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I’ve always wondered how it feels like to finish a full marathon (42.195Km) .  I’ve finished 5K, 10K, 12K, 15K, 21.1K and 25K races but I have never joined a full marathon until last December 5, 2010.

After finishing my first half-marathon in December 2009 and finishing a 25Km last May 2010, I was motivated to try the full marathon for the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. Initially I had doubts but I did went ahead and signed up for the full marathon anyway.

A few days before race day I wasn’t feeling well. I started to have sore throat,  headache, muscle and back pain. I became worried it may get worst and develop into a flu.  In my previous races I was never really worried as I always felt confident I can finish the race despite the lack of training. It was totally different story for my first full marathon. Two nights before race I was having trouble sleeping that I ended up only having 3 hours of sleep and the night before the race, I only had a couple of hours sleep. I was excited at the same time worried if I can finish the marathon or if I’ll I finish it at a decent time.

Race Day:

The night before the race I slept early around 9pm however I woke up 2 hours after.  I was lying on my bed trying to close my eyes however I couldn’t put myself back to sleep.  My mind was wandering what will happen during the marathon.

At about 2am I got a text message from my friend Blue-B who was also running the marathon asking me if I’m already ready. After I received his text message I decided to get out of bed to take a shower and prepare for the marathon as there was less than 3 hrs to go before the start of the marathon.  Afterwards, I had a light breakfast consisting of bread and banana before leaving the flat.

I took a cab from my flat in Choa Chu Kang to Orchard where the start of the full marathon was set. I arrived in Orchard a few minutes after 4am and realized that there was already a long queue for the baggage deposit. Before I queued for the baggage deposit,  I decided to put on my race bib first to ensure I was not forgetting anything and I deposit the stuff that I don’t need for the marathon. By the time I finished, more and more people were queuing.  The counter where I was queuing was moving at a slow pace. I was getting worried as I had not gone to the toilet yet and it looked like I do not have any time anymore to even do a warm-up. I waited for almost an hour just to deposit my baggage and by then the race had already started.

I rushed to find the nearest toilet and I was I was quite relieved to find one inside Wheelock’s Place and there was no queue.  I had to start running towards the starting line which was still a few hundred meters away.  I could see that there were still a lot of people who have not started the marathon which made me feel a little better. By the time I started, I already had a delay of about 21 minutes.

To be continued….