21.5km - round 3

This post will capture a lot of personal reflections as I talk through my own thoughts.

 

Some months back, the husband and I were toying with the idea of signing up for the marathon (when I refer to marathon, it is usually the full for him and half for me). When the opportunity came up, we did it. It seemed like fun then, and honestly, writing this post in retrospect after the husband and I emerged nearly unscathed after yesterday's run, I still think it was a good run. (The husband may beg to differ given the amount of pain he is in today....)

 

 

A friend sent this pic of the set-up and texted "all the best!"

 

Everyone has been really supportive of our decision to participate in the run. The husband had his running buddies (fellow marathoners) and as always, I tagged along and trailed behind (in both speed and distance). Truth is, though, I was wary of the run because I didn't feel as consistent in my training and kilometres clocked, which resulted in a lack of confidence. Throw in our horrible haze hazard that pretty much messed up our lives pretty much entirely (much less just our run training), let's just say it did not help the situation. I did try to do my part to train when I could, but compared to before, I was not as (a) well-prepared nor (b) enthusiastic.

 

However, it was still a terror thrill counting down to race day, and it finally rolled along. I tried to sleep early that night - as did the husband since his alarm was set to go off by 330am - but I was awakened at 3am when J whined for milk. I got up, made his milk and changed him out from his urine-fested pyjamas. I then was awakened by the husand's very-loud alarm, which I tried very hard to ignore (he was in the bathroom at that time weh weh). I was conscious of him coming in and out of the room to kiss us goodbye and I sneaked a look at my time before I tried very hard to stay asleep and it was 4.15am. I set my alarm at 5.15am and when it went off, I felt like half-death =_=

 

I rolled out of bed, mindful not to wake the kids who were in the same room. As my flag off was at 6.30am, I was conscious to eat the moment I woke up, to allow my stomach time to digest the food. So at 5.30am, I was eating in a half-awake manner.

Rolled oats with berries and banana, a cup of coffee
and many glasses of water.

 

The night before, I was deliberating if I would be adventurous enough to take the MRT to Harbourfront - but good sense prevailed and I would have called for a cab at 6am.. except that my beloved sweet Father volunteered to send me. I was so very grateful!

 

 

6am. I tagged my bib, and my worldly belongings consisted of a cap (newly
purchased necessity to shield the sun), my phone, the carrier with earphones,
plus $20 and a credit card tucked into the teeny pocket of my running tights.
 

There was smooth traffic on the expressways all the way to Telok Blangah and just around the corner from Vivocity, traffic was super heavy. The father made a great call to drop me off along the main road (of non moving traffic) - it was close enough for me to walk across (there were runners doing the same and we crossed about 2 roads) and the father could also easily make a left turn to get away from the jam. I trailed behind this couple who were also making their way to the run. It felt comforting to know that there were fellow runners even though I didn't know them. While I knew I was not alone as there were 11,999 other half-marathon runners (they said there were 12,000 half-marathon runners!), I still felt alone - does that make sense? Anyhow, rhere were also throngs of other runners by the time I neared the start point and I could feel the buzz of excitement in the air.

Walking past the mall, I headed in for a quick toilet break then proceeded to make my way to the start point. I had no idea of which wave I was in, but from my last experience, the brother taught me that there was no need to panic as long as we made it in before sunrise. And the truth is, I had expected to be in an earlier wave but turns out, I was in wave 3.

Sun almost rising at 630am

 

The only pic I sneaked of me

Standing in the crowd, I felt nervous. I also actually felt tired and because I was conserving battery of my phone, I only indulged to sneak the 2 pics above, as well as track the progress of the husband once. By this time, he had crossed the 10km mark. After standing around for (in my opinion) too long, it was finally my turn to cross the start line. The time was 6.50am.

I made the conscious decision to run without music for the first leg of the race. Why? Because at the start point, the music was booming and I did not want to waste my phone battery. Afterall, I needed it to last the whole race or I wouldn't be able to track my run through my Nike app. Plus, it was my sole source of being contacted - at least the husband knew he could call me if he needed to (he was totally uncontactable as he left his phone at home). Also, I knew that the run was going to get dreary along the expressway and that was when I'd need some company.

I started the run out pretty strong. I think that I did well, but because I had no earphones on, I did not really know my progress until the 8th km mark (when I plugged in). I concentrated on running and weaving through the crowds to my best capability and honestly, it was pretty tiring doing that. Throw in the hilly road conditions, oh boy! I noticed that this time round, though USS was open, I saw lesser mascots. I did notice the booming themed music blasting in each segment (though also because I was not plugged in). I honestly tried my best, but it felt like one of those days where I was dragging myself, I did not feel energised.

After coming out from USS, I decided that it was time to get ready to be plugged in, so I did just that - I literally plugged my earphones into my ears - with no music. I'm not sure why - I remember feeling like I could run with no music, but being plugged in meant that I could hear my Nike App "speak" to me. At that point, it was about the 7th or 8th km mark and I was running at a speed of average 6:03. I remember thinking, "Yeah! Doing well!"

