Getting ready for the dress- yup, it's dark outside because its 6am.
To try to beat the heat a little bit, they start the races as early as possible. The Singapore marathon flag off time is 5am!
Excited. Nervous. Tired. No make-up. Thanks Dave.
My very supportive and very sleep husband and personal cheering section.
Can you see me?
Here I am!
It's like where's Waldo- except we are all wearing blinding neon shirts,
Getting pumped up at the starting line
Hello there.
I love that in these big races (there were 12,000 people running) they get you in the starting line pen, then leave you stranded and smushed in there for 20 minutes before you get to run! I was warmed up before I had to stand packed like a sardine with a few hundred of my new best friends.
Finally, we're off!
The finish line. Crazy to think the first people crossed at a little over 30 minutes (as I was happily crossing the 5k mark!)
I MADE IT! Action shot as I got to the finish line.
Yay!
I was a little bit disappointed that the finishers medal was in fact a plastic cartoon toy instead of a medal, but I'll take it.
Milling around the float after the race. The tee shirts are more blinding in the light of day.
Well, I certainly didn't win the race. But I did win my own personal medal for finishing with a smile on my face and having a great time. I was really worried that I hadn't trained enough because despite my best efforts, company and work got the best of my work outs for a few weeks, but while I certainly could have been better prepared, it went just fine. I will not be winning any awards for speed in this life time, but I am pretty happy with my trotting pace- it gets the job done. The worst problem the whole race was my little fat fingers getting swollen and throbbing and having to look like a fool running with my hands over head to get the blood circulating.
The race was generally pretty relaxed and people were just out to have a good time. My goal in every race is "don't come in last" and I was pretty confident I was going to achieve my goal when there were people stopping to walk after the first kilometer. The first portapotty stop was before the 2k mark, and there were people lined up 10 deep! Seriously, people- we just started! I did see multiple women running in burqas, with their neon yellow Nike shirts over their full length robes. That impressed me a lot- it was HOT out there, so I cannot imagine how hot it is in a headscarf and full sleeves and a dress. There was some occasional pushing and shoving when the path got narrow, and the water stop set up basically required that you slow down and walk through the station to get your mini-cup of water, but all together- it was a great race. There was music along the way, people were in good spirits and there is just something special about running with thousands of other people- all of our heads bobbing in a sea of neon yellow.
Next weekend is my second 10K- an all women's race- and hopefully it will go just as well! At this point the half marathon in December seems a little bit aggressive, but I am going to do my best to train up for it- and we will see how it goes!
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