Running to stand still (21km to go)

We Run. From the Belly of the Stadium. From the Spiked Dome of the Esplanade--We Run.

For Honor's sake. For Glory's sake. For attaining the 70.3 For getting a Wife. Well, this is Singapore….our low hatch rates call for desperate (and creative) rituals- it drove one competitor to propose at the finishing line.

The first ten minutes of my 21km run can be described as between a shuffle and a constipated duck wiggle. The cramps of on my upper thighs, getting off after a 2 hr 50 min bike ride, were almost unbearable. I practised my Bricks training at least once a week but I guess the intensity of the actual race was far greater the trainings'. "Breathe deeply and exhale out with your stomach", I told myself, as I shuffle around the Elizabeth walk and into the marina course. If I keep up at this, I would probably finish the race in 3 hours and on all fours at the finishing line. Fortunately, this embarrassing scenario receded along with the cramps in my legs by the time I ran well into the shady marina route. I could see a lot of other runners having much difficulty like myself from the look of their faces.

I set my tempo timer at a beat of 90 strokes per minutes-that is, I was to take 90 strides (one foot strike=1 stride) per minute in order to keep an efficient running cadence. This concentration on my cadence also took my mind off from being distracted from any discomfort I was feeling; either from the heat or in the body.

It was about 11:30am or close to noon by the time the heat could not be ignored. The first water point beneath the Benjamin Sheares bridge was a welcomed sight. While some runners stop to drink, I took a cup of water, continued running, and pour the icy liquid down on my head. I also took the cold-soaked sponge and let it sit with the water trickling down on my head. What a great relief! Some runners could not bear to part with the refreshing sponges and instead slipped them to sit on their shoulders, like bra straps on their tri suits-I'm not sure it helped them but it did make my run more amusing.