SCSM 2007 Report

"4am already, quickly wake up" I got a shock and jumped out of bed, tot I overslept.. the clock shows 3:15am..alamak.. dun tell me clock spoilt arh.. double checked my Timex watch.. Chey~! It's really 3.15am!! What an effective wake up call from dear.. else i will still laze another 5-10mins in bed.. haha... as i had already done my pre-race preparation the nite before, took a quick brekkie and off we went. My lovely mum sent us to the race point and we picked Kumaran up at the usual bus-stop. We reached raffles hotel at ard 4.35am.. and slowly walked to esplanade to meet up with the rest. Michael, Peter, Wong, Yean and Jason were already there. Soon, Cm, Goola, Siew Lee, Amelia, also arrived and Shirley brought along her piping hot home-made kopi. I did some stretching and we all went to the starting point at ard 5.05am.

Marina : Pace Searching
It was really a big crowd this year.. Many ppl were already at the Sub-5 and Sub-4 section.. Michael, Amelia, Chairman, Wong, Shirley and I stand at the same section.. dear and our club elites were all gathering near the front line.. The race started at 5.30am sharp. Michael and Shirley went ahead.. planning to test out my 1st km pace, i patiently followed a distance behind.. @ e 1st marker, my watch shown 6:08min.. oops too fast.. i checked my pace at every km marker, adjusted my pace a little and make sure i am in ard 6:45 ~ 7min pace. just shortly after the singapore conference hall, i saw laichee racing through the packed crowd of runners.. (she was 4 mins late.. lucky tt didn't affect her overall ranking at the end :D) knowing i am quite slow as many runners overtook me, i asked the 2 ladies (Dora & her fren) who have been following me to go ahead as i might be quite slow for them.

As I head into Marina Pier, I saw colleen (looking very cheerful) leading a pack of runners out, wow they are the sub 4.30 runners.. followed by michael, julie and sok hwa.. shortly after the U turn water point, i heard a very familiar voice from behind.. it's Yew Keong! (my sec sch kaki) asked if he saw James (another sec kaki) and wish him all the best for his Maiden marathon.. Siew Lee, KK, Jason and Henry caught up with me at Marina bay mrt.. Henry asked if i'm aiming for my race reward, 2k for sub 4:15 and 1k for sub 4:30.. hahaha no way i am close to these timing.. dun even dare to dream abt it.. impossible for me to achieve it with my lack of mileage training due to my ITB injury after GC.. can complete very good liao.. 4 of them went ahead and i signalled to them dun have to wait for me.. :D Eddie Toh and Alvin overtook me at robinson.. my 1st 10km clocked 1:06 ..

Robinson ~ Mountbatten: Weak in mind
Peter caught up with me just before clifford pier.. so nice to see him.. he was looking good and strong.. we ran together and saw waifung cheering for us as we turn right to esplanade.. i started to feel the heat and the sky looked clear light blue .. when i hit nicoll highway bridge.. a strong negative thought keep flushing thru my mind.. "Give up give up, turn back turn back" (did i drink too much as i hydrate at most of the water pt so far)... Siew Lee, KK and ivy came from behind. surprised to see them as i tot they were went ahead. Siew lee was not feeling well and vomitted ealier.. oh dear.. but she continue to pace ahead, we tot she shld be fine.

After they went forward, worried tt i might drag peter behind.. i asked peter a couple of times if i am slowing him down... asked him to go ahead. so glad he didn't.. cos when i see the entrance of fort road, i really wanted to stop n U turn back.. but dunno how to tell peter.. hahaha.. so just drag myself in.. at 19km water point, i took my 1st power gel and told Peter to go ahead.. cos my morale very low.. he tot i was not feeling well, yuen also overtook us.. when we hit 20km peter went ahead with his plan to do negative spilt and wished me all the best for my race and see me at the finishing point. :)

ECP: Turning point
Tho i was alone, but my mind wasn't.. looking out for dear on the opp side kept me going further n further in.. saw teck hou, kumaran, ricci etc.. did i missed him?? cannot be.. got a feeling tt something must hv went wrong for dear.. finally saw him at 22km.. felt a sense of relief.. he was looking abit weak n ask me to run slowly.. i went on and senior chua came up.. i asked him to jia you.. haha n he asked me got fuel to add for him.. hahaha.. n off he went .. further into ECP, i saw Freddy, Jimmy, Ronnie, DO, Rosalind, Dream and Brokie.. felt more confident when i approach the lagoon.. saw peter and senior chua at 24km water point.. cm and amelia overtook me.. aiyo Cm shouted out my name so loudly a few times.. "Jaime lei Jaime lei, no fuel liao" wah so paiseh.. feel like digging a hole and hide inside...hahaha :"> saw Thomas, Alber, Michael and Julie heading back towards lagoon direction.. Cm and amelia stopped to stretch at the 25km water point, i just drank n go.. then he overtook me and called out my name again for the 2nd time.. muahahaha.. I can't wait to reach the U-turn point.. it seems so near yet so far.. no signboard indicating U turn till i see a ray of light midway after sunset bay park.. it was really a turning point for me after this...

I asked for green apple favoured power gel and headed straight to the 27km WP.. refuel my energy and felt stronger to maintain my pace.. 28km, 29km, 30km, feelign stronger n stronger.. popped my 1st salt tablet @30km to prevent cramp from acting up... next target pt.. Sng-pao at TM safra support pt @ 32km. Thank you TM supporters for preparing the nice refreshing sng-pao every yr! Mohan was there too, he had done 3 marathons back-to-back for the last 3 wks.. this yr he is gg to complete his record of 13 marathons in a yr!! Mohan, Thanks for the nice pics @ ECP!




Mountbatten ~ Finishing: Go for it!
8km more to go.. I gonna hang on.. saw Cm and Amelia abt 200m ahead.. overtook alex @ 35km and took my last pack of gel at e WP.. still maintaining abt 200m away, Cm was hopping ahead with amelia abt 10m behind.. @36km, tho the heat was killing.. for tt moment, i felt i loved the heat (think i must be gone crazy.. :o) and skipped the Cold Storage cool zone.. popped in my 2nd salt tablet @ 37km WP, CM and amelia also stopped for a drink.. worried tt Cm will tease me again.. i quietly overtook him and ran on.. 4km left to go.. overheard the 5hr marathon pacer telling his runners, oni 30mins left.. they got to maintain at tt pace.. feeling good, i increased my pace and overtook many ppl.. finally the Durian is getting bigger n bigger!! the clock shown 4:46 @ 41km took a last gulp of 100plus and all the way! saw Dear waiting for me near the cricket club and for the 1st time we got a finishing pic together.. this is the best reward ever :P haha of course he crossed the finishing line much earlier!!

Marathon pace:










What a year it had been! I'm gg to throw 2007 injuries behind. Looking forward to a stronger and better running year in 2008! "D

Well done for all! :D Congratulations to those who have achieved great timings!

For those who felt they could have done better, dun lose heart. A small setback is nothing compared to what you can achieve in future! What matters most is the passion n mindset. Never give up and you will come back stronger and tougher! Cheers! =)