Never in my life had I ever thought that I would complete a Half Marathon. I remember a few years back when a colleague was talking about his experiences for Half and Full marathon, I was so impressed.
Who would have thought that I would have completed a Half marathon? hahaha.
Prior to the race, I was extremely nervous as I did not really train for this HM (half marathon), plus I had walked for a whole 2 days in Singapore prior to the race. Imagine that sore feet plus over eating (cant help it, too much good hawker food in Singapore)
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| Sibeh nervous face! |
You really have to plan properly on how to get to the race location. I have slight idea on how to get there. Taxi! However, I did not know that there were rehearsal for Singapore's national day going on too. So the taxi route did not go down too well as there were many roads that were blocked! After some discussions with the taxi uncle, he dropped me off at Bugis MRT, which was the most direct and fastest route to the race location (Promenade MRT). Ok lah, so I have been warned about the traffic. LOL! Just din expect it to be that jammed ma. Luckily I went early with plenty of time to spare.
Meet up with Norah, Ben, Ronald, Mei Mei and Hui at the venue. I will be running solo for this HM as the rest are all running Full Marathon! (Salute and congrats to them for completing their FM)
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| Feeling bored while waiting for the flag off |
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| My first overseas marathon |
My personal experience about the marathon?
Well, the first 5km was hard for me as always. I remember running towards the highway and it was such a STEEP highway, urgh, it was hard and even though I had told myself over and over not to walk unless necessary, I literally walked up that MOUNTAIN! I dun wanna over strain myself and later my left butt cheek hurts, then I really have to walk the rest of the way...haha!
I was hungry when the race was starting and the delay in flag off din help. (I ate my dinner at 6pm) I guess that there are lots of MSG in my dinner so I ended up being thirsty during my 1st 5km. In the end, I asked the ladies at the water station to hand over the whole bottle of the water (luckily it was only half full) hahaha.....
At the 10km mark, they gave us BANANA!!!! waaaaa.....just in time coz I was hungry like shit! I slowed to a walk and enjoyed my banana, talk about a burst of energy. I also saw a lot of people going to the portable potty. Proud to saw, I did not visit the potty at all till I got back to the apartment. Tahan le? hahaha. Feeling energized by the banana, I tell myself, its not that far now. I have completed half and what is another 11km more.
From the 10km to 17km, I did well. Followed random people as my pacer. Couldn't resist taking some photos as the view was breath taking (and well I was getting tired also...lol) All the following scenic photos were taken by my Note 4. Not bad at all!
I think at this point, I was at the 18km mark. I thought to myself, well that aint so bad. 3km more to go. Hooooo boy, was I ever so wrong. The worst is still ahead! From the 18km to the 19km, it was so bad. Leg was hurting, breaths were harder to take, heart beating faster. I keep thinking dammit, did they measure the distance wrongly, why does it take so long to reach 19km?
OK fine, I reach 19km mark. just 2km more to go. How bad can that be? In addition, at this point, there were not much scenic view for distraction! Arghhhh.....to be honest, the last 2km is HELL! This is where I think 'What have I gotten myself into?' 'Why did I join in the first place?' 'I could be sleeping at this time!' All these negative thoughts came running through my head. Then out of nowhere, there were people cheering for us on the sidewalks. That cheered my up considerably. Positive mindset, positive mindset!!!!!! Ok, not far anymore!
When we were near the finishing line, there were again people cheering us on. Thank you! You all really helped to motivate me. I remember someone telling me ' Start strong, stay strong and most importantly Finish strong!' I ran the last KM even though my body thinks I cannot run anymore. Mind over body!
I am happy to say that I finished strong. I ran the all the way to the finishing line. When I watched the video of me reaching the finishing line, I felt so proud! The feeling you get when you crossed the finished line feeeeelllllllssssss soooooooo good! Its addictive!
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| Messy look when I finish my HM! |
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| My hard earned medal and another banana! |
Okie, my timing is not so good. 3 hours 15 mins ++ but then again since I did not properly train for this HM, my goal is to enjoy the run and complete the HM with the given cut off time of 3 hours and 30 mins! Not too shabby!
And that is my first overseas marathon and also my first HM. I have another 2 overseas marathon coming up. Wish me luck!
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