2 Dec 2007 - Singapore Marathon 2007

The big day was finally here. I clocked 4h 38 min 7s, which is 18 min improvement from last year.

This 3rd marathon is my first with no cramps. The many hours of training and carbo-loading have definitely helped. The constant consumption of the isotonic drinks provided along the way has also helped replace the lost salt and water. I also took the PowerGel provided at the 26 km mark and another GuGel at around the 4 hr mark.

The weather was hotter than last year and my shades helped. The "rehearsals" of running the actual route also helped, as I knew what to expect at which part of the route. The last 195m was much longer than stated though.

My iPod shuffle didn't work, so I was talking to myself most of the time. I took the first 30 km easy with heart rate of less than 160 bpm. During the remaining 12 km, I told myself that the race has just begun and to forget that I have already run 30 km.

I was happy to overtake people who overtook me earlier but stopped later to stretch and overcome their cramps. There are different strategies of running the marathon and experience definitely helps.

Overall, I am happy. :)

28 Nov 2007 - Carbo Loading

Am trying to take more low GI foods now.. This week's training will just be 3 runs of 5km or less each.

24 Nov 2007 - Final One Week

I received my race pack at my office on Thursday (Corporate Package arrangement). My bib number is 10040, which is quite a neat number.

This morning, we ran the Marina South Loop, the first 12 km of the actual route. We started and ended the run at the Kallang Water Sports Centre, which is the place where people do dragon-boat, so that adds 6 km to the run.

After the run, we visited the Marathon/Sports Expo at Suntec.

21 Nov 2007 - Recovery

My stomach felt a bit queasy when I started the run, so I took it slowly today. At the end of the 11 km, I felt quite alright, so I should have recovered from the food-poisoning.

18 Nov 2007 - Merlion Run

I started getting diarrhoea yesterday morning when I was still at Ho Chi Minh City. I was back home last night and felt quite alright this morning, hence I continued with the plan to do the weekend run..

We started our run at ECP B1 carpark (near Fort Rd) and ran towards Esplanade following the actual marathon route. The u-turn was at the Esplanade Park signage near to where the Merlion statue used to be (about 10 km from B1 carpark).

For the trip back, I decided to also take the actual route which was via Nicoll Highway. I wasn't feeling right thoughout the run and my heart was beating much faster than usual (thanks to my heart rate monitor). At about 12 km, my stomach was spinning like a washing machine and giving pains, hence I walked the remaining of the route back to ECP (about 4km).

Back at ECP, I rested and drank my usual cold Gatorade. I felt more unwell and ended up vomiting the 2 litres of water. I used to think that people are exaggerating when they say that someone vomited like a Merlion, but that's really how I looked like when I threw up 2 litres of water. :)

14 Nov 2007 - Toe blisters

The usual Pandan Reservior route but minus the PGP up-slope. I did not use my Injinji toe-socks or anti-chaffing cream (Vaseline petroleum jelly or Glide) for my toes, and I got sore toes after the run. Hence, I have been reminded that the toe-socks and the anti-chaffing cream really work in preventing blisters on toes.

11 Nov 2007 - Another 31 km

A very nice route (from Kim Seng Park all the way to East Coast Laguna Hawker Centre and then back again), but not a very good run. Was very dehydrated on the way back and had to keep drinking water at the toilets along the way. Not a good idea to do 30 km runs on consecutive weekends, felt the fatique. This should be the last long run before the taper.

Good thing is that we tried running from Esplanade to Fort Rd, and then back. This is part of the actual marathon route. Took a bit of time to find the actual route at/around Kallang though. Hope to try this part of the route again next week.