Singapore Marathon - 2009

Emma suckered me into the Edinburgh marathon in May, but I have only myself to blame for this one. I signed up in July with the idea that I might take up running as a substitute for the cycling that I would not be able to do in Singapore. Indeed, the cycling scene in Singapore is not as good as that in Calgary, but my lifestyle over the past four months has not exactly been conducive to marathon training.


Now, I know that all athletes sandbag, but I've spent 9 of the last 12 weekends touring (without running shoes) other countries. Further, my weekday schedule has been squeezed as I attempt to keep up with intense course work that I am spreading over 5 days, instead of 7 (in order to accommodate my discovery of southeast asia). The icing on the cake has been my diet of deep fried asian cuisine, which is unavoidable on account of its convenience, cost and deliciousness.





But, not one to throw in the towel, I gave it a shot anyway. I was joined by one other student, (Robin), for the full marathon, and five friends (Samuele, Alysha, Samantha, Yan Yan and Prabhu) did the half marathon concurrently.

Due to my time constraints, as well as the oppressive heat, I my training was focused on shorter, higher speed runs. On balance, I think this is a good strategy for me to break out of my hobble pace. For the first half, I was on fire. Then the sun rose. The last half was not so pretty. I finished a bit faster than my Edinburgh time, 4:29:50, but in a lot more discomfort.

Next up is Paris in April. Let me be on record that I'm going to do it differently this time. Serious goal: break 4 hours. It's gonna be hard, but hey, that's why. Plus, I've got some friends (Shawn and Claire) coming over to do it with me. Anyone else?