Another day Another article on GCM. Well it should be apparent how much I enjoyed the trip Down Under. Did I enjoy the marathon? Come to think of it, probably one of my more enjoyable ones. I didn't mind the first half of the marathon or so. Not much pain and I was running at a pretty comfortable pace. The second half was challenging but nonetheless an experience I still enjoyed. Now I'll just have a brief write up on the good stuff of GCM and what our marathons back here can learn from.
There were a few things that appealed to me in the marathon. Firstly, we got to put our names down on our bib numbers. I thought that was an excellent idea. People who were cheering the runners could finally call out their names instead of their numbers. Ever experience running then someone shouts to you, "Comeon 2379! You can do it!" It's quite obvious he's cheering you on. He's staring at you and you have eye contact with the guy. Who else could he be cheering for? But nonetheless, How many people actually remember their numbers? I, for one, don't. I'll still have a peek at my bib and oh! That's me he's referring to. At GCM, there wasn't the issue of that. People called me by my name and it feels so much better. You can even put your nickname or something. One of my friends put his alias and it sort of humoured the cheerers who cheered him on.
Another thing I liked was the numerous timing mats. There was a timing mat for every 5km, and at the halfway point. I think it's really nice and it provides you a breakdown of your marathon. This would particularly be useful if you are a really serious runner, or if you are like me, just curious.
The isotonic drinks during the marathon is also worth mentioning. Perhaps to some it may be too diluted. It has a lot of water mixed with probably half the required syrup. But I felt this was a really good mix. Normally for isotonic drinks, it tends to be too sweet and it makes you want to drink water, at least I do. After drinking the isotonic, you need to drink a bit of water to dilute the sweetness and to wet your throat. The isotonic at GCM was diluted, as mentioned, but it was just right. I felt that I could just take a cuppa isotonic and that's it. This helped reduced the bloatedness and I felt that was really nice.
The last thing I would like to talk about would be at the finishing line. I was really really appreciative of the team of people at the finishing line whose sole task was to assist you in taking out your championchip tag. These nice folks would ask if you require assistance and they would squat, so that you needn't have to squat yourself, to take off that double knot you tied. At the end of a tiring run, that is such a god sent. Thanks nice folks who took off my championchip tag.
Well yeap. That's the main stuff I liked about the GCM apart from the wonderful scenery and amazing people. So hopefully the organizers of our marathons learn something from this. :P
There were a few things that appealed to me in the marathon. Firstly, we got to put our names down on our bib numbers. I thought that was an excellent idea. People who were cheering the runners could finally call out their names instead of their numbers. Ever experience running then someone shouts to you, "Comeon 2379! You can do it!" It's quite obvious he's cheering you on. He's staring at you and you have eye contact with the guy. Who else could he be cheering for? But nonetheless, How many people actually remember their numbers? I, for one, don't. I'll still have a peek at my bib and oh! That's me he's referring to. At GCM, there wasn't the issue of that. People called me by my name and it feels so much better. You can even put your nickname or something. One of my friends put his alias and it sort of humoured the cheerers who cheered him on.
Another thing I liked was the numerous timing mats. There was a timing mat for every 5km, and at the halfway point. I think it's really nice and it provides you a breakdown of your marathon. This would particularly be useful if you are a really serious runner, or if you are like me, just curious.
The isotonic drinks during the marathon is also worth mentioning. Perhaps to some it may be too diluted. It has a lot of water mixed with probably half the required syrup. But I felt this was a really good mix. Normally for isotonic drinks, it tends to be too sweet and it makes you want to drink water, at least I do. After drinking the isotonic, you need to drink a bit of water to dilute the sweetness and to wet your throat. The isotonic at GCM was diluted, as mentioned, but it was just right. I felt that I could just take a cuppa isotonic and that's it. This helped reduced the bloatedness and I felt that was really nice.
The last thing I would like to talk about would be at the finishing line. I was really really appreciative of the team of people at the finishing line whose sole task was to assist you in taking out your championchip tag. These nice folks would ask if you require assistance and they would squat, so that you needn't have to squat yourself, to take off that double knot you tied. At the end of a tiring run, that is such a god sent. Thanks nice folks who took off my championchip tag.
Well yeap. That's the main stuff I liked about the GCM apart from the wonderful scenery and amazing people. So hopefully the organizers of our marathons learn something from this. :P
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