Limping Marathon Runner

I slept as early as 4pm the day before, waking up periodically and at 7pm for dinner before sleeping again. Waking at 12 midnight, I caught some movie on T.V. before taking some noodles. I sensed that I will not have an easy day with odds stacked against me. With timed friendly feeder service at 4.10am by IMD, we reached the venue early. Baggage was a little chaotic and fortunately AlecChua was taking the half marathon, I left my shoe bag with him for deposit. Making my way to the start line, there were plenty of familiar faces to wave to.

With a countdown to 5.30am and off we went. I was still feeling good and was pretty cautious of my speed for the first 10km. But, that was not what I looked out for. at 12km, what I feared for has arrived. That warning sensation on my ITB. The first attack came at 19km. I went down to run - walk technique. At 28km, it was so intense that the only better option was to brisk walk. I could only hold up to 35km before I came down to a normal walking pace. Just before 36km, I spotted someone with cramps and I went over to assist. His calf muscle was twitching pretty badly. We spent probably 5mins to stabilize it before buddying up and chatting all the way to the finish line. With 300m before finish line, I did a slow (which was painfully slow) jog back to cross the finish line. My personal worst timing but finishing was all that matters.

Good to hear that most achieved some pretty impressive timing while others suffered like me. We will be back for revenge next year!