And yet my second Sundown Marathon here in Singapore, but instead of the boring, barely lit streets of Changi Coast Road, this years run is through the busy and crazy city lights in the heart of Singapore.
This years Sundown Marathon have seen another record breaking registrants at 12,000+ for 10km, 8,000+ for the half-marathon and 9,000+ for the Marathon. People are really digging in running during nighttime since it will definitely be more cooler than running daytime here in Singapore.
The start time for the 10km run was at 10:30pm and because I hitch a ride with a friend whose actually running in that category I was already at the venue around 9:00pm. And the time for the 21km and 42km flag-off was 12:30 am. So I have to wait for anther 3hrs more. Anyway it was to my advantage as there are less people on the baggage counter for the 21km booth. And so I deposited my bag there and waited for our turn.
I ran the half-marathon category as I'm trying to see whether I can beat my last year time at a lousy 3:40 which was really more than a 21km walk rather than running. Well this year my target was below 3 hours since I wasn't focusing my training on running but mainly on swimming I just wanted to get below 3 hours. When I do run to train I would run for 10km and would get a time of 1:15 for that. I have not had any long run before this half marathon so I'm just aiming for below 3hrs.
Another good thing of being early I get to line up near the starting line since both half and full marathon will be starting at the same time, just imagine if you're in the middle of 17,000+ bodies you can't really sprint out if the people in front of you are walking.
Anyway during the more the 2 hours of waiting it seems like I have developed a upset stomach or It was just in my mind something of what you call jitters before a start of a race. Anyway after the start I began feeling better I started picking up speed in my run.
The run through the city was quite engaging as the road was very lit up by the lights of the lamp post and all the buildings around. Though after km 15, after the Marina barrage I think is a kilometer of very poorly lit and uneven road/pathway I think I have walked that whole kilometer or less because I dont want to get a sprain ankle or whatever I may get if I got into an accident. Anyway after that another kilometer of a good run path and then another kilometer of a 1 meter wide walkpath (sigh) either I run on the grassy field which I wouldn't know if its uneven or not. And so I end up walking if the person in front is walking ang running if his running as well.
After the walkpath has ended the road begun to widen again, back to the main road again. After kilometer 18 it started raining, and not just drizzling it poured on us with a bit of lighting and thunder and a lot of strong head wind. But the rain was a sign of relief for most since here in Singapore its very humid so eventhough its nighttime its still very hot.
The rain gave me that extra boost that I needed so with the 2 remaining kilometers I made a mad dash towards the finish line and seeing the clock at 3:00:24 I know I was below my target under 3 hours time and yes my result was 2:59:10, YES 40 minutes off my previous sundown marathon and I'm so happy about it.
