GoldCoast Marathon Report
Pre Race
After few months of waiting.. the day has finally come.. Me and dear gg for our 1st Aussie trip :D (oops shld be 1st for me and 3rd for him.. hehe) had a nice popeye chicken dinner at T1 with my dearest family b4 checking in our flight... was almost given a separate seat with dear.. cos the check-in actually start at 10am.. woah we din knew abt tt! lucky the officer manage to get an aisle seat for us.. phew.. can't imagine 7 hrs of flight with dear sit at the other end of the flight.. At boarding area, 2 fellow runners, (Mohan and Hazel) approached us and asked if we are gg for the marathon.. we were caught in surprise haha later then i realise cos dear was wearing his HK marathon finisher tee.. after 7 hrs of flight, we finally reached Brisbane.. got our transfer vouchers to Goldcoast, we bid goodbye to both Mohan n Hazel.. our next mtg was on the race day ;)
The journey to GC was abt 90mins.. we quickly check-in and proceed to the race expo to collect our race pack :D saw Yuji there too.. there was no queue at the marathon section.. there were less than 3000 participants.. think majority went for half or 10km walk... we decided to skip all the fried n heaty food tt might affect our race.. so we went to a small jap eatery for dinner.. Nagahama Ramen.. woah taste very yummy.. tt drew us back for another 2 times.. haha..
Brought dear to dreamworld on sat.. had one of the most thrilling ride tt i haven experience for a very long time.. 'The Claw" haha dear said his heart almost popped out! can't imagine how i lure him to join me in such rides just before the race haha.. legs also jellied..
Afterwhich, we went to Harbourtown (strongly recommended by laichee) n got a nice Nike training vest tt helped to keep us warm for the race... and quickly went back hotel to rest for the night.
Race Day
Woke up at 5plus.. had a quick washup, took a pkt of Green Apple powergel.. n off we went to catch our shuttle bus to the race pt.. after we deposit our bags, we went to the toilet for the last time.. dear went ahead to the sub 3:30 section.. as i proceed towards the sub 4:30 section.. i met Mohan and Hazel.. we took some nice pics and wished one another all the best for the race..
As i have not been hitting much mileage for the race.. i oni pray hard that i will be able to complete in one piece.. my strategy for this race is to go slow n try to last as far as i can.. at the 1st km marker.. i checked my pace.. 6:30.. hmm breathing was good, weather was superb.. with the nice cool breeze.. so it will be good if i can maintain it.. i checked my pace at every distance marker.. kept myself occupied by counting the time i suppose to hit at the next km marker.. there were many japanese runners.. n most of them were wearing CW-X (3/4 or half length).. haha me too :D
I saw dear after the 11km mark.. he had U-turned n abt 15km.. we crossed hi-5's and proceed on.. saw Mohan with the 4:00 pacer abt 500 m from the u turn pt.. wow he is really fast! i took my 1st gel at 20km water pt.. my pace was still good.. maintained at 6:30.. at 22km mark.. i chked my watch.. woah my pace slowed down to 7:15.. whenever i tried to lift up my legs to increase my pace, i felt a tightness at my calves.. oh no.. seem like gg to clamp.. so i maintained my 7:15~7:30 pace thruout the race.. i was very tempted to stop when i pass by the starting pt at the 26km.. tried to motivate myself.. since u are in it.. u shld finish it.. just 16km more.. i took my 2nd gel at 32km mark.. got a small banana from some japanese supporters after the 2nd U-turn at 34km mark.. i hold it all the way until i reached the 37km water pt.. still checking my pace.. still with the 7:30 pace.. i wanted to stop after 39km.. but i dun dare.. cos i knew once i start walking, tt's it for me.. just run just run.. u are reaching the finishing line soon.. i held on .. "it's all in ur mind.. u can do it".. finally i passed 41km and turned in to the park.. picked up my pace n overtook a few runners... just when i reached 42km.. i saw dear n waved to him :D my name was called out just before i crossed the finishing pt at 4:46.. well done for me! very satisfied n contented .. tho it's not my PB.. but the experience in another marathon is so rewarding.. it's my 3rd race so far.. how to complete n how to go thru the full distance is something tt i really enjoyed.. every marathon is a learning process for me.. u never know what u can do for yourself until u really did it ;)
Post Race
The remaining vacation was very thrilling n relax for us.. rides at the Movie world.. farm visit at Paradise country.. n of cos shopping n makan thruout! :D Time really passed n soon we are back at Brisbane airport returning to sg.. ^o^
After few months of waiting.. the day has finally come.. Me and dear gg for our 1st Aussie trip :D (oops shld be 1st for me and 3rd for him.. hehe) had a nice popeye chicken dinner at T1 with my dearest family b4 checking in our flight... was almost given a separate seat with dear.. cos the check-in actually start at 10am.. woah we din knew abt tt! lucky the officer manage to get an aisle seat for us.. phew.. can't imagine 7 hrs of flight with dear sit at the other end of the flight.. At boarding area, 2 fellow runners, (Mohan and Hazel) approached us and asked if we are gg for the marathon.. we were caught in surprise haha later then i realise cos dear was wearing his HK marathon finisher tee.. after 7 hrs of flight, we finally reached Brisbane.. got our transfer vouchers to Goldcoast, we bid goodbye to both Mohan n Hazel.. our next mtg was on the race day ;)
The journey to GC was abt 90mins.. we quickly check-in and proceed to the race expo to collect our race pack :D saw Yuji there too.. there was no queue at the marathon section.. there were less than 3000 participants.. think majority went for half or 10km walk... we decided to skip all the fried n heaty food tt might affect our race.. so we went to a small jap eatery for dinner.. Nagahama Ramen.. woah taste very yummy.. tt drew us back for another 2 times.. haha..
