A year of preparation. Weekends sacrificed for training. And finally, one big item ticked off my bucket list… I have finally completed a full marathon at Nike Melbourne Marathon 2026!

This was my first full marathon, and my main goal was to finish the race. My official time was 5:14:22, which was within my original target of 5:30, so I’m happy with that (though I was secretly hoping to achieve Sub 5 hours haha).

About 2.5 months ago, I completed a half marathon in 2:11:58 (an average pace of 6:15 min/km). But I knew a full marathon would take more than double the time, because this isn’t math 😂 So, the Sub 5-hour pacers weren’t in my consideration.

My strategy was to follow the 5:00 pacer (an average pace of around 7:07 min/km) for at least 30 km, then see how I felt and adjust if needed. If I wasn’t feeling good, I could still run at an average pace of 9.33 min/km to meet my goal of completing in 5:30 hours. If I could push really hard towards the end, maybe I could achieve Sub 5 hours, and that would be a bonus.

 

My Race Experience

The day didn’t get off to a smooth start. I only managed about two hours of sleep because I couldn’t fall asleep and had to wake up at 3 am.

When I arrived, I had to wait half an hour to use the toilet. Once I was done, I rushed to the starting area, with only a few minutes to spare before the gun went off at 6:15 am.

My 42.2 km race experience by stage:

First 10 km: Easy and steady.

10-20 km: Starting to feel it in my legs.

20-30 km: Legs getting very heavy, and I was starting to feel a little hungry. But still manageable.

30-42.2 km: This was where the real race began.

The 5:00 pacer started slowly fading away (and so did my secret Sub 5 dream 😅).

I was really hoping to run the entire marathon, no matter how slow it was. So I kept running for as long as I could, until my legs cramped up so badly, and it became walking and running. But, I tried to walk as fast as I could even when walking.

I could feel that my heart and stamina were still okay, but my legs had totally dragged me down… I can only blame it on not training enough!

On top of that, the sun came out, and the heat was killing me, making things even harder. Luckily, someone handed me a Zooper Dooper ice block, which was a lifesaver.

Looking back, completing the race safely was already a blessing. I read some stories online about people passing out or feeling unwell because of the heat, especially half marathoners, as their race started much later in the morning.

By the way, I probably wasted 5% of my energy looking for photographers and posing for photos 🤣 But who cares? At least I had something to look forward to, and a little mission to keep me motivated during the race.

 

Crossing the Finish Line

Ben was waiting for me at the finish line at MCG, witnessing a very special moment for me. 🥰

I was hoping the finisher T-shirt would be anything but black, but it turned out to be black 😅 At least the quality was good, and they still had my size. I read online that they ran out of sizes later, and some women didn’t get their shirts.

Since I was young, I had always fantasised about running a full marathon, probably influenced by my sister. For about 20 years, I had “run a full marathon and get a finisher T-shirt” on my bucket list… and I finally did it!

I am not a serious runner, so it took a lot for me to commit to running a marathon. A full marathon takes so much planning, discipline, and battling through ‘almost give up’ moments (not just during the race, but also throughout training). I can’t describe the sense of achievement in words. If I can manage a marathon, maybe there’s a lot more I can surprise myself with.

This was my first marathon, and I kept telling myself it would be my last one. Though, I can’t stop looking for the next one already… 😂