My first Standard Chartered Half Marathon, 21.1km

The day is finally here!  Last year i have signed up for the Standard Chartered Half Marathon, and had been diligently training for it.  In fact, the training was on target as I was running comfortably 13km in mid August.  However, I had an unexpected injury in early Sep, and the Yellow Ribbon Run was the last run that I did in 2009.  I had for no reason pulled a tendon at my right arch, only then I realised that I had high arch.  It was so painful that it hurts when I walked.  Since then, I had become friends with the Sports Dr in Changi Hospital (Read- Regular visit)

I signed up this year run, hoping that I could recover on time.  Training had not been good.  I felt the pain at the arch when i ran past 7km.  My monthly visit to the sports Dr and physio were not too helpful.  A typical Dr visit would be:

Dr:  "How's your leg?"

Me:  "Still painful"

Dr:  "Hmm..One important thing is to rest....!"  Come, take off your shoe and let me see your leg..Hmm ok, you would need to rest, plenty of rest...

Me:  But i have registered to run...

Dr:  Better to rest...............

Oh well, I just did all the stretch that I could, and hope to push beyond 7km.  The maximum during training was about 12km, and it was in Novemeber.  So the idea of running 21km on 5 Dec left me cold.  I have even devised a plan that I would hide in Universal Studio, and wait for the park to open should the pain act up again.  Universal Studio happened to be aroudn the 7km marker.  Nonethless, I thought I would give it a shot, and see how far my leg could bring me.  Of course, I prayed, that there would be no pain at the arch.

On the morning of race, I woke up at 0400Hr to get ready for the bus pickup at 0500Hr (I need about 10 minutes walking time).  I forced myself with 2 slices of wholemeal bread with peanut butter, 2 hardboiled eggs and a coffee.  I brought a banana to eat on the bus.

There were shuttle bus services provided by the organiser, at $8 per ride.  Not too bad a deal compared to taking taxi.  I reached Vivo City at 0535Hr, and made my way to the start point, looking for toilets.  There were a row of 10 mobile toilets, but there was also a very very long queue, at least 50 people!  Thank God that the queue moved rather quickly. 

Michelle, who was late, decided to skip the toilet and went straight to the start point.  The flag off was at 0630, and at the sound of the buzzer, 15,000 people started the race.  It took me quite a while to cross the start point after the buzzer went off.  We started with a slow jog, and Michelle was anxiously looking for toilets.

It was cooling but quite difficult to run as it was so crowded, and the last thing you wanted to see was a stampede.  We reached the 2km mark at 16mins, much slower than my usual time.  Nonetheless, I just hope to maintain pace and hope to pick up at the later stage of the race.

Mich & I splitted at the 3km mark because she wanted to go to the washroom, and she told me to go ahead and she would catch up later.  I went ahead as I thought it was too early to stop.

We ran round Sentosa beach, and the highlight was to run into Universal Studio Singapore.  (USS).  We ran into Never Never Land, and I was so delighted to see Pussy Cat.  I wanted to take photo with Pussy Cat, but there was a long queue!!  Seems like everyone was as excited as me!  Salute the staff of RWS for being such a good supporter.

Cool guy from Madagascar!!!!! I stopped to take its photo and hesistated a while if i should queue up for photo because the queue was not as long, there were about 6 people.  In my hesistation, i heard my name ..I thought it was Michelle, but it was Bernie.  Feeling a bit embarassed that I was fooling around with the characters than running, i decided to move on.

Running out of USS was tough, as it was through the underground carpark.  It was stuffy, and when I was finally near the end of the carpark, you could feel the air.  Now I have finally know what it meant to see light at the end of tunnel.  Not only I saw light, I felt the light too.

7km:  This was the start of the pain.  I could feel the old pain creeping up at the arch area, on top of that, I felt it at the calves too.  I prayed fervously, pls stop the pain Lord.  I saw soem first aid guys giving out muscle rub, so i quickly got some to ease the pain. 

12km:  This was the toughest of the entire race.  I grabbed my gel near the 10km mark, and slowly jog.  When i reached the AYE, i was greeted by a slope!  I simply had to drag myself up the slow.  I told myself not to stop, but it did not help when you were in pain, and hungry!   I looked around me, people were walking, and when I looked up, I saw a big billboard of McDonald advertisement, of its Fillet O Fish meal!  Urghhhhhhhh.  I could see the faces of the drivers who were stucked in a jam because 2 of the lanes were closed.  Their faces seem to say "These are the idiots that caused the jam!"

I walked, jogged, stretched, jogged, walked...finally struggled through...I started running again at the 14 km mark.  Somewhere near East Coast, a guy overtook me, and guessed what, he was Aw.  We chatted a while, complaining about the weather.  It was really hot...I lost him after a while as it was really difficult to run, some people were walking, some were strolling, only a few were running.  And to run fast, you need to overtake them smartly so as not to bump into them.  I had no more energy to do that, so i just followed behind to jog. 

17km:  I saw the water again.  I grabbed water and decided that this would be my last stop.  Only 4km to go, not that difficult.  When i reached the Flyer, i saw the sign that I was 2km away from the finishing line.  I looked at my watch, 2hrs 45 mins..i have missed my 2h30mins target, no where close, not even 2hr45mins.  So i told myself that I have to do it below 3hrs.

I mustered the remaining energy left in every part of my body, some to fight the pain at the arch, and now, more at the calves, who seems to be putting up a fight. 

When i was near the padang, I saw the banner to split the runners, and I saw the big FINISH within 100m.  This was the longest 100m in my life.  I crossed the line just barely below 3hrs, but according to my watch, it was 2h56mins, so i figured that it should be the chip time, since i have started the watched only after i crossed the line.

My mind went blank after crossing the line..I have done it! 

Was I happy?  Somewhat

I was happy to complete, but not happy with the time.  It was not even close to my normal run.  On my normal day, I could finish 10km in 70 mins or slow day, 1H20mins.  If I would to maintain the slow pace of 1hr20mins, i could have finish the half marathon in 2H45mins.  Having said that, I was happy that the arch pain only kicked in at the 12km mark, and I have managed to push through.  On hindsight, I had no idea how i coped with 9km with pain.

My medal for the pain.

My next target will be the Adidas Sundown, I will challenge 21km again! 

Lastly and most importantly, Thank God for the good weather and seeing me through.

That's all for now, I had a painful arch and sore calves to nurse.  I wonder how much time I would need to recover