Singapore Marathon 2008

It took a long time (but not quite as long as it took me to post about it). But, I finished the half-marathon. I couldn't run the whole thing - I had to walk most of the second half, but I did cross the finish line. My cardio capacity wasn't really challenged, but my legs were in severe pain. Ankles, knees and hips were all hurting with each step for the last 6 miles or so. It was amazing to see the championship runners, taking part of the Standard Chartered Race Series. The half-marathon starts an hour after the marathon, so we met the lead runners during their finishing stretch and these guys were still running paces that I couldn't keep up for 40 meters, let alone 40 kilometers. I am a crossfit.com addict these days, and they are a bit critical of marathon runners - saying their focus is so intense on long-duration cardio that they lose so much strength capacity and make themselves into non-well-rounded athletes. But, seeing these guys run like that was both amazing and inspiring. They may not be able to do a pull-up (neither can I) and the crossfit crew would criticize them for lack of functional strength, like they could not pull their own bodyweight back up the edge of a cliff if they fell in while running down some trail, but it was amazing to see nevertheless.

It took me about 3 days to get back to my normal walk. I took the remainder of the week off from the gym, though rather unintentionally – it was more a function of being overwhelmed at the office and trying to get body caught up on rest than consciously wanting to take that much time.

I am proud of finishing the race, but I don't plan to do another one soon. I still want to run a full marathon someday, just when I don't know yet. But, for the near-term, I want to focus on shorter races, where there is less impact on my joints and I can focus on pushing my heartrate harder and pace quicker. There are some 5K races coming up in Jakarta after the holidays as part of the Jakarta Race Series, and I look forward to more races – especially knowing how much shorter they will be!

I'm too cheap to pay for the hi-res pic, so all you get is this small one.