The day of the big race (21.1km)

The day started for me at 4am. Woke up bleary-eyed, brushed the teeth, boiled the water for the coffee, and sat down and had four pieces of Jacob's Sunlife Breakfast biscuits with Gold Roast 3-in-1 low sugar instant coffee. My father was also up -- he was up 'cos he thought it was 6am already, the poor guy! -- and he was making soft-boiled eggs for breakfast, so I had one as well.

Dad was talkative so early in the morning already. He told me a story about how my uncle died during the riots of the 60s. Surprisingly, this was a story I had never heard before. Finally I excused myself to get into my running gear. I had laid out the clothes the night before so all that was required to put it all on and slather on the Vaseline. I put the blessed Vaseline everywhere -- between my toes even -- and I was glad of it, because after the run, I was abrasion-free, which is a big deal because I chafe easily.

Smole came to pick Jamie Oliver and me up under my block. Her dad dropped us a distance from Esplanade and so we had to walk the rest of the way there. Jamie Oliver decided to wait for us at the bus stop while we went to the baggage area, which turned out to be a bit of a stresser, because by the time we came back, there was a barricade between us and her, and the guy adamently refused to let us pass through the barricade so that we could proceed to the start line together. We pointed to where we would meet but by the time we got there, we couldn't find her anywhere. We looked and looked. By this time, the race had started and the 10km people were already hoarding the starting line. We waited 10 minutes and finally decided to start running. Had to squeeze through the 10k folks to get to the starting line. Eventually they parted to let us through. Two walls of people looking at us as we passed, as if we were crossing the finish line like that!

Smole was pretty peeved about losing Jamie Oliver, but thankfully, we caught sight of her as we turned into Marina, and so it was all good.

One of the best things starting a whole 11 minutes late is that you get the entire road to yourself. And you get to overtake loads of people along the way. We saw the elite runners coming the opposite direction while we were running along Shenton Way. Boy did they look good. The sun was rising at that point -- Marina South was beautiful -- at least until we joined the hoard of u-turning 10km runners. Then it was overtake, squeeze, overtake, like atoms squeezing through to the bottom of the jar.

Had the powergel at the 12km mark. Yuck. I hate how that stuff tastes. But I supposed it helped cos I wasn't too tired at all the whole route. Nicole highway was hot. We stopped and asked one of the officials to help us take a photo -- Smole carried the camera the whole way.

The last bit was hard on Smole. But we carried on running, anyway, despite Smole's unusually high heart rate and the pain in the knee. We stopped to walk about 10 metres at the 20km and the 21km mark, but other than for that it was a slow plodding all the way. We crossed the finish line in 2hrs 35mins, in the heat of the 9am sun. Jamie Oliver finished the route too. I'm so proud of us! :)

There is something about running in a race that is different from running on your own. It is being a part of the moment; it is running in the same race as the elites; it is altogether exhilerating. Everyone runs their own race -- everyone struggles to finish on their own in their own time -- yet everyone struggles together. That is the wonder of it -- it is every man's race.

The news on TV didn't seem to capture this sense. It showed two shots -- the first man and the first woman running in, one Kenyan and one Russian. Where are the ordinary people?

It was well-organised. Lots of water and cold 100-plus at the finish line. The baggage claim was a bit of a foul-up, but not a biggie. We went home to shower first before coming back to claim our bag as we didn't want to queue. The smell at the end of the run was overwhelming. Eeuw.

So it was a wonderful day. Everything I expected and more. I felt better this time than during the Sheares' Bridge so I'm quite pleased with that. Very pleased with our training plan before the race as well. Went for lunch, then to the Sports Expo to collect our free Nike socks, and then to look at Christmas trees, before heading home for a long nap. At times like these, you feel grateful to be alive and well.

Congrats to Carine for finishing the marathon in 3hr 55mins. And to Taz, Penguin, Dream Runner for completing their first marathon. Way to go!