Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2004 by Terence Leong

Prelude To Singapore: Marathon Training and Strategy
Well some people asked about my training and expected completion time for the Singapore Marathon. I just shrug my shoulders and told them I that I don’t know as I will be doing DRAFTING or Penguin drafting. Drafting in the triathlon world means a cyclist is following behind another cyclist very closely. Penguin drafting basically means the same thing but with plans to initiate a chitchat session.

Training? My longest and best run was only 18km. Due to my recent ear operation and a few flu attacks, I only had about a month to train for this marathon. Sure I was a bit worried. But I was confident that the Galloway run/walk style of 5/1 would see me thru to the finish line in one piece.

Marathon Fuel
In Singapore, 2 power gels were given free by the sponsor power bar. I packed extra 5 packets of power gels for this trip and this would make a grand total of 7 packets of power gel. Should be more than enough as I normally use about 4 packets of power gels per marathon.

Pacesetters Hotel And Transportation Arrangement
I am so happy to be a member of the Pacesetter running club as they did a fine job in arranging hotel reservations and bus transportation. Totally stress free as the bus also took us to collect our race bibs in SunTech Singapore. On each bus there was a Pacesetter “bus captain” to ensure that all members got on /off the bus and that no one was left behind (accidentally).

After a 6-hour bus ride, we were in finally in Singapore - host to one of Asia’s best marathon.

Race Action
Singapore, 5 December 2004. 5:45am … Starting Cage-2.
With over 14,000 runners congregating at the starting area, except for penguin-3 (Tony) I soon lost visual contact with the rest of my penguin friends. Tony and I wanted to check out the elite runners from China but due to the tight security we got only as far as Starting Cage-2 (reserved for Sub-3 marathoners).

The party atmosphere was awesome! Fantastic music! The DJ was going wild with excitement announcing all the international elites. Tony and other runners were doing the stretching dance. Me? I found a “water bar” and was having a round or two on the house.

A unique feature of the Singapore marathon is that there is no time limit.

At 6 am sharp, the Singapore Marathon was flag off. Tony and I took off running but as we were in the Sub-3 cage. Everybody seems to be over taking us like crazy. Nevertheless, I kept my cool and remembered to start my stopwatch once I hit the timing mats.

Activate Galloway Engines
After running 5 minutes my stopwatch BEEP and I immediately took a 1-minute walk break. As I walk hundreds of runners gallop past with a thunderous roar of footsteps. It took a lot of courage to walk and perform the Galloway run/walk style. I wave Tony on and soon lost him in a sea of bobbing human heads.

Basically I ran at my own pace. Slow and steady. I took in the sights of Singapore like a tourist. And whenever my watch beeped I took a walk break. Somewhere along the 10km, I noticed this American guy who was also doing the Galloway run/walk style. His name was John something. We chit chat a bit and took turns over taking each other during the 1 minute walk breaks.

Cheer Teams With Pom Pom Girls
Wow! You really got to be there to take in all the atmosphere of the cheer teams, as it’s pretty hard to describe with words. I could hear them about 200 meters out. Screaming away.
“Lets Go! COME ON. GO. GO. GO”

Like magic, everybody was running slanted towards the side of the road where the pom-pom girls were shouting. Like wise I did the same thing so that I can get a good look.

The cheering made a big difference, as I seemed to be floating when I ran past.

After running fast past a few more cheer teams I began to realize my mistake. Why run fast? Isn’t it better to jog slowly to get a better look? I also held out my hand for a “high five”. When the cheer teams saw my high five signal. They all line up with out stretch hands waiting for the moment of contact.

Upon contact, the pom-pom girls SCREAMED. As I made contact with the next hand, the next girl screamed even louder as if we were on an out of control roller coaster. Believe me the experience was fun and scary the first time I did this. But as I progress thru a few more cheer teams, I began to relax, cut myself loose and started SCREAMING YAHOOOOoooo whenever I made skin contact.

Man Down! .. Repeat Man Down! .. Copy?
By 8 am the sun was nice and hot. The scenic race route can best be describe as a beautiful green park on one side and a breezy marina or beach on the other side. With so much fun and delightful sight seeing, I almost forgotten about the dangers of a marathon.

Like an invisible beast of prey, the Singapore marathon struck down a large number of runners after the 20km mark. Runners were getting leg cramps left, right and center. A few runners fainted and crash by the road.

The Singapore medic teams really got their hands full. I over heard one of them buzzing the CB radio for more help to be sent out … “Man down! .. Repeat Man Down! .. Copy ?”

I also tried to help out the best I could with some deep heat cream. One Singapore runner was so cramped up that he just could not move an inch. As he lay paralyzed on the ground, he asked in Mandarin if someone could call his mother. Sadly my Galloway pacing buddy “John” was also cramping up and I had to move forward without him. Believe me. At this point I started to feel a bit scared.

Water Stations
I was so scared that I started taking my power gels (with electrolytes) ASAP. I also kept reminding myself to take water and isotonic drinks at all the water stations. The Singapore water station management was fabulous because there was no waiting queue and there was plenty to drink.

Towards the end I encountered 2 water stations, which were dry. This did give me a shock because before that I had wonder why some Singapore girls (experience marathoners) were running and carrying water from the pervious water station. Anyway, this gave me a good excuse for asking and sharing some cool delicious water with a pretty Singapore female runner (that I was penguin drafting)

Pretty Singapore Girls?
Singapore being an island is just like one big Miami Beach where everybody keeps fit. Generally speaking one can tell if a girl is a Singaporean by her beautiful bronze tan, fit body and color dye hair.

When I first arrived in Singapore, I got a culture shock with their liberal views and openness towards sex. I mean couples were kissing and caressing in public areas (bus stops). I even saw female kissing female in the shopping malls!!

Singapore girls are also friendly as I was able to chitchat with a few during the marathon. But suddenly things changed when I had to do a pee-pee stop by a roadside tree. The Singapore girls were so shocked at this, as there were hundreds of mobile toilets along the way. I guess it’s like inviting a guest over to your house and instead of using the toilets the guest starts pee-pee at the nearest wall.

Toilet And Mobile Potty
Seems that every 2 km along the race route there were mobile toilets. I soon learn from my mistake and went on to use a Singaporean toilet whenever I had the need to do so.

One funny story here is that I got a tummy ache half way thru the marathon and needed a place to download some serious shit. Well.. I ran like my buttocks were on fire to the nearest mobile potty. When I reached the potty, I did a prayer before I entered.
" God! Please put a toilet roll in there " 8-)) Guess what? I got 2 full rolls.... plus a box of tissue as a bonus.

Hello Tony We Meet Again
At around the 35km mark, I had caught up with Tony. Seems Tony got a bad knee cramp or something. I remember buzzing past Tony who was talking to this Singaporean girl. She was also limping with cramp and told me that she don’t know how long she can drag her leg forward.

I told the female runner to keep walking as it’s very near to the finish line now. After that I wish them luck as I ran on ahead alone.

What happen next was.. Tony told this limping Singaporean girl that if there is no more pain she should try and jog to the finish. Look good and be strong. The girl was so motivated by him that she eventually ran past me and went on to finish with an excellent time.

Onto The Runway And Across The Finish Line
Running into the finish line was FANTASTIC. Left and right of the runway were people cheering you on. People were taking photos. I hit the imaginary tape with a time of 5 hours and 45 minutes. Tony was just 1 minute behind me. Guess he was either chasing the Singaporean girl or me. Anyway, we got our finisher medals and FINISHER T-shirt.

The Singapore marathon is really one of the best races I had run. Hope to see you there next year!!

Terence Leong
December 2004