Some time in mid 2006, a good friend - M - asked me to join him for the half marathon at the annual Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon. It was getting boring running 5k 5 times a week on the treadmill anyway. So I thought "why not?"
On hindsight, it was a reckless decision. At that time, my longest run was no more than 10k (only once, and had to take a nap that afternoon). Additionally, I hardly ventured outside of the gym and treadmill. As one of my colleagues so politely puts it, "All you have to do on the treadmill is to lift your legs!" The last time I participated in a race was almost 20 years ago, in a 10k run through Queenstown. All I thought then was that I needed to try something different as the body is conditioned to the 5k routine. [A related motivation was to lose more weight, a flawed notion as I soon discovered!]
Anyway, I started running longer distances, and outside of the gym. The term "Endurance Running" is not yet part of my vocabulary. My first run was at the east coast with my good friend M. It was a 9k run from car park B to the seafood center and back. It was an experience... feeling the sea breeze, watching the sun set, and needless to say, the eye candy and everything else ...
I followed a program that I found on the web... can't even remember what it was, but it was when I started to learn about tempo runs, long runs, speed drills, etc. To be honest, I had no inkling of pace and no idea of what I was trying to achieve, except to be able to run progressively longer distances. 21k was my target. All I did was to run as fast as I could (which isn't very fast). With the wisdom of hindsight, I was training at my 5k pace. But then, I had only one speed for all distances.
You can guess what happened next. Yes, a running injury.
A month before the event, another good friend, PK, challenged me to run the event within 2 hours. (I didn't know then, but do now, that PK used to race for his JC!) Silly me, without any idea of what that entailed, merely went out to try to achieve that timing one week before the race. Yes. That got me into my first (and hopefully only) injury ... a bad case of plantar facisitis (PF) on my right foot.
I limped through that week, and participating in the race was very much in doubt. My foot hurt when I put my weight on it. It hurt even when I slept. That's when I learned about tapering and self awareness. It taught me a painful lesson, and from that, my goal nowadays is to run injury free!
Miraculously, one day before the race, I was able to walk without too much pain. And I showed up at the Esplanade on the morning of Dec 3 with my bib duly pinned on my singlet.
The first thing that amazed me was the sheer number of people who showed up. I couldn't believe that there were so many people as crazy as I was. Lining up at the starting point with M was electrifying. What did I get myself into?
The horn went off, and the half marathon crowd started off, slowly at first, and when we passed the gentry, the beeping sounds as championship chips record their digital signals - beep, beep, beep - appeared to accelerate in tandem with my heartbeat. The race was on.
Amidst the bustle and jostling and pounding of feet, M and I got off to a good start. Or so we thought. About 1.5k down Shenton Way, I couldn't help but wonder why a number of runners had to peel off in search of toilets. Didn't they go to the john before the flag off?
A left into Marina South, and under the AYE-Sheares Bridge we went. M told me to go ahead, as he didn't train that well. So off I continued, at a pretty brisk pace. My foot was holding up and I was good. A good number of full marathon runners were still on the first 10k at that point, so were the fast 10k runners. (The flag off time was about 15 minutes apart.)
At first it was just the sound. The sound of tin cans rattling and cranking away. Soon enough, I discovered that the sound was from a lady runner pulling a car tyre with cans tied to it. I found out later that she finished the marathon (full 42k!) and more importantly, she did it to promote environmentalism.
The 10k turn off midway through Marina South. Lucky guys, I thought to myself. But the rest valiantly went on. At the turnaround, the usual beeping as we ran through the mat. What if my chip malfunction? Won't that be just awful?
On the return leg, I looked out for M, but there were just too many runners. Started to understand how different categories were differentiated. White for full, yellow for half, etc. Hey, I am running. I am racing. I am doing it!
That sense of elation carried me through (with some help from a powerbar gel) until we were past the Esplanade and into Marina Central/Suntec area. The second turn around was where the full marathoners bid farewell to us. They were off to the East Coast, and barely one third of the way through. How daunting, I thought to myself. Kenny was on that run, and I wished him well.
It was then that I realized that the group of runners I was pacing were not turning around. They were running the full marathon. No wonder they were going at a more comfortable pace. I had to pick up my pace. Unfortunately, by then, my engine was running on close to empty. This feeling was quite familiar by that point ... I felt that way on any run longer than 15k. I slowed but kept going.
Later on, I complained to M that the organizers did not post km markers on the last 5 k of the route. He assured me that the markers were there. I just didn't notice them. What I noticed was the back signs of a number of participants who passed me. There were many interesting back bibs.. but that will have to wait for some other time.
As we came back into the last stretch along the Padang, I managed to pick up the pace. Not for long, though. I felt sharp pains on my right thigh on the last 100m. Uh uh... not good. But my foot was still holding. A few more meters, and with one last beep as I crossed the ending line.
My polar watch told me that i completed in about 2:18. Terribly far off from the 2-hour goal I had. But I did it!
M sms me later to congratulate ourselves that we did it! And at our age, that was an accomplishment. Strangely enough, on my drive home, I felt a sense of dissatisfaction that many runners, as I found out subsequently, felt. I wasn't really happy with my timing. I slowed down toward the end. The weather was relatively cool as it was overcast throughout the 2 to 3 hours. Many commentators noted that the weather was "ideal" that day. I could have come in with a better time. I could have done better. I could have, I should have.
M emailed this:
"Well we did it.... and at our age and despite the fact that we were never school runners makes it even more satisfying..don't you think?"Two days later, after the initial weariness and aches subsided, I knew that I have to sign up for another half marathon.
Honor Roll: ASICS Kayano (retired after this race... wrong foot type)
