Thoughts on Marathon

Completed my first marathon in 6 hrs 50 mins...pretty nice to catch up with new work colleagues near the finish and ended it together.

Immediate thoughts upon finishing were:
1) Timing could have been improved
2) Legs weren't that sore
3) could have pushed a little harder during the race

Nonetheless its an interesting race that promises a certain degree of self discovery... some difficulties faced were:

1) It was a night run..and I've never trained through the night before at all. Prior to the race I was usually in bed by 10pm. There were certain sections in the race where it was dark and I struggled to stay awake. Had to run nearer to the lampposts in order to keep my eyes open.

2) Ran too quickly in the first half. Wanted to start at 8.15mins/km pace for at least the first 10km but went faster at about 7.30 mins/km pace instead. Probably due to the crowd and the atmosphere...could have been better managed. Starting off a little too quickly at the beginning of the long run really took its toll in the 2nd half.

3) Lack of 100-plus along a 8-10km stretch in their hydration stations. Had to make do with plain water for a long time. Loss of salt and lack of electrolytes during this section set me up for later difficulties.

4) Cramps near 25 km mark. Had to slow my pace and take rest breaks in order not to pull my muscle. Energy gels really do work in alleviating cramps. Unfortunately, I brought only 2 packs and it was certainly not enough. Its pretty interesting to see your body deteriorate in condition after the first half of the marathon...which I felt perfectly fine till the cramps caught up.

5) Run-walk strategy really helped near the end...was able to maintain a pace of 9 plus mins/km at worst with run and walk. I had wanted to walk all the way till the end from the 25km mark, where I had cramps... Wanted to end the pain and torture by finishing earlier,,,and thus decided to pick up the pace by running and walking.

Other thoughts:
1) Didn't feel particularly proud of finishing at the moment. Perhaps it's because of seeing so many people walking all the way and finishing it without much running. It felt like it was something that could be done by anyone, and thus not making it any special, despite getting the medal and finishing tee, which I won't be wearing anyway.

2) My main intention of finishing under 5 hours was revised to under 6 hours...and I still failed to achieve that... Nonetheless its the first marathon and I'm pretty confident of improving it. It was a good learning experience... the nuances of long distance running that I've picked up in my first race. With better training and nutrition, I believe my goal of better timing will be improved.

3) Signed up for SCSM. Bless me.