Before I begin, my
brother Jeff and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Team Freedom
Freaks for their great supports and encouragements by spending their precious
time in sending both of us at Changi Airport for our Gold Coast Marathon trip
on 29 June 2012 (Friday evening). Many thanks to you guys!
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| - At Singapore Changi Airport - |
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| - After collecting our racepacks at Gold Coast - |
Together with some
Singaporean passionate runners and our group leader (Sky Khoo), Jeff and I reached
at Gold Coast Airport (Australia) at approximately 5:30 AM (Singapore Time 3:30
AM) and the flight journey took us 7 hours. The weather was very good and cold
with blue clear sky with no clouds. After we have collected our check-in
luggage in the airport and settled our breakfast meals, we then straight away
went to the Gold Coast Convention Centre to collect our race goodie bags and
bib slots at the race expo. Few hours later, all of us then left the place for
our backpacker resort (Sleeping Inn)
and settled our accommodation stuff. In mid afternoon, Jeff, Sky and I
went for our jogging session 3.17 km around our resort area to condition our
bodies to the cold weather.
1st July 2012: Race Day
Very happy feeling! I was
very excited to run my first marathon race in a cold country like Australia.
Near to the start line, we met up with some of our Singaporean runners
including Mohan Marathon, Adam OneArmRunner, Team FatBird and Team SAFRA. As
usual, camwhore session took place.
:P
This marathon race is
to dedicate my effort to Adecco Win4Youth project in raising charity fund to
help and integrate young & needy people into work, in difficult
environments.
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| - With the Singapore's contigent ! - |
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| - Cam-whoring with my bro - |
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| - Dedicate this run to Win4Youth - |
Soon, the
marathon race started at 7:20 AM. Sky, Michael Quek (another good buddy) and I
started our runs together and we paced together closely from the start. The
cold weather was so good that we ran and reached our 25 KM and 30 KM markers in
1:58 hours and 2:25 hours respectively. However, my body was starting to complain
and feel fatigue at 28 KM. Eventually I hit my wall at 31 KM. Sky was with me
and he encouraged me to maintain my pace to 5:15 mins/km in order to achieve
sub 3:30 hour marathon time. I told him that I cannot run anymore and asked him
to carry on his run and not to wait for me. I stopped, rested and did some leg
stretching for about 1.5 minute at 31.8 KM marker. Suddenly, I was able to run
again at 32 KM with an average pace of 5:30 to 5:45 mins/km. This was awesome feeling
because I felt the encouragement supports from the local supporters and runners.
Finally, I raced and completed
my Gold Coast Airport Marathon 2012 with a net time of 3:35:33 hours (Season
and Personal Best). My marathon has improved by 15:55 mins from my previous best
time of 3:51:28 hours set at Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011.
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| - Various pics captured by the official photographer - |
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| - Flying Singapore's flag - |
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| - My Full Marathon timings so far - |
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