3rd Marathon for me and my first sundown marathon. Signed up for this quite late. The organiser released limited slot for the full marathon and i signed up on the 1st of May. So i was not really prepared for this.
Luckily, did some 15+ km run early this year and 2 night run with the punggol runners during April which is to train for the 25km Passion Run held 1 week before sundown marathon.
Anyway, the full marathon start at 2359 hrs. I got myself prepare. Brought along 5 power gel and deep heat for the run. Printed out a 6 hrs 5 mins pace band which is my PB. If i can hit it, good for me, but as long as i can adhere to the motto "Beat the Sunrise", i will be happy.
Left home at around 2130 hrs. Reach the Changi Ferry Terminal at around 2200 hrs. Stop the car and park along the road to await the road re-opening. Saw lots of runners, i guess should be those people running 10km which start earlier. I think they lost patience to take the shuttle bus and decide to walk out from the Changi Exhibition Centre.
The road re-open at 2230 hrs and i drove in and park the car. After pasting all the handyplast on my chest area to prevent abrasion, i set off to the main area. Walk around and even went to the 84km ultra runner pitstop area.
Meet Stanley, Rama and Soo at the Meeting point B. 10 minutes before the start, the 3 of us gather at the start point which was already far from the start banner.
Race strategy is to walk 1 mins at every water point. Managed to do this for the first 12km. Stanley was running beside me for the first 10-12km. Once i reach the ECP, realise that some water point are quite far apart and not the stated 2km. As usual could not stick to the strategy. Took 3 hrs to reach the 21km mark and i knew that there will not be a PB for this marathon.
Walk a fair bit after 21km. Reach carpark F2 (28km, 4 hrs) and meet up some of the CBD runners who was manning a support station. Took a ribena "sng pao" and had 1 can of coke as there was no more 100+.
After 28km, i was literally walking the rest of the 14km. Ate the banana at the 30km mark and need to visit the toilet to take a dump. Stomach does not feel very well and so i use it as an excuse to walk the last 14km. I did not even dare to take the fifth power gel in case i need to take another dump.
The good thing this time is that i did not feel that my legs is very tight compare to the last 2 marathons. I was also able to do short jog and during the last km, i managed to jog a fair bit to the finish line, unlike the last time where i cannot even managed a jog.
In the end, cross the finish line at 6h:26m:43s (gun) / 6h:24m:2s (net) and managed to "beat the sunrise". Sub 6 will have to wait another day.
Met Kim Cheow (around 4:30) after collecting the finisher medal and t-shirt. Soo (4:53) has already went back. After a while Kim Cheow also left. I decide to wait for Stanley and queue up for the massage. Stanley appear while i was still in the queue. The massage was good compare to the last one, the last one just slap some cream and rub all over my legs. This felt like a real massage.
After massage, Stanley and me decide to call it a day and head home. Rama called to inform me that he DNF at the 36km mark due to serious abrasions and was waiting for medical help. Reach home at around 8+am. Bathe, eat breakfast and sleep till 4:30pm.
Results.
From the organiser.
Pictures from my n82.
Road closure.
Ultra marathon and 1/2 marathon is underway.
Ultramarathoners that have completed their first round.
On the way. Finishing stretch.
2.195km to go.
Time taken for 40km.
Finally, finished.
Day break.
Tons of rubbish left behind.
Timing system.
Finisher medal and T-shirt.
