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The runner’s shoe would probably be the most important investment a runner should make. Choosing the right shoe could spell the difference between happy feet or painful feet… or sometimes ugly feet… dahil may patay na kuko.
Based on the literature i’ve read in Runner’s World, the results of the wet test determines your foot type, you either have a foot that has a high arch, normal arch, or flat arch. People with high arch should wear shoes that provide cushioning. Those with normal arches could wear just about any type of shoe, or shoes that offer some form of stability. Flat footed people need to wear motion control shoes, as they provide maximum arch support.
I had my foot type evaluated in a Mizuno store sometime in October 2008. The specialist said that I had normal to high arch. Since people who have normal arch could pretty much wear any type of shoe, I decided to get myself a pair of new balance 903s, a neutral lightweight running shoe offering medial stablity
I generally don’t experience any pain when running short distances, with my 903s, but on distances over 30kms, my inner ankle starts to hurt. The pain was at its worst when i ran a full marathon with it, my ankles felt like they were jackhammered after the race. The 903s may not be the right shoe for me.
The day after the Singapore Marathon, i took a trip to the Running Lab. The name RUNNING LAB itself elicits images of athletes running on the treadmill like lab rats with oxygen masks strapped to their heads. It turns out, that the Running Lab is just a regular sports store, the only difference is that it has a treadmill for runners to run on to get a ‘feel’ of their shoes while running.
Taxi CAB with GPS enabled interactive TOUR GUIDE.. coolness!!
The specialist (who by the way ran a 3:52 marathon) evaluated my foot type, he said that my arch was normal in height. He then asked me to run barefoot on the treadmill. By running barefoot on the treadmill, he was able analyze my gait, he told me that both my feet have the tendency to overpronate, and that I would need shoes that provide for maximum stability. He recommended two shoes, the Gel Kayano 14, and the Wave Elixir, I tried both shoes on and felt that the Kayano was stiffer in the ankle area, while the Wave Elixir was a softer, more cushioned shoe. I ended up getting the Kayano.
Since then, I’ve been running with the Kayanos and they seem to work fine for my ankles and feet. I think they will be ideal for my long runs. I’ll use the New Balance 903s for short distance running.
In case you’re interested, the Running Lab is located at:
Shop unit#03-20, Funan Digitalife Mall
109 North Bridge Road
Singapore 179097.
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To be honest, I did have serious doubts about doing well in this event. A month and a half before the race, I read in Bald Runner’s blog that the recommended training mileage for a beginner marathoner should be around 64-80 kilometers per week. I was only running between 49 to 55 kilometers per week, that’s way below the recommended running volume. As I increased my long run mileage to 32km, I started feeling pain near my inner ankle. The pain seemed to get worse as I increased my long run mileage to 35km, and would not go away. To add to my worries, I took a week off my training early November to go to Palau for a diving trip (I wished I could have cancelled this trip, but this trip was already paid for, way before I decided to run the Singapore Marathon). The five days worth of multiple dives left me with the flu, putting me out of commission for another three days. It also didn’t help that I wasn’t able to complete my last 35Km run.
Feeling anxious as ever, Hubert, Happy and I flew to Singapore on Saturday. We arrived at lunch time, checked into our hotel, had a quick lunch, and took a quick nap.
When I woke up, I wrote down a list of what I wanted for breakfast and headed to the grocery. I got myself some corn flakes, yoghurt, a banana, and a can of 100plus. We had dinner at 6, prepared my running shoes, gu, singlet, short shorts, bib, fuel belt, and running computer ready. I went to bed at 10pm.
SATURDAY 22:00 to SUNDAY 1:45 am
Being in bed and being able to fall asleep are two different things. I was so nervous that I kept on tossing and turning in bed. The more I checked the time, the more I panicked. I think I might have fallen asleep at 1:45….
3:30 am
I don’t really have breakfast before any race, but because this a long distance race, I had to eat something. I decided to have breakfast at 3:30am so as to give me ample time to take a dump before the race start.
4:02 am
I did my business… SUCCESS!
4:45 to 5:30 am
I went down to the lobby to meet Hubert, and we both started heading toward the start line. But right before we got to the start line, I felt the need to poop again so I excused myself and ran to the nearest portalet to do my thing again.
