Army Half Marathon

Woke up sometime in the early morning, and wondered what time it was. When I looked at my mobile phone, I had the shock of my life. The time was 00:00:00, and the date was 1 January 2004. At some point in the night, my phone had resetted itself and the alarm never rang! :P I quickly grabbed my Polar watch and turned on the night mode. It read 3:55 AM. *sweat* I was supposed to meet Babumouse at 4 am at the bus-stop outside my house! After sending Babumouse a "I'll be late by 10 min" SMS, I quickly washed up, gathered my running gear, a banana and a can of 100-Plus and rushed to the bus-stop.

When I got there, I received an SMS from Babumouse, saying he'll be late as well. (It turned out that my SMS had stirred him up from his sleep! *grin*) At around 4:20 am, Babumouse arrived on his motorbike. I put on his spare helmet, hopped onto his motorbike, and off we went, zooming our way towards the city. It was my first time riding as a pillion rider (and it was also his time carrying a pillion rider), so it was quite an exhilarating experience. :D

We got there in good time and checked our bags at the Baggage Deposit Booths. Then met up with the other SgRunners...too many to name :) I also bumped into Johnson near the Kim Seng Fountain.

At around 5:15 am, we made our way towards the start line on the Esplanade Bridge. Met even more SgRunners along the way. The race began on time, and off we went. I started out at a pretty fast pace (~ 4 min 45 sec/km to 5 min 15 sec/km), and I knew it was not sustainable, but I just couldn't slow down. But surprising, I could keep the pace up for quite a while. The stretches along Shenton Way, Sheares Bridge and Tanjong Rhu were quite easy. But by the time I got to Nicoll Highway, I could begin to feel the fatigue setting in. But I managed to keep my pace to 5 min 30 sec/km.

Saw an isotonic drink supply station, and was hoping for some 100-Plus. But they served me a packet of Activade instead. It's a new brand (I think) which I had never drank before, and although it is never a good idea to try something novel during a race, I decided to consume it anyway -- there wasn't any other isotonic drinks available! But the drink didn't settle properly in my stomach.

From Nicoll Highway, I went up Middle Road, then went past Park Mall, and onto Havelock Rd. But I was stopped at FOUR traffic lights. That was quite disruptive to my momentum, and I found it difficult to rev up to speed again once I had stopped. But overall, pace was still 5 min 30 sec/km - 5 min 50 sec/km, which was still okay.

But at around the 18 km mark, I started to feel really unwell. Maybe it's the frequent starts-stops, or maybe I'm not used to the new isotonic drink. I felt like vomiting, and I was only able to maintain a 6 min 30 sec/km pace. Near the 20 km mark, outside the Parliament House, I ran behind some bushes and threw up. After that, it felt much better. :D Keeping to a 5 min 45 sec/km pace, I trotted steadily towards the end-point.

The official race clock was showing "1:59:37" as I turned the corner into the Padang. 1:59:38...1:59:39...1:59:40... I piah-ed the last 100m, and went through the gate as the clock read "2:00:00". VICTORY is SO SWEET ;D

I collected my medal, then went to pick up my bag from the Baggage Deposit Booths. Then went back to the old Supreme Court, and sat down, and nuah-ed. Saw Zac there. We chatted a bit, and he realised I was still rather disoriented from my run, so he offered to bring me some ice milo. Thanks bro! Later, I was also joined by Gen (who ran 1 hr 36 min), and Aubrey. Gen also brought me three cups of milo and three cups of iced water. Thanks Gen! :D

About 40 min after the completion of my race, I felt well enough to stand up on my feet, and walked over to the pre-arranged SgRunners end-of-race meeting point. Took many pictures with the SgRunners. =) Bumped into Pit Chen and Puay Lim along the way, as well as folks from the Mt Faber Running Club. I think they performed pretty well at today's race.

Couldn't resist a picture with Teelee (1 hr 25 min) and his lucky bib C8888 :)

For brunch, we headed for Marina Square...just as it began to rain. I had a breakfast set (kaya toast, two eggs and 1 cup of kopi), 1 cup of iced Milo and 1 bowl of iced Cheng Teng. Also collected my HWA Funding Raise sheets from Junie. :D

Went to The Coffee Connoisseur with Ripley, Tiwazz, Balasing, Superboy, TLR and Fd. Chit-chatted and nuah-ed there in very comfortable sofas for a long, long time. I suffered from a few bouts of cramps while we were there, so I bought a packet of Very Lightly Salted crisps and ate them. It helped to delay the cramps, but not stop them entirely. we broke up for home at around 2 plus. And I slept, and slept, and slept.

MORE PHOTOS WILL BE UPLOADED SOON.