As you all know, I decided at the very last minute to run my first marathon at my 2nd kampung ;)
My running+climber+oprah lady friend Rosey decided to join me and be there for me when I complete the marathon... And her brother (Abe Yaz) and Kak Nawal decided to join the marathon as well...
When my parents found out that I was going to do my first marathon, they+my sis decided to fly with me and be there when I cross the finish line... Even my lookalike brother decided to flew in from Brisbane... Super mad love for my family for their never-ending support... :)
The weather has been quite cold since my arrival on Thursday morning (7/10)...
AND to make things better, I got that TIME of the month the day before the marathon... *Cursing to the body*
Rosey, Abe Yaz, Kak Nawal and I left the apartment around 6am to get to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to drop off our bags and do a bit of stretching and camwhoring with the familiar faces :P
Nervous but excited me at 630am!
With Rosey
With Arab and Mizi...
Arab did first half marathon (I think) and Mizi was doing his fifth marathon...
With Kak Nawal, Abe Yaz, Sandy, Rosey and YKK...
YKK had his running jersey imprinted with our country's name ;)
The scene at the starting line...
It was really a super cold morning and I was thankful that I was wearing a long sleeve running top by Nike, which was bought by Rosey when she was holidaying in UK recently...
The marathon was flagged off at 7am (4am Malaysian time) at Batman Avenue (10 mins walk from the MCG)...
Since I was carrying the extra cramps from my tummy, I was hoping and praying that nothing bad will happen during my run and decided to take it slow during my first 21km route and just let pretty much all of the mat sallehs passing over me... :P
We ran along Flinders St before turning to run the entire St. Kilda Road and then into the Albert Park (where there's a beautiful golf course and where the annual Australian Grand Prix happens)...
Decided to get my first shot here at Albert Park...
Weather was just cold and chilly...
Then we ran along Fitzroy St before turning into the superlong road of Beaconsfield Parade... It was such a scenic route since we were running along the infamous St Kilda Beach before making a u-turn at the Ormond Esplanade...
Beaconsfield Parade (we were running towards Port Melbourne before making a u-turn to the other side of the road)
Shot by one of the photographers as I was running towards the 21km marker :)
I managed to catch up with Mizi here as we were entering the Elwood Park by the beach before making the u-turn...
And there were lots of people cheering on us and giving sweets and lollies... :)
I was feeling the cramps from my tummy after 23km and I did a lot walk-run-walk between the 24 - 28km... I was happy when I manage to clock in at 3 hours and 30 mins when I reached the 30km marker at Fitzroy St...
Then, we headed back towards St Kilda Road before turning into South Bank Boulevard and entered the beautiful Queen Victoria Gardens...
At St Kilda Road...
Taking the ONLY 'me' photo...
National Recital Centre @ Southbank Boulevard - I like!
And THIS is where I felt the infamous 'wall' that most runners would when running a marathon... My legs started to ache plus my tummy was just not too happy since I was into my 2nd day of the red flag month... :(
One of the markers...
Continued to walk, run, talk to the runners and even sang to myself to keep myself going... Once I came out of the park and back to St Kilda Road again, I decided to just give my all since I had about 4km to go...
Federation Square at Flinders Street...
I manage to catch up with Abe Yaz at our last 1km before he told me to sprint and run with my heart towards the MCG... The atmosphere in the stadium was just so lively...
My lovely father managed to capture this pic below when I was running towards the finish line:
I completed my first marathon in 5 hours and 19 mins (official time)!!! :D :D :D
Woohooooo!!!
I didn't think I could do it as I didn't have enough rest and that my tummy was hurting but I did it!!! I am finally a marathoner :) :) :)
Oh, and did you know that this year marks the 2500th year of marathon? ;)
Of course, more pictures after the marathon ;)
Rosey and I...
She completed the marathon in 4 hours 50 mins though there was a confusion on the timing as she didn't run at a certain route... Oh well....
Am proud of you girl! :D
The super duper nice finisher medal for the marathoners! :)
Pic credits to Rosey
YKK completed the marathon in less than 4 hours!
Congrats YKK!
Abe Yaz completed his marathon a couple of mins after me...
A PB for him!!! Yayyyyy!!!
Kak Nawal completed her marathon with a PB of 4 hours and 36 mins!
One day, I shall have this timing! ;)
Sandy completed the marathon in less than 4 hours too!
And she's qualified to run the Boston Marathon!
Major woohooooo for her!!!
Everything about the marathon was just almost perfect: the weather was cold and good, the route was scenic and super cantik for us to enjoy the view and appreciate the houses and buildings, there were enough water and aid stations, all of the volunteers were superb and efficient...
The only thing that was slacking was that when I completed my marathon, they ran out of the finisher medals and told us that they'll mail it to us... Boooooo... OK, make it two: for a fee of AUD100, the goodie bag only consisted a towel, powerade, information booklets from all of the sponsors... We had to buy the official running singlet and/or t-shirt and there was NO finisher tee... :(
But I have to say that this marathon is definitely the best experience that I've ever had so far... And I was really emotional on that day not only because it was my first one, but I had my family for the first time waiting for me at the finish line:
:D :D :D
Can't wait for my 2nd marathon in Singapore in 2 months time!!! ;)
Definitely going to reward myself for doing this!!! Still thinking on what should I get myself here in Melbourne besides indulging the yummy food here... Any suggestions? ;)
Next: Penang Bridge Half Marathon in November...
