The Half Marathon
Hi Friends! I'm back! And yes, as I had promised... I will share about my experience running the half marathon.
Pre-Half Marathon
Arrived in Singapore on Friday, Dec 5 and went straight to take the race kit before checking into my hotel. Here's me posing at the entrance after collecting the race kit.
I actually had second thoughts about running the 21.2km! So I thought... hmmm... maybe I should just run the...
Here are some pictures of the map of the route... and I was pleasantly surprised that they actually serve FRUITS (specifically... bananas) in this race! Woohoo! And not to mention the plentiful drink stations along the way!
Here's the starting point (in front of Singapore's scenic Esplanade - shaped like two durians!) and finishing point (in front of Singapore City Hall):
And the halfway point at Mountbatten Road:
Here's another look at the race kit collection booths:
And yes, 50,000 runners this year, with 6,339 MEN (I just had to emphasise that) running the half marathon, from all over the world:
Half Marathon Day
My race starts at 6:30am, so I had to wake up at 4:30am, just to make sure all my body's systems "wakes up", and also to eat something and hydrate my body 2 hours before the race.
Here's a self-taken shot of myself, fully dressed in my running attire... ooppss... Take 1:
Take 2:
Take 3:
And you wouldn't BELIEVE what happened in the next few hours...
I reached the starting point at around 6:15. There were thousands of people already gathered in front of me. So I am somewhere at the back. Quite a handicap, considering that they rank you according to the time the gun goes off, not the electronic time when you pass the chip's sensor. By the way, just to help you understand a little bit better, every runner has to attach a small chip to the shoe, and the chip will register the time, both gun time and actual time.
I was really excited, because I had never seen so many people running in my life, and to make things more exciting, minutes before the race, they played really inspiring songs like "I Believe I Can Fly", "We Are The Champions", "We Will Rock You"... woohoo!
BANG! And we're OFF! I started really steadily, knowing that I had NEVER ran more than 10km before in my life, and I should start conservatively. After 3km, I felt like I had to PEE, so I wondered if there were any public washrooms I could rush into, and guess what, there were many people having the same "urge" like me! And before I know it, and before I could morally accept it, they went and pee at the bush by the roadside... NOW HOW ABOUT THAT? Peeing at the bush right beside the Singapore road! LOL.... Perhaps that's the only chance you could do that without being FINED, since Singapore is very well-known for all the FINES. By the way, nobody cared if the person on your right or left is looking at your weenie, because we've got a long way to go! Shoosh, and whoosh, back into the race! (Sorry no pictures to share here.)
I was doing pretty well, until the 12th km, my right knee problem showed up! Dang! Well, just for the interest of those who don't know, I do have a nagging knee problem. It's like when I exceeded a certain distance, it will start to hurt very badly, to the point I couldn't run. With more than 9km to go, I just couldn't walk only, could I? So I PRESSED ON, with that pain in my right knee. I was considerably slower.
Thank God for the Medical Team stationed at many points in the race, they provided the Mentholatum Deep Heating® Rub cream (Pain Relieving Analgesic), so I rubbed some on my right knee, and for the next 2km, I was ok. But shortly after that, the pain became unbearable, to the point I had to run very slowly, at jogging pace, almost walking pace. From then onwards, it was a drinking-station-to-the-next-drinking-station kind of thing. Run from a drinking station (every 1km or so) to the next, followed by walking from that drinking station to the next, and so forth.
And then, my problems did not end. Soon, both my calve muscles started to become crampy. You know the feeling? It's like if I run harder, it will turn into a cramp, but if I slowed down, it's on the verge. That kind of feeling. And yes, I keep applying the cream at every possible opportunity, wherever it is offered. It's now not just the right knee but the muscles too.
Things couldn't get worse when my quads + hamstrings + butt muscles started to say farewell too to me! Eventually, it got to the point that I couldn't run at all for a considerable distance. It's like I tried jogging reaaaaal slowly, but after 100m or so, I had to stop and walk.
