42.195 (:

Full Marathon, 42.195km:

5 hours 23 minutes.

Sweet. 

Must say i'm pretty lucky for a first timer. Must really thank JACK for his great pacing and also his accompanion. Imba Jack, he only trained  ONCE, for 15km and he ran like the wind.

Whoosh it was really a wonderful run, very upbeat and enjoyable. I'm sure i'll be back next year but with more training prior to it. HAHA. Knees and ankles are a total whack now and i'm wondering how i'm going to survive walking around in Perth. Hmmm

OK so the great race started at Esplanade. Bloody heck it was messy. Had to walk like 3 or 4km in from where mom dropped me off. And it was damn confusing where to go to deposit bags and not. Jack waited for me cos i had his tag. Quick warm-up and Jack needed the toilet but the queue was longer than hello kitty queues, so he skipped it and we went on

Started 15 minutes late woohoo. 

The race plan was 15k run, 5k walk, 15k run, 5k walk, 2k max out. But on the 2nd set of 15km, totally whacked out. Our joints couldn't take it. So in the end it was: 15k run, 5k walk, 12k run, 4k walk, 6k run.

Ran ran ran, at the start, we saw the Women's Everest Team running with a small backpack. And also this women who was dragging 2 tyres behind her. She had a backpack and was using climbing sticks. Impressive, impressive.

Ran ran ran, stopped at the toilets. Jack picked up a pair of sunglasses here. HAHA basket. So much for running the race free already. (Running for my brother)

>>

Jack: "When i come out of the toilet, if no one takes it yet, it's mine"

*Finishes his business*

Eugene: *Says loudly* "Cmon cmon, take your things let's go"

>>

Haha, how innocent.

OH and before that, we saw the super natl team girl from RJ Canoeing, the girl with 12 pull ups.

Ran ran ran, and saw our group of girls. Qianwen, Weeling, Clarisse, Jernan and HUIQIN. Hmm they were doing pretty well. Please fast forward to the end of the race if you only wanna know about hq's story. Hurhur...

Ran ran ran, saw 2 ACJC canoeing, some C rower guy and another one.

Ran ran ran, saw Risheng and we slapped him damn hard on the back. Haha

Less than 1km from which, we lost him in the pack. But he caught up at the toilet again. at 18km mark. Never seen him for the rest of the race again. His race plan was 5k run, 1k walk, 5k run, 1k walk, all the way. Man, this race plan's kinda difficult, cos in any case, for noobs, it's best to stop less to walk. Takes a lot to start running again. Heart beat and joints will feel weird.

Ran ran ran, saw Melvin Sim Hong Yi at the 15km mark, oh dearest brother from the NP days, the one who only got a muscle tear upon getting hit by a taxi and flying four lanes across Sims avenue. God-like. Oh, and he's PJ Canoeing's Vice-captain too. 

Melvin's on the right. And pls ignore Matin's face. HAHA

Ran ran ran, we saw this man who was running blindfolded, he was tied to his girlfriend and they were running tgt. Wow, respect man.

Ran ran ran, at east coast park, we overtook this old man who was running bare-foot the whole way! OH my goodness. Impressive.

Ran ran ran, at 20km, before the start of our 2nd 15k run:

>>

Eugene: "Jack ah, the real thing's just about to begin man, the 2nd half determines everything"

Jack: "Yea the real pain sets in"

>>

At 20+km to 30+km, the pain sure came in, at this moment, we really learnt how to appreciate DEEP HEAT RUB. Really helps a lot a lot. Can't find any use for it in canoeing tho.

Ran ran ran, 23km. GU POWER GEL STATION! Haha ok so we gladly ran past and grabbed the gel. But suddenly, Jack had 5 gels in his hand. ZOMG. Hero. Hahah, from then on, we shared a packet of gel every 3km. Hmm must be the reason why i can't sleep now, super caffeinated body.

GU power gel's actually not bad. But it's a definite must to drink it with water. It's much thicker than Power Gel. And the chocolate flavour really tastes like choc fudge, unlike power gel's choc flavour, taste like gooey crap.

Ran ran ran, saw more canoeing people. SRJC, Meridian, Hwachong. And this NJ Alumni girl just burnt us like free. Hurhur

Ran ran ran, at 30+, there was a deep heat station and we went "YAY" damn loud. The person kinda gave us a weird look.

>>

Eugene: "Jialat. This strain is going to be massive. You know what, the race doesn end when we cross the finish line, it only ends when our muscle and joints completely heal"

Jack: "Haha yea man"

>>

Ran ran ran, at 33km, there was a COOL ZONE, where they spray cold mist as you walk past. Completely useless.

OH along the way, there was lotsa RUNSPIRATORS too. Particularly, one angmoh man holding a bell. He was really great man, kept shouting everyone on. 

First he appeared at the east coast wakeboarding area, ringing his ice-cream man bell and shouting every one on. At that moment i told Jack, "Haha this angmoh, i bet when the sun comes out he'll take out his beer and celebrate"

Second-time on the return route at east coast. This was damn funny. He was shouting at everyone "THIS IS A NO-WALKING ZONE, YOU RUN!" Hahah. (fyi, many people were walking along the whole way, just that more people walked as we reached the end point)

Then he appeared again at the Singapore Flyer area. 

The last 4km was the most gruelling 4km ever. Freaking painful on the joints. 

AND THE LAST 200m.

We had our last burst. Shouted Jack's motto damn loudly "SA CANOE AI ZAI!"

Haha this group of guys replied "Kao Bei la"

But who gives a shit about them we burnt them like crazy.

And crossing the finishing line was exhilarating man. Great feeling. 5h23mins.

>>

Eugene: "I'm not gonna run till next year. We've done enough for these 2 years."

Jack: "OF COURSE MAN, more than enough"

>>

Heh, next year, we'll strive for a sub-5 hour timing. Interesstingg

Interesting part!:

OK so we collected our medals and finisher tee. And guess what? WE SAW HUIQIN. Holy cow. She said she came in like 5h20mins. EARLIER THAN US?! 

And she said all the other canoeing girls came back already.

OH CMON, don't shit me. I didn believe it. She said the other canoeing girls were back, to kinda borrow my trust for them, i'm sure, i'm sure.

So after limping to the baggage area to get my phone and call the rest of the canoeing girls, i got thorugh clarisse and they were still at 35km. HAHA nice one la huiqin.

She claims she ran with her NJ canoeing friend. Man, she didn look as tired as we were. God-like. Not in running i mean, but in fabricating. Oops.

Hey but she got her finisher tee and the medal. Aih, no glory at all, depressing.

In all her stunning integrity, she must have took a quick turn somewhere without ppl noticing. AND BASKET SHE WAS WEARING THE SAJC CANOEING SINGLET. DISGRACE! Grrr. 

Oh well, the ChampionChip will do justice, i hope. Her cert will not indicate completion. And hopefully they ask her to return her shirt and medal (which i dont think they will cos it's administrative-wise, it's troublesome, and she paid for it anw)

K, so that's very much most of the experience. Very interesting.

Leaving for perth later, gotta be at airport in 3 hours+. Hmm, i wonder how my legs will survive. Spamming glucosamine cream and icing it now. 

Happy holidays!