I don’t have a lot of expectations from myself for this new year.

1. Get a new job.
2. Save money. (Yeah I know this is such a general statement, but I’d love to see my savings grow.)
3. Complete 42.195km once again, and this time round, I wanna go for under 4 hours.

Achievable? Yup, I think so.

During the past 1 month, I have only ran twice prior to the race yesterday.

Few weeks back, I was down with a fever.
The following week, I was in London.
The week after my return, I was in a series of coughing fits.

I wasn’t in my 100% but just 6 days before the big race, I decided to go for a slow 5km to kick start my engine again. It was a short run from Choa Chu Kang Stadium to Yew Tee and back.
The following day, countdown 5 days before race day, I headed back for training with Coach Sham. I did a 2.4km warm up, followed by 1 x 8km at an easy pace.

I wanted to do another easy run the next day, but my muscles were feeling a bit tight (and it was raining), so I decided not to risk it.

That was all the preparation I had. The next thing I knew was waking up at 5am on Sunday morning and driving down to City Hall.

One thing that pissed me off was the lack of proper signages to direct me to the start point. I ended up cutting through the Padang, and the Padang at 6am was barely lighted up. I stepped into a puddle and my shoes were entirely soaked. I HATED THAT FEELING. There was mud at the sides of my shoes, my socks were dampened, and so was my spirit.

I gathered at the start point around 20 minutes to flag off, noticed a couple of familiar faces and the potential winners. Couldn’t really find someone to pace with, so I figured it was just gonna be my GPS and me.

We were flagged off promptly at 7.15am, and within the first 10 metres, I noticed Mei Yi running alone too. I shouted her name to get her attention and we maintained a 4:50 pace for the first 4km before she slowed down and I passed her by. Although she didn’t manage to continue with me, I must say that she helped me to set the pace right and that was very important for me, especially for the first half of the race.

I was left alone for the remainder of the entire race, and taking constant checks at my watch to make sure I was still maintaining my pace, I noticed Alex Ong in the distance and overtook him with slightly more than 2km to go. Alex was running the full marathon, and at the point where I overtook him, he was still in 5th position for the Singaporean Male category. (I found out from him later that he dropped to 7th position because he couldn’t take the heat, and finished in 3:03:41.)

The final stretch down Esplanade Drive was indescribable. The entire road was practically empty, save for the supporters and photographers. I was so tempted to just do my final sprint down that stretch, so I increased my pace. I wish I could put to words how it felt when I ran past 2 rows of photographers and heard the countless shutter clicks that followed.

I finished the race in 47 minutes and 58 seconds.

Still way off my targeted 46 minutes, which I have yet to achieve this year.
Unfortunately, there are no more opportunities for me to do so.

While waiting for my friends to return from their full marathons, I noticed a lot of female runners finishing their full marathons in the 4th hour. It was a very depressing feeling, because my 42km PB is 4 hours 17 minutes (set in 2010), and I know I am capable of a better timing if I were to commit the hours and mileage.

At that very moment, I told myself that I will be back for 42km again. Hopefully, in 2013.