I began to prepare this Sundown marathon since defeated at last SCMS , I was eager to break sub4 which I longed for, an I made a 23 week plan trying to secure it. I trained hard by completing ~1100km run without injury, peaking in 82.5km per week. I broke my half marathon (1:53) and 30km (2:49) PB in the training, ready to run a 5:40/km pace. I carefully tapered and just a week before the race...
Just before every thing was done, my 2-year-old daughter got a high fever, I took her to A&E and finally accompanied her in-hospitalization, because my wife needed to take care of another infant girl. One week absent to running was good for legs but I had bad sleep, ended up with flu. Thanks heaven my worry to my daughter soon gone, we got discharged and the doctor denied previous diagnose of pneumonia. We got back home but to my surprise my little daughter got flu too! The little thing coughed so badly and we had never got the experience of handling a 3 months infant's flu. We separated two girls and fed them medicines everyday, hoping they getting away from the torture of sickness. Just when I think I should withdraw from the race, my little daughter surprisingly stopped coughing and smile came back to her face. I decide to go to the race despite my flu, it can wait, nor the race.
I enrolled Sundown marathon because: 1, the venue is near my home; 2, It is a night race, no exposure to the sun heat; 3, flat course. These made the idea race for me to break 4 hours. I ignored the criticizing of bad organization and transportation last year, think they should listen to the public feedback. I never thought it would happen 2nd times. The race is at 10pm. I set off before 8pm and caught up a shuttle bus at Expo 8:50pm. It was thought to arrive the venue by 9:35pm, according to the handbook. It is a play-safe way to use organizer's transportation and I had good experience in AHM and SCMS. I did not notice the fare was only $1 and it turned out to be de-privileged in the end. When it drove to 2nd fire station of Changi Coast Road, just 6km to the starting line, it stopped. The congestion moved very slowly and some of the runner began to get off the bus, walking and jogging to catch up the flag off in ~40min. I didn't think it necessary and want save energy for the real race. But to my shock, I finally watched the leading group running by our bus lively. The whole passengers in the bus became audience rather than participant! The nightmare came true, 2nd year consecutively. I understood it was partial road closure and only 2 lanes upstream traffic was allowed. But I can't believe my eye that the cab in the lane beside moved faster than us. It was clear that $1 not sufficient to reserve the fast lane for this shuttle bus. I had planned to follow 4:00 pacer, only to see them off in the bus. When I reach the starting line, it ha already been 10:40+. The transportation could wait, I could not wait to start...
I'v never late for a race. I knew I would rely on no pacer and run alone this time. My confident of breaking 4:00 sank. I pushed through the slow runners, try to avoid zig-zag routes to save energy. The route was narrow and queue was long. It was until 30km hadn't I been blocked by slow runners. I'v tried to keep the 5:40 pace and well maintained after 31.5km check point. One mistake I'v made was that I drink too much because of the heat. I always felt thirsty and stopped by every water point to drink. After 28km mark I'v felt so full and stomach ache. But I just could not stop drinking. I tried to hold back Vomiting, but when I reached 34km mark I could hardly breathe. I had never anticipate this scenario and at same time My left calf cramped! The only thing I could do is to stop and walk. The last 1/4 journey became jog-walk-jog intervals on Changi Coast Road, just like the bus I took 3hours before. I never encounter calf cramp this season. Maybe I should beware of calcium intake next time. Too hot weather and too much sweat to drain my calcium. Another thing I need to learn is planning the fluid intake during the race. Trying to take as less as possible to avoid stomach overloading.
I took 4:27:33 to finish the race, standing at the mid-way between my target and my last marathon. The bad thing is, I am 30min away to my target; the good thing is, I have improved my marathon score by 30min (my last score is 4:57:38).
Took a look at the race. The course is flat and the distance is accurate (my Garmin clocked 42.26km). The milestones are well placed, and the wafter station are well arranged (matched with that described in the handbook). The volunteers are nice and even one boy at the 31.5km check point hi-5 to every runner passing by. I think most runners would thank this boy because we were about to exhausted at the moment. We all need the encouragement b beside water. And I also like to thank the volunteer to hand out the medals & Tees, girls at the baggage deposit, as they said "good work and well done" to the finishers. People were stretching, showering, watching EUFA championship broadcast, taking photos...The atmosphere was great. I felt relieved. The score is not important. The important thing is experienced another kind of pain and walked through it. This the meaning of marathon. We are normal people other than speed racers. We run marathon to realize how much pain are out there and how could we walk through when it comes. Pleasure is never a marathoner's goal. I began to think about the meaning of the marathon when I met Plastick after 10km milestone. He is one of my running friend knew from the SRrunners forum. He used to run as fast as me but I knew he lacked training this season. I though he should give up the race and only found him running barefoot in the parade. I knew he just trained barefoot running fore half a year. I could not believe he could finish but he did, complete the race only 40 min slower than his peak marathon score (shod). I knew the pain of unshod after 30km is double or triple than shod people. Nobody knew how he suffered and overcame. He just walked through the pain and grown up from the pain. He got the essence of the run.
Should it be a bad organized race or not? I don't care. At least everybody devote them in, the runners, volunteers, organizers. Kudos!
Should I come next year? It just depend on my race calendar.
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