Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2019 Race Report: My first full marathon!

In a bid to double my distance every year since 2016, I wanted to sign up for a full marathon this year, and what better race to start it with than THE Singapore Marathon, right? So when registrations opened earlier this year, I immediately signed up before I started to question my decision.

D-1 to race day: Race pack collection @ Marina Bay Sands Expo

The race pack collection was extremely efficient - there were separate queues for all the various types of races, so it disperses the crowd. There were also many counters to speed up the whole process! I didn't have to queue at all (but I also went at an odd hour). After the collection, you'll be directed to the merchandise area, where I bought a pair of socks because they were reasonably priced at $17 and I didn't really have very good running socks. From there, the next section would be the Standard Chartered section with plenty of photo opportunities! Also, dutch colony was giving out free drinks (coffee/tea/chocolate). The last section was the partners area, which interested me the most! It was huge and the traffic flow was well directed because you need to follow a certain path, which made going through the booths very orderly. Koda set up a booth where you could try the gels and energy bars, which was great because I wanted to see if their gels suited me before taking them during the race itself. There were also many other running events organisers that set up booths to promote overseas races! I was rather drawn in by those because I can travel and run at the same time :P Shall try for one next year! Overall, this is the most interesting race pack collection I have ever experienced, because of the sheer number of partners involved.

D-0 to Race Day: What to do prior to an evening race

There were 2 things I was concerned about - lethargy and nutrition. I've done one evening race in 2018, the ASICS relay, and I recalled that I felt heavy when I started running and developed a stitch during the race. Let's face it - everyone prefers to run in the morning when their muscles are all fresh as compared to the evening when they're worn out from a day's work. My other concern was my chronic gastritis, which has acted up during my evening trainings due to insufficient nutrition prior to the run. So I had to balance. I needed enough nutrition to not feel hungry, and yet not too much so that it would make me heavy or give me a stitch. For lethargy, afternoon naps usually give me a headache, so I had to make sure that my activities in the day were kept to a minimum but not make me feel sluggish. 

The following plan worked for me. This is really personal and you need to know your body and how it functions and reacts, so the key is really to try various things BEFORE the race when you're doing your long distance trainings to see what works. 

1. Breakfast at 10am - cereal. Light, but filled with carbs.

2. Lunch at noon - Japanese wafu pasta. Again, carb-heavy, but not cream-based.

3. Tea break at 3pm - bread. To me, bread is light but filling. I ate about 2-3 bun equivalents. 

4. Pre-race nutrition at 5pm - Koda energy bar (half) and a banana for quick release energy.

I woke up at about 8+am (had about 8 hours of sleep) and didn't nap at all. I spent most of my day lounging around watching dramas, with the exception of walking 2-3km during lunch. I also made sure to shower before the race to feel fresh! I feel that it helps mentally, especially since Singapore is such a humid country. 

Tip: give yourself at least an hour to get to the start point of the race. We ended up getting stuck in a jam and it doubled our travelling time. As a result, we JUST managed to make it into the start pen before it closed. It didn't really help emotionally because I was already worried about the race, and I had to worry about even reaching on time. 

The race itself

I had familiarised myself with all the rest points that I needed to take nutrition (iso/water/gel). This was based on all the trial and error I had done previously during my training. I also went through the route in my head multiple times, so I roughly knew the landmarks for the various distances. 

