OMG, I am still waddling like a penguin around with sore calf muscles, tight achilles and blistered feet. But the euphoric feeling of completing the gruelling 84k ultra is still floating in the air. As a form of sharing and to relive my memories, let me retraced the day before and the race itself.
29 May 2009
stayed back with students and MH to complete the comics strip part 2 on Senior High for the open house. stayed in sch till 9plus pm and later i treated them to KLP pastamania (only food outlet opened) for late dinner/supper. took the opportunity to carbo load with cheesy baked rice and garlic bread. sent them back and konked out at 1130pm.
30 May 2009
woke up early and decided to do a last minute run to warm up my muscles, did a 5 km slow run and proceeded with students to put up the display. Open house was autopilot and my mind was pre-occupied with the race. left after 12 noon and dashed home, did a carboload of pasta before sleeping for 2 hrs. woke up at 4pm and did another round of pasta loading. As the start of the race got closer, anxiety level rose and i begin to have doubts on whether i could last the distance. tried to distract myself from such negative thoughts by preparing my gear, protein drinks, no. tag. I kept reminding myself, all these months (more than half a year) of training and fighting for time just to clock my mileage is not gonna down the drain. I will finish. set my time target of 11 - 12 hrs.
picked up my friend at Tampines, while waiting for her, i blasted vintage rock music to psyche myself up, music really played an important part as I discovered later. reached Changi village at 540pm and took a while to find parking and eventually parked at a heavy vehicle lot. 8-P Thank god I didnt received a summons and after i parked the whole car park was swamped with cars. LOL. repacked my special needs bag, by then i was sweating like running tap and off we proceeded to the start point.
met up with two other frens Suan Lam and Lay Peng (both seasoned ultramarathoners and sports peeps) and checked in our special needs bags at the tent. proceeded to the "start point" close to 7 pm and we were surprised why there were so few people (shld be 600+) and we were just discussing that it won't start on time when we were told the start point is at the one near the beach and the one we were at was for the 42 km. Gosh! poor comms, they shld have just labelled it clearer.
my two seasoned frens went off with their 6min/km while my fren and i reckoned that we had better stick to our 7-8min/km pace. The whole stretch of changi coastal route was boring and i kept tap on our pace and eventually we tagged along a pair of male runners with relatively consistent pace of 7 min/pace. but towards the end of the changi part, they kindaf sped up and we were running 6.30min/km which was pretty fast so i slowed my fren down and sticked to 7 min/pace.
Turning into NSRCC ECP, as both of us were running, we felt a presence of runners behind us and it went on for whole stretch of ECP until we hit the part opposite the overhead bridge leading to VJC. My fren joked that we have become the "unofficial" pacers for the ultra. haha. by now, i was drenched and i felt the fatigue (cumulated from the weeks of lack of sleep and the early exertion) and we break into a walk at 18 km mark. walked for 5 mins and decided that we run to the 21 km mark before the overhead bridge. walked over the bridge as we dun see the point of overexerting ourselves (since there were gonna to be a few of these bridges and we are gonna crossed them TWO freaking times. gosh!). music was wat kept us going, and kept reminding myself to focus on the music and forget abt the fatigue.
Continued our run along siglap connector route, breaking into walks while crossing the bridges and the undulating part at the 24-25km mark. did the 4 km part leading and crossed the bedok reservoir becos we just wanna get out of the reservoir. rested and did some stretches and continued with our shuffle along tampines, pasir ris, keeping tap of our pace which is within the 5 hr 30min mark. 34, 35, 36...i finally told my fren i need to stop when we hit the last stretch of pasir ris sloping upwards to loyang. Till now, my fren a sub-4 marathoner, was in better shape than me and she kept saying, "we are reaching the end point, then we can rest". that kept me going, so we did the loyang stretch, in constant pace, 8 min/km, and both of us were kindaf fatigue, 38, 39, 40!!! then, saw tien leng (ex-student) who took this shot.
29 May 2009
stayed back with students and MH to complete the comics strip part 2 on Senior High for the open house. stayed in sch till 9plus pm and later i treated them to KLP pastamania (only food outlet opened) for late dinner/supper. took the opportunity to carbo load with cheesy baked rice and garlic bread. sent them back and konked out at 1130pm.
