Sundown 2012... check....

Conquered my first half-marathon for the year at the Sundown Marathon 2012 over the weekend.

I was not really planning on joining the run, but it didn't take a lot for MkSurf8 and Chris to get me to sign up for it. I'm easy like that sometimes. Hehe!

The last half-marathon I did was for SAFRA in September (?) last year with Ian. I was supposed to do the Standard Chartered half-marathon last December, but I had to give it up because I was sick during that week.

To be honest, I was a little worried about the Sundown run. I haven't been training for it. Having been addicted to Combat and Pump at the gym lately, I haven't been running as much. The only preps I did for Sundown was a long run with Chris at ECP, another long run at the gym, and a long run in my neighborhood days before Sundown.

Aware of the fact that I am not fully prepped for the run, the challenge I just gave to myself was to cross the finish line. Forget the time. Forget the speed. Just cross the finish line.

And cross the finish line, I did.

Come race day, I tried to get a few hours of sleep before heading down to Nicoll Highway at 11PM to meet Tipz and Chris.

Upon reaching the race venue, it was very encouraging to see so many runners who were all psyched for the event.

The half-marathon started at 1230AM.

I was doing okay for the first 8 kilometers with my time. I was meeting my usual time for running. But then the heat and humidity started to get to me. As I started with my 9th KM, I had to sloooow down because I was worried that I might faint. :-/

I did not recover my rhythm anymore after that.

It was only when I reached the 15th km that I felt better again, after I felt the strong wind followed by a heavy downpour.

At that point, I was just grateful for the rain. It sucked to be running with soaked shoes and socks, but I was thankful for the rain rather than the heat.

I crossed the finish line 22 minutes past 3 hours. The best time I've ever done for a half-mary was 2:50 I think. The worst before this one was about 3:15. I was read to accept a 3:30 race time, so I was really pleased when I saw that my time was actually 3:22. If you're serious about running, you know that every second, every minute in your run time counts and makes a difference. Hehe!

Anyway, that was it.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, I just headed to the tent to collect my medal and other freebies. I didn't get to meet Chris and Tipz anymore because they finished waaaay ahead of me, plus I was just too dead tired. I wanted to get home as quickly as possible, shower and get to bed. Hehe!

No post-run pics because I was a pitiful sight. Haha!

Congrats to Tipz on completing his first half-mary! Congrats to Chris for the good time despite his claims that he is not well-prepped (Hehe!)! Congrats to MkSurf8 for getting another "big fish" despite missing the run!

Who's game for SAFRA?