Perceptions are the truth

Alrite..
Heres the lowdown on SCM 2009.

I didnt win it. =(

However, i was there..side by side with Luke Kibet (Winner 2008 and 2009) for a good 15mins. They were allowed into the starting pan at 0515hrs and yours truly being very early this year, was able to stand just right beside them.

At 0530hrs, that was the last time i saw him. HAhaha...

For the rest of the hour, i struggled between bloated-ness and the crowd. I woke up with my tummy feeling extremely bloated and the run definitely got off to a bad start. I was having self doubts at 3km.. And by virtue that i was there in front, there were like 10000 runners waiting to make a pass on me. The other 7499 didnt train and couldnt care less.

Surprising, by 0630hrs.. i was a wee bit faster than that last time i ran in 2007. I was doing an astonishing 9km per hour. This was 1km faster! Talk about achievement.

I entered ECP (11km mark)..panting. Why? I dont know. Maybe i was looking forward to having my photo taken by Anson (this didnt happen). Or it could the lack of red blood cells(its a good reason to blame my lack of fitness)? To cut the long story short.. ECP was a long 20km run and as expected, people started to slow down. After being over taken by 10000 runners during the 1st 10km.. i was slowly matching the pace of runners around me.

During the ECP stretch, i had this Ang mo and Safra runner arguing about lane crossing/cutting. They were shouting at each other and i wonder if all those shouting did their run any good. But with 17500 full marathoners, it was always going to be difficult to find clear empty spaces to run. This brings about another problem.. Stinky runners. I most prob stink but definately not as bad as some runners. They were really bad. But they were reasons for me to pick up pace and siam them...

ECP was good for another reason because it was a to and fro stretch. This means that there were opportunities to see who is on the other side of the run. While i didnt run last year, i did took quite a few pics of people who ran the marathon and i saw them again this year! There werent very far in front of me by the 20km mark (~5mins-8mins) and it was a good enough reason to set secondary targets to catch these runners.

By the 23km mark, i was overtaking people. Phew. Bloated-ness was gone and i was actually feeling rather good. In fact, i pick up quite abit of speed during this section tht brought me close to my initial target of 10km/h. I was really only about 2hrs and 20mins into the race. It was also at this time that i stole a Powergel from the volunteers while she was exclaiming loudly to the runner before me that each runner was entitled to only 1 power gel. While she had her eyes strained on the runner in front, i reached out and took 2 powergel and stuffed it into my shorts.

Na ni na ni bu bu..

The 26km mark coincided with a drink station. And this is also what i termed as a great fall. I guess by this time, alot of people was struggling. Either that or they were all friends running together. WHY? Immediately after finishing they drinks, one by one, they fell to the floor and started stretching. It was a comical sight. I was standing there with a pool of bodies infront of me.. Amusing amusing.

I exited the 30km mark and ECP at 3hrs and 8mins. About 8 mins behind my intended target. This really perked me up quite abit because the timing affirms what i suspected through my weeks of trainning. I was indeed running faster than previous years. But self doubt crept in again wondering where i'll find the energy to finish the last 12km.

Mountbatten road and Stadium road saw the marathoners brushing shoulders with the pretenders (the 1/2 marathoners). This was devastating because i had to contemplate with pretenders who were walking for most part of their run. Pain was also catching up and i started to feel this soreness in my legs. During this stretch, i ran behind this old uncle (~50 years old??) who seems like a veteran at running. His legs were what i termed as chicken legs. Despite my best effort, i never really caught up... lost him after about 5km. He was simply too fit even at his age.

From Sims way till Crawford street, we again had some clear air because the pretenders went straight through nicole highway while i had to make a huge detour to clock enough mileage to finish 42km. It was at this time when i realise that the crowd has withered down to sporadic pool of runners, all struggling to finish the race. The good ones are way in front and the bad ones are way behind...

Time check, 3 hours 40mins, 7km to go... I have to push harder to make my intended speed of 10km/h. The weaving in and out of the mass crowd earlier is taking its toil and im seriously having lots of pain in my calfs.

4hrs and i turn into Republic ave... this signifies the start of a nitemare. The 10km wusses were there, the pretenders were there.. and i was there. Everyone was there! it was 3km of sheer madness. I couldnt even see pockets of empty spaces.

The last 3km was categorised with massive weaving and frustration as i try to find a clear spot to run. The pain in my calfs were also not helping and drinking didnt help as much as it did during the ECP stretch.

As i finish 42km of the run.. i slowed myself to a walk. I had promised my dearest Joyce that i would walk the final stretch so that she can catch me in action with her not very good CANON camera. Hahaha.... PKH and wife was also suppose to be there. TSS and Goken whom i hope to see during the run could be there too. i wanna see all of them.

So it was understandably quite amusing when the crowds starts to cheer you.

"Come on! Its just a couple more steps!"

I finished the race walking and i wondered if the folks at marathonphotos.com caught any pics of me. I had lots of wusses and pretenders running in the marathon side of the finishing line and i suspect they have blocked me all the way through the finishing line.

Naaa... I wasnt very keen anyway because i would love to be photographed by them someday when i win the marathon. Not today. Hahahah...

After the finish, that was when the pain crept in. Painful is too nice a word to use.

All in all, it was nice to be running again. Like i said before in my previous years posts, running the marathon is an individual self effort. When you get to the starting line, all those hardwork and effort you put in would be translate to the tangible results at the end of the run. Most things in life aint that simple... i wished they were. Too many things in life are a complex mixture of human emotions and manipulation (read: Bootlicking)

Till next year.

Regards

Potential 2010 SCM winner