I encountered quite a bit of fiasco while I was running the Sundown Marathon a couple of weeks ago.
You see, the starting time for the full marathon was at 10 pm. Seeing as how the starting point was near Changi Village, I figured that living near Tanah Merah, I could leave home 1 1/2 hours early and still be there with an hour to spare. Even with some minor congestion, I wouldn't be late.... right?
Wrong.
The problem was that there was essentially only one route leading to the starting point at the Changi Exhibition Center, namely, via Changi Coast Road.
A: Where I was at 8.30 pm. B: Where I had to be at 10 pm.
The problem was that Changi Coast Road was itself partially cordoned-off for the run. Add to the fact that 10000 marathon runners were all trying to get to starting point while the half-marathon was still ongoing, and you get a massive jam of epic proportions. It took more than an hour for my in-laws (thumbs up to them) to send me to the junction of Changi Coast Road with Aviation Park Road. At that point it was 9.40 pm.
And to my horror.... the starting point was a full three kilometers from that point! This meant that I had just twenty minutes to cover those three kilometers to the starting point!
As a result, I friggin' had to run those three kilometers. Luckily I managed to get to the form-up point with just five minutes to spare. That unscheduled three-kilometer run had its cost, though. I ended up using up some of my running capacity that I would have otherwise used for the actual 42 km marathon. I ended up finishing the marathon in 4 hr 58 minutes, which is below my personal best of 4 hr 55 min set at last year's StanChart race.
Yes, yes, some of you may think that I'm making excuses for running a full three minutes slower than my personal best. But before you say that, let me ask you this: have any of you ever had to sprint 3 km in full gear (i.e. with your gym bag) prior to running a 42 km race? Add that to the fact that this race was in the dead of the night when everyone else would be sleeping, and three minutes off doesn't sound all that bad to me.
Oh well. That's the second race of the year down.
The next race for me will be the Marina 21k race next month.
Yes, yes, some of you may think that I'm making excuses for running a full three minutes slower than my personal best. But before you say that, let me ask you this: have any of you ever had to sprint 3 km in full gear (i.e. with your gym bag) prior to running a 42 km race? Add that to the fact that this race was in the dead of the night when everyone else would be sleeping, and three minutes off doesn't sound all that bad to me.
Oh well. That's the second race of the year down.
The next race for me will be the Marina 21k race next month.
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