The ultimatum was, walking became torturous as well! It was crazy! The feeling is like I had no ounce of energy to push anymore... every single ounce of energy expended, every single muscle refusing to work any longer. I tried, I pushed, I prayed to God for strength, I did everything I could, and finally, I saw the finishing point!!! And there were so many onlookers and supporters cheering and looking (obviously of course). So I had no choice but to summon whatever that is left in me to start running, trying very hard to ignore all that orchestra of pain down my body's bottom half.
And yes, I crossed the finishing point, with a time of 3 hours, 3 minutes and 13 seconds! Thank God for that!
I was the 4,689th man to cross that finishing point. You could see the official results here. Look for Rank 4,689. For completing the half marathon, I received a finisher's medal, and a certificate that will be posted to me in the coming weeks.
Hahahaha....... fancy finishing 4,689th! Means that I beat 1650 men! Yay! Heheheh... And also, of course, the ABUNDANT opportunity to improve in the next race! We shall see huh? Probably I'll just fly back from the U.S. for next year's Singapore Marathon? Or join one of those half marathons in the States... I'm sure there are plenty.
By the way, the WINNER, the CHAMPION for the Half Marathon was, of course, a Kenyan by the name of Benjamin Kiplimo Meto. Kiplimo Meto is no stranger or newcomer, as he won the Penang Bridge International Marathon a couple of weeks ago! Here are the Top 7 runners:
1. Benjamin Kiplimo Meto (KENYA) 1:08:02 (Yes, that means he finished 2 hours ahead of me!)
2. Boonchoo Jandacha (THAILAND) 1:11:41
3. Kim Yongtaek (SOUTH KOREA) 1:12:50
4. Subramaniam s/o Rangar (MALAYSIA) 1:14:07 (Wow! A Malaysian! Weeeeeee!)
5. Mark John Williams (ENGLAND) 1:14:35
6. Scott Carlson (AUSTRALIA) 1:16:30
7. Prabakharan Madhavan (MALAYSIA) 1:19:32 (Wow! Another Malaysian!)
Top French
11th place - Sebastien Calle (FRANCE) 1:24:14
Top Philippino
12th place - Rio De La Cruz (PHILIPPINES) 1:24:29
Top Singaporean
16th place - Alex Stanhope (SINGAPORE) 1:26:39
Top Dutch
26th place - Erik Forkink (NETHERLANDS) 1:30:39
Top American
28th place - Jeffrey Vokoun (U.S.A.) 1:30:50
Post-Half Marathon
I couldn't walk without incurring incredible pain the same day and the next. Even until now...
Ouch!
Thank God I took leave for the whole week to recuperate!
All in all, a very interesting experience. And yes, I look forward to running a better half marathon, and eventually, the full marathon - 42.4km!
Thanks for reading this long post friends! God bless you (and pray for a speedy recuperation for me!) Thanks!
Hi Friends! I'm back! And yes, as I had promised... I will share about my experience running the half marathon.
Pre-Half Marathon
Arrived in Singapore on Friday, Dec 5 and went straight to take the race kit before checking into my hotel. Here's me posing at the entrance after collecting the race kit.
I actually had second thoughts about running the 21.2km! So I thought... hmmm... maybe I should just run the...
Here are some pictures of the map of the route... and I was pleasantly surprised that they actually serve FRUITS (specifically... bananas) in this race! Woohoo! And not to mention the plentiful drink stations along the way!
Here's the starting point (in front of Singapore's scenic Esplanade - shaped like two durians!) and finishing point (in front of Singapore City Hall):
And the halfway point at Mountbatten Road:
Here's another look at the race kit collection booths:
And yes, 50,000 runners this year, with 6,339 MEN (I just had to emphasise that) running the half marathon, from all over the world:
Half Marathon Day
My race starts at 6:30am, so I had to wake up at 4:30am, just to make sure all my body's systems "wakes up", and also to eat something and hydrate my body 2 hours before the race.
