Marathon Finisher

6 hours 41 mins 40s. 6.3 km/h. 8066th place. FINISHER of 42.195km.

On Sunday morning, I pushed myself to the limits again to pull through the long and tough journey with the help of Derrick. Thanks bro!

This year's run is by far the most satisfying. The first time we were too foolhardy not to drink regularly at the beginning and I died out near 20+ km, the remaining run was a torture. Last year was a walk in the park as derrick wasn't well prepared. This year I'm not in the best shape but kept pushing on with derrick's encouragement.

The cramps started setting in at 14km, a show of our insufficient training. I applied lots of deep heat cream and spray along the way, ran with the near-cramp sensation for most of the journey, coped with the hot and merciless sun and tried my best to keep on going. Although I'm not a fast nor natural runner, the innate satisfaction of finishing by pushing my limits was great.

"You've beaten 99.9% of the population just by running." - That was the organiser's msg at a board near the start. =)

Somebody said this before: "If you want to win a race, join the 100 metre dash. If you want to push yourself to the limit, run the marathon."

I can't remember the exact wording, but in essence the marathon is not for the faint-hearted, the showy tricksters and is a test of your determination. When the body says NO, the mind gotta say YES.

Yep still having the feel good factor after suffering for the 7hrs. It's a torture every year but worth it to keep reminding myself to overcome this pain. Told derrick that we should stop creating misery for ourselves next year, but I guess I'll be back. Haha.