Sundown Marathon 2012 (Halfway through)

As the air horn sounded off, we took off at almost a 4 minute pace for the first 500 meters, as we were sucked in by the elites near the start line, then me and the 2:00HM Pacer and new friend, Ganesh, slowed down and re-grouped with the rest of the group's pacers.

Looking at the HM 2:00 Pacers at the start of the race, I was doubting if I could keep up with them till the end.

The HM 2:00 Pacers

Front Row: Eddy Teo, Benjamin Chan, Roy Foo

Back Row: Patrick Koh, Ganesh Sivaraj

2km

So we settled in at a 5.30 pace, I looked at my left hand, my first 2km was dedicated to my Father, who was a very fast runner himself. He got back to pavement pounding when I started running too, and he has come a long way, one of the biggest support since I started running, and it was apt as it was the start of the Half Marathon too. Saw many familiar faces whiz pass me, including Mr Poon and his Wife, wished him all the very best for his run. It was very motivating to see Mr Poon as it was because of his advice to 'run off'my asthma that I took up running in the first place. My legs were in sync with Ganesh, matching his every stride. I focused on my breathing to not dehydrate myself this early in the race, breathing in and out through the nose.

4km

The pacers were constantly checking their watches and shouting out the current pace, we were doing slightly below 5.30, still cruising along comfortably. Ganesh constantly checked on me to see if I was fine. The pacers were doing a very fine job on their part, alerting runners about upcoming water points and turns so that they could prepare early, in terms of position or fueling. This 4km was for my family, particularly to my grandmother who has been in and out of hospital very often recently, although most of them don't know much about my running, I hope to one day make them proud. 

All smiles at the start, with Ganesh to my left!

6km

For the great one, Allah. I first started running in May 2011, I started praying at that time too. And my whole life has come such a long way from then, many things have changed for the better and countless new doors have opened. And it was all due to him. Around this time, I started feeling great pain in my shoulders, maybe it was due to stiffness, wrong body posture or not warming up. I tried to troubleshoot the problem by swinging my arms but it seem to worsen the problem, maybe I was swinging my arms too much, so I focused on minimizing my shoulder movement during running and it seemed to do the trick! 

8km

The Freedom Freaks, since my first run with them during Chinese New Year (From Woodlands to East Coast Park), I met many great running friends, they are a great bunch to be with, always learning from one another and sharing great moments together. It has been a great honor to know them, they are a bunch of fun-loving speedy demons, and I'm sure you'll see the freaks on podiums really soon. (Some of them already are!) So this 8km, I ran with them in mind, 5 months of great fun with them. I love their motto which they adhere to sincerely, Leave No One Behind, the Sundown Pacers seemed to be following that motto too.

The Freedom Freaks @ Sundown Marathon 2012

10km 

My goal was to break the 50 minute barrier for my 10km, I hope to achieve the goal soon, perhaps at the upcoming Punggol Waterway Run? I have a good feeling about it. Well a quick check on my watch, we passed the 11km mark at exactly 1 hour, going strong and I was more than halfway there. I ate my Shotz Wild Berry Gel there too, it was pretty cool to be ripping off the gel with my teeth, first timer. 10km for the ever expanding Team SBR. We started off with only 4 members, now we have expanded to more than 10 members with a huge fan base, and under the leadership of Sir Arafat, have been learning many new things, making great progress and insipiring the world too. I hope Shariff and Hafsah were doing well after their run too. Viva La Team SBR! 

12km

For my fellow brother who was probably sleeping comfortably in a farm in Taiwan as I was runninng. He has been with me since May 2011 and has been running with me too, he has came a long way. We used to be the worst enemies, but I guess it help us understand one another better. He has lost a shitload of weight too, but that's not the only thing, it was a bonus in addition to his new found positiveness and joy too. More than halfway through now, I was going to give my best. I am sure Lenney would want me to do my best too.