30 May 2009
woke up early and decided to do a last minute run to warm up my muscles, did a 5 km slow run and proceeded with students to put up the display. Open house was autopilot and my mind was pre-occupied with the race. left after 12 noon and dashed home, did a carboload of pasta before sleeping for 2 hrs. woke up at 4pm and did another round of pasta loading. As the start of the race got closer, anxiety level rose and i begin to have doubts on whether i could last the distance. tried to distract myself from such negative thoughts by preparing my gear, protein drinks, no. tag. I kept reminding myself, all these months (more than half a year) of training and fighting for time just to clock my mileage is not gonna down the drain. I will finish. set my time target of 11 - 12 hrs.
picked up my friend at Tampines, while waiting for her, i blasted vintage rock music to psyche myself up, music really played an important part as I discovered later. reached Changi village at 540pm and took a while to find parking and eventually parked at a heavy vehicle lot. 8-P Thank god I didnt received a summons and after i parked the whole car park was swamped with cars. LOL. repacked my special needs bag, by then i was sweating like running tap and off we proceeded to the start point.
met up with two other frens Suan Lam and Lay Peng (both seasoned ultramarathoners and sports peeps) and checked in our special needs bags at the tent. proceeded to the "start point" close to 7 pm and we were surprised why there were so few people (shld be 600+) and we were just discussing that it won't start on time when we were told the start point is at the one near the beach and the one we were at was for the 42 km. Gosh! poor comms, they shld have just labelled it clearer.
my two seasoned frens went off with their 6min/km while my fren and i reckoned that we had better stick to our 7-8min/km pace. The whole stretch of changi coastal route was boring and i kept tap on our pace and eventually we tagged along a pair of male runners with relatively consistent pace of 7 min/pace. but towards the end of the changi part, they kindaf sped up and we were running 6.30min/km which was pretty fast so i slowed my fren down and sticked to 7 min/pace.
Turning into NSRCC ECP, as both of us were running, we felt a presence of runners behind us and it went on for whole stretch of ECP until we hit the part opposite the overhead bridge leading to VJC. My fren joked that we have become the "unofficial" pacers for the ultra. haha. by now, i was drenched and i felt the fatigue (cumulated from the weeks of lack of sleep and the early exertion) and we break into a walk at 18 km mark. walked for 5 mins and decided that we run to the 21 km mark before the overhead bridge. walked over the bridge as we dun see the point of overexerting ourselves (since there were gonna to be a few of these bridges and we are gonna crossed them TWO freaking times. gosh!). music was wat kept us going, and kept reminding myself to focus on the music and forget abt the fatigue.
Continued our run along siglap connector route, breaking into walks while crossing the bridges and the undulating part at the 24-25km mark. did the 4 km part leading and crossed the bedok reservoir becos we just wanna get out of the reservoir. rested and did some stretches and continued with our shuffle along tampines, pasir ris, keeping tap of our pace which is within the 5 hr 30min mark. 34, 35, 36...i finally told my fren i need to stop when we hit the last stretch of pasir ris sloping upwards to loyang. Till now, my fren a sub-4 marathoner, was in better shape than me and she kept saying, "we are reaching the end point, then we can rest". that kept me going, so we did the loyang stretch, in constant pace, 8 min/km, and both of us were kindaf fatigue, 38, 39, 40!!! then, saw tien leng (ex-student) who took this shot.
thanks for the encouragement. 41km, then gosh! cramped on my calf muscles, got worse when i crossed that overhead bridge leading to the finish line...5 hr 13 min. within target.
limped across and headed to retreive my bag. saw my two other frens who came in and was about to leave. both of us rested for 20 mins. changed into a new pair of socks and singlet and off we went. I told my fren to go ahead and she went off like a bliss. And I knew, this 2nd loop was gonna be the toughest i have done in my 10 over years of distance running. It's really mind over body. my calves were crying out for help, and blisters were starting to develop on my feet and toes. i shuffled and run for the first 8 km, eventually settling in for brisk walking at 9 min/km pace. I become numb even to the music that kept me going for the first 42km. but what kept be going was one thing "I am not gonna end this until I finish the race."
Once I hit the 9 km mark, i broke into a run for 2 km, just wanna get out of the changi loop. hit NSRCC and i broke into brisk walking all the way until 15 km, reminding myself that i need to maintain my pace to reach my target time. I started running again, somehow the presence of the 42k runners spurred me on and i actually overtook a number of them (inflated ego haha). hit the bridge and shuffled all the way.
Along the way, saw alot of marathoners sitting at the sides or lying down to rest. and at this time, my body began to shut down and at one time I was shuffling with my eyes half-closed and I was so so tempted to lie down and take a power nap. But I remembered my fren's words, "quickly finish and then u can rest at the end point!!" and that provided enuff resistance for me to stop thinking of sleeping.
