The Gold Coast Marathon was held on 6th July 2008. The date quite nice ah.. 06.07.08. Well anyway, it was obviously held in Gold Coast Queensland and on that fateful day, 3 friends and myself embarked on another 5 hours of torture whilst another lady friend embarked on her own race of 10km.
Our morning began at like I think it was 5am Aussie time. Through the night, I keep waking up. Some how I slept pretty lightly that night. And through the night, you could hear the howling of the winds and if you bothered to get on your feet to look out the window you could see the dark clouds and the wet streets. What an excellent day for sleeping in! Why the hell am I waking up to run in such conditions! Crap!
Sadly, a friend (not Friend A) came in to wake us up. He's a morning person. Dang.. I was half hoping that everyone forget to wake up although I was already awake and still enjoying the comforts of my bed. So anyway, I woke up reluctantly and got dressed whilst at the same time cursing the weather. Haha.. We had our little breakfast and prepared ourselves for the race. So by about 6am, we left our lovely, comfortable, WARM apartment to put ourselves through pain once more.
We reached the designated carpark with time to spare. So all of us decided to visit the little boy's room. The moment we got out of the car, we felt the wind! oh my gosh.. Freaking cold. It is those kind of wind that chills you, even into your bone. Argh.. So a quick run to the toilet. And a quick run back to the relatively warmer car and under my wind breaker. Why oh Why am I doing this again! Sigh..
Sadly, time passed really quickly when you are comfortable. Soon we had to leave the car and head to the starting line. Time is about 0640. The marathon starts in 10 min. The thing is, we parked in a shopping centre. And we have no idea where the exit is. So we spent like 5 min trying to figure out just how to get out of the building! Haha.. Then we panicked. 5 min left and we had some way to go to the starting point. So we started jogging to the start point. Thankfully, we reached the start point like a minute before the flag off. Just nice. So within that time, we jumped over the barrier and found ourselves within the 3.00 to 3.30 timing runners. Oh what the hell. We moved a little forward and then the horn sounded! Gold Coast Marathon has begun!
Two of my friends are much better runners than myself. So they were like 10 metres or so ahead in front of me. Friend A was very kind to run along side me. I know that he could have run ahead of me but he decided to be a good friend that he has always been. Haha.. What blatant sucking up this is.. Friend A and myself ran together for the marathon. It's a very interesting experience running the Gold Coast Marathon. For one, it's an Australian marathon so most people around you are Westerners. It's way different from the Singapore Marathon where you are the majority. In Gold Coast Marathon (GCM) you are sort of the minority, well sort of. So besides these Westerners, or Ang Mohs, there were quite a lot of Japanese. Apparently, GCM has always been popular with the Japanese folks.
Friend A and I ran at a pretty comfortable pace of slightly less than 6 minutes per km. I think that's quite okay a pace. But the wind in the morning is a killer. Woo.. When it blows, you really feel it. But run on we did. Soon 5km came along and we get to run pass the red timing mat. Cool! So they will have my 5km timing. Soon 10km came and they had the timing mat once again. Very impressed!!! Soon after the 10km mark, we saw our first friend! The bugger had already turned at the 13km or so turnaround and was on his way back to the starting line. Well that guy is a born runner or something. Running seems to come so easily for him. Dang.. So proud of him when he ran passed us cos he was quite near the top people. Another few minutes, our second friend ran past us. All the quick buggers. Haha.. Soon, it was our turn to make our turn around. So glad to have done so and through this time, my good friend, Friend A, was running alongside for much of the time. We continued on and on. However, since the 2km or so mark, my stomach has been playing punk with me. It was like gurgling for a very long time and making it unpleasant to run with. After 18km, I decided I better deal with this stomach problem if not it will be a terrible 3 hours or so more. Sucks. Once I saw a toilet, I decided to bid Friend A adieu and I queued up for the toilet.
Sad to say, after like 5 minutes of queuing, embarrassingly, it was all blanks. Haha. So nothing fruitful nor anything unpleasant came out of this event. So off I continued. Run run run. I told myself during this time that it would really be nice to catch up with Friend A. So after the toilet break, I ran slightly quicker than normal. However, at the 21km mark, I was feeling the muscle fatigue already. If I persisted, I was worried that I would not be able to last the whole race without cramping up. So I decided to go ahead with a walk 1 minute and run the rest of the kilometre tactic. Well the tactic worked all the way till about 29km mark and by this time, we have already passed the starting point. Now we had to head like another 7 km or so before we turned around for the final leg. Anyway, by the 29 km mark, the muscle fatigue was pretty bad. So more rest was required. By like the 32 km or so, I was resting as much as I was running. That is so not good. Note to self: I have to train up on my muscle endurance.
The second turnaround happened at about 34.5km. My constant mental calculation told me about 8km left. So on and on I went. Half walking, half jogging. Terrible way to pass a Sunday if you ask me. But I was there now. In the event now. The scenery thus far has been wonderful. From the beaches with the beautiful crashing waves to the expensive houses with big boats. As a first time there, it was really an eye opening experience. So much beauty and wealth. Amazing.. Well in countless blinks of my eyes, the home stretch could and should have come sooner but finally come it did. There were more and more people and they were all cheering. Perhaps it's psychological but the people seemed more friendly and supportive. Finally, at 4.43, I crossed the Finish Line with a funny looking pose. Finally..
