The night before

Terribly excited. As if it is the night before an exam, except it is in an entirely wonderful way. Smole and I went to collect the race pack from Suntec Convention Hall this morning. The Tshirt that came in the race pack is cool. It is a bright blue Adidas climacool running top with three green stripes down the side, with a reflective strip at the end of the stripes. And, better yet, it is in the right size.

21,000 runners. It seems like everyone is running this year. We bumped into a mutual friend standing in line who will be running with his father. We stood around and talked about blisters and wet socks for a while, before going off to explore the “Marathon Village”.

The “Marathon Village” was large. Smole did the fitness test and we both got our body fat percentage tested. Smole also subscribed to the new local Sports magazine and got herself a pair of crocs for free. Crocs are those roomy, colourful, plastic shoes that originate from Boulder, Colorado that has become all the rage here. Smole got the black pair. Two lucky draw entry forms, two free bags of pasta, three race packs (we collected for Jamie Oliver too), two tiny cups of power gel drink, one magazine subscription, and two pinch tests later, we were more than ready for our Kenny Rogers’ lunch.

(What a good lunch. The chicken pot pie there is excellent. It is probably made of left over chicken, but it is bursting with flavour. I simply love this eat, drink, rest phase in training for a race! :) )

So it is the night before. Cooked some pasta a while ago and am putting my stuff together for 4am tomorrow. Shirt: check; shorts: check; EZ link: check; money: check; socks: check; Vaseline: check. Ah Vaseline, the runner’s best friend. Tomorrow I will oil myself as slick as a seal.

So adios! Wish me luck! Smole and I will be sticking together throughout the run, no matter how good or tired either one of us feels.