I reached the race site at around 1:30am and had my car properly parked before the road closure. Unfortunately, I started to feel hungry and sleepy at around 3am just before the race started. I just ignore the feeling and focus on the run.
Getting ready to the starting line, I was stuck in almost the middle of the crowd together with my friends.
When the gun fired, everything went as expected and I was squeezing my way to the front of the crowd (of course I didn't succeed). At around 1km after the starting line, the road became narrow and everyone was stuck there again. I had to run on the side of the road to make my way up front as much as I can.
As I normally run for 10 km during my training, I was very relax for the 1st 10 km including a bit of climbing in the middle of the bridge. I was at the pace of <6min/km for the 1st 10km except at area where I was stuck in the middle of the crowd. I then stopped for the drink and walked about 1min before I continued to run again.
I started to feel a bit of tired at ~13 km (after 1.5 hours of running). 13~14 km is the longest continues run that I had during my training. So, I guess that's the limit. I had to push myself to move forward and checking my watch very often to know how many km left.
At 17 km point, I was really struggling. My mind was asking me to stop running and just walk to finish the race. On the other hand, I wanted to hit the 2:15 timing and I pushed myself to just keep on running... just 4 km to go... I told myself that I could do 4km during training with no sweat! However, I really had to spend conscious effort to move every single step after the 17 km point. Running for 1 km was a great effort and a long way to go. The sign of "Pain Now... Char Koey Teow Later.." tells me that a lot of people is struggling as well and I just had to keep on running to complete the race.
I was so excited when I saw the sign of just 1 km to go. Although I heard that I had to keep my pace constant but I can't help myself from running faster. I checked my Garmin watch to know that I was running at less than 5mins/km. However, the fast run only last for around 300m (not the1 km fast run that I wished) and I had to slow down to around 6:40min/km pace.
I finally complete the race with 2:11 on my watch! I was so excited and couldn't express my feeling at that moment. I knew for sure that I will take another half marathon again some time.
Before I started my real training (~1 year ago), I set the target for myself to complete the race in 3 hour time. After I started the real training (~8 months ago), I set up another target to complete the race in 2.5 hours. A few weeks before the race, I think I am going to shoot for 2h15mins.
Well, I finally made it in 2:11:35 according to official time.
To me, this is very accurate tracking that I can certainly make use of the tool for future training.
To have a better half marathon run, I think I need to train for a longer run ~18 km so that I will not be struggling like what I experienced after the 17 km point. Food and drink planning that I had for this run was not bad.
Overall, I am satisfy with the results despite having a bit of knees discomfort for 2 days after the run.
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