As much as I wasn’t well prepared for this marathon, I’ve been looking forward to this trip since I’ve booked the air tix more than a month ago. I’ll blog about the fun and excitement during this trip in my next entry. Now, let me do a full report on the race itself.

I was staying in Square One Hotel in Patong Beach, which was quite a distance away from Laguna Beach Resort, the starting point of the marathon. Therefore, to ensure that my buddy and I were able to reach the venue on time, we woke up at 3am and get ourselves ready before being fetched there by our hotel car. We reached by 0430 eventually.

There was already a bit of crowd over there. Some of the participants of the full marathon were stretching and warming up, some were lying on beach chairs to enjoy a soothing massage by the volunteers, and the rest were unnerving themselves just by chatting with their group of friends.

Soon, all the participants were gathered behind the starting line, waiting for the count-down to the race start. PeeeP! The 2nd Phuket International Marathon had begun! Everyone cheered and began their run. I was hoping to enjoy this first part of the marathon before the sun rised, but my race was nearly marred ten minutes into the race!

It went like this: I was always very reliant on my iPod whenever I run long distance, as I always thought that the music would distract me from the being tired. So this time round, I had my player with me as usual. But after listening to 3 songs on my iPod, I realised that they kept repeating themselves.. I’ve accidentally deleted all but three songs in my iPod! Oh no, I thought. I still had 41 km to finish.. how to survive!

So I thought to myself, just try to enjoy the scenery as much as possible and take some pictures during the gruelling journey. It did work for awhile, but not too long into the race, it started to drizzle. And the drizzle turned into a super heavy downpour. Handphone had to be kept from the rain, so no picture-taking anymore. But by then, I’d found a new way to keep myself going. Everytime I ran past another person, I’ll look into his/her direction, and if this person turned to look at me, I’ll smile and do a thumbs-up. Its a great feeling when they return you a friendly gesture, and that sort of gave me an extra boost to continue my run.

Eventually, somewhere into the 10 km mark, I caught up with this friendly Thai lady from Bangkok, and ran side by side with her for the next 10 km. As we ran, we introduced ourselves and talked about our professions and interests. Found out that she had completed 4 or 5 marathons before and she even tried the Ultra-marathon in Macritchie last year! and She did 6 rounds, equivalent to 60+ km! Really take my hats off her.

Shortly after the the 21 km mark, that lady decided to wait for her friend (I think), and I went ahead. Although the rain was reduced to a slight drizzle by then, my shoes were still soaking wet and signs of blisters on my feet could already be felt. Ouch. As I ran, I started to enjoy the silence around me, and began appreciating the scenic view offered by the course. That was the moment when I realised running without music ain’t that bad after all.

Another nice surprise was that this course wasn’t as hilly as I thought (or perceived from the description given by some sgrunners). It was only after I’d run past the 25 km mark that I realised I had completed the so-called "hills". Phew!

After I’d reached the 30 km mark, I began to feel a little worried. I had my first cramp at the 33 km during the KL marathon, and I was certainly afraid of going through the same ordeal here. Luckily, I didn’t have any cramps or symptoms of "hitting the wall". Cool! The chiRunning principles that I’ve tried to apply must have contributed quite a bit.

I continued on despite being quite exhuasted. At every drinking point, I took a sip of water (and some bananas and water-melon if they were available) and thanked the volunteers for serving. They were really all smiley and friendly, and clapped to cheer me on. Some motorists along the road also shouted out words of encouragement as they rode past. Mind you, at this point of time when you’re all drained and sore, such little but kind gestures really help tremendously.

As I reached the 40 km mark, my buddy and another friend (who were constantly a little behind me) caught up with me. I was very tired by then, and kept having the temptation to start walking. "Hey, you two go first.. I can’t make it already", I said. "No, man. We’re at this together. Come on, lets run together!" came the reply. That urged me on, and I started picking up speed.

During the last km, I remembered myself almost sprinting all the way till the finishing point while those earlier finishers and spectators at the sides cheered and clapped enthusiastically. This was very welcoming, much better than my finishing-point experience in KL. Finally, I crossed the finishing point at a 4:44:18. A new PB, 15 minutes off my first marathon!

Me and my buddy, Tianming, after completing the race.

The feeling of completing this marathon was ecstatic. Great weather (minus the huge downpour), great fellow participants, great volunteers, great race. Would I recommend this race to any fellow runner? You bet!!

Two sides of the finisher’s medal. I heard that the medal for 1/2 marathon doesn’t have the sun beside the tree? Interesting.

Timing:

9 km: 0:55:03

20km: 2:07:45

30km: 3:16:21

42km: 4:44:18