At that point, I recall running through the carpark through RWS and I also remember vividly that it was at this slope going downwards that I did my 'jump' due to excessive exitement and energy! Not this time round though... I just kept running.

The weather this time round was sunny but not as cool as what I remember from SCMS2013. The bridge was also rather painful to run on because it was particularly narrow and it was difficult to make progress. By this point, I had stopped at every water stop and each time, I grabbed two cups of water to down.

Then, came the dreaded bit. At the water point before hitting the expressway, I downed the water then made my way up. I also turned on the music then. The run on the expressway was horrible. It started out awful, then became terrible, then unbelievably long (where is the damn U-turn?), then downright depressing... because I knew that however far I'd run to this end, I needed to go back! It was horrible! On the expressway, I also sought for heat rub and applied them on my calves, thighs on one occasion, then my shoulders and back on another. It burned. The cheerleaders that were bouncing around on shoulders did not help.

The traumatisingly long expressway run - that long line!

Honestly, I was not mentally strong to keep running. I kept going until the 13th-14th km mark, but it was really tough. I could not find energy nor will-power to keep running. My legs didn't hurt, they felt sore but I was ok. And I was also quite proud that I remembered to apply heat rub on my shoulders and back (my posture ain't that great). But the sun, it was such a pain. The saving grace in all of my worldly possessions was my cap! My last investment in the Under Armour visor had died (the elasticity wore out) so it was only 2 days before the run that I made a hasty purchase. I knew that I needed some shade on my face so truly, that really helped. A by-product, however, that developed during the run was that because I was running looking down to shield my face from as much sun as possible, I unwittingly developed a sore neck from looking down. By the mark of us exiting the expressway, I was so grumpy! I had walked 1/4 of the way, my neck was sore from looking down and I had little motivation to run. Boo.

I know that I did not enjoy the run at night time (when the lighting is poor), but truly, the sunny sun was also one kind of *&%^!(

The good news, however, is that by this time, we had already hit the 17km mark. The painful peak of the run was indeed the most awful, and truly felt like a million years. I did not enjoy it. There was a water point but I chose to miss it. I am not sure, but though I was told to hydrate, I felt as if I was feeling sluggish and bloated and a teeny tiny bit naseous. I wonder if I had perhaps drunk too much?

The last 4km was hard. While I knew in my head that it was nearly at the 21km mark. I could not feel happy. I truly lacked the zest to run and though I slow jogged a bit, I did not feel too enthusiastic. Even when I made the bend and could see the bridge and I knew that the finish line was literally around the corner, then did I pick up my walk to a slow jog. I was low on energy and motivation.

I ended the run at the 2:40 time (on the clock) and I knew I clocked a 2:20 in my run (deducting my gun time). Not too shabby, but I was not pumped up for joy! That, however, did not stop me from doing my #mandatoryjumpshot

I did it!

 

After the run (& my jump shot), I made my way to find a toilet. I needed to just refresh myself (slightly - there's only that much you can do in a makeshit portable toilet) then I made my way to the Waterboat House. We had a corporate booking of the space and it was so, so nice to be able to be there to enjoy the post-run goodies.

 

I did not eat or drink much though, I spent my first half hour+ there standing by the side of the road and watching out for the husband. I was worried/concerned/excited for him! And I'm glad to say that my efforts paid off. After standing there for I-don't-know-how-long, I did manage to spot him with my own eyes! I squealed with delight and happiness to see him and to know that he was well. Hooray!

 

I raced to run alongside him for a bit before meeting him at the finish point. We hung around the field for a bit,then we made our way to our comfortable holding area.

 

Our lovely view

 

Only after the husband arrive, am I able to enter the joint to settle down comfortably. We had some bites and drinks and I felt so very pampered. It was such a nice area to unwind after a long run and truly felt so, so spoilt! It felt so good to have the husband with me too. We spent the next few hours hanging comfortably, waiting for his friends to accomplish their first marathon. It was painful but the boys made it.

Our only picture "together"

Our results

Overall, I think we both felt quite good with our run. While I felt bummed out that I could not better my time, I'm glad to know that I still fared a bit better than my first run (which translates into not my worst time this year!). Also, while I did not train as well for this run, the years of running I have been doing has done good for my body. Yes, I was aching and yes, overnight the pains crept in, but hey. It was still all pretty manageable and could have been worse.

 

As for the husband, he paced himself very well (experience counts!) and he was very happy to have kept running until the 36km mark. He also seemed to be in a good place post-run and I was so very proud of him.

 

Note: today he is in pain but that's a different story

 

So this wraps up our run experience for 2015. Not my personal best, but after stewing over it for a day, I've decided that it's still a good time considering and I should not beat myself over it. Afterall, if I had made the decision that "I could not do it" then chose to walk, I cannot expect to do better, really. It defies basic logic.

 

All in all, a good job well done, nonetheless. What a run, yet another experience.

 

#SCMS2015