5am - after a semi-rested night, I woke up and started to prepare myself. It was dark and I wondered how the husband was doing. His race was slated to start at 5. I had a light breakfast - some nutritionist told me to eat 2 slices of bread, only one could be nutella, the other preferably something else. So I had peanut butter. And I know I'm to keep hydrated, and coffee is diuretic, but I was so sleepy I needed a boost so I had some diluted 3-in-1. I changed into my gear, tidied up my hair, and put tape around my toes. I'd never tried it before but I heard advice that it's good to prevent blisters and because I have pretty troublesome feet, I decided there was no harm doing it.
6am - my ride wasn't ready so I made my way to it. The brother and father were nearly ready and it was about 6.15am when we were on our way. We arrived at our start-point just before flag-off, and witnessed the first wave of runners going off. I needed a pee stop, then the brother and I made our way to the start-point. We made it in time for the last wave.
It was quite surprising to me, but there were so many people who were having fun. And by that, I mean that they were strolling along, taking selfies (individual and group ones), one guy was eating his breakfast... and it actually felt festive than competitive. I don't know why, but I somehow imagined that a half-marathon would warrant more, well, serious runners? Haha guess not!? But it was amusing and I remember giggling at the sight - the start line was like a papparazzi zone, truly!
Armed with my newly-purchased 2XU visor (I'm mindful about the sun on my face), a borrowed watch from the brother, a borrowed shuffle from the sister, newly purchased Nike socks (I figured it would be a worthy investment), my amazing $2 earphones (Daiso!), my Saucony runners, off we went!
The first 3-4km were pretty manageable. It was crowded so it wasn't easy for us to go any faster anyway. I did try, especially when it was downhill. I think there were 3 uphill moments.
The brother and I kept pace together for the first 8km, then we lost each other and only met again at the end, at the designated meeting area. The run within Sentosa was not too bad, we encountered some hills, and the run within USS was pretty fun. There were mascots and pretty sights that made running pretty entertaining.
From reading the map (pre-run), I already knew that the challenging part of the run would be the 10-19km mark as it was a long, straight road from Vivo City all the way to the Marina area. On the day though, I remember feeling not as awful as I imagined it to be. It was the start of the West Coast Highway, and I think it was the cool weather, but I didn't feel too bad at all. I remember taking a deep breath then telling myself "Go" - and off I went. I walked a couple of times, but each time I did I saw many people overtaking me and I felt motivated to run again. I didn't like the thought of falling behind at all. It was sooo much effort to run and overtake people, but sooo easy for others to overtake you too! It was really a mental game.
Through the whole run, I did every single water stop and this was the first run where I actually consumed H20 (most runs seemed to run out)! It was delicious. The 14-17km were the most challenging - I remember thinking that I'd never run this far before, and I did feel tired yet in my mind I wanted to keep going (well, not that I could go anywhere else anyway) but thank goodness my glorious feet knew what to do and they kept going! At the 17km mark, they changed the signboards; instead of marking 12km/15km, they changed it to a countdown ala "Last 4km". It was so helpful! My math is infamously bad and it got kinda awkward for me to count the number of km left so I'm glad they did that. It also marked the point where the runners from the full-marathon merged routes with ours.
The last 3km was a very familiar stretch of road I'd taken before in previous runs; from Singapore Flyer to the Padang. There was a water stop there which I intentionally did not stop for, and I recall looking at my time and wanting to do better and I did want to run faster - but I could not! I just couldn't seem to move any quicker, and I give full credit to my legs for not giving up on me, and they just kept going.
I was really very happy when I crossed the finish line! And I did a put-your-arms-in-the-air jig!
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| See? I really did! Haha. Sorry to scare you with my bad picture but this is real. |
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| My brother, who did not train for the event, yet breezed through his half-marathon |
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| So proud of my husband who completed his second full marathon |
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| Elation at completing my first half-marathon *pumps fist |
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| My medal, one of the proudest ever; my bib and my feet. Thank you, feet! |
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| My personal score card: 2.23! And I'm ranked the top 300 among the female runners! Woot woot! |
Honestly, I'm pretty happy with my performance. I was slightly disappointed initially because I'd wanted to try to hit 2.15 (cos the husband says he thinks I can!) but like I said, my body just didn't seem to wanna co-operate. My legs felt like lead; but that doesn't mean that I didn't do well. I think that for my first attempt, my training was awesome and my results were pretty commendable. So really, 2.23 baby!
And because I don't want to forget some nuggets from the day, here's sharing them with you:
- Most amusing moment - the number of people taking selfies and pictures at the start-line!
- Most entertaining moments - the mascots in USS! We saw Betty Boop, Marilyn Monroe, Oscar the Grouch at Sesame Street, egyptians, Pinocchio, the lion and hippo from Madagascar...
- Most unbelievable moment - to see people queue up to take pictures with the mascots
- Creepiest moment - spotting a Cosplay female character - who was actually a male in drag
- Most random moment - on three occasions, I did a jellyfish dance and jumped around. Because I could, and there was space to. And I just felt like it *giggle
- Most fun moment - when I spotted the Avengers! They were a group of 3-4 people dressed in character and they looked pretty good! My personal favourite was the Ironman though. I caught him at the finish line and he was hamming it up for the crowd doing his thang and it was fun to watch.
- Most sporting moment - it was at the 3rd water point and I had a cup of water in my hand, only to have it knocked out of my hand the next split second by a girl next to me. We looked at each other with wide eyes, and she was such a sweetheart - she very quickly handed her cup of water to me. I was impressed and thankful at her behaviour. I wish I stopped to have that drink with her. Thank you, girl!
- Most heroic sight witnessed - I saw some medics jump over the safety barricades to get to someone who needed help
- Most humbling moment - seeing a man in wheelchair giving it all he had in the race.
- Proudest moment - catching the husband at the finish line. I knew he wan't having a ball of a time, but I felt so proud that he finished the race. And that I managed to see him cross it. The timing was perfect and I pushed (firmly, but politely) past those hogging the frontline and waved my complimentary Tiger Balm towel in the air and yelled, "BABY! BABY YOU DID IT BABY! WOOOOOOT!!!!" I think I should probably ask the husband what his label to this same moment is - hah!
It's been a great journey and I'm really amazed at how the body works. Those moments when I was in a zone, my legs just kept going. They knew what to do. The months and months of running I've been doing has paid off. And as I share my experience of my first marathon, it's one of happiness and pride and this, I think is what made my 2013 a great year. My fit year!
