I ran a HM on Saturday evening (28th) at the Sundown Marathon here in Singapore. Finished with a decent effort and chipped at 1:55:59. Weather was on the more humid side, as this was run close to open waters but with no breeze. My target going in to the race was to go below 2 hours (for the first time) and the stretch was to run a 1:53 (if for no other reason than to be in line with McMillan predictions for a Sub 4 FM). Pretty satisfied with the effort.

 

Gold Coast Marathon is in 32 days. The Sub 4 question just got bigger for me ..

 <4 looks doable.  Running a 1:55:59 at 8 PM is  good. Gold Coast  marathon hopefully is a morning race.

Is there a noticeable difference in AM and PM marathon times?????

About 12 hours.

GCAM is supposed to be super flat and hopefully the weather is a lot cooler and less humid than here. When I ran Tokyo end Feb this year, i split the 42.2 as 2:14 / 2:08 despite the 2nd half being more "hilly" than the first, especially in the last 7 kms. But i dont think i will go a negative split at GCAM. I am thinking of pacing to a 1:57 / 2:01 finish with a 2 minute buffer in the bank. The 4 hr bus should be following a similar split (probably a minute more even).

I have no experience in following pace groups - but wanted to understand this: Do pacers account for walking through hydration points or do they run through them? I am sure there is a myriad of responses but looking to understand from any past GCAM runner here.

I was on target for about 15 miles. Then I slowed down. By mile 20, I had to do walk breaks due to some cramps near both achilles tendons. Not wanting to do any damage, I walked miles 23 and 24. I had resigned myself to walk the rest of the way, but decided to give it a try and finish running the last couple of miles. Ended up running the marathon in 4:24:57. Somewhat disappointed with the time, but happy to finish my first marathon. Good learning experience.

 Congratulations!!

Well, I crashed hard post run today but according to my Garmin and the time over the finish I did it in 3:56. I am still in la la land atm and I felt incredibly nauseas right after the finish. I couldn't eat anything and could barely drink. I'll do a race report a bit later...

I was on target for about 15 miles. Then I slowed down. By mile 20, I had to do walk breaks due to some cramps near both achilles tendons. Not wanting to do any damage, I walked miles 23 and 24. I had resigned myself to walk the rest of the way, but decided to give it a try and finish running the last couple of miles. Ended up running the marathon in 4:24:57. Somewhat disappointed with the time, but happy to finish my first marathon. Good learning experience.

This is actually an excellent learning experience like you put it. Achilles aches could potentially be alleviated with strengthening your calves. Plenty of advice on this forum so search around.

Btw, 4:24 for a first marathon is fantastic.

Thanks for the congrats folks, it was a really hard run.

The race started at 9, I got up around 6 and had a light breakfast right away, just some toast with peanut butter and a banana and a small coffee. I had plenty of time to get ready and the place I was staying was only about a mile away from the start of the race so I decided to walk over there about 8. In hindsight I probably should have gotten a ride. 

Everything was well organized at the starting area, they had water and gatorade available and lots of porta-potties. The race began right on time and I was feeling great for the first few miles, keeping right on my target pace of around 8:30. Around mile 7 I started getting a blister on my right foot and either the coffee bit me or I drank a bit too much but I had to take a bathroom break around mile 8. I fiddled with my sock and shoe a bit when I stopped but it didn't do any good. I decided to just shrug it off and by mile 10-11 it was a little sore but wasn't impacting me too badly. 

Around the halfway mark, I really started feeling the heat. The weather was beautiful and sunny but about 10 degrees warmer than expected and about 30 degrees warmer than I've been training in. Throughout the race I really felt my heart rate was too high, pretty consistently 10 bpm higher than I liked. Most of the folks around me w/ heart rate monitors were complaining of the same thing so I just chalked it up to the heat. Luckily there were large sections of the route which were shaded. I think if had been all in the sun I would not have made it.

Aside from my heart rate and the blister I was still feeling strong. Then came the creek beds. There was a small one around mile 14, a short but steep downhill and uphill. I managed to stay running on the uphill but it was tough. Mile 16 was a lot bigger and I had to walk the uphill. I was definitely tired at this point and worried about the last creek bed at mile 20 which was the largest. All I can say is ouch. It was a very long and steep downhill with a matching uphill. I didn't see anyone running that uphill and even though I was walking I think my heart rate never dropped. 

I was at 2:55 and 6 miles to go. No more hills but my stomach was starting to rebel against the gu's. Mile 20-24 was just a painful slog but I got a nice cooldown from a lady with a sprinkler which helped. Shortly after 24 miles I had about 20 minutes to go and there was a tiny tiny incline I literally could not run through. I walked for about 2 minutes and I honestly don't know how I started running again but at that point I was so close I was damned if I was going to miss my goal.

I was cheered across the line by my wife and kids and managed to not collapse although some smart ass had replaced my normal legs with overcooked noodles. The worst part afterward was nausea - I think the gu did me in and I couldn't eat anything for a few hours. I had trained with them but I had not taken that many previously. Two days later, I am feeling good although still sore. Stairs are a bit painful.

Kudos to the organizers of the race. Every aid and water station were well staffed, there were more than enough porta-potties, every potentially confusing part of the course had someone pointing you in the right direction and there were just tons of really great people all along the route cheering us on...