Sundown Marathon 2023

Its been years since I joined the Sundown again, and paid by myself.  The last full marathon with them was in 2017 and a free bib some more.  I never liked the Sundown because I am a person who really need the sleep.

Official Website: https://raceroster.com/events/2023/66299/sundown-marathon

Sundown marathon is one of the official organised marathons in Singapore.  There are some backyard ones organised by Running Guild which are ultra levels but not on such a large scale.  To speak the truth, I was not keen to pay and run this, if not for my company health and wellness benefit, and because one of my Beer running club friend from Denmark, Anders.

As it is his first time, I thought maybe I should accompany him for the marathon.  Also its been a while since I did a real road race marathon in Singapore.  As I kinda enjoyed the 2XU, I thought might as well give this one a try too.

The Race Expo

To speak the truth, I was a bit unhappy that I had to pay so much for the race even though it is early bird.  With that cost I could have gone for an ultra overseas.  To make matter worse, organiser keep giving discounts even it is after the early bird registration.  But cost aside.  I would say their organisation is better than the 2XU one, and the distance measured is more accurate.

The race expo is also held at the F1 pit building.  They had the whole collection inside the building with the expo which is okay only.  As usual the few shops selling sports products and some nutritions.  There is a also a meet and greet session with the pacers at the expo.  So you can get to meet the people who are going to get you tortured at the race.

Collection was smooth and well organised, I thought some of the volunteers were National servicemen as they all seemed to come from some camp and all were very young, needless to say all males.  Took my bib and the singlet.  One thing I love about sundown singlets is that they really fit me snugly and give me that smart look.  That is why I always keep their singlets.  The pack is nothing fancy to mention just the bib, singlet and many vouchers for Osim items and other nutritional items.

I did not buy anything for the race this time, but tried a few Ajinomoto energy and replenishment drink at the booth.  I also had a quick body assessment done by the Gym pod, which was quite fun as the last time I did that was about 2 years ago already.

Jumping to the race

Maybe I am getting bored about running road marathons, I did not really train much for it.  Only met Anders a couple of times before the race.  He is a consistent and strong runner with Vibrams, so I thought he might not need much help.  He also did a LSD of up to 30KM for this race.  Guess all is ready except for the Z monster.  We had practiced with Joon ( another Mikkellar runner ) at the Harbourfront and also I did one 15K with him at the Pasir ris park.

We met around 10 pm at the race village, I was trying to find the group.  Then when the bag drop opened for us,  I saw the group and managed a small cameo with them.  Then somehow as we all went to the toilet, we all got lost with each other again.

Me and Anders decided not to act “hero” and went for  Pen C which was the last one to be flagged off.  21km and 42km were flagged off at the same time.  The Pen was not that crowded, we presume this race was not over subscribed.

The Race

The flag off was pretty long was us because we were in the last pen.  We started off at 11:30PM and it was already past my usual sleeping hour, but maybe its a race and I got hyped up.  We started off mostly in the city area, usual suspect, F1 pit to the Kallang area, down Nicoll highway back to the city and heading off to the barrage.  This is where the 21 and 42 split up.  While the 21 K head back to the F1 pit, the 42 folks continued on to the East Coast Park for clocking longer distance.

In the beginning, I was running together with Anders, after we headed into the ECP , I started to go a bit faster than him.  It was like this all the way till the end, but I did  try to slow down.  Maybe the Z mon was killing me and I could not take it , so I ran a bit faster.

Throughout the whole ECP, the setting was , I ran a bit ahead to the next water point, grab some hydration and pass to Anders.  We also kept a look out for the photographers although based on experience, the photos at night were always not very ideal.  At the 17Km and 32Km check point, we also say Raymond and Andrew setting up a support station for their friend runners.  They were really nice, I think for the first timers it is good because there were muscle rubs, food and other hydration for the runners.

The Finale

Throughout the race, it was pretty empty, the hydration points were well stocked.  Being the last wave, we also got all the final perks like muesli bars from the water station.

Cutting the story short, I feel for marathon , after 38 Km there is this wild feeling to just kill it good.  So I chiong all the way and kinda sprinted for the last 1K, that kinda triggered Anders to sprint too.  It was already five plus am when we finished.  Getting our little race entitlement of tee shirt, cold towel and some banana and water.  We headed to the rest point and took our bags.

I chilled around with Anders as we talked about the race.  This time round as I ended around 5 plus the timing was just nice for the first bus home.  Overall, I would say it was a pretty nice experience but to speak the truth, I would not want to spend money to run this marathon again.