Reflecting On My First Two Official Half Marathons
I have had a few weeks to think about my first official race after completing the Standard Chartered Singapore Half Marathon 2022 (SCSM) on December 4, 2022. The final time of 2 hours, 16 minutes and 5 seconds was not what I was hoping for but my thoughts have become more realistic since, as I have become aware that the initial goal was way too ambitious.
It was the first time in three years that the event took place due to the global coronavirus pandemic and as many years ago, I couldn‘t even finish a casual 5km run without being out of breath. Going from almost zero to hero without proper training was definitely delusional and that may not have even been the worst mistake in the lead-up / during the race itself. But more on that is to follow in due time, because I would first like to tackle some more generic thoughts.
Whenever I attempt something out of the ordinary, be it in a work environment or sports, the goal is the same: Explore how far I can push my own limits and actively pursue to expand upon them. There is no trying, you either do it or you don‘t. This has been my nature since completing school and has been a necessity to make a living as self-employed freelancer.
In my home region in Eastern Germany, jobs were and still are hard to come by. I quickly realized that it requires a lot of dedicated efforts to break out of a pre-determined ordinary life. Being stuck in the same country with thin hope of an exciting future and limited options of personal achievements were not acceptable for me.
My journey definitely required a healthy dose of serendipity and there is no final conclusion in sight just yet where exactly the path will lead to. But being more healthy is certainly part of the plan from now on and the early results after climbing out of the cocoon give reason for optimism. There is, however, plenty of room for improvement and that can certainly also be said about my performance during the half marathon.
That random Sunday in South East Asia was only the second time I have completed this distance. The first occurrence was early in 2022 when I forgot to check the weather predictions and jumped on a training run right into a snow storm, finishing the 21.1km in two hours and 1.1 seconds. Based on that, I was cocky enough to sign up for a predicted finish under two hours and was assigned to Pen C.
Just for insight, Pen A features the stars from Kenya and Pen B mostly consists of ambitious regular runners. More than 20 participants were signed up for the half and full marathon that day and began spreading into their assigned zones as early as one hour before the scheduled 4.30 am start.
The moment I changed to the running shirt and walked on the Formula One race track in Singapore where it all kicked off, one particular thought instantly crossed my mind.
„What the fuck am I doing here? This is just bat shit crazy!“
It was about 3.30 a.m. local time and the race start was still another 60 minutes away. In the distant sky, one could see the lightning but no thunder was to be heard … yet. That would, however, change as the start of the race had to be delayed for security reasons, since the organizers had to make sure it was safe to go ahead.
Unfortunate Circumstances Lead to Wet Race
Another agonising hour passed during which a brief and very heavy rain shower soaked all participants that had been waiting in the pits. We quickly ushered to the main building and 15 minutes later, it was gone as quickly as it had suddenly and violently appeared. My nervousness was obviously helped by that but there was no return anymore, the time to nut up or shut up had arrived.
When the horns finally sounded, the stars from Kenya sprinted out of the gates and the herd of sheep followed soon after including at least one random German runner-wannabe. So where did it all go wrong from my point of view?
The most glaring mistake was a natural result of my optimistic guess with regards to the race time, as I was further up front despite a rolling start of all pens. I simply started way too fast in the first ten kilometers and slowed down too much on the water stations, which entirely killed my rhythm as soon as the second half kicked off.
Unable to keep my heart rate below 170 and clearly overwhelmed with the lack of experience on longer distances, I had to walk some passages and try to get the breathing under control. Ultimately, the final few kilometers were pretty rough and I only got through them thanks to some encouraging words of other participants who noticed my struggles.
Once all was done and dusted, the time probably wasn’t as mediocre as the numbers indicate but I was simply disappointed. Whenever I take part in a competition, I aim to be as competitive as possible and this first official race felt like an instant let-down.
There wasn‘t a lot of time to process the ordeal as my flight back to Europe was a mere one and a half days later, with live reporting work scheduled fewer than 72 hours after the race had concluded.
In hindsight, the dissatisfying experience turned into a blessing in disguise. Even before Christmas had come around, I had already signed up for the next race which was a whole different challenge on paper.
An Ice-Cold Experience Above the Arctic Circle
The PolarNight Half Marathon in Tromso took place pretty much exactly one month after the first official race and the general circumstances pointed to a very cold environment. Situated more than 300km above the Arctic Circle, the city up north has become a magnet for those seeking a glimpse at the mesmerising Northern Lights.
On a whim, I registered online for the race and bought some special winter running shoes with spikes. The AirBnB outside of the city was a case of serendipity because the hospitality of my host from Nepal was absolutely outstanding. I was almost part of the family and she even made sure I had plenty of carbs ahead of the race day.
During my online training run at -10 degrees, my only leak came to light as the gloves were not warm enough and my fingers were nearly frozen after just half an hour of jogging. Thankfully, that problem was solved one day prior to the madness but I was still somewhat worried when collecting the race number at the Town Hall.
Ahead of me were some German speaking runners in their fourties‘ and they decided to switch from the half marathon to just 10 kilometers due to the expected weather conditions. That thought never crossed my mind that very moment, however, and it instead enforced resilience instead.
„Fuck this, I didn‘t come all the way up here to be a coward and gonna do this shit.“
That‘s also what I told one of the helpers, who I had interacted with prior to the race on Twitter. We both just grinned after the short chat and he was then busy to switch further runners to a shorter distance.
My preparation was a whole lot better than the first time and I had my own water bottles as well as plenty of energy gels at my disposal. Loaded up with carbs the previous two days, there was plenty to burn and I also made sure to stay in the back of the field for the kick-off.
The temperature of around -9 degrees Celsius required two to three layers of clothes, at least in my case. Some quick dashes to warm up went alright and I trotted to the starting point where I essentially missed the starting signal. Having gasped a quick mercy in advance, it then got underway without any further ado.
Luck and Persistence Leads to New Record
During the opening stages, my legs felt pretty decent and the breathing didn‘t become a problem either. Slowly but surely, I jumped from one small group to the other and finally found a quartet to follow with a very consistent average pace. After staying with them for the first half, another faster group of four came from behind and I joined them while the legs became more shaky.
With the path located next to a street close to the water and an abundance of trees around, the wind kept blazing at us and the wind chill was later deemed to be up to -17 degrees Celsius. There were two or three moments where I was about to give up and fall behind but my stubbornness must have kicked in as I just didn‘t let it happen.
Fast forward to the final three kilometers, I checked my watch and realized that the rather ambitious goal under two hours was actually doable. Pulling ahead of the group and running on my own, I even yelled at myself in frustration or perhaps motivation.
The final result: 1:58:36. Fuck, yeah! Bucket list goal done.
While being aware that I should be capable of it, the performance was still flabbergasting for a couple of minutes until the hot drinks slowed down my adrenaline. It was certainly the physically hardest activity in quite some time and I have already set my sights on further improving the time and overall distance.
Eyes Firmly Set on More Competitions
Whether or not that is something I will pursue on a regular basis for the foreseeable future or just a temporary sensation to test and expand the own limits remains to be seen. But yes, I am already signed up for my third half marathon in as many months and want to compete in a full marathon by 2024 at the latest.
Because it‘s time to nut up or shut up.
I know this won‘t be an easy ride as my job doesn‘t really allow for regular and dedicated training, unless the number of live poker events to report on is scaled back significantly. To be honest, I haven‘t really decided yet what to do but hope for a moment of inspiration out of the blue.
Everything else will solve itself if I really want to.
For now, the third half marathon is right around the corner in Verona / Italy on February 12, 2023, and the location is also the perfect excuse to eat plenty of pasta, pizza and gelato. :)