Here's a self-taken shot of myself, fully dressed in my running attire... ooppss... Take 1:
Take 2:
Take 3:
And you wouldn't BELIEVE what happened in the next few hours...
I reached the starting point at around 6:15. There were thousands of people already gathered in front of me. So I am somewhere at the back. Quite a handicap, considering that they rank you according to the time the gun goes off, not the electronic time when you pass the chip's sensor. By the way, just to help you understand a little bit better, every runner has to attach a small chip to the shoe, and the chip will register the time, both gun time and actual time.
I was really excited, because I had never seen so many people running in my life, and to make things more exciting, minutes before the race, they played really inspiring songs like "I Believe I Can Fly", "We Are The Champions", "We Will Rock You"... woohoo!
BANG! And we're OFF! I started really steadily, knowing that I had NEVER ran more than 10km before in my life, and I should start conservatively. After 3km, I felt like I had to PEE, so I wondered if there were any public washrooms I could rush into, and guess what, there were many people having the same "urge" like me! And before I know it, and before I could morally accept it, they went and pee at the bush by the roadside... NOW HOW ABOUT THAT? Peeing at the bush right beside the Singapore road! LOL.... Perhaps that's the only chance you could do that without being FINED, since Singapore is very well-known for all the FINES. By the way, nobody cared if the person on your right or left is looking at your weenie, because we've got a long way to go! Shoosh, and whoosh, back into the race! (Sorry no pictures to share here.)
I was doing pretty well, until the 12th km, my right knee problem showed up! Dang! Well, just for the interest of those who don't know, I do have a nagging knee problem. It's like when I exceeded a certain distance, it will start to hurt very badly, to the point I couldn't run. With more than 9km to go, I just couldn't walk only, could I? So I PRESSED ON, with that pain in my right knee. I was considerably slower.
Thank God for the Medical Team stationed at many points in the race, they provided the Mentholatum Deep Heating® Rub cream (Pain Relieving Analgesic), so I rubbed some on my right knee, and for the next 2km, I was ok. But shortly after that, the pain became unbearable, to the point I had to run very slowly, at jogging pace, almost walking pace. From then onwards, it was a drinking-station-to-the-next-drinking-station kind of thing. Run from a drinking station (every 1km or so) to the next, followed by walking from that drinking station to the next, and so forth.
And then, my problems did not end. Soon, both my calve muscles started to become crampy. You know the feeling? It's like if I run harder, it will turn into a cramp, but if I slowed down, it's on the verge. That kind of feeling. And yes, I keep applying the cream at every possible opportunity, wherever it is offered. It's now not just the right knee but the muscles too.
Things couldn't get worse when my quads + hamstrings + butt muscles started to say farewell too to me! Eventually, it got to the point that I couldn't run at all for a considerable distance. It's like I tried jogging reaaaaal slowly, but after 100m or so, I had to stop and walk.
The ultimatum was, walking became torturous as well! It was crazy! The feeling is like I had no ounce of energy to push anymore... every single ounce of energy expended, every single muscle refusing to work any longer. I tried, I pushed, I prayed to God for strength, I did everything I could, and finally, I saw the finishing point!!! And there were so many onlookers and supporters cheering and looking (obviously of course). So I had no choice but to summon whatever that is left in me to start running, trying very hard to ignore all that orchestra of pain down my body's bottom half.
And yes, I crossed the finishing point, with a time of 3 hours, 3 minutes and 13 seconds! Thank God for that!
I was the 4,689th man to cross that finishing point. You could see the official results here. Look for Rank 4,689. For completing the half marathon, I received a finisher's medal, and a certificate that will be posted to me in the coming weeks.
Hahahaha....... fancy finishing 4,689th! Means that I beat 1650 men! Yay! Heheheh... And also, of course, the ABUNDANT opportunity to improve in the next race! We shall see huh? Probably I'll just fly back from the U.S. for next year's Singapore Marathon? Or join one of those half marathons in the States... I'm sure there are plenty.
