2007 Achievement

Looking back at 2007, my achievement was the completion of the Standard Chartered Marathon in December. Being my first marathon, I was happy to complete it within my targeted time of less than 5 hours. I always told myself that I will run a marathon someday. At least I should do it once in my lifetime. I heard the calling early last year. It just came to my mind that I should do a daunting task, something that I was not sure if I could do it. Some sort of a personal challenge, if I could say. Maybe it was also because of certain thing which happened in 2006 and I needed to do something to make me feel alive again and to get some feel good factor.

I realised that the toughest part of the marathon was not the race itself, but rather the training. The 20km weekly run since September was burning me out. Few weeks into the training, I dreaded the lone and boring 2-hour run. My knees were also giving me problems every time I run 20km, blaming myself why did I even conceive the idea of running a marathon. Anyway, few weeks before the race, I managed to push myself to cover 50km per week over 3 days. The training required tremendous amount of discipline, self motivation and will power. Having told a few people about my race, it was also the pressure to keep up with the training and complete the race in order not to lose face.

My plan was to train up to at least 30km in a single run. Unfortunately, I could only push myself to complete 23km. This meant that I needed to endure the remaining 19km in order to complete 42km during the event. However, few days before the event, I had the feeling that I would be able to complete the race. Perhaps it was because of the plenty uphill and downhill routes during my training that gave me the confidence. To prepare myself, I also read articles about how to load carbohydrates before the run, how to prevent the body from going into the zone of burning fats (instead of carbohydrates) for energy (i.e. hitting the wall), how to recharge the body with energy gel and isotonic drinks during the race, how to go slow and converse energy. In short, to have a strategy for the race.

During the race, the first 20km was a breeze. After that, my thigh begun to tighten up. When I crossed the 25km mark, my knees begun to hurt and I started to apply deep heat all over my legs. When I reached 34km, the pain was getting worse and I told myself to quickly finish the race before my knees could not take it anymore. So I try to open up my legs and run faster. Surprising, I could do it and overtook many other runners. The worst part came after 38km where there was no shade to shield the sunshine and it was very very hot. I slowed down considerably, dousing myself with water whenever I could. But, by the time I saw the 40km mark, euphoria had slowly erased all the pain and finally, the finishing line was at sight. The last 100m of the race was very well decorated and the atmosphere was really terrific.

At last, I did it and I can proudly announce it to my friends! I did it at a time when I have reached middle age, a time where most of the people would have past their prime.

Would I attempt to do another daunting task this year? I am not sure. We shall see.