I started out well - clocking an average pace of 6:10 min/km, which was what I wanted. I managed to maintain this for the first 10-15km or so, taking my first nutrition intake of pretzel at the 11.6km rest point. (Side note: don't take all the pretzels. I didn't want to waste food so I held them in my hand and ate them as I ran but they were really too dry.) I think I was doing well till about the half marathon distance. I had planned to take my nutrition at the 23.6km mark, but ended up taking my GU gel (Caramel Macchiato) at the 21km mark instead because I needed it. Thereafter, I stopped at quite a number of rest points to take in iso and water because I was afraid of cramping and I had hit a wall in my speed - it dropped to about 6:30 min/km instead. From 25km onwards I maintained that pace throughout till the end, slowing down to 7 min/km if I stopped to take in nutrition. I had wanted to only take in water/iso every 4km, which is roughly every alternate rest point. However, due to the humidity and warm temperature due to increase in body heat of all the runners, I constantly felt the need to take in the cold liquids because they felt nice. That was a mistake because I ended up being too bloated on liquids and had to force myself to not take in any for awhile. Also, I was worried about cramping up halfway so I took in a lot of isotonic, which made my stomach feel weird towards the end. I think I could have gone without some. In the end, I took my food intake at these points - pretzel at 11.6km, caramel macchiato GU gel at 21km, cola vanilla Koda gel at 30km and Cappuccino Shotz gel at 37km. All my gels had caffeine in them to give me the adrenaline I needed in the second half of the race. My wall lasted from about the 25th to 35th km, then I got my second wind at around the 38thkm as I ran up Sheares bridge. This is the thing about slopes - DO NOT look up. It feels daunting when you do that and you might think that you're not able to do it. Just take it step by step. It's actually pretty gradual and you won't feel it as much as you think. I did a lot of slopes training previously when I was training for a hike and that really helped build muscles in my legs to take me up the slope with ease. 

For the last few km, it's really all in the mind. I pushed on, knowing that I was nearing the end. I was a bit gutted by then, because I was aiming for 4h 30 min and I knew that I would not be able to make it, but I still tried my best anyway! During the last stretch, this girl who was running near me for about 7-8km or so suddenly shot out in front of me on my right. I was inspired and started sprinting like crazy for the last 50m or so, ending my marathon strong! I clocked 4:35:01, which ain't too bad for a first time, if I may say so myself. :P

There were a lot of lessons to be learnt, like do not over-drink isotonic and water, as well as do not eat pretzels because they are too dry. But I'm proud of what I've achieved, and that could only come with all the training that I've done in the months leading up to the marathon, mostly from September onwards. 

A big thank you to the Ironman organisers for such a great event - there was no lack of gel, banana, water or isotonic drinks. There were also great performances along the way, which were interesting. Also a big thank you to my family for supporting me by live tracking me on the app and taking screenshots whenever I've cleared a checkpoint. I couldn't have done this without the support and company of my dearest, who trained with me, participated with me, and made the crazy decision to do this with me, even though in the end didn't do so well himself because he wasn't feeling well. Last but not least, all glory to God, because only He can give me the strength to run and also be my constant companion. When I hit the wall at the 25km mark, it was Him I turned to and I prayed through it. 

My first marathon, and certainly not my last!

My extremely consistent pace:

Also, some pictures courtesy of finisherpix, though I'm too poor to download them in high res.

Fjällräven Classic Sweden Day 5: Kieron-Abisko

Day 5 started out in a slightly tired manner - having just been drenched and cold throughout the night, we weren’t extremely thrilled to pack all our dirty and wet stuff into the bag, much less wear our wet socks and boots. But we got up at 5am, packed up and ate breakfast anyway. We started walking at about 7am and since we knew it was only going to be 16km, we decided to take less breaks and kept a good pace for 6.5km before stopping for a brief brunch. Thereafter, we pressed on for another 5km, stopped for a brief water break and pushed on for the last bit.

In Abisko National Park, the terrain is a lot flatter and there are less rocks. It’s mostly just forested and the ground is mainly mud with rocks studded in between. Due to the heavy rain the night before and the occasional drizzle, we had to watch out for muddy puddles.

And...that was it! We completed it before noon! The atmosphere at the finish line was extremely warm. Those who had finished earlier and were hanging out at trekkers’ inn would cheer for anyone approaching the finish line. You’ll then get a drink and the final chop before receiving your medal, iron on patch and collar pin! You should also weigh in your trash bag because that's when you'll get your lucky draw ticket.

There are many other things at the finish line that you can look forward to:

Trekker's Inn...