22k, 23, 24, met one of my frens who was suffering from blisters and bad feet, she walked with me for a while but i told her to continue and she went off...
25, 26... near bedok reservoir and I told myself, it is near, and i need a pee and the only toilet is at the end of the bedok reservoir. This provided enough impetus for me to break into a 7 min/km run and pass pass pass, so many 42 k runners, the feeling was good (ballooned ego again, 8-P). it was great with the toilet break and after freshening, i asked aid station to help paste my timestrip loop thingy becos it has loosened.
Then, off i go, 31, 32,33.. reached the pavement along the canal at pasir ris, saw SG Runners support station and thank god, i was so glad to see the familiar face of tekko. I was almost dozing off. thanks for his words of encouragement and photo. off I went shuffling again.
crossed the final long bridge at tampines and by then, my feet was badly bruised and blistered, my calf muscles were really tight and every step brought excruciating pain. 34, 35, 36... and then, i felt hungry and another urgent need to pee becos I have been downing h20 and water at every aid station. i have no choice but find a secluded spot to relieve myself. then, i saw the 38 mark! 4 km! 4 km! I looked at my watch, i have been running and shuffling for 11 hr 35mins, i can still make it at 12 hr!!. the pain on my feet is agonising, but i forced myself to visualise the end point, how i wanna end my journey, "focus, focus, listen to the music"...and somehow, it gave me strength to run,
39, 40! 2 more 2 more! i closed my eyes, took a deep breath and started to growl, uttering words of encouragement to myself, "come on come on, u can do it! pain is temporary, ..." it was totally mental, and people was staring at me for my periodic bursts of words...haha
final 1 km, i broke into a sprint, pain is beyond words but somehow i started to smile, passed so many runners, and saw my colleague and her hubby doing their 42k. "come on, i am gonna do it! oosh! oosh!" last 4oo m, reach the overhead bridge and my god! we need to detour! but wat the heck! it is now or never!
limped across and headed to retreive my bag. saw my two other frens who came in and was about to leave. both of us rested for 20 mins. changed into a new pair of socks and singlet and off we went. I told my fren to go ahead and she went off like a bliss. And I knew, this 2nd loop was gonna be the toughest i have done in my 10 over years of distance running. It's really mind over body. my calves were crying out for help, and blisters were starting to develop on my feet and toes. i shuffled and run for the first 8 km, eventually settling in for brisk walking at 9 min/km pace. I become numb even to the music that kept me going for the first 42km. but what kept be going was one thing "I am not gonna end this until I finish the race."
Once I hit the 9 km mark, i broke into a run for 2 km, just wanna get out of the changi loop. hit NSRCC and i broke into brisk walking all the way until 15 km, reminding myself that i need to maintain my pace to reach my target time. I started running again, somehow the presence of the 42k runners spurred me on and i actually overtook a number of them (inflated ego haha). hit the bridge and shuffled all the way.
Along the way, saw alot of marathoners sitting at the sides or lying down to rest. and at this time, my body began to shut down and at one time I was shuffling with my eyes half-closed and I was so so tempted to lie down and take a power nap. But I remembered my fren's words, "quickly finish and then u can rest at the end point!!" and that provided enuff resistance for me to stop thinking of sleeping.
22k, 23, 24, met one of my frens who was suffering from blisters and bad feet, she walked with me for a while but i told her to continue and she went off...
25, 26... near bedok reservoir and I told myself, it is near, and i need a pee and the only toilet is at the end of the bedok reservoir. This provided enough impetus for me to break into a 7 min/km run and pass pass pass, so many 42 k runners, the feeling was good (ballooned ego again, 8-P). it was great with the toilet break and after freshening, i asked aid station to help paste my timestrip loop thingy becos it has loosened.
