Sundown Marathon 2012

The race this year was no longer held at the Changi Exhibition area where it used to be stretches of long boring route running to and fro along Changi Coast Road and ECP. Instead the start line was moved closer to town just besides Nicoll Highway MRT Station, it was definitely more a scenic route, however I personally still prefer last year’s Sundown Marathon where the old route was flat, so there’s a better chance of getting a PB and the distance was also more accurate.

Felt tired and sleepy as this year as all runners were informed of a change in start time just 2 weeks before the race. The start time has been pushed back from 11pm to 12:30am. All participants have no choice but to live with it, and to make things worse both half and full marathoners will start together. It actually ruins my plan of getting nearer to the start line since it was narrow and so crowded.

This race was meant to be a morale boosting run where I could gauge my progress and I was hopeful that it would boost my confident ahead of July Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Somehow things just didn’t turn out the way I wanted. The moment the gun goes, I had a hard time getting pass slower runners and most of them are full marathoners.

The first 1km was bad as it was so difficult to run and most of the time I was forced to run on the narrow pavement on the edge of the actual running route. Due to the crowd, my pace was inconsistent and I was even forced to walk at the 700m U turn point, so not surprising I was slow taking 4:56min for my first 1km.

Seems like it was another sign of “just not my day”. I never recovered from my irregular pace and my subsequent 5km spits were slow! I am still not ready for 4:40min/km average pace (garmin average pace is only 4:48min/km). The only reason I could give was that I had yet to recover from weeks of trainings since it was almost weeks after weeks of most then 90km mileage. The only positive been I was recovering slightly over the last 5km and could have gave it a last shot for a PB, but somehow didn't have the mental strength to push on and also the distance marker shorter distance was misleading as with 2km left I was holding back since I was not sure if the distance was accurate and as it turns out, my garmin only shows 20.58km upon crossing the finish line.

With only 5 weeks to go before Gold Coast Airport Marathon, hope my condition gets better soon!

Split	Time	Avg pace (5k splits)	Distance
1	04:56.4		1
2	04:24.3		1
3	04:37.7		1
4	04:48.8		1
5	04:43.4		1
	23:30.6	04:42
6	04:42.1		1
7	04:43.1		1
8	04:50.1		1
9	05:05.1		1
10	04:48.3		1
	24:08.7	04:50
11	04:52.0		1
12	04:55.0		1
13	04:58.0		1
14	04:51.9		1
15	04:55.4		1
	24:32.3	04:54
16	04:50.2		1
17	04:55.4		1
18	04:52.1		1
19	04:45.5		1
20	04:49.1		1
	24:12.3	04:50
21	02:28.0		0.58
Summary	1:38:52		20.58