5:30 am [RACE START]
There were so many people at the start line, it took me around 5 minutes before I was able to cross the start line, It was surreal, with the number of runners running the race, I kept telling myself… this is it.. this is what you’ve been training for, all the long runs, easy runs, and tempo runs you did were for this… NOW BETTER FINISH THIS RACE…
HEART RATE vs PACE graph as a function of distance
FULL MARATHON ACTUAL ROUTE
0-5km [TRAFFIC JAM]
As I crossed the start line, I hit the <start> button on my polar watch. My polar was giving me weird pace readings as the GPS sensor was going crazy… too many tall buildings. While I was busy trying to negotiate myself amongst the thousands of runners, I saw the elite pack running past the KM 2 mark already… it was an amazing sight seeing them zoom by, you could hear the whole crowd cheering for them. Somewhere before the first turn around, I passed Bards, I remembered asking her how her Garmin was and she told me that it was acting crazy as well. I said goodbye, and I carried on…
6-15km [Steady Lang]
I suddenly felt the urge to pee again… I saw a couple of portalets beside the third drinking station, but the line was just too long… so I kinda did a quickie behind the trees along the road. At this point, my GPS sensor started working properly, I was maintaining my target pace of 6:00 per km, but as I hit km 7, a quick time check revealed that I was behind by 2 minutes, had to pick up my pace to 5:45 per km
16-28km [Pain]
As I passed the 15km mark, the inner ankle pain that I felt during my training runs started to rear its ugly head. Usually, I’d experience this pain somewhere around the 29 to 35 km mark but pain this early? I started worrying that it’s going to slow me down.
Well, it did slow me down, and I also started feeling tightness on right thigh muscles. The pain that I felt were early telltale signs that I was about to hit the wall. I had to slow down significantly hoping that my ankle pain would not worsen and that my thigh muscles would not cramp up.
Around kilometer 22, Mesh passed me and was running slightly ahead of me, I picked up my pace, caught up to her and asked her what her target pace was. She told me that was running at 6:30 per km, she could see that I was struggling so she offered me words of encouragement and asked me to run alongside her. As much I wanted to keep up with her, I really couldn’t… slowly my gap to her started to widen, and soon enough, she disappeared.
Between KMs 23 to 29, my pace was hovering around 6:45 to 7:50 per km, the pain was getting worse, I decided to avail myself of some sports cream the medics were offering. I stopped, rubbed half a handful of cream on my thighs, and I put some on my inner ankle as well. I briefly massaged my inner ankle and it felt painfully good.
29-40km [Hitting the Wall]
The sports cream did provide temporary relief. I was able to run for another 4 to 5 kilometers. But as the effect of the cream went away, the pain returned, and it became worse, my thighs started to cramp. I really couldn’t run anymore, so as I passed the 29th kilometer, I stopped, and walked. In all road races that I’ve ever participated in, I have never ever walked a single race, the fact that I did in the most important race of my life (to date) just broke my spirit, I had to come to grips with reality that I wasn’t going to finish within 4 hrs and 30, I had to change my race strategy, instead of a race to a strong finish, the strategy became a race for self preservation, I needed to make sure that I my thighs would cooperate so they could carry me to the finish line… crawling would be the least preferred option.
41-42km [HULING HIRIT]
As I went past the 41st km mark, I gathered all my remaining strength for the final push, I started running but it felt really awkward, but then again… who cares about form? What’s important is that I finish… at this time, my brain was able to block out all the pain that I was experiencing from the waist down. The run along St Andrews Road felt really LONG, I could see the finish line, and I could see the 100 and 50 meter markers, but getting to it seemed like forever. I crossed the finish line at 5:07, it was way over 4:30, but I finished.
I finished 3445th out of 12,335 full marathon runners.
The 2008 Singapore Marathon has left me quite disappointed… I was unable to finish within my target time of 4:30. I however, refuse to accept defeat… there will be other marathons next year, and there’s plenty of time to redeem myself.
Lastly, prior to ending this post, I’d like to say THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to Happy for being my number 1 fan, and my official personal photographer for the race, thank you for understanding, and putting up with my kakulitan especially on days leading up to the marathon.