Then, off i go, 31, 32,33.. reached the pavement along the canal at pasir ris, saw SG Runners support station and thank god, i was so glad to see the familiar face of tekko. I was almost dozing off. thanks for his words of encouragement and photo. off I went shuffling again.
crossed the final long bridge at tampines and by then, my feet was badly bruised and blistered, my calf muscles were really tight and every step brought excruciating pain. 34, 35, 36... and then, i felt hungry and another urgent need to pee becos I have been downing h20 and water at every aid station. i have no choice but find a secluded spot to relieve myself. then, i saw the 38 mark! 4 km! 4 km! I looked at my watch, i have been running and shuffling for 11 hr 35mins, i can still make it at 12 hr!!. the pain on my feet is agonising, but i forced myself to visualise the end point, how i wanna end my journey, "focus, focus, listen to the music"...and somehow, it gave me strength to run,
39, 40! 2 more 2 more! i closed my eyes, took a deep breath and started to growl, uttering words of encouragement to myself, "come on come on, u can do it! pain is temporary, ..." it was totally mental, and people was staring at me for my periodic bursts of words...haha
final 1 km, i broke into a sprint, pain is beyond words but somehow i started to smile, passed so many runners, and saw my colleague and her hubby doing their 42k. "come on, i am gonna do it! oosh! oosh!" last 4oo m, reach the overhead bridge and my god! we need to detour! but wat the heck! it is now or never!
hastened my pace, saw another colleague who has finished his 42k, closed my eyes, visualise visualise! finishing, finishing! there is the end!!! and woosh! 12 hr 13 min. End of gruelling journey.
i was all smiles, saw frens who finished their ultra, handshaked with them and even people that I dun know who were fellow ultra-runners. there was a great sense of achievement and camaraderie. collected the finisher's shirt and the medal. OMG! I was still grinning while limping.
went off to collect my special needs bag, met up with frens, downed water and bananas before changing and went back.
This is my first ultra journey. I have never imagined myself doing this distance when i was younger. But it started with wanting to do the 4 dessert races to raise funds for charity, and stumbling onto this as a way to gauge myself, decided to jio my fren to join. started the training. at one time, was anxious and doubtful. but with words of encouragement from people whom I know and tapping on my mental will, i have done it! pushing myself beyond my own limits.
nothing is impossible. But this race also saw tat I lacked training in a number of areas, my mileage is not good enuff, i need to do speed work and strength training and build up my mental strength.
but if you were to ask me if I have any regrets? Absolute NO!
and Will i do it again?
Let's just say, I keep my options open. Actually, the answer is obvious, if you know how crazy i am. LOL
woosh! and congrats to all ultra-runners comrades, we have done it! 8-)
i was all smiles, saw frens who finished their ultra, handshaked with them and even people that I dun know who were fellow ultra-runners. there was a great sense of achievement and camaraderie. collected the finisher's shirt and the medal. OMG! I was still grinning while limping.
went off to collect my special needs bag, met up with frens, downed water and bananas before changing and went back.
This is my first ultra journey. I have never imagined myself doing this distance when i was younger. But it started with wanting to do the 4 dessert races to raise funds for charity, and stumbling onto this as a way to gauge myself, decided to jio my fren to join. started the training. at one time, was anxious and doubtful. but with words of encouragement from people whom I know and tapping on my mental will, i have done it! pushing myself beyond my own limits.
nothing is impossible. But this race also saw tat I lacked training in a number of areas, my mileage is not good enuff, i need to do speed work and strength training and build up my mental strength.
but if you were to ask me if I have any regrets? Absolute NO!
and Will i do it again?
Let's just say, I keep my options open. Actually, the answer is obvious, if you know how crazy i am. LOL
woosh! and congrats to all ultra-runners comrades, we have done it! 8-)
4 comments:
Congrats!!! Wow, amazing, awesome, rad, high-five, fierce, cheers!!! Wish I knew some equivalents in Malay, Chinese or Tamil for you.
Happy recovery-Cindy
cheers! try it if u can. 8-)
took a deep breath and started to growl, uttering words of encouragement to myself, "come on come on, u can do it! pain is temporary, ..."
That was the clincher for me, that was absolutely classique, that IS endurance running at its core - no frills, no fancy banners, no advertisements : ).
Again, congratulations on your stupendous achievement. A run like this has the vast potential to break down barriers in your life, to make you really and truly believe in infinity, in your limitless capacity. I hope you keep the experience with you forever, and (more selfishly!) I hope to benefit from a similar such experience some day : ).
In the mean time, do rest well. Delayed onset of Muscle fatigue's a BIG concern, so do watch out for that! But most importantly, enjoy yourself in the wake of your success!
I do hope my departure from DHS will NOT signal the end of our correspondence. Ceteris paribus, I hope to travel to GOBI with you next year! : )
Cheers,
Devathas
thanks dave. Tears welled in my eyes when I know that i am gonna finish the gruelling journey, that was at the 82km mark and that's when the pain seemed strangely to have dissipated.
i will keep u posted.
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