Well obviously, all my friends came in before me. I don't think I shall reveal their timings just yet. Too much embarassment for myself. Haha.. The youngest yet the slowest according to another "friend" of mine. Oh what the hell.. Finished I did and that's what counts. Haha.. :)
Our morning began at like I think it was 5am Aussie time. Through the night, I keep waking up. Some how I slept pretty lightly that night. And through the night, you could hear the howling of the winds and if you bothered to get on your feet to look out the window you could see the dark clouds and the wet streets. What an excellent day for sleeping in! Why the hell am I waking up to run in such conditions! Crap!
Sadly, a friend (not Friend A) came in to wake us up. He's a morning person. Dang.. I was half hoping that everyone forget to wake up although I was already awake and still enjoying the comforts of my bed. So anyway, I woke up reluctantly and got dressed whilst at the same time cursing the weather. Haha.. We had our little breakfast and prepared ourselves for the race. So by about 6am, we left our lovely, comfortable, WARM apartment to put ourselves through pain once more.
We reached the designated carpark with time to spare. So all of us decided to visit the little boy's room. The moment we got out of the car, we felt the wind! oh my gosh.. Freaking cold. It is those kind of wind that chills you, even into your bone. Argh.. So a quick run to the toilet. And a quick run back to the relatively warmer car and under my wind breaker. Why oh Why am I doing this again! Sigh..
Sadly, time passed really quickly when you are comfortable. Soon we had to leave the car and head to the starting line. Time is about 0640. The marathon starts in 10 min. The thing is, we parked in a shopping centre. And we have no idea where the exit is. So we spent like 5 min trying to figure out just how to get out of the building! Haha.. Then we panicked. 5 min left and we had some way to go to the starting point. So we started jogging to the start point. Thankfully, we reached the start point like a minute before the flag off. Just nice. So within that time, we jumped over the barrier and found ourselves within the 3.00 to 3.30 timing runners. Oh what the hell. We moved a little forward and then the horn sounded! Gold Coast Marathon has begun!
Two of my friends are much better runners than myself. So they were like 10 metres or so ahead in front of me. Friend A was very kind to run along side me. I know that he could have run ahead of me but he decided to be a good friend that he has always been. Haha.. What blatant sucking up this is.. Friend A and myself ran together for the marathon. It's a very interesting experience running the Gold Coast Marathon. For one, it's an Australian marathon so most people around you are Westerners. It's way different from the Singapore Marathon where you are the majority. In Gold Coast Marathon (GCM) you are sort of the minority, well sort of. So besides these Westerners, or Ang Mohs, there were quite a lot of Japanese. Apparently, GCM has always been popular with the Japanese folks.
Friend A and I ran at a pretty comfortable pace of slightly less than 6 minutes per km. I think that's quite okay a pace. But the wind in the morning is a killer. Woo.. When it blows, you really feel it. But run on we did. Soon 5km came along and we get to run pass the red timing mat. Cool! So they will have my 5km timing. Soon 10km came and they had the timing mat once again. Very impressed!!! Soon after the 10km mark, we saw our first friend! The bugger had already turned at the 13km or so turnaround and was on his way back to the starting line. Well that guy is a born runner or something. Running seems to come so easily for him. Dang.. So proud of him when he ran passed us cos he was quite near the top people. Another few minutes, our second friend ran past us. All the quick buggers. Haha.. Soon, it was our turn to make our turn around. So glad to have done so and through this time, my good friend, Friend A, was running alongside for much of the time. We continued on and on. However, since the 2km or so mark, my stomach has been playing punk with me. It was like gurgling for a very long time and making it unpleasant to run with. After 18km, I decided I better deal with this stomach problem if not it will be a terrible 3 hours or so more. Sucks. Once I saw a toilet, I decided to bid Friend A adieu and I queued up for the toilet.
Sad to say, after like 5 minutes of queuing, embarrassingly, it was all blanks. Haha. So nothing fruitful nor anything unpleasant came out of this event. So off I continued. Run run run. I told myself during this time that it would really be nice to catch up with Friend A. So after the toilet break, I ran slightly quicker than normal. However, at the 21km mark, I was feeling the muscle fatigue already. If I persisted, I was worried that I would not be able to last the whole race without cramping up. So I decided to go ahead with a walk 1 minute and run the rest of the kilometre tactic. Well the tactic worked all the way till about 29km mark and by this time, we have already passed the starting point. Now we had to head like another 7 km or so before we turned around for the final leg. Anyway, by the 29 km mark, the muscle fatigue was pretty bad. So more rest was required. By like the 32 km or so, I was resting as much as I was running. That is so not good. Note to self: I have to train up on my muscle endurance.
The second turnaround happened at about 34.5km. My constant mental calculation told me about 8km left. So on and on I went. Half walking, half jogging. Terrible way to pass a Sunday if you ask me. But I was there now. In the event now. The scenery thus far has been wonderful. From the beaches with the beautiful crashing waves to the expensive houses with big boats. As a first time there, it was really an eye opening experience. So much beauty and wealth. Amazing.. Well in countless blinks of my eyes, the home stretch could and should have come sooner but finally come it did. There were more and more people and they were all cheering. Perhaps it's psychological but the people seemed more friendly and supportive. Finally, at 4.43, I crossed the Finish Line with a funny looking pose. Finally..
Well obviously, all my friends came in before me. I don't think I shall reveal their timings just yet. Too much embarassment for myself. Haha.. The youngest yet the slowest according to another "friend" of mine. Oh what the hell.. Finished I did and that's what counts. Haha.. :)
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