By the way, the WINNER, the CHAMPION for the Half Marathon was, of course, a Kenyan by the name of Benjamin Kiplimo Meto. Kiplimo Meto is no stranger or newcomer, as he won the Penang Bridge International Marathon a couple of weeks ago! Here are the Top 7 runners:
1. Benjamin Kiplimo Meto (KENYA) 1:08:02 (Yes, that means he finished 2 hours ahead of me!)
2. Boonchoo Jandacha (THAILAND) 1:11:41
3. Kim Yongtaek (SOUTH KOREA) 1:12:50
4. Subramaniam s/o Rangar (MALAYSIA) 1:14:07 (Wow! A Malaysian! Weeeeeee!)
5. Mark John Williams (ENGLAND) 1:14:35
6. Scott Carlson (AUSTRALIA) 1:16:30
7. Prabakharan Madhavan (MALAYSIA) 1:19:32 (Wow! Another Malaysian!)
Top French
11th place - Sebastien Calle (FRANCE) 1:24:14
Top Philippino
12th place - Rio De La Cruz (PHILIPPINES) 1:24:29
Top Singaporean
16th place - Alex Stanhope (SINGAPORE) 1:26:39
Top Dutch
26th place - Erik Forkink (NETHERLANDS) 1:30:39
Top American
28th place - Jeffrey Vokoun (U.S.A.) 1:30:50
Post-Half Marathon
I couldn't walk without incurring incredible pain the same day and the next. Even until now...
Ouch!
Thank God I took leave for the whole week to recuperate!
All in all, a very interesting experience. And yes, I look forward to running a better half marathon, and eventually, the full marathon - 42.4km!
Thanks for reading this long post friends! God bless you (and pray for a speedy recuperation for me!) Thanks!
8 Comments:
ouchies! but congrats man!looks like all your training paid off! :D
Hi John,
Congratulations on finishing the half marathon. That in itself is a good thing. And that you did so in good time is even better.
I admire your tenacity and resolve in this endeavor. I also admire that you easily see room for improvement in your 'score' (time). That means you will do even better in the next one!~ You do amaze me!
I hope the recuperation from the ordeal will be quick and the pain will not linger in any one spot. Perhaps in the next marathon you should wear a knee wrap of some sort on your bad knee so it won't give you so much trouble as soon in the run? I'm not sure if the injury to your knee would be helped by that but you might give it some thought?
You have every reason to be proud of this accomplishment, John! You did good, my friend!
Thank you for sharing this experience with us. Again, you have opened my eyes to something I knew next to nothing about and gave me knowledge!
Have a beautiful, restful day, John!
Kudos to you on a very well-fought placing. It's always in the mind that the battles are the hardest...and you will definitely do superbly the next round!
not bad not bad... WOW! they started serving fruits??? last time dun have wan lor... congrats !!! wah.. and so many photos somemore. not bad.
Thanks Chris, Donna, Jamie and Angie! :)
Donna, I haven't tried the knee wrap before, but I will give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion.
Congrats John on finishing the race. Your training really paid off. You are building up your endurance level which is necessary for long runs. Keep up the good work.
Snow looks GREAT!
Wow, John! YOU DID IT!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Even with all of the pain, you crossed the finish line. I am so totally impressed. I know how hard it is. Have you ever heard of the Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco? It's much shorter than the 1/2 marathon but ... I ran it once, a long time ago, and at the beginning of the race, they played the theme from Rocky. Reading your account of the race brought back so many memories. :)
I only know you from blogging but ... I feel so proud of you ... and happy for your success!
Thanks for sharing it with us!
Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Thanks Inge', and thanks for the snow too *WINKS*
Thanks Small Footprints! Thanks for following my blog so faithfully, and I'm real glad to find a friend in you. Nope, haven't heard of the Bay to Breakers run, but I'll probably be joining that in the near future :)
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