6 Dec 2009 - Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon

It was a Thursday, 3rd December 2009.

I remember it as a day of many business discussions with my manager, Rupali, who had flown in from Singapore on a day trip. Working for American Express is an interesting experience. It's eye opening working for a MNC as it enables you to broaden your experience.

Duty calls and it has been a day of meetings, meetings and more meetings... Not that i'm complaining as I later that day I was scheduled to be in Singapore instead. I was very much looking forward to the trip as it has been a while since I last had the opportunity to visit my regional office in Singapore...

More so, I was also looking forward to the 2nd Half Marathon of my life that weekend in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009 scheduled on Sunday, 6th December 2009. I had signed up for this race a long time back as I heard that it was one of the largest and the best organized race in South East Asia.This year, I've been told that the number of participants has soared to a staggering 50,000 runners! It was indeed, an event to look forward to.

Coincidentally, there was a company function scheduled on the Friday of the marathon weekend and it happens that I had a follow up team meeting the Monday after. I'd arranged to stay over the weekend instead of flying to and fro to Singapore twice in 3 days. So on weekends, I decided to stay in my father-in-law's place at a local Singapore University. I took a drive down to Singapore as it would have been easier to get me around town, and by nightfall of the same day I had arrived at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Friday flew by like a breeze as it was filled with interesting employee activities in conjunction with Christmas. We laughed, joked, worked, played games, won prizes and event got carried by Santa... all was good! Before I know it, "work" had ended for the week and I had the weekend to myself! Soon, it was Saturday morning and all I could think about was to collect my race pack at the Expo. We got up, washed up and rushed to the Expo via the MRT.

As we got to the Expo, it was exactly as it was described... queue management was fantastic. Plenty of counters, great planning and no need for a super long queue. My wife had complained about not wanting to run the 10KM race that I had "convinced" her earlier. We picked up our race packs immediately examined the running vest. I must say, the quality seemed better than those we got in Malaysia. Sad... but true.At this point, I had already ran a few races (from a beginners point of view). So far, only 2 race organizers had impressed me to date. One had been the Powerman I had participated in earlier in November, and the latter, Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.

We left soon and rushed off as I promised to drop by my managers new home. We spend our afternoon there before meeting up with my in-laws for dinner. Post dinner, the agenda was to buy a pair of shoes in Takashimaya in Orchard Road. It wasn't really a pair of shoe, but it was more like a cross between the toe socks and some rubber sole. It was called the Vibram Five Fingers. Well, right after I paid for I immediately changed into it.

Suddenly, I had realized that it was getting very late. Home, was almost a good 40 minutes away in Jurong. Time was already almost 11.30pm. Gosh! It's race day tomorrow and we have to be up early. Not being a local has its disadvantages. We were not super familiar on how to get around and I had been relying solely on my GPS. We rushed home and I had again ritually prep my race day kit. By the time I'd lie down on bed, it was close to 1.30am.

4.30AM, RING!!!! went the alarm... It was really difficult to get up. My eyes were drooping, mentally I was still sleeping... zombied my way through my morning rituals. Showered, brushed and gradually my brains started to warm up. Put on my gear and we headed straight to Boon Lay station. We'd planned it all right... or so we thought. Was told by the MRT Customer Service that the first train would start at 5.30AM, and it would have been a 40 minute ride to City Hall (where the race will begin) but as we waited, there was no signed of the train until 6.10AM ! Panic struck me as I kept thinking "Shit... i'm going to be late for my race!"

It was not a very pleasant feeling... while waiting for the MRT, I tried to snack on a PowerBar. Another one of my rituals as I don't usually have breakfast. So if I have a morning race, the PowerBar is my best friend. After a bite, my friend reminded me... "Oi! You want to kena FINE ah!? Cannot eat in MRT Station la!" I was like... CRAP! This is horrible... lack of sleep, train is late, and now... NO POWERBAR! My spirits was low... I just didn't feel like running the race anymore. I just sat in the train, stoning... half sleeping... thinking how badly i'm going to crash later in the race and suddenly my friend John who had tagged along to give moral support suggested that I should start stretching and warming up.

So, IN THE TRAIN I started stripping off my Jacket and Tracks revealing me in my standard running attire. Started stretching in the train... it was challenging as the train was swaying left and right. Once we got to City Hall, we quicken our pace and headed where we thought most people in running vest were heading too. It was a blind leading the blind situation... Once we oriented ourselves, it was almost 6.40am. Race starts at 6.45am which leaves me no time at all... so I told my wife and friend i'm going to start jogging to warm up and they wished me good luck!

As I was running towards the starting line, I could see that it was super crowded... by the time I got to the back of the pack - the race had already started. By this time, I told myself that this is not a race for me to attempt to break any of my personal records. "As long as I finish, I'll be happy!" I said to myself.

I started running, inching through the thick crowd... It was like a fast moving pasar malam. This situation also is similar to when MNG has a sale and hoards (yes, i meant hoards) or ladies "race" to get good deals. It was an interesting sight, but it's not interesting to be IN IT! Other's people sweat were all over me... some were running slowly, some trying to navigate through the crowd, some were chatting, some were walking. Sigh... as I didn't have a running buddy that i'd sign up with, my focus was just to free myself from this crowd so that I can get into my comfortable pace without needing to zip to the left and right.

I think it took me almost 30 minutes before I could free myself from the crowd, and gradually I sped up to my comfortable pace. Tried hard to keep this pace for as long as I can and slowly, I start to feel the running mood again. My mind was not as sleepy, my feeling of hunger, negligible and only then did it hit me... I'm running my first race out of Malaysia! Yes, it was a good feeling... a smile came back to my face. I started smiling and posing for the cameras because I'd remember the ugly pictures Marathon-pix.com had took in my Standard Chartered KL Marathon earlier this year. I jumped, posed and waved my arms... haha!

Moving past the crowd made me feel good, looking around me were the people who tore out like bats in the beginning... but now started to slow down tremendously. I continued my pace comfortably and felt like I could move a little faster. So I did. I've always been a slow runner... averaging 10km/h would be about there but this time, at this very point, i'm running at about a 12km/h pace. This is considered quite a fast pace for me.

I started focusing more on the surroundings, the sceneries, the people and it kept my mind off my pace as I run towards the finish line. The 2km remaining mark came, and to my surprise I still felt reasonably comfortable. In most cases, at this juncture would be where I would slow down to a walk run pace but today I could keep on going.

The supports were swarming, the crowds were cheering... I looked at my Forerunner and it shows 1:57. I told myself, perhaps I could beat my PB today and did a mental check of my body. Legs...OK. Heart Rate... OK. Breathing...OK. All set... GO FOR IT!

At this point, I ran. I could see the finishing line in my mind... an imaginary one. I told myself, If I can beat my PB then it would absolutely made my trip worthwhile. So I ran and I ran and before I know it I was at the finish line! The time on the clock (gun time) showed 2:14:59 as I dashed across. The time on my watch showed 2:08:33 (net and official time) because I had started late. Fortunate for me, SCSM was a chip based race so it didn't matter where i'd begin.

I'd then collected my medal and I basked in the glory of beating my previous personal best of 2:15:18... I know i'll be back in the biggest race in SEA and this time, i'll definitely go all the way with a full marathon!