Sundown Marathon (42km) 2011

I was flagged off at 10pm with thousands of other runners attempting the Sundown marathon. It was my first night 42km race, I was not prepared for it per se. I was going to use this as mileage building towards my ultra-100km next month. I think I might start regretting signing up for that race.

The crowd of runners generated a lot of body heat and humidity. We took 14min to clear the first 2km, already sweating buckets. The road eased off a little after 5km. I finished the first 10km in 1:01h. Decent. Then I met Johnny and we ran together all along the ECP to Fort Rd u-turn. Next 10km - 1:02h. But I had to go to the toilet. Perhaps it was dinner or the 100-plus, but anyhow, diarrhea was unpleasant.

Then it went downhill from that point onwards. By 23km, I was starting to cramp. The next 7km was a pain of run, walk, run, walk. It was also past midnight and my body clock was starting to shut down. Ok, remind me again why I do not like and could not survive night runs... It took me forever to reach 30km. It was 3:31h. Right,... that was the time I took in the trails and with zero cramps. But on the road, I was hopeless. My shins and ankles were cramping up. Maybe it was my shoes...?

32km and we were back on the Coastal PCN again. The most boring stretch. I decided to try and run through the next 10km. My stomach was acting up again. Plodding on. Hopes of getting an "average" 4:30h were dashed. Nor that of a 5:00h time. This has got to be my slowest marathon outside of an IM! Haha.

Eventually, I finished the race in 5:16h. Mega, mega yawns... Body shutting down.
I wonder how I would finish the 100k next month! *panic*