Singapore Marathon 2006

My second marathon was completed at around noon of 3rd December 2006, almost 6hours after we started.

We ran so long, my safety pins turned rusty.

But once again we finished it together.

Despite last year's experience, preparation for this year's event was far from ideal. The furthest distance I ran before that was only 13km. Exams, the perennial cow, got in the way I would say, plus a period of lay off due to the niggling groin strain that brought back unkind memories 12 months and 42km ago.

But nothing's gonna stop us from finishing of course.

The night before, I surprisingly got held up at Alex's surprise birthday celebrations at loof. Nice place by the way. Didn't even bother to bath when I got home and slept straightaway for barely 2 hours to wake up at around 4am.

Was supposed to catch the 4.30am bus. Kinda late. So before the marathon even started, I ran all the way from home to Hougang stadium. By the time I sat down in the bus, my legs had gone stiff. Not the smartest thing to do afterall.

Minutes before the race started, I realised I was still holding on to my damn house keys. In a fit of inspiration and bravery, I left the keys on a 2m high ledge right outside Esplanade and hoped for the best.

We set a target speed of 8km/hr and stuck to it surprisingly well for the first 3 hours, till we hit East Coast Park, where it went upslope from then on. When we finally exit from ECP with more than 8km to go, Zijing could barely walk while i nearly got consumed by cramps. From then on, our run/walk routine turned to a walkathon of agony.

We spotted Toh Kit Mien, the baffling puzzle of last year's. Then we identified another girl displaying similar walking phenomenal, whom I labelled Kit-2.

Then it dawned upon us that despite it being a marathon, the truth for majority of the runners is such that, the key to finishing with a good timing is not how fast you can run but rather,
(1) how long you can avoid muscular atrophy - pains and strains and cramps
(2) how fast you can walk

The importance of brisk walking cannot be under-estimated. It shall be part of our training regime for next year's marathon. Sissy butts-wriggling-legs-crossing-hips-twisting, here we come.

A lot of people took part this year, more than I would like. Instead of the marathon being the ultimate race for hard-core runners, more and more people are taking it as a fashion statement, albeit a tedious one where success is not guaranteed. A line should be drawn somewhere, in my opinion.

In any case, the finishing line is sweet and all pain were briefly dismissed for that last 0.195km.

After that however, fulfillment got churned into disappointment. The finisher's tee and medal looked no different from last year's, clearly a lack of effort on adidas and the organizer's part. We didn't get our ordered sizes, and later, the tops went out of stock altogether. An ugly blemish to what would have been a successful event otherwise.

Finally, something else that frequently gets on my nerves.. For all the bimbos and dimwits out there, when someone says he's running the marathon, please stop asking how far he's running, or which marathon he's taking part in, if held in Singapore.

If it's not 42km it's not a marathon, and there is but one, by Standard Chartered, for Singapore.

afterwords:
oh, and i retrieved my keys successfuly from the ledge at the end.

We had brunch at the HK cafe (cha chan ting) outside of Marina Square and it suck horribly.

Next year will be faster.