Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Gold Coast Marathon

Gold coast marathon update:

it is a late entry... but i was too busy with work.. so sorry guys... late ...
4th July 2008. Reached the airport and was sent off by Darling and Fabian...reached Brisbane airport 8 hours later... started to miss Darling already...
coach rented a car...and drove us around for the next 4 days...it was cheap and good... cosy and nice car...we drove to University of Queensland to meet Renuka. Renuka used to be a runner from MR25 and now she is studying there for 4 years... she has improved in her running form tremendously!
after meeting Renuka, we went to check in at our apartment. Called BelAir.. it was very big. 1 room with a queensize bed and 2 sofa beds in the living room. There was a washing machine, dryer, toilet with bathtub and big kitchen for cooking..! it was really great stuff!
we went for lunch and carbo loading... and then drove up to the race expo to collect my race tag. The race expo was huge and affordable stuff... it was filled with videos showing marathons of the past and also race attire and other races details. Was very well organised ..! dinner was an easy teppanyaki chicken meal at an outdoor japanese restaurant...
I forgot to mention that I was freezing in the cold weather! It was 13 degrees, but to me, it felt like snow! ...look at how thick my clothes are~
the next day, i was greeted with even colder weather.. fell to a 9 degrees... I wore 3 layers and still could feel the coldness bitting my skin! we went back to the race expo and met up with coach's friends from Aussie... after that i went back for some shopping and coach went to the beach for a run...I bought a pair of 2 XU long sleeve top to run in for my marathon. The weather was sooo cold that i could not afford to run only in a sports bra as my top...
dinner was great! coach cooked pasta for me! it was specially chosen from the sauce, pasta to the filling of the pasta. It keep me full till the next day. I could remember what we ate, pasta, salad with some nice sauce and even ice cream! we bought goat's ice cream in a tub which costs only 13 aussie dollars! cheap deal and nice! i loved the passion fruit flavour.. missing it already...
race day. Woke up at 6 am. ate 2 eggs, corn flakes (coach calls it the champion breakfast) ... reached the start point. Saw the 21km race flagged off.. they ran in the opposite direction... after the 21km was flagged off, coach told me that he will meet me at the 28km... I was wearing gloves at the start...
however, just before the race started, i threw away my gloves, it was getting a little warmer. I started off with running at a 5min pace for the first 3km... it was the target time... however, i started to push the pace after the 3km... i was supposed to maintain at around 4.55min per km for the next 8km... however, i made a mistake. I ran a 4.45min per km... i tried to drop back a little but my legs were pulling me forward. it was a grave mistake...
coach had wanted me to maintain at 4.55min per km... but i had gone too fast... i had hit 4.30 min per km at the 13km to 15km... I knew i will suffer majorly if i do not slow down.
However, what was pushing me so fast was the pacers that were ahead of me.. there was a balloon hanging 3 hr 15mins and another one hanging 3hr 30mins. Coach had wanted me to kep behind the 3 hr 15min but in front of the 3 hr 30mins...

however, i realised i was all the way behind the 3 hr 30mins and that kept me pushing on the pace to catch up... Was not a good thing to do!
I managed to past the 3hr 30min balloon at the 18km mark... and sped up... felt still quite strong at that point... but felt really warm when we were heading back!... I took off my long sleeve top and ran in my NIKE sports bra... it felt much more comfortable after that. However, i had to hold on to my top till the 28km when i met coach.. i was thinking, oh no, 28km!!!
met coach at 28km, passed him my top and he took a video of me... he mentioned... good job, good posture, keep the legs going...! i was really motivated!
towards the 40km , weather was getting a lot warmer, but i was still not perspiring!!! i met coach at the 40km and he told me to speed up. its the last 2.195km!!! i sped up and was looking at my watch.. i kept a close look and shorten my steps...
in the end, i crossed the finishing end line at 3 hr 24min 54seconds...
It was a really good race. I cried after the race because all the training that i had put in for the past 7 months has shown his worth. Coach had targetted for me to hit 3 hr 25min and i was on the dot...! coach was really happy ... but at the same time, he was upset with the fact that i had gone too fast in the start. he said based on what he had analyse during my race, he realised i could hit a 3 hour 23 min instead..
coach was happy because i had shaved off 20 minutes from my previous marathon in dec 2007...
but this experience hit me hard. taught me a good lesson. learn to pace myself well..

next marathon: London or Berlin 2009. Berlin marathon would hope to hit a 3 hour 5 min at that time. Hope and pray for full sponsorship for the marathon. San Francisco marathon would be great too.
after the race, i went to harbour town to shop.... went to the NIKE shop and bought many things! 3/4 of them belong to JD and only a few pieces belonged to me.... I called a cab myself and went back to the apartment while coach went for his sports massage!
the last day was spent at brisbane... went shopping again! NIKE store, sports shop and sweets shop... things were relatively expensive there.. so din buy much...

was happy to be back in Singapore. However, i was greeted with a late arrival of JD and his nephew! I was already out of the departure area and he had not arrived! I called him and he say he is slightly late... haha... he dashed to me when he saw me...

that taught him a lesson: never be late for your gf's flight... if not she will complain her whole life...

No comments: