Monday, November 30, 2009

Singapore Marathon—Countdown

Well, it's less than a week to go to the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon this Sunday. How time flies!

I did my last "long run" yesterday morning—a mere 13km. I arrived at the Likas track at almost 7am. By then the SMC doctors, Peter, Helen and Liaw, were almost done with their runs. Andrew Voon was also there. I started running a bit later then usual partly because I overslept, and partly because it's according to my plan. I sort of wanted to get my body accustomed to the morning heat, since we will be starting at 5:30am in Singapore. It is hard to imagine that we are gonna be able to escape the heat.

Oh! Judy was there at the track too. But she did only several laps. She said she had a good excuse because she just ran the Penang Bridge International Marathon recently. Yeah, that's quite a long run! I have a feeling that she'll beat me real bad in Singapore. But then again, I have an excuse since I'm running in the vateran category (smile).

Mia did not do her long run last Sunday. Instead she and her colleagues went to Mulu in Sarawak. Sounds like an interesting adventure, and I am now tempted to make a visit too. Well, I'll probably get our sports club to organise a trip next year.

I'm a bit worried that I still felt rather tired running that 13km; and my right knee has also been acting up right now. However, I'm reducing my distances even further this week leading to Sunday. Tomorrow I'll do a mild 5km. Then another two sessions of 3.5km each before Sunday. That, I hope, can help to rest my legs for the major challenge on Sunday.

We're all set to fly to Singapore on Saturday morning, and by the time we get to the race pack collection centre, there will probably be a very long queue. Time will be quite tight, as we should be in bed by 10pm at the latest, though I seriously doubt that we can fall asleep that early.

Although it doesn't seem to be very promising, I still want to try my best to conquer the 42km within 0:04:30. I hope to report some good news when we arrive home next Monday.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

All the rest for the SCSM. Weather here has been a bit erratic of late so not too sure whether it will be raining or real hot on Sunday. Anyway, just enjoy your run, don't worry too much on the timing and you should do fine.

Cornelius said...

Tekko,

All the best to you too! Hopefully it will be cloudy, but not raining. I can't imagine running in the rain with soggy shoes and all. I hate to think of the blisters!

Oh! I intend to enjoy my run alright! But I don't think I can control myself from wanting to improve on my time. It's not really about trying to win prizes; rather, it's just about challenging myself. In the end, if I failed, then it's OK, it's not the end of the world. I will simply have to try again next year.

I see you've been improving on your time too over the last 2 SCSM, so if that trend continues, perhaps we might end up running abreast with each other this Sunday! Let's see if we can keep up with the 4:30 pacer.

Unknown said...

Hi Cornelius,

I am not running the FM this year. Taking a year long break from long distance running. But I be there to cheer on all of you.

Cornelius said...

Wow! Tekko, that's a really long break! I hope you meant just taking a break from running official races, but still keeping up regular running. Otherwise, you're gonna lose your fitness and stamina substantially after a year!

Unknown said...

Still running but shorter distances. Not more than 15km. Look out for me at the SCSM. I be hanging around taking photographs. U and your friends wearing anything unique for me to identify?

Cornelius said...

Tekko,

Unfortunately, I am not very keen on wearing clown costumes during marathons, so I'm afraid I'll be wearing the official running vest just like the rest of the runners.

But this particular trip, I'll most probably bring along my notebook. So what I can do is to make a short post after I've collected the race pack. By then I'll know my bib no. Not too sure if that can help though, as there will be a sea of runners. I can imagine it won't be very easy to try to scan for a specific bib no. However, it would be good if you can spot us, coz the photos by the official photographer are just astronomically expensive!