*loud drum roll*
adidas Sundown Marathon 2010 has arrived! Last year's Sundown was my first full marathon. So rightfully, this year's race will be my full marathon first year anniversary. Hahaha .. :)
The route for the full marathon.
The location of the race site was changed this year. We would start at Changi Exhibition Center, make our way to Fort Road through ECP and back to the Exhibition Center. The whole route is generally flat and straight, especially along the coastal road.
I suppose the most challenging portion of the route would be along the coastal road. It a never ending straight road lined with countless lamp posts. I had did 4 weekends of midnight run at ECP and coastal road in preparation for the race. So I understand the agony of running along that stretch of mundane and straight 5 - 6km of road. The worst is we have to go through it twice. The second time would be the most trying for most of the participants I believe, including me as I would find out later.
Since the previous weekend, I have starting to get pre race jitters. Its the kind of feeling you get when you are about to embark on your first marathon. Its strange that I still experience such feelings now. Also, I have been hyping up myself for the race. Not in the physical sense but the mental part. I need to think and feel positive about myself and the race. Its like what they say about blocking out the negative. Having only positive thinking in your mind. Its not easy. However, at this point in time, all we can do is to believe in ourselves and the trainings we had.
I had an early night yesterday. Slept at 2330Hr. Yes, its considered early in terms of my own standard. Woke up at around 0830Hr and went down for breakfast. Trying not to do much for the day. Lunch was a little heavier. Bak Kut Teh with 2 bowls of rice. Logged onto the net after lunch. The community was flooded with well wishes from fellow runners. Everybody is excited about this race. It could be understood as SDM is 1 of the only 2 full marathons in the local running calendar. I remembered the slots for the full marathon were snapped up within a month after registration opened last December.
Now is time to pack my stuff. Took out all my essential race stuff and laid them out. Checked through them time and time again to ensure I did not miss out anything.
The gear for tonight.
Attempted to take an afternoon nap at around 1500 Hr but I could not fall asleep. I was tossing around but I keep thinking about the race. I remembered looking at the clock and it was showing 1600Hr. I tried to calm myself down by taking in long and controlled breaths. It helped a little. However, it was still a while more before I really fell asleep.
By 1730Hr, I was up. The sky seemed to be covered with dark clouds. "Please! Dont rain!", I silently hoped. In 30 mins time, the 84km ultramarathon would start. I could imagine the excitement going on at the race site now. Jacqueline was the only person I know who would take on the UM. Its her second time some more. Brave girl. There are actually others who were running as much times as her, if not more. Jeanette Wang would be running it for the third time. Nope, they are not crazy. Its just plain passion for the things that you liked. Doing the things you liked. I believed only if you were "inside the loop" would you be able to understand.
People had asked when is it my turn to run 84km. I replied them I am not ready. Not ready to take on the months of preparation. It takes tonnes of effort and time. 1 day .. 1 day I would take it on. Notice I did not say when. :p
Dinner was fried rice followed by a cup of ice mocha at Starbucks. Need some caffeine to last through the night. At around 1900 Hrs, I logged onto facebook. There were already updates from my friends at Pasir Ris MRT. It seems there was some problems with the shuttle bus service. My friend's FB status said that the queue was so long until it snaked around White Sand. That's real long! At this time, it would be the people taking part in the 10km and 21km categories trying to get to the race site.
His friend was replying him and the 2 of them were responding to each other quite fast. So their conversation became sort of some live situational updates. His friend said she had arrived at the MRT and 1800Hr but the time was now 1945Hr and yet she was still not on the bus. I am guessing there might be some traffic jam at the race site as there were road closures and the road was also only a 2 lane in each direction. My friend advised me it better to come to the MRT now as the shuttle bus queue was very long and it was not moving at all. I SMSed the rest to meet earlier at 2130Hr at the MRT. Hope the situation would turn better later.
My friend signed up for the 21km and its supposed to start at 2100Hr. He only managed to reach the race site and start the race 2200Hr.
I took a cab down and reached Pasir RIS MRT at 2130Hr. The rest had already arrived and started queuing.
Waiting for the shuttle bus at the start of the queue.
They were just a few person behind us.
We waited almost 1 hr for the shuttle to arrive. Everybody was eager to board the bus and get down to race site ASAP. I met Benjamin, Dawn and Emily on the bus. Dawn and I were from the same dragon boat team last time. I had stopped rowing to concentrate on running. I understand from her that a lot of the team members I knew had stopped going down for training. It seems all of us had moved on to pursue some other interests in our lives. I am glad she was still enjoying rowing now.
Along the way in, we saw participants walking out towards Changi Village. Maybe they had waited in vain for the shuttle bus to turn up. We arrived at Changi Exhibition Center at 2300Hr.
On site, the race mood was floating in the atmosphere! There were runners who had returned from their 10km and 21km races. There were runners like us who were waiting for the 42km to start.
We quickly got ready our running stuff and geared up.
Eager to go!
With Sandy.
As we were depositing our bags at the bag disposal tent, I started to feel a slight feeling of nervousness mixed with sleepiness. I dont know how to accurately describe it.
We made out way into the starting pen. At around 20 mins to midnight, I took a packet of gel. The MC was trying to raise everybody's mood for the run.
All ready.
We heard an announcement that the leader for the 84km was about 20 mins back to finish line. That's so fast! Given that its a night race which makes it more difficult, he's incredible! He would be on his way to beat the race record.
The clock ticked by bringing us closer and closer to midnight.
10 ..
9 ..
8 ..
7 ..
6 ..
5 ..
4 ..
3 ..
2 ..
1 ..
*airhorn!*
The race has began!
No comments:
Post a Comment