My first (Half) Marathon - Part 3

The second 1/3 of the actual run:
I jog non-stop for the first 8km, which was already a record for myself. ^_^
The next 7km was spent alternating between jogging and fast walk. I did not allow myself to slow down, because that will be detrimental to my pace-setting.

Knowing that 100-plus was one of the sponsors, I was expecting the water stops will be full of 100-plus. Though I have never been a big fan of heavy sodium content drinks (sodium is your kidney's biggest enemy), but in a run like this, I need something thirst quenching and tasty to reward myself.
Thus it came as a disappointment when ice mountain mineral water was served in my first drink stop. =( And its not even cold (which is understandable).
But 100-plus came in the later stops, and its cold. ^_^

Some of the memorable people I came across are the
(1) 82 years old man. Going strong. How many of us will actually be as healthy as him at the age of 82?
(2) Well-tanned, long hair chiobu. And her hair wasn't the least oily despite her running so far. Someone should rope her in for hair commercial. She was running a little ahead of me for quite a while, and then sped off. 1 point for gal, 0 point to MCP.
(3) The gal who was running with a rope attached to a tyre behind her. On the tyre, some environmental friendly message was written. Wow, and she was ahead of me for the first 8km. She's damn good. I gave a thumbs up when I ran passed her. And she received alot of applause.
(4) 2 disabled koreans marathoners, age about 40+. I'm not exactly sure how they are disabled, but they had a string tied to each other's hand. Maybe one of them is blind? Anyway, they ran past me. But hey, so what if they are disabled? They are still marathoners ok?
(5) The guy with the "If you run behind me, you suck" logo. We crossed path on many occassions. But no one mess around with Mr Ego. I ended up "not sucking".

Saw quite a few people who had streteched hamstring, sprains and limping.
I was considerably luckier. Injury-free.
Then there were quite a few ambulance sirens.
I hope the guys are all right.

The last 1/3 of the actual run:
The route started getting a little tiring at the final 6km. I was still injury free, except for a VERY minor sprain at my right leg. Damn, I'm good.
Passed by the banana stop at the 15km mark. Yummy. ^_^
And then it started drizzling slightly. I started increasing my pace to make sure Wifey's mp3 player don't become obselete after the run. $_$
Throughout the race, I was with a large group of people as opposed to being a outlier, so it was quite motivating.

Alot of my colleagues asked if I did finish the race.
Yes, because they put barrier to prevent you from leaving halfway, or taking shortcuts. ^_^
When I saw the finish line, I was euphoric. So near, yet so far. Mr Ego gave me a little push from behind. I dashed. And crossed the line with many people.

5 minutes after the actual race:
And nope, I wasn't emotional after crossing the line.
2 things came to my mind.
(1) Wifey
(2) World of Warcraft.

I took down my number tag and realised my T-shirt was bloodied. Think I may have pierced myself with the pin while attaching my number tag during the wee hours. T-shirt was stained with blood, sweat but no tears.

I gotta admit - I'm damn good.

The Afternath:
Wifey was still sleeping when I reached home at about 10am.
Lucky girl. ^_^

I showed her my medal and tried to give her as a wedding gift.
She said she don't want, and ask for jewellery instead.
0.o |||

All in all, it was a good run.
If someone who seldom had the time for exercise can do it, anyone else can.
And like what my colleague said, everyone should do a marathon once in his life. Its a life-changing experience that money can't buy.
Let your Mr Ego bring you to grater heights.

2hr 52 min 30 secs.
I'm ahead of 23% of all 21km runners.
And ahead of 32% of female runners.

Nothing fantastic.
But its still a case of target set, target reached.

Now the only thing left for me to do is to do what Kenny Sia and Mr Burns (aka Blinky) have done, the full marathon (42km).
And it will be done on the year of my first new-born.
The first 21km for the mama, the next 21km for the baby.

[End]