Sundown Marathon 2012

There were two first’s in this race. Firstly, it was my first night marathon. Secondly, never before it rained during my official race. And since it was a night marathon I was expecting an easy finish now that I am better trained than my first marathon. But it turned out to be tougher than what I anticipated.

I had finished a half marathon less than a month ago and did couple of 20’s after that, which gave me pretty good confidence. I tried to increase the distance to 30’s but it was difficult because of the absence of good hydration. Nevertheless I expected half marathon to be a reasonable gauge for my full marathon. When I trained for my first full marathon the maximum I did was around 25 KM. So 21 should be good enough I thought. It proved OK physically but mentally was very tough to say the least.

I clocked 10k in 58 min. 20k in 1 hour 59 minutes. It seemed like a breeze. At 23 mark though I was not physically tired, mentally it proved challenging to run at that time. My mind was in the dormant mode ready to enter sleep mode as soon as possible. With much difficulty I pushed myself till 27^th KM mark when it started pouring not drizzling or raining. In Singapore it is unspoken norm not to walk in the open spaces when it rains. So following the norm I took shelter under a roof. To my surprise everyone seemed unperturbed by the rain. I then continued and as the wet drops splashed my face the endorphins suddenly multiplied out of nowhere. But the rain soaked my shoes so much that it became difficult to lift my leg. Gingerly I continued running, avoiding the puddles. At the 33^rd Km my right calf muscle gave up as usual and my mileage further dropped. I wanted to beat my previous best of 4 hour 48 min. But things went from bad to worse and in the end I just kissed the 5hour mark.

Marathon is like a 5 set Tennis match and 10 or half marathon, a 3 setter. You might do well till 21K but beyond that is the real test. If you can overcome the 21 to 35 mark then the marathon is a breeze. Probably my last marathon in Singapore. But one day I would finish the marathon under 4.5 hour mark if not 4 hour.