the day before the race i had lots of oily food. so stupid of me to have an unhealthy diet the day b4 the race. after that couldn’t sleep well… ended up sleep for 4 hrs. probably due to the pre race excietment. yea true enuff, it was my first time taking a half marathon competition. felt a little heathy b4 sleep, too much unhealthy stuff in my body. morning had a big breakfast, i know my body can take a large amt of food 2 hrs b4 a race. forgot to do my drop bombs in my toilet at home. wore my newest shoe, Asics Speedstar. much lighter than my old NB766. haven’t even ran in it once… hope nth will happen to my leg.
going to the start line was kind of weird. i thought the road was already filled with participants, no they were non-competitive participants. ok then move ahead… saw those time markers… aiyah just squeeze in as front as possible since i know alot of ppl (especially slow ones) will try to be kiasu and be at the front. ok before the race starts, the weather seemed pretty nice (quite different from what the weather forecast had predicted). ok i had this funny urgency to pee again…
its flag off time, 0545am, stat to run… i knew it, alot of slow kiasu runners in front of me… keep on banging onto them. at the 2nd km, there’s plenty of bushes… saw quite a number of guys pee there, i joined in to relieve myself, oh mythos came in while i’m about to leave. contined to run for awhile n i got stitch… ouch… forced to stretch my torso by facing upwards while running. i looked so weird but at least i still can run. the distance markers at the bridge seems kinda short. i was like er… so fast past 5km arh? by then my stitch has disappeared but my stomach feels heavy… slowly it ached into a stomachache… and it happened that the bomb is ready at my butt. dammit it was quite painful to hold it and i slowed down considerabely much. more like into a jogging pace… argh… my target is ruined… kept this slow pace until i reach the U turn point. before the U turn point i saw the 1st runner past by the other side of the road already… impressive speed. everybody was clapping for him. and also i saw a musical samba band playing, the star wars guys, last but not least TLR… haha cool. and i finally drank my 1st water point at the U turn… theres drinks at the commandos area at the 3-4km but i skipped all the way…
after the U turn i got even slower as the pain gets worse… oh shit man… its really a pain in the ass… so slow that i’m slower than the slowest runner there. mythos took over me there. i was wondering whether i could even make it for the 2hr timing or not. went to all the drinks station n drink all the cold water to ease my inner body. lucky at the end of ECP, my ache seemed to reduced alot, i started to regain my pace… then after marina ctr, i got even faster than my race pace… by the time i nealy reach indoor stadium, i overtook mythos… hmmm amazingly i dun feel any latic acid on my legs. so i continued to mantain this pace… (my new “race” pace) all the way, overtook countless of ppl, mostly those i lost out to when i got my stomachache earlier on.
i just simpily continued at the same pace but walk at water points to get plain cold water to relieve my inner body. not bad, after the last water point, just before esplanade, i increase my cadence, using my new stride length. i start to feel some latic on my legs but yea, its my last km y not use my remaining energy to push to the end? the sun has just peeked thru the buildings… and i can feel its getting warmer. my breathing suddenly increased to 1 breath per stride instead of a norm of 1 per 2-3 strides. i can feel this oxygen debt is coming. and it stucked me a little too early… i slowled down a little at 300m to end, but i pushed myself again at the 200m to end pt. the feeling was so great when i still the clock was still tickling at under 2hrs… touched the line at 01:57:45. a sense of accomplishment has gushed throughout myself.
immediately after the run i staggered towards the toilet… queue again… lucky this time is much faster. bombed the bowl… felt great and light again… went to queue up and collect my bag n my goodie bag. nice finisher medal man… now i feel so refreshed cuz of the main problem has gone. then finding my friend is a big problem… they all left already… argh 8am had just past… couldn’t ran another 12km… i wished i could if i had bombed at home or in the toilet b4 the race so there won’t be a bad stomachache during the run.
