I participated in the Sundown Marathon 2012 this morning and was thrilled to have completed my 21km race with the finishing timing better than what I have expected! Earlier this week, I went on a 4 days cruise trip on SuperStar Libra and had been feasting non-stop on food and haven’t been training much despite the race this weekend.
It was an unnerving experience to be given priority race position to be right at front of the starting line along with all the elites. A guy next to me ask me if I’m aiming to complete my 21km below 1hr 30mins and I was a bit taken back by all the professionals who are preparation their mind and body to ace the race.
I was taking photos away with my phone like a tourist while some people were looking at me, probably thinking “what on earth is this guy doing?!” Well, I am not a competitive runner like the rest of the them and running to me, is a form of leisure and hobby. Most importantly, it trains me mentally to have positive self-thoughts to overcome myself physical from fatigue.
This was the view of the crowd from where I was standing at the start line. More than 17,000 runners from the 21km and 42km categories were in the crowd and ready for the flag off at 12.30am! Marathon pacers from Team FatBird were present to guide runners who wish to finish with certain timings. Luckily, they were being flagged off batch by batch according to the goal timings of the pacers.
For myself, although my goal timing was 2 hours for my 21km run, I paced myself at 5 minutes per 1km throughout my 21km race so I can have a bit of buffer time to recharge myself at the various hydration stations. The water, 100 plus, bananas and energy gel were great but I was hoping for more road marshals especially since it is a night race and some routes can really be dark and uneven especially the ones after Marina Barrage. Some of the marshals were really cheering loudly despite the wee hours. Kudos to all of you!
Along Gardens by the Bay, I slowed down my pace to enjoy Marina Bay’s night skyline as it was a rare opportunity for me to be here at 1am. This is certainly one of the perks of Sundown Marathon 2012 with the new route!
Although the race was long and tiring, I enjoyed the run with the night breeze blowing against my face. Fatigue didn’t had a chance to set in as other runners along with me lengthened our stride and ran our way to the finishing line when we hit the 19km point. I blazed across Merdeka Bridge which spans over Kallang Basin with all my might and the last kilometer seems forever as I couldn’t see the other end of the bridge.
I told myself not to slow down and speed up as I was nearing the end of the race. Before I knew it, I was already at the finishing line with my medal! According to my bib number, here’s the timing which I was very happy about being ranked 108 among thousands of participants in the 21km category.
Mary Joy Tabal, 22 (PHI) came in 1st for the 21km Female category when she crossed the finish line at the 1h25m28s. Coincidentally, her coach John Philip Dueñas (PHI), 25, also won the 21km Male category at 1hr14m28s. What a double victory!
Photo credit: HiVelocity Events
In this 5th edition of Sundown Marathon 2012, it saw a recording breaking number of more than 28,000 participants and it is the biggest night race in Singapore! This year, runners were brought to through a new scenic route from Nicoll Highway to Marina Bay Sands, Marina Barrage, Gardens by the Bay and the eastern tracks of Singapore unlike the past 4 years.
Some of my friends who are running the 42km marathon welcomed the rain at the second half of the run while some did not. For those who participate in Sundown Marathon 2012, do comment below and share your experience of your run with me! Also, if you missed this year’s Sundown, will you be participating next year? 
* All my photos are taken using HTC One X smartphone.
10 Comments
Hahaha!! i did not take part, but i had fun too.. Glad you enjoyed yourself.. Be sure to sign up for next year’s race..
Thanks Merli!
It was exciting to be running my first night race in the city!
Hope next year will be more exciting.
Well done, I did the marathon yesterday. My first half marathon was the Standard Chartered one last year. I can run 21km alright (I do them twice a week), but the Sundown marathon wasn’t a walk in the park
More like a painful run in pouring rain. That last 9k was hard, very painful, but I still made it. It was my first marathon. But that rain was horrible, wasn’t it? It wrecked my MP3 player. I bet Challenger will be doing great business after the Sundown.
Hi Marita, congrats to completing the 42km Sundown Marathon! I wanted to do the 42km but haven’t had time to train so I did just the 21km. It’s sad to hear your MP3 player is spoilt. I learnt it the hard way too as my phone spoilt previously while running in the rain and now, I’ll bring a ziplock bag out for my gadgets during runs. =] thanks for dropping by!
Congratulations, Calvin! Glad to hear you had a good time. I was hoping to run this year but a new job with lots of travel disrupted my training schedule, so hopefully I’ll see you on the road during the Standard Chartered race in December (you’ll be doing the 42km by then, I’m sure!). I woke up Saturday night to the sound of rain and felt so bad for everyone, am glad to hear you got in before it started pouring. Congrats again!!
Hi Will, thank you so much for your compliment! I enjoyed my run and you definitely can participate it next year for the Sundown.
I hope I will time to train up for the 42km by then. Haha!
good read! i had the same observations (i did 21km, too) the skyline was quite a nice view while running, and there were certainly areas which i wish had more marshalls! i loved running in the rain too, it was refreshing for me! overall i find it well-organized and i will def run again next year (hope to do 42km by then, have a whole year to prepare!) congrats on the great timing, i’m a very amateur runner but hope to get better with proper training (Sundown was my first 21km and i finished at over 3 hours!). take care!
Congrats Kat to your first completion of 21km at Sundown! It is sure a good run to start off with as the night was cool and breezy. Besides that, the beautiful skyline sure took some of the tiredness away. Cheers and all the best training for your 42km next year!
My husband and I joined the 10km race and we really had a blast. It was our first time to join a marathon and for me, this was the culmination of my 8 year struggle of being overweight / obese at one point. I am now back to a healthy weight and still continuing to lose a few kg to achieve my target. I finished at 1hr 33mins and felt really proud as a first time runner. Now we are officially addicted and have signed up for another 2 marathons this year.
Kudos to the volunteers whose high fives and cheers inspired runners to push harder.
Glad to share this experience with all of you and see you in the next marathon.
Hi, that’s great to hear! It is always great to hear motivation real-life stories like yours and I am sure you will be staying healthy with more marathons to come. All the best for the coming marathons and have fun running with your husband! Cheers!