a 4.30 finish.
On the way back, more runners were coming up. Some were already walking. Think this stretch of the route really pulled down a lot of us.
I kept on running and running. I was able to see the bridge again. All along the pain in the right knee was still with me. It just would not go away. At around 4:15, which I guessed was around 38km or 39km, it became unbearable. No more self talking could make it go away or seem less painful. I could not seem to run anymore. I switched to walking instead. There would be a Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2weeks later and I will be going for FM again. I did not wish to injure myself now and make myself unable to run SCSM. One thing I had learnt during running was to listen to the body. There are times to go. There are times to let go.
There were lots of runners around me now. Some of them were doing the FM, the others doing HM, 10km and the fun run. I tried to maintain a brisk walking pace back towards QueensBay Mall. Once I reached the roundabout, I managed to pick up to a slow running speed. There was still a sense of pain in the knee but I did not wish to walk pass the finish line. After some teeth grinding and lips biting, I finally crossed the finish line.
Seagate: 00:26:50 Bridge Ctr: 01:59:13 Toll Gate: No Timing E-Gate: 04:05:25 Gun Time: 04:44:29 Net Time: 04:43:46
When I crossed the finish line, I could clearly see the official photographer. He was looking around on the ground and doing everything else, except taking photographs. Hai .. there goes my finishing photo. Luckily, one of my friends who completed the HM was nearby to help us take photos.
Just crossed the finishing line. Not bad right. We can clearly see the finish line and the gun time. Hahaha .. :)
In our finisher tees with our medals.
All of us with our medals.
Playing a fool with the signboards.
They have buffet specially for FM finishers. There was a spread of pasta and bread. All carbo rich stuff.
As we were leaving, there were still runners coming in. Think they were in the Fun Run category.
We had lunch at a coffee shop just next to QueensBay Mall. Was feeling so hungry. I was already limping now.
After finishing our lunch, we walked back to the hotel. We even headed the wrong way initially and walked a longer distance. Nobody recognised the way back. Oh yah .. I limped back. Hahaha .. :)
When we reached the hotel, it was already around 1200Hr. We decided to rest until 1630Hr before going out for makan and walking around.
Back in the hotel room, had a cold bath to cool down my muscles. Felt so shiok! Raised up my legs when I was sleeping. The moment I lay down on the bed I almost fell asleep immediately. The bed felt so comfortable. :p
A few hours later when it was time to wake up, initially I could not move my legs at all. It was all cramped up. Need to slowly shift them around to get the blood flowing. The feeling was terrible.
This restaurant was just behind our hotel.
The environment was not bad. :)
Made short work of the food. Was feeling so hungry.
After the food session, we took a cab down to QueensBay Mall again.
The guys used the voucher to get themselves a pair of Prepair Crocs.
When we got back to the hotel, a few of us went to soak our legs in the cold water of the swimming pool. Hahaha .. shiok ah .. !! ..
Would wear the 2XU to sleep tonight to aid in recovery.
Hahaha .. yesh .. I have to take this photo. Hahaha .. :)
