Joined Sundown marathon 2 years ago, it's my second time to join this 42.195km run. As my body is not good for heat insulation, my only target is just break my last record for the same race here. Nevertheless, it should be a good chance of endurance training.
Running with friends is a big motivation, especially for a hotdog marathon. Fortunately this time Siulek's got some Hong Kong running friends to run the marathon with me.
Mable, Siulek, Melissa and Sundae are all made in HK!
It's so lucky that there was a shower in the daytime; therefore, it seems a bit cooler than usual. About one hour to go, we were all still in a relax mode. Haha~!
We were allowed to enter the starting zone at about half an hour before the race. The whole race area become of high security and restricted area, probably because of the Boston marathon boom incident. Therefore, it's a bit difficult for us to get to the front of the startline. But that's not a big problem for me. According to my past expereince, I should start with a bit slower pacing in order to get adapted to the hot and humid weather.
At 11:30 p.m. Singapore time, the race began. Jun and me started a bit faster due to the race high. However, it's still good to get away from the crowds and we successfully got into the comparatively front group of participants.
Although it was lately at night, it was so exciting to run with thousands of runners and made me sleepless.
My friend Melissa is an experienced runner who usually appeared on the stage. She kept a good pace in front of us. Soon Jun tried to catch up with Melissa and leave me behind. I felt a bit not smooth in my breathing so I chose to keep my own pace. It was not a big deal as I was not in a hurry. My mission was just to keep my pace every km which was not hard to reach. Melissa and Jun were still within my vision after 15km. Then I felt that I had a bit more energy after taking the power gel, therefore, I tried to accelerate and get closer to Melissa.
After 20km, I felt my run was getting smooth. Hence I speeded up a bit and over took Melissa.
Without
any ambition, I only focus onto my running
form and breathing. Soon I found my steps were lighter and lighter. I
was running in the park, just like the usual training at nights. Moreover, it
seems a bit cooler under the trees with the seashore breeze!
At around 30km, I found Chuen, another Hong Kong
male runner from my running club was around 50m ahead of me. To keep myself alert,
I set him as my new target on the way and tried to catch up with him. When I
was in parallel with him, he noted and intended to escape from me. On the
contrary, my focus was not a male runner, therefore, I just kept my own pace to
run at his back.
Later, a female Singaporean lady passed over me
with an accelerated speed. As she is a potential competitor, I started to
follow her. Immediately I got into my real marathon competition pace bit my
bit. 7km to go, Chuen started to run with us as well. The lady got out of my sight
at around 40km, so I just followed Chuen to strike for my best for the last
2km. We transcended many runners, some of them were jogging while the others
were walking. It’s seems that they cramped or burst because of the hot weather.
Last 1km, I could see the Singapore Flyer bighting
over the sky and my heart was to run as fast as I can. Finally, I crossed the
finishing line with 23 minutes faster than my past record and my mission was
completed. I could really "show my true colours", which is the slogan of Sundown marathon 2013. Yeah~!
This is a brillant training run for me and this gave me confidence for some tougher trainings in the coming days. It's time for a good sleep now!
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