Singapore marathon
Who knows yet...
(2.12.2012)
Summary
Finish time: 3:20:10
Ranking: 72 / 12922
Pace: 4:45 min/km
Weather: 25 C, 94%
(source)
(27 C, 82% for the last half hour)
Splits
| | 5k | 10k | 15k | 20k
| 25k | 30k | 35k | 42k
| | Total time
| 0:22:43 | 0:47:49 | 1:10:08 | 1:33:26
| 1:57:32 | 2:21:33 | 2:46:08 | 3:20:43
|
| Pace
| 4:32 | 5:01 | 4:27 | 4:39
| 4:49 | 4:48 | 4:55 | 4:48 |
Race report
The start was slow and was stuck by traffic for few minutes. Forgot the
essential of Singapore: to squeeze in as front as possible, preferably
next to te Elites. Nothing critical but would have made the start little
bit easier. The first 5 km was allright and I just ran relaxed pace
planning to save the energy to the latter part no matter how slow.
I had adopted well to the climate and no problems in carbo loading so all
should have been setup for good result in this year's Singapore marathon.
But no, again stomach problems somewhere around 8 km forcing to visit
toilet just before 10 km point. Seemes like liquids did not absorb well
enough or something like this. Losing there 2 minutes including
re-assembling phone and other items from the toilet floor while doing the
acute emergency in parallel. :-) After which all seemed ok but apparently
just could not get it right and was losing the pace gradually from 4:30 to
4:50.
I also forgot my handbag of energy gels in the toilet, but relied on the
organizer's two-pack, first at 24 km and second at 34 km. The first one
gave me extra burst but when seeing the 20-25 km intermid time being not
any better than previous 5 km I knew this was not going any better but
just taking it home in one piece. I did manage to continue the towards the
end without any dramatic fall down although the seocnd half felt tough all
along.
The humid East Coast park felt quite hard despite being only +25 C, after
which the open areas with windburst felt much better even though
temperature rose quickly to +27 C after the sun rise (luckily cloudy). At
this point I ran almost alone and started to catch others who were having
dramatic pace droppings.
Somewhere arond 38 km I started to feel first signs of cramps in the left
knee but it did turn to any problems, but took few extra sport drinks just
in case to avoid any last minute problems. At this stage the course merged
with that of the 21 km runners, and later on with the 10 km runners which
made the final part very traffic-loaded as the 10 km runners at this stage
were merely those slow ones who were just forming "slowly moving
obstacles" to be avoided. This is another those downsides of the Singapore
marathon that one must tolerate for the last 3 km or so. Final straight
with the Finland flag as usually, and still found enough reserves to make
a reasonable final sprint towards the Finnish line.
After math: 25th marathon completed. Nothing remarkable but completed
nevertheless. At this stage, my official result is marked as "not
completed or disqualified" whatever the reason, which feels quite
non-rewarding after the tough race. Probably 40 km timing is missing
likely due to avoiding of traffic (I dont recall seeing the 40 km
sign at all). Furthermore, based on the official results, it looks
like I lost the Masters' top-10 result (and 150 SGD prize) just by
about 3 minutes. Damned.
The top-10 was all Kenyan but they also failed to make track record being
about 6 minutes slower. It might have been tougher weather this year but
don't know why exactly as all statistics are quite similar as past years.
Recovery and tanning awaits. Singapore thanks and signs out.
Top-10 results by categories
My result (looks like no access without id number...)
Photos
Route animation plus video