Brought dear to dreamworld on sat.. had one of the most thrilling ride tt i haven experience for a very long time.. 'The Claw" haha dear said his heart almost popped out! can't imagine how i lure him to join me in such rides just before the race haha.. legs also jellied..
Afterwhich, we went to Harbourtown (strongly recommended by laichee) n got a nice Nike training vest tt helped to keep us warm for the race... and quickly went back hotel to rest for the night.
Race Day
Woke up at 5plus.. had a quick washup, took a pkt of Green Apple powergel.. n off we went to catch our shuttle bus to the race pt.. after we deposit our bags, we went to the toilet for the last time.. dear went ahead to the sub 3:30 section.. as i proceed towards the sub 4:30 section.. i met Mohan and Hazel.. we took some nice pics and wished one another all the best for the race..
As i have not been hitting much mileage for the race.. i oni pray hard that i will be able to complete in one piece.. my strategy for this race is to go slow n try to last as far as i can.. at the 1st km marker.. i checked my pace.. 6:30.. hmm breathing was good, weather was superb.. with the nice cool breeze.. so it will be good if i can maintain it.. i checked my pace at every distance marker.. kept myself occupied by counting the time i suppose to hit at the next km marker.. there were many japanese runners.. n most of them were wearing CW-X (3/4 or half length).. haha me too :D
I saw dear after the 11km mark.. he had U-turned n abt 15km.. we crossed hi-5's and proceed on.. saw Mohan with the 4:00 pacer abt 500 m from the u turn pt.. wow he is really fast! i took my 1st gel at 20km water pt.. my pace was still good.. maintained at 6:30.. at 22km mark.. i chked my watch.. woah my pace slowed down to 7:15.. whenever i tried to lift up my legs to increase my pace, i felt a tightness at my calves.. oh no.. seem like gg to clamp.. so i maintained my 7:15~7:30 pace thruout the race.. i was very tempted to stop when i pass by the starting pt at the 26km.. tried to motivate myself.. since u are in it.. u shld finish it.. just 16km more.. i took my 2nd gel at 32km mark.. got a small banana from some japanese supporters after the 2nd U-turn at 34km mark.. i hold it all the way until i reached the 37km water pt.. still checking my pace.. still with the 7:30 pace.. i wanted to stop after 39km.. but i dun dare.. cos i knew once i start walking, tt's it for me.. just run just run.. u are reaching the finishing line soon.. i held on .. "it's all in ur mind.. u can do it".. finally i passed 41km and turned in to the park.. picked up my pace n overtook a few runners... just when i reached 42km.. i saw dear n waved to him :D my name was called out just before i crossed the finishing pt at 4:46.. well done for me! very satisfied n contented .. tho it's not my PB.. but the experience in another marathon is so rewarding.. it's my 3rd race so far.. how to complete n how to go thru the full distance is something tt i really enjoyed.. every marathon is a learning process for me.. u never know what u can do for yourself until u really did it ;)
Post Race
The remaining vacation was very thrilling n relax for us.. rides at the Movie world.. farm visit at Paradise country.. n of cos shopping n makan thruout! :D Time really passed n soon we are back at Brisbane airport returning to sg.. ^o^
posted by Jaime @ 9:50 PM
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