Where they serve food, drinks (including alcoholic ones), and also music! There are some talks that will happen there so be sure to look out for that. The lucky draw at the end of everyday also occurs at Trekker's Inn. So, it's essentially the most happening place at the finish line.

Pop up stores...

There are several partners who will set up some booths in a Teepee, which is rather cool! I got to try some outdoor cooking food done by Elles Utemat using Primus stoves and grills, as well as get my boots treated by Han Wag.

I think that the entire area at the finish line is just a very good opportunity for interactions between new friendships formed and you should spend lots of time talking to the international friends you've just made, so make the most of it before you leave!

Read more about the Fjällräven Classic Sweden:
General Guide
Check in
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Fjällräven Classic Sweden Day 4: Alesjaure-Kieron

And so it begins, Day 4 of the trek.

After a late night and a long hike the day before, we woke up at about 6.30am again, and left past 9am this time due to the inconvenience of the lack of a stream nearby and having to walk to the station for the water tank.

The trail follows along a lake, but the lake is NOT drinkable. It's considered a stale water body since the water collects in the lake, even though you'll see that the water is moving due to the wind. The trail from Alesjaure to Kieron has a dry portion in the second half, so you'll need to fill your bottle wherever possible. You can use the map given to look out for when the streams end.

One of the bigger streams after the Alesjaure station where you can refill your bottle. You also have to cross this stream.

The trail is mostly walking through shrubs on a wooden platform and the lake would be on your right for most of the trail. We knew that we only had 18km to cover that day, so we took it easy. After about halfway, we stopped for lunch at some rocks overlooking the lake. The view was spectacular, also because the sun was out at that time.

Where we stopped for lunch

We met our German friends while having lunch!

After the shrubs ended, the trail opened up to fields where reindeers could roam free (but we didn't see any, probably because there were too many people on the trail and it's not winter). We took a short break at 12km, which was the start of many problems later in the day. It started to drizzle after that short break and the drizzle became heavier. We were caught in that rain and by the time we got to Kieron, which comprised of a very steep down slope with wet mud due to the rain, we were completely soaked.

The steep descent with mud

The Kieron checkpoint is right after a huge river crossing with a bridge, which is the only place where you can refill water in the surrounding area. I highly suggest you refill your bottles here before heading to the checkpoint. It'll save you quite a bit of walking later on.

At Kieron, the sun came back out and there were pancakes served! We had 2 rounds of pancakes (we were lucky, because they were actually controlling the pancake servings but we went when the volunteers changed shifts).

As a result of eating our 2 rounds of pancakes, we did not set up our tent when the sun was out. The weather changed to a sudden torrential downpour and we just stood there for a good half hour to an hour at least, shivering in the cold rain. We used our umbrellas and drank hot tea, which helped a bit but it was probably one of the most horrible experiences in my life.

When the rain lightened up slightly, we hurried and pitched our tent, but by that time we were all wet and dirty and our clothes were all soaked through because we learnt that our jackets were not waterproof enough. Neither of our pants is waterproof, so they were soaked as well. Our socks and the inside of our boots got soaked since the water from our pants dripped in and collected there. The worst part was that we placed our bags on some rocks, which were wet from the rain. Since our bags had other attachments on them, our rain covers did not stretch to the bottom. Hence, the water seeped in from the bottom of our bags. Though they were G-1000, the rain was simply too heavy. This resulted in our sleeping bags getting wet since they were at the bottom. A ton of other things were wet too, but they were thankfully in ziplock bags. We didn't eat dinner that night (at least we had 6 pancakes each) but just wiped down and dried ourselves and slept at 8pm. Since we didn't have our sleeping bags, we were way too cold and woke up every 1.5 hours or so, and even had to light the gas stove in our tent to warm up the place.

I think this night was rather memorable and we definitely learnt that we need better waterproof clothing, as well as to set up the tent whenever the sun is out!

Total distance covered on Day 4: 18.15km

Read more about the Fjällräven Classic Sweden:
General Guide
Check in
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 5