Note: This is a super long event and I do not have the memory to remember evey single details...below are wat is in my memory at the point of typing
It was early morning 610am and was pouring rain and dogs. TheLonelyRunner and his parent came to picked me up in the wet morning. As we travelled along PIE...the rain came heavier and heavier....we was thinking what will happen to the MR25 Ultramarathon which is starting at 7am....we reached MR25 carpark and saw runners pouring carrying umbrella and raincoat...the run will go on...we registered ourself and waiting for the event to start. Meanwhile, run.run.runaway, astrogirl, WS, ultraman, tiwazz, sotong, philips and many other familiar faces came by....at 7am sharp when the sky is still pouring, the run was flagged off.... I was still not ready and started a minute later with run.run.runaway, astrogirl and WS on my Salomon Techamphib.
And here, 4 of us started our first ever attempted on ultramarathon. It was an annual finale event organised by MR25 running club which runners was given 12hrs to finish as many rounds as possible. 10 fastest and most number of laps will have prizes and runners completed 5 runs of 52.5km will be given an exclusive event tee.
after running about 100m, we were shocked to see a big group of sgrunners doing stretching and warmups...we joined in a while and started off after a few minutes...it was very wet and the ground was water-logged....basically, we were all wet and soaked in the morning rain. after a few minutes of running as a group, we started to break off slowly and each of us went at our own pace. As usual, I will adopted my run/walk strategy. The slopes was a killer to my strategy as i have to adjust accordingly.
After my first round, not feeling so good as the body was still unadapted to the wet terrain and weather...but the cool environment did help to keep the body cool. lucky i was wearing my Amphib shoes, my socks and shoes was dry when i reached the end point.
After finishing first round, i decided to take a banana and hold a powergel eat at the waterpoint about 3.5km away. I did not rest more than 3 min before i take off again. The second round was still a wet run but the weather started to calm down. I ended strong after 21km. This time, I took 2 bananas at the start/end point for my 3rd round and held on to a powergel for the waterpoint and went comfortably away.
I met quite a few familiar runners at my third round...but but i have forgotten what has happened. So not going to elaborate more...remember meeting gentle and also YankeeII who complaint to me after run.ruin.runaway running too fast and he has to give up. Finished my 3rd round strongly and i believe i might be able to go beyond 5 rounds.
taking 2 bananas and holding on to the powergel, i did not rest more than 5min before i went off again. I feeling great during this round mainly becos my body has warmed up. i even felt second wind during the last 3km part but i decided to hold my ground for more rounds later. The ground is till wet and muddy. Luckily, I wore my Techamphib, my socks and shoes was able to dry by the time i reached back the start/end point. I decided to change my shoes after my 5th round if i was OK to carry on,...I finished the 4th round which is a full marathon distance at a decent time of 5hrs 30min which my fastest lap time. still feeling good, i only stopped for less than 5min after eating all the necessary food and drinks.
The 5th round was quite a torture as my legs started to feel the strain, i decided to take more walk breaks....still feeling good and push on, i slowed down my pace so that i still feel comfortable..in less than 1km after start, run.run.runaway suddenyl came by with choonwei and dasher who were accompany her....as usual, she was going with a fast speed...cannot see her minutes after she past me. I pressed on and on and finished the 5th round feeling strong.
Decided to push on for 6th round, i changed my Techamphib to my salomon XA pro 2 which has more support and fresh cushioning. I took a longer break of about 10min. Took the necessary food and drink, pushed on for my 6th. the legs started to get heavy for a start but after the midpoint, my legs were able to flow smoothly..finsihed my round feeling a bit lousy but with 3.5hrs more to cut-off time, i decided to go for the last 7th round...maybe i will walked for the whole 10.5km which will take about 2hrs.
I started for a while before i met gentle. He finished his 3 rounds in the morning, went home for christmas lunch before coming back in the afternoon to finish the remaining 2 rounds. he was walking and he said he just take stroll...but he decided to follow me and we can keep each other company....he told me that astrogirl was in front and he wanted to overtake her. As my previous 5 rounds, i continue to do run/walk and gentle try to follow....i slowed my runs and actually we walked a lot chatting all the way...very comfortable and interesting last lap for me....saw astrogirl at the golf course and we decided to catchup up slowly...finally, we past her at the last 2.5km from the end. Gentle and myself was doing a very good pace and we finished strongly with astrogirl finishing behind us. I managed to finished 7laps of 73.5km in 10hrs 12min. having my alst 7th lap as my slowest lap of 10min slower than the average of my first 5 laps....a great achievement for my 1st time doing distance longer than marathon with no special training for it...just a light maintainance run and tapering after my Singapore Marathon.
After reporting, i was told that I was within the top 10!!! a big big surprise for christmas this year!!! my 1st marathon finish is a great accomplishment...but this is even a greated achievement than that.....
I must really thanks all the sgrunners who supported me during my 10 hrs run. Without them, i
doubt i was able to complete 7 laps comfortable.
below is my 10.5km lap timing for every run including rest time:
lap 1: 1hr 24min
lap 2: 1hr 19min
lap 3: 1hr 21min
lap 4: 1hr 21min
lap 5: 1hr 27min
lap 6: 1hr 38min <- 10min rest lap 7: 1hr 39min total time: 10hrs 12min total distance: 73.5km position: 8th
for my 8th position, i got the following prizes:
1) extra MR25 Ultramarathon 2005 polo tee
2) a NIKE backpack
3) a NIKE waistpouch
4) a pair of NIKE socks
5) a pair of NIKE Free shoes (got both right side of the shoes 8-( )
Photos:
I've fall in love with ultramarathon.
