For my first marathon, my aim was just to complete the course. When I crossed the 30km mark at 3:29, I even raised my hope for sub 5 hour completion. Alas, that didn't happened. I did it in 5:01.
So, you can say this is my Revenge Marathon.
Friday 18 Feb 2011
Arrived in HKIA before 8pm and saw the Thai Airways parked 2 gates away. So, I knew Sir Henry has just touched down.
He was kind enough to wait for at the Airport Link station and I managed to convinced him to take the Airbus to Kowloon. I said that I can introduced the marathon route from the double decked bus. After all, the train goes under the Tsing Ma bridge and you can't see a thing.
Upon arrival at Nathan Road's Parklane, we got down and walked across the Kowloon Park to the hotel. Dropped our bags and went to meet up with Bernard Loke and wife at Mongkok. Bernard has just collected Henry's bib.
Saturday 19 Feb 2011
Really wanted to sleep in but somehow still got up at my usual 8am. First thing I heard was Sir Henry's dream of his car being stolen.
Anyway, got up at 9am and went for a typical HK breakfast..You tiau and cheong fun. No hot soya this time though.
Meet bro Joe TTT at Tsim Tsa Tsui Station and went for bib collection together. Henry tagged along as he missed out on the 'bib collection experience'. Camwhore a bit at the finishing gantry.
We rushed back to Tsim Tsa Tsui to meet up with Bernard and wife for dim sum. Lost Joe otw and waited for at station. That's when I bumped into Lee Meng Yong and Cynthia Gan.
Anyway thanks to Henry for bringing us to his nice dim sum restaurant called Tao Heong at the 3rd floor of Carnovan Plaza. Really enjoyed it! That's what travelling to HK is about.
After a hearty lunch, we went for a walk at the Harbour City. I went to do my own shopping and later we met again in the hotel room.
We joined Terence Poon and gang for carbo loading dinner. It was fun and I was glad that we chose to eat in the Spaghetti House.
After quick dinner, time to head back for a early night.
Sunday 20 Feb 2011
We got up at 5 am and made coffee. I had 2 buns for breakfast. The baggage deposit trucks were just in front of our hotel. We managed to meet Bernard at the TST MTR entrance at 615am . It was also the starting of the first group. Took a few photos and meet Nik and David Tan from Singapore.
At 6:43am , according to my watch, we started the marathon. I paced with Henry, Bernard and Nik. After 2km, Nik blazed ahead and I kept myself with this 2 guys.
After the Stonecutters Bridge, Bernard wanted to go to the loo. I told myself from the beginning that I shall not repeat what I did last year during the marathon, I partly attribute the reason I couldn't hit sub 5 hour because I had to queue for the loo during the marathon.
So that's when I left them . When I reached the entrance to Tsing Ma bridge , I saw Aileen and Joe pacing together. Not far from them is Vincent Yeo. Then I met my kakak..and we took this wonderful photo together. We have been texting and only meet in HK for that fleeting moment. It was still wonderful.
I caught up with Nik and told her to get ready to camwhore as the TV camera is usually at the turning point of the Tsing Ma bridge..Alas..this year , they didnt place the camera there.
I left Nik and caught up with Khairul Anuar after the Ting Kau bridge. I saw my friend Gila Bola Karim at KM 23 and we took this photo. after the 2nd tunnel, i saw somemore wearing a yellow top with the words ..Don't give up ..printed at the back..I overtook her and it was YenErl... So I paced with her till km 30..I told her we are running at 4:40 completion time pace.
After a while I left her and meet most people before the cross harbour tunnel like Mohan Marathon, Winnie cheh and Asree from SG. I didnt struggle at the cross harbour tunnel cause I am mentally prepared for the climb at Sheung Wan. But I wasn't prepared for the merging of all runners and 2 categories into one single lane. I also didn't recall that the climb at the underpass at Central was that steep. Anyway, I also took the drink at the last water station before Marsh Road. I skipped it last year. I was doing everything the opposite this year. I saw my watch at 4:12. So I knew it was be a sub 4:30 completion.
I enjoyed the last 2 km immensely. I was aware of the cameras pointing at me and the crowds cheering. The people waiting for cross the marathon path. The police was controlling them. I was aware of everything.
I crossed the finishing with a most jubilant mood and had the strength to run from one side to the other. It was for me a sweet revenge. I now awaits my certificate of improvement from the organiser.
Till my next one this coming weekend at Tokyo...it will even be bigger and more overwhelming.
MY RACE ANALYSIS
2010 2011
10km 1:09 1:09
20km 2:19 2:11
30km 3:29 3:12
42.195km 5:01:06 4:26:23
My 5km sub laps are
0-5km - 35:38 ---> 35:28
5-10km - 34:11 ---> 1:09:39
10-15km- 31:19 ---> 1:40:58
15-20km- 30:31 ---> 2:11:29
Halfway mark ---> 2:18:16
20-25km- 29:51 ---> 2:41:21
25-30km- 31:10 ---> 3:12:32
30-35km- 29:27 ---> 3:41:59
35-40km- 30:26 ---> 4:12:26
40-42km- 13:57 ---> 4:26:23
