Analysis and Learning

Hydration: I should learn more on hydrating properly before the race. Now the point is to identify what “proper” hydration means. Though I drink nearly 7-8 litres of water everyday and consume sufficient quantity of water before long runs I invariably get dehydrated after the run. More research is required on this aspect.

Running without Walking: Somehow I should develop the habit or running without walking and also work on my mental and physical toughness. Walking in the middle of long distance running really dampens my mental toughness and my legs yearn for taking more walk breaks. Important area to work on.

Weight Reduction: This would be one of my primary goals during the first half of the year. I managed to shed couple of kgs before the marathon, but would have to cut down another 4-5 kgs. It’s really important to feel light when I start training for my next marathon during the later half of the year.

Completing the marathon has really taught me few good lessons. Dedication, determination and sticking to a well defined plan would definitely result in achieving any goal. While doing any work, whenever complacency or laziness creeps into my mind, I think about the marathon finish. “Come on dude, if you can complete a marathon why not this work”. Some people learn things in harder way and I have chosen this way.

After a brief gap I ran 16k today morning. The roads were covered with mist with visibility hardly less than five meters. I enjoyed running in the mist while my mind was humming the song Brothers in arms – “These mist covered mountains….”.

Singapore Marathon - Race Day

Chip Time: 4:54:10
Placement: 2499 out of 9704 and 370 out of 1331 in my age category.

The Chennai Runners group which took part in Singapore Marathon.

From L to R: Ramesh, Shumit, Vidyuth, Senthil, Shahid, Narayanan, Ram and Me (few are not in the picture). I wouldn't have participated if I hadn't joined this running group. Big thanks to them.

Well, I am really happy about completing my first marathon, but not feeling great about my timing. Hoping to do sub 4 hrs, I joined the sub 4hrs group. With just five minutes into the race, I had to take a pee break. There was already a big queue outside the toilet resulting me in losing 4-5 mins and missing the pace setters too. I was running along with sub five hours group for some time and realised that I am running slowly. Then I did a mistake of picking up the pace at around 5k. Worried about over-hydration, I didn’t consume any fluid till 9th km. By then, my hamstrings also started causing some trouble. I think it’s because of the flight travel and some strenuous walking the previous day.

I was looking out for Shumit, found him at around 9k mark and we both were following 4:15 pace setters. After 13k I was unable to keep up the pace and had to slow down. I crossed the 21k at 2:03 and missed the goal of 1:50. I was slowly munching the miles and passed the 30k mark at 3:14. The moment I saw the 30k mark, my legs stopped to take a small walk break and played the spoilsport for the rest of the run. From there on, it’s just a combination of walk and run to complete the remaining distance.

I joined Vidyuth at around 32k and we both walked, ran together till 40k mark with some stretching during the course. At around 35k, I was feeling very hungry and was desperately looking for some thing to chew. I found the banana stall at 39k mark and felt alright after swallowing one. Somehow during the struggle, I didn’t think about any inspiration quotes to keep myself moving forward. Few weeks before the race, I had a thought of dedicating my first marathon to my father and the same thought kept my legs moving during the tougher part of the race. Heart burns and quads were forcing me to walk. What if my heart stops before I touch the finish line, what if I get cramps, will I be able to achieve at least sub 5hrs finish – I was going through lot of emotions which were pushing me to further slow down and walk. It’s a battle between my mind and body in which my body was defeating my mind on most of the occasions. With only few minutes to five hours and couple of kilometres to be covered, I told Vidyuth that I am going to run till finish line. I crossed the finish line with my hands raised in the air. My stopwatch showed 4:54:19. I am dedicating my first marathon to my father.

Post race I collected my medal and finishers T-shirt and went on to take a massage at the massage centre arranged for full marathon finishers. The entire race was organised to perfection with water and isotonic drink stalls every kilometre, cheering groups, bands playing and supporters clapping all through the race course from start to finish line.

My body was coated with thick layer of salt and I was badly dehydrated. I went back to my hotel room, tried to eat food and immediately puked after taking two spoons of rice. I slept like a log for few hours and felt better after waking up. Met couple of friends that evening and celebrated with few pints of beer near the river side. Overall the experience of completing a marathon is wonderful. Now I know my shortcomings and have to figure out to correct those before my next marathon.

Check out my pictures here and here.