I have been away in the last couple of weeks. This means that my last run/exercise before the Sundown Ultra was the Sundown Marathon. The lack of training reflects immediately even before the start. When I climbed up the stair to the top of Marina barrage, I had slight pain on my left knee. Right after the start, I tried to run down the "grass patch", I had slight pain on my left leg as well. Not a good sign at all. I reset my expectation to complete in 16.5 hr to merely to finish within cutoff.
Due to the uncomfortable left leg, I decided to walk instead of run/walk. I started brisk walking right at the beginning, taking it easy in the first 3km at around 8:30 pace, accelerate a little bit to around 8:00 pace before the first pitstop. At the first pitstop, I just grab a bottle of water, a sandwich and a bag of chips. I did not stop at all. And settled my pace to a comfortable, non-aggressive pace of 8:30 to 9:00. I did the quick grab and go at the 2nd pitstop before the Changi Coastal road. I hit the half marathon distance at 3 hrs. At the long boring Changi Coastal Road, I focus on passing the next person in front of me. That keep me occupied and fully motivated. And I did passed a few.
The 30km stop is at Changi Beach Park, I did the same grab-n-go. But I started to feel a hot spot developed at the ball of foot in my left foot. I stop and air it and it goes ok. The 40km stop is at Pasir Ris Park. While my spirit is still good, I have slow down further. Seeing the pitstop but still need to go a big loop around it is demoralizing. I did a brief stop at 40km. Mainly, eat, wash my face. Staying between 3 to 5 minutes in all subsequent pitstops. I hit the full marathon distance at 6 hr 24 mins which is about 5 minutes faster than my previous Sundown Ultra. I continue to have reasonable pace but find that my left foot hot spot is getting worst. I need to avoid hitting hard on my left foot, choosing to step on some of the metal drain cover instead of the concrete road. I typically don't like the sand/gravel track at Bedok, but this time, I like it. I hit the 50km around 7 hr 50 minutes. Got my drop bag, change t-shirt, shoe, sock, drink-n-eat, and get out of it at 8:03. There is still 10 hours available should be sufficient of time for me to finish.
I was walking slower and slower, after 60km, my blister finally comes. I stopped. pinch and drain the liquid and move on. The return leg of Pasir Ris Park is bad, boring and difficult to focus. In the next stretch of Pasir Ris Drive 3 & Loyang Ave, I was very slow and passed by some walkers. At 70km, my pace slows down to 10-11 min/km.
The return leg of Changi Coastal Road was horrible. I was sleepy, tired and almost lost the spirit. I was so slow that I was passed by quite a few. I finally find my rhythm about 2 km before the end of Changi Coastal Road. I was doing 200-300m relaxed walk and 100m aggressive brisk walk. This has help me to regain my spirit.
By the time I got to 80km pitstop, the sun is shining bright. Luckily, there was wind in ECP during the morning and helps a lot. And the familiar ECP helps to get back the spirit. I made the final pitstop on ECP. In the last 10km, I try to skip any break and just continue. The last 4km was under the strong sun and tough. One runner that I passed has no water and I let him took some of mine. In the last 2km, I accelerate and passed a few runners. On the Marina Barrage, I dash for 500m and passed another half a dozen. I even run up the ramp to the top of the Barrage.
In total, I brisk walked 99.5km, dash the last 500m and finished 17 hr 8 min 48 s.
My timing at 84km was about 30 mins faster than my 2009 Sundown Ultra timing. I am happy with the result.
I want to thank the numerous supporter along the way. Many stay up throughout the night providing drinks, cheer and taking photos. The supporter really help us to maintain our spirit.
