Running Diary #2 - My First Full Marathon

Full Marathon was a totally different ball game. I cried a bit after I finished because my legs were just so painful. Also, I did not feel immediate satisfying feeling as I finished my half-marathon. The first thing that came to my mind when I finished the marathon was: "Pain!!" "Horrible." "Literally running while aching for the second half of the marathon."

The journey felt lonely at the beginning. I was separated from my friend because of the different pen and different baggage deposit point. I also did not manage to meet Paul first as he arrived much later and still needed to queue for the baggage deposit. At the end I felt it may be a good thing as my friend and I had quite different running styles, and I should not run with Paul because I need to run slower than him to survive the full marathon.

I felt really happy with my first half of the marathon though. I really gained confidence in running half-marathon again. I used the first 3km just as a warm up and I looked at my watch and aim for each km. Bumped into Paul at the 10th km, and felt quite happy to run together a bit before the half- and full-marathon route were split 2km later. Once I passed the 21km, I felt my legs ached, then left ankle started to hurt, then the pain disappeared and right calf was super stiff. I told myself I really wanted to run pass through the finish line, so I walked a few hundred meters-ran-walked along the East Coast Park to lessen the stiffness. It was the hardest part (21-30km), as it was sooo hot and even though the water point was only around 2km apart from each other, it felt so long. My mouth felt so dry. Since I passed the 21km, I drank 1 cup of water + 2 cups of isotonic drink in each drinking point.

However, around the 26th km, I realised that my pain was worsened as I walked, so I tried to jog again super slowly and I told myself, "Hey, I can do this for the next 16km", and that kept me running. I still walked here and there, but not as bad as the first part. I did not look at my watch anymore, and I just tried to finish 1km after another offering up the pain for different intentions. What I did was as I ran passing through different areas, I recalled friends who were related to the buildings. Like when I passed near the Cecil Street in the first half, I offered up that km for my dance buddy because there is a dance studio nearby.

When I passed 39km, I saw Paul at the bus stop! I innocently asked, "Are you going home??" =P (of course he dare not!) He told me not to be deceived as it was still a long way to go, so after he took my smiley photo (the most smiley photo I had throughout the marathon), I decided to walk a bit again.

I think why I didn't feel so satisfied after this marathon was I really wish I had trained more. My longest run was only 16km, and unlike the half-marathon training, I did not manage to build the weekly mileage as the marathon fell straight after the busiest three weeks of end-of-term. However, I am so grateful that I survived. It felt so daunting to see people limping and hear the siren of the ambulance here and there as I ran. I told myself that I will just run marathon once in a while, definitely not every year =P

However, after I saw the result of the marathon, I felt quite happy! I finished in 06:05:43, I was slow but I was quite surprised that just by jogging slowly after 21km, my relative position increased bit by bit. The long run training really helps. When I ran the last 16km, I told myself, "Oh it won't be that bad. It's just like how Paul and I trained from his house to MacRitchie and round and back." For the last 7km, I told myself that it was only the distance between my office and Novena MRT.

It was an interesting experience. I am really motivated to go half-marathon again. As for full-marathon, hmmm, it's really a sacrifice =P So I guess I may not go every year. Firstly, I've seen some people who have knee problems due to running marathon in the past, so I'm quite worried, even though I know friends who run marathon regularly. Secondly, the long run training really takes up our climbing routine :( So unless I am more disciplined to climb another day and run on Sundays, it's a really hard to do both.

I think the biggest lesson for me was it was really a push for myself, mentally and physically. It's very rare that I push myself. I'm quite an easy-to-whine person. I used to complain even though I just ran for 3km. The last time I did push myself was dance camp 5 or 6 years ago. Since then I never pushed myself this much. It might sound crazy but to learn to endure the pain and keep going is a good training. This marathon is not an end, but another training ground. At least from now on I will have more reason not to complain and whine too much if I wear high heels for too long. It's nothing compared to the second half of a full-marathon. Also, it motivates me to really train better and build mileage better next time :) As I really felt my ache came later compared to the half-marathon in which the ache came at the 15th km.

I thank God for this experience :) It was a nice closure for 2017, to have both my first half- and full-marathon.