Singapore Bay Run

Caught a ride in Babumouse's car at about 4.20 am to the Esplanade for the Army Half Marathon. Got there, met up with some of the SgRunners, and then quickly merged into the horde of anxious runners for the 5.30 am flag-off. The race started promptly, and we were off.

I decided to take the race in a less competitive spirit. I hadn't had the chance to run AT ALL in the past two weeks - thanks to you know what - and it would be sheer folly to have a sudden intense 21-km spike in my running mileage. So, I paced myself and took things slow. The run brought me along Esplanade Drive, into Cross Street and then South Bridge Road, which were lined with quaint old shophouses, and then down Maxwell Road, and finally onto the East Coast Parkway. I reached the turning point near the East Coast McDonalds (about 11.5 km) about 1 hr 5 min into the run. For the return leg, I could feel my knees and ankles getting wobbly, and I reckoned that if I pushed any harder, I could tear something. So I made the difficult decision to walk. So, at the 15 km mark, I started to stroll and really took in the scenary of Fort Road, Mountbatten Road and Republic Avenue. There were plenty of water points - including 100-Plus points, for this race, which was good :) And the weather was fabulous too. At about 1 km from the finishing line, there were two Caucasian spectators standing by the road cheering the runners on. So I stretched out my hand, did a Hi-5 with them, and picked up the pace for my final burst. Finished the 21.1 km race in 2 hr 20 min. Not a great timing, but the run was enjoyable nevertheless. Gathered after the run for the SgRunners family photo thanks Dasher for being our cameraman, followed by lunch at Marina Square :)



There were quite a number of casualties for this run. Brokie had bad cramps, and Balasing's ITB problem flared up on the way back in East Coast Park. And most unfortunately, one army 25-year old captain collapsed at the end-point and died soon after. :( My deepest condolences to CPT Ho Si Qiu's family.

After lunch, doraemon_red, tktan, charlotte, tiwazz and I headed for the NUS Guildhouse @ Suntec to shower and soak in the sun. Then we went over to attend the Running Fit forum at the National Library, which was co-organised by Emmanuel Physiotherapy and SgRunners, and sponsored by NIKE. It was a great and informative session, and covered topics such as common running injuries (including the biomechanics and recommended treatment) and shoe selection. Many thanks to the speakers, Franklin, Mingjuan, Dr Goh and Mr Tye, and Mark for moderating, and for David for having the vision to get this forum going in the first place :) Pity that I was feeling rather exhausted from the morning's exertions, and struggled to stay awake during some portions of the four presentations. :P

Got home at around 6 pm, had dinner, watched some TV, and am now blogging. The bed beckons, and I shall be responding to its call soon. :)

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Update as of 29 August 2007, 2300 hrs

I've been ranked 1535th out of 3324 runners in the Men's Open category (according to gun-time), with a Checkpt 1 time of 1:12:17, gun-time of 02:20:01.01 and net time of 02:17:56.56.

Is that a great performance for me? NO. Is that good enough for me? YES.

Ah... Life is good :)