Breakfast.
At the hotel lobby.
This is my 5th full marathon for the year. It’s also my 2nd of 3 consecutive full marathons each separated by 2 weeks apart. I am wondering how my body will cope with it.
I came to Phuket with no particular timing to achieve in mind. I just want to follow the “flow”, something I learnt in Hong Kong in February. I had heard about how the course is like: undulating with lots of slopes. The weather can be a little mean too. I will just let my body guide itself along the way.
Over at the start line, I saw many others who were there at the pasta party the night before. I visited their mobile toilets and I noticed it was real clean, unlike some other races which I had been to. The sky was still pitch dark now. As the time approached 0500 Hr, we moved closer and closer to the start line. We turned around and wished good luck to the people around us. At 0500 Hr, the air horn sounded off. Off we go.
The route brought us to the town area around the hotel. Before coming to Phuket, I was told it would be very dark as there were minimal street lights. I found the lighting to be acceptable. Well, maybe not as bright as Singapore streets at night, but we could still see our surroundings and the ground in front of us. The morning air was fresh. The streets were silent as we ran past, with little traffic and some locals who were preparing to open their shops. There were traffic police around directing us. When you said good morning to them, they would reply you back with a big warm smile.
I never bothered to keep up to any pace. Rather, I let my body choose the pace it wants. We left the town area and came to the open field area and rubber plantations. The road began to go up and down. By 0600 Hr, the sun had lit up the edge of the sky to a golden yellow hue. Pace was still alright. Acceleration was all carried out naturally by my body itself. No pressure. I made it a point to slow down when going up slopes.
Along the way, race support was good. Splendid! There were large cubes of ice inside every cup of water at every water station. Considering the amount of logistics involved to make this happen, this is no easy task. After drinking the water, I liked to take a cube of ice in each hand and rub the ice over my hands, neck and face. It was shiok. I also noticed there were buses stationed at some water stations. On board the buses were toilets. Instead of those cubicles which we normally see, now we really have mobile toilets.
Around 18km, we reached the town at Sa Khu. The U – turn point, also the halfway mark is coming soon. At one stretch, we were running alongside the shore. Although the shore was around 100 – 200m on our right, we could clearly hear the waves hitting onto the shoreline. Imagine how strong the waves were.
My running pace was still good right now. The weather was getting hotter and hotter by the moment. The running pack had been stretched long and thin by now. As I ran on, I overtook many runners who were already walking. Did they go off too fast at the start? Or they were not used to the hilly conditions? I guessed the hot weather did play a part in wearing the runners down. From the 30km mark, I could feel the effects of the hot weather. It was hot and humid. Reaching every water station was like seeing an oasis in the desert. My pace was dropping lower and lower.
We were not running inside the vegetation now but on the open field. It was a nice scenery which we could never see back home. Green farms cover the land until the horizon. There were herds of cows feeding on the grasses. It was really beautiful. This was a really different running route compared to other concrete jungle marathons which I had been to.
The heat proved too much for me. At the 37km mark, I decided to switch to walking. Coming to a water station, I saw the big pail which they used to contain the cold sponges. There were not more sponges inside. I just splashed the water onto my face with my hands. Later, we would learn that the humidity today was 100%. The temperature was around 32 degrees C. The high humidity made it feel like it was 40 degrees C. This was the hottest race ever since it was started in 2006.
When I reached the 38km mark, I began running again. I could do it. I would not be defeated by the hot weather. Slowly, concentrating on bringing one foot to the front at a time, I made my way forward. We reached the town outside the hotel area again. This time, the town had woken up. People were looking at us as we ran past. Runners overtook me. I overtook runners. Through keep on talking to myself, I reached the hotel area. But it was not the finish line area. There were several hotels built around the lagoon. I was at the other end and still need to make my way around the hotels to the finish line.
After what seems like forever, we reached the finish line area. Now, there were more runners around us. The 21km’ers, 10km’ers and 5km’ers. I dug into my body for whatever that is left of me and dashed through the finish line. I had done it.
19km: 02:06:01
29km: 03:07:11
Gun Time: 04:43:47
Net Time: 04:43:03
Overall Placing: 159 / 396
Category Placing (M30-39): 43 / 89
With Fumi, a Japanese now working in India, who completed her maiden marathon in 4.43!
Le Giang.
Going to Patong Beach.
Sunset at Patong Beach.
The operator was kind enough to let me ride on it for a photo. I like the name: Wave Runner.
Waiting to board the plane back to Singapore.
I like this race for its
1) Running route. It brings us back closer to nature. Away from the well developed cities and high rise buildings.
2) Race support. It was fabulous.
3) Organisation. Logistics, coordination was good.
4) Challenging route. Hills. Hot weather. Enough said.
This year's Laguna Phuket International Marathon was the 5th. It started in 2006 and was meant to bring tourists back to the area after it was struck by the tsunami in 2005. I would recommend others to take part in this race. I will definitely come back in the future.
Till then, lets look forward to KL 2 weeks later.
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