By Mok Ying Ren

mok ying ren

Mok Ying Ren ran the Gold Coast Marathon in 2:27:05. (Photo courtesy of Mok Ying Ren)

Ed’s note: Mok Ying Ren ran the Gold Coast Marathon in a time of 2 hours 27 minutes and 5 seconds on July 3rd. He shares a first-hand account of that race with us.

The race start was very exciting. As an elite seeded runner, I had the privilege of standing at the front and also to do more warm up at the start area before the start at 7:10am. The weather was nothing short of perfect for a great run. Temperature was about 12 degrees, with no wind. The forecasts were really accurate.

At 7:10am, there was no count down and the gun just went. I started off at 3:23/km, a pace that will give me a 2h 23min timing and a Singapore national record if I ran at this pace for the whole race.

First 5km — 17:05
I was feeling good. I was running alone as everyone, including the runners who were aiming for a similar time, were running faster than my target. At 2km, a tall guy in red came up to me and I followed him to 5km. At the 5km mark, my time was 17:05, on target. ‘Perfect’, I thought.

10km (5km split) — 16:41 (ahead by 12 seconds)
From the 5th to 10th kilometere, which on the elevation map showed a slight downhill, I decided to catch David — a runner I figured who would run a similar time as me — and another runner who was running with him. They were about 25 seconds ahead. But I tried to mildly up my pace but I was not able to catch him by the 10km mark.

By 10km, the tall guy in red — he was hoping to run a 2:25, but in the end ran a 2:27 — was no longer following me.

15-23km (10-15km = 16:50; 15-20km =16:35; 20-25km: 16:31)
I was running alone and still trying to catch David. In doing so, my average pace for the entire run dropped to 3:20. As seen from my splits, from 15-25km, I have gained 40 seconds on my target. And for the first 25km, I had gained one minute on my target. I thought this was fine and the great weather was deceiving. I was feeling great!

My half marathon time was 1:10:56 and my target for a 2h 23min timing was 1:11:30. I was 34 seconds faster than my 2h 23min target, and 66 seconds ahead of a 2h 24min timing, which would also have been a Singapore record.

25-30km: 16:55
At the 23rd kilometre mark I managed to catch David and his partner. Just as I caught them, we overtook another group of three runners who were mostly Japanese. At the 28km mark, we overtook Gelata, whom I had run with in 2010 at Christchurch. (Gelata ran the full marathon in 2:25 in Christchurch and I followed him for the first round with a half marathon time of 1:10 in 2010).

After we overtook Gelata, David had to go to the toilet in the bushes but he was back in a few seconds. Looks like this can happen to the pros too!

30-35km: 17:41
At the 30km mark, we came back past the start point with a 12km finishing loop ahead. There were two small hills which affected my rhythm. At the 30km mark, I was on a 2h 22min marathon pace but after those two hills, I started to feel the effects of my efforts to catch David.

I thought that since I was 1:30 ahead of schedule, I could afford to take it easier to prevent myself from overheating. Thus, I decided to stop following David as they were also going faster and faster.

35-40km: 19:00
This was absolute torture. There some small slopes here and there which I did not enjoy at all. I looked at my watch at the 35km mark, and I was still one minute ahead of a 2:24 marathon. I thought ‘One can’t possibly lose 1 min over the next 7km!’

I could feel the record slipping away but I persevered and thought of the Japanese style of running — to run till you almost die. I figured if I did that, at least I will get the national record. I ran the next 5km in 19 minutes, losing two minutes. It was crazy. I just threw the record out of the window.

Last 2km
I ran the last 2km in nine minutes, an average of 4:30 per km. This lost me another two minutes, dropping me from a 2h 25min marathon to a 2h 27min.

Lessons
Effort during the race can be deceiving, especially before the 30km mark. I cannot further emphasize the importance of holding yourself back, at least during the first 20km. I was ahead of pace by 1min 30seconds at 30km. At 35km, I was one minute ahead. And by 40km, I was one minute slower than 2:24, and within the next 2km, I was three minutes off.

This can happen to you too. So start slow and end fast, my friends!

My Analysis
I feel that I cannot run well if I am running alone from 5km to the end of the marathon. Firstly, it is not fun at all! I would rather have some company. That was why I decided to take a gamble and catch David. It was a good catch too.

I reeled him in over 18km which required much patience from me and it was a good sign that I was maturing as a runner. After all, this is my fourth marathon. One can accumulate a lot lactic acid if you try and catch someone over a short distance.

But on hindsight, perhaps I should have stopped catching them and just allowed this to become a lonely long time trial. However, this was not what I wanted to do, coming all the way to Gold Coast.

Did I make a right decision? It was a tough one. But I think I played it out well in an attempt to get a good race out of it. I enjoyed the race a lot. The supporters were great. They can see my name on my bib and they called and cheered for me with my name. It was a great feeling.

The runners were also great, they also called my name. I met some Singaporeans which made the race so much more enjoyable.