I can't run fast, but i can run long.
Cheers.....................
for my 8th position, i got the following prizes:
1) extra MR25 Ultramarathon 2005 polo tee
2) a NIKE backpack
3) a NIKE waistpouch
4) a pair of NIKE socks
5) a pair of NIKE Free shoes (got both right side of the shoes 8-( )
Photos:
I've fall in love with ultramarathon.
I can't run fast, but i can run long.
Cheers.....................
carine, tiwazz, bug and jennifery warming up:
Decided to do a summary of my running life for this year as Standard Chartered Marathon is supposed to be the finale of my Run life this year. Life after the Marathon will be recovery and also a final long run at MR25’s 12hrs MacRitchie ultramarathon. This run will be the final celebration run for the year before we start a brand new running year.
This year is my second year of “serious” long distance running and the goal/objective is to complete my first marathon. A year full of ups and downs, of the 5 races completed, Only my first MILK run and final marathon are done to my ability. The rest of the 3 are not completed properly due to my bronchitis relapses. However, this is considered a very fruitful year as the main goal/objective to complete a marathon was met!!!
Here the summary of highlights by month:
Jan:
My bronchitis relapsed 1 week before SCM 2004 and lasted until this mid-month. Started to do light running round bedok reservoir to get my engine going.
Feb:
Consistent running has boosted my fitness to recover this month. Started to go macritchie reservoir run during my last weekend.
Mar:
Increased regular run at bedok reservoir to 2 rounds of 8.6km. Did legs and paddles with WS and finished my 5km run for 25min 25sec after kayaking.
Apr:
Went to ECP for my first long run. Did 11km for 1hr 8min on the first weekend. Continued to go macritchie run. Final weekend did a longest run of 18km, finishing in 1hr 52min. One of the longest mileage for the month in the early months.
May:
Macritchie Run became more regular. If I not wrong, this is the first time I met runX3 during a macritchie trek. 2 weeks before her KK trek with astrogal. I did one run trek with my runX3 and frens after I completed running one round earlier in the morning.
June:
Regular macritchie run during weekends and ECP long run for the last weekend. Preparing for MILK Run in early July. started jioing more and more frens to join in my regular sat macritchie run.
July:
Finished MILK 10km in my PB of 48min 39sec. Met Sgrunners for the first time during NB REAL Run trial run at sentosa. Completed 10km for the first time in exactly 1hr. Regular runs increased to 10.3km. Did my first half marathon run at ECP with Sgrunners in a time of 2hrs 12min.
Aug:
Down with Bronchitis again. Not much running for the whole month. Got better towards the end of the month when I did New Balance Real Run 10km in a time of 1hr 6min.
Sept:
A busy month but my bronchitis still hanging and my health is not 100%. Die Die got to do IPPT and finished my 2.4km in 11min 07sec and still managed to get $200 outof it. Did Mizuno Wave Run 10km in a time of 59min 7sec. One week later, did Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon in 2hrs 29min 17 sec. My health started to recover during the mid-month.
Oct:
Pickup my fitness quite fast and tried a 21km for 2hrs 11min in the early month. Increased my mileage quite fast and completed 25km in mid-month for 2hrs 51min.
Nov:
Panic button pressed. One month to Marathon and mileage still not enough. Tried Galloway’s run/walk strategy on my 24.3km run and did well in 2hrs 31min. using run/walk, managed a comfortable 30km in 3hrs 15min. Confidence rose. Tapering starts as we did a half marathon run/walk in 2hrs 10min.
Dec:
Completed my virgin marathon in 4hrs 45min57sec!!!
Life still goes on and on ...............
After collecting my race pack, I met up with the usual gang: dasher, astrogirl, astrogirl's sister, run.run.runaway and x20a.freedom...I also linked up with 136f????(sorry fren, dunnoe how to spell) from sgrunners....we had a small walked around the expo...interestingly, found the dive shop which i took my OWD was in charge of the diving booth....said hi to the gang there and just beside it, Adrian Mok is conducting his marathon talk....we "sneak" in to listen to some tips before we carry on....found the chiropratic booth havinf free sphine check and my result is below on the left 2 diagrams:
I was basically having muscle stress on the left at the neck area and my right side at my lower back....not too bad....but maybe if i got $$$, I might use the $80 voucher given for a thorough test and treatment...
across the booth, found L2S foot sports injuries specialist Dr Leong's booth having free foot analysis...i have never done one before so I had a try at it.....result was interesting:
I have medium arch on my left and high arch on my right..which is exactly the same feel when i run which my left is neutral and my right supinates
I am bowed legged which might be the result for the irregularities
when checking my achilies tendon from the back when i bended my knees, it actually bends outwards which is the indication of pronation..hmm..might try stability shoe next time....
but so far I hvae no feet or knee injuries or issues....so Dr Leong said, my posture is actually balanced..the irregularities are ok for me.....heng heng man.....hahaaa
we ended our walk and went for dinner together at suntec food court....decided where to meet this sunday and went home for a good rest......
Hope everything goes smoothly this sunday......
cheers.................
