Singapore Bay Run / Army Half Marathon 2009

We didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night cos stupid Hans was watching tv and then when I was trying hard to fall asleep, he started to pack. As usual, it was too noisy and I couldn't control myself from nagging at him for not having packed in the afternoon and being so last minute. :S

He checked with me if I had written down my particulars on the back of my bib. I didn't even think of doing that and simply assumed it was already printed there. So I groaned and asked him to fill in for me.

Then he went "oops" here and "oops" there and then he laughed.
Look at this and you won't believe that we've been together for almost 4 years.



He wrote my name wrongly and had to put in the "carrot-head" (as he called it).
He separated my chinese name, which he obviously knows that I hate hate hate.
He wrote my IC wrongly and had cancel and write again.
Luckily he remembered to fill in my drug allergy.

And he was in such a chin-chye mood, I actually had to make him fill it in properly. He was like "wrong never mind one la". Only after I warned him that he better made sure I don't fall down or need any medical attention, did he decide to be more serious. Tsk.


We got up at about 4. Washed up, ate light breakfast, hydrated ourselves then headed out!
Along the way I kept a look out on other potential AHM runners and then both of us made jokes of them not knowing the way and following us. Hurhur. We even saw someone walking like super far away from the start point.

Hans had planned to park at Raffles City, saying it was the nearest to the end point.
We reached a junction where like all the cars in front of us were turning left but we were supposed to go straight.
My big mouth said "let's follow them!"

Die.

We ended up on a street where we can only turn left and where the left brings us, we know not. All the cars we were following disappeared after we got stuck at a traffic light. No signs seemed to allow us to turn back to where we came from and the road further up seemed to lead us home! OH CRAP!

I desperately pulled out the street directory (which I can't read omgomgomg).
And quickly passed it to Hans at another traffic light.

Damn panicky cos it was already 5 by then. And our run starts at 530.

Somehow Hans managed to turn here and there and we parked at Marina Square instead. Which ended being a good choice too.
Obviously, he was pissed but all was good very soon.

We reached the crowd at the start point about 520 and while weaving in and between the crowd, we heard the flag off.

The weather was awesome. I initially planned to run at least 10km before allowing myself to walk. But cos it was cool, I managed to run all the way until 15km, walking minimally during water points. Frankly, I didn't even feel the strain at the supposed "killer slope" at the start. It shocked me when we were driving back home and Hans told me we ran this part. It was like DAMN steep la!

It was great that there were so many water points and the NSFs manning them were efficient enough, with the exception of one booth where I had to wait so long I just skipped it and went on.

My speed till here was faster than my usual runs, finishing 15km in about 1h50min.
After which, I just went downhill. :(

Somewhere in between, Hans asked if we were going too fast and reminded me that I can just go my pace and he will follow me. I answered "I must quickly run before the sun comes up. I'll die then!"

Lol. True enough, the sun melted away my energy and killed my strength and determination.

Really appreciate Hans following my pace and being with me for the first 15km. After that, we took a short walking break, finished our power gels and then Hans went ahead first cos I was quite tired already and was slowing down tremendously.

I was still able to run slowly though the 2nd U-turn part nearly killed me. Freaking steep can. Everyone around me started to speed up and chiong up the steep slope. I couldn't and just had to stop and walk.

When I came to my last 3 km, I really really really cannot already. My knees were so painful that I don't know if the pain is from my injuries or my usual knee pain. It was like 5 times as painful as the usual knee pain. My top and shorts were soaked and I could feel "squish-squish" in my left shoe as I ran. Ewww. Didn't feel enough cushioning in my shoes as my soles start to hurt.

Entertainment was thumbs up - there was some guy in transformers get-up, lots of musicians, belly dancers etc. Did truly feel that they were encouraging us to push forward.
Oh and at the F1 track some army guys were holding onto boards with encouraging (but corny) slogans. The only one I can remember is "Pain is temporary. Pride is forever". I thought of bragging rights and tried to push myself to do below 2h45min since that's the max NSFs have to complete within. To get "offs" or something?

I did the walk-run-walk-run thing, allowing myself to walk less than a minute everytime.
The last km felt like forever.
Then I heard the army guys shouting "400m left!"
OMG OMG OMG!
YAY!

But it still felt like forever.

I finished 2h52min.
Which I should be happy about cos my target was 3hrs. My usual LSD speed is about 7km/hr.. and I would have finished at 3 hrs.
But still upset that I didn't push myself hard enough during the last few km.
I walked too much. :(:(:(:(:(:(

For a first timer, I shouldn't be so hard on myself right. Lol.
But I saw the TFB female runners' timing and wanted to die. How can they finish below 2hrs?!

Met up with Hans and downed some cans of 100plus.
Rested awhile before taking this photo.



The medal.


Both my legs felt like they just got battered with hammers.
I didn't come out of this race unscathed.. I got abrasions (for the first time!) mainly from my sports bra. I better start saving up for new ones already. Plus I better get those with padding.. Mom nags all the time about being able to see my nippies when I come home after a run. Confirm have one lor. 90% of the other female runners I see around also can see nippies.

Super tired but very satisfied.




I'm like in the last quarter la.. So slow.
Should I be happy that I was ahead of 20% of men runners?

It was a really great experience.
I would love to join it again next year and aim to finish it below 2h30min!

I read that Closed or Open doesn't matter since we're not competitive runners so I chose Open.
How stupid.
There are 1947 women in total and of that, 1098 are in Women's Open.
I'm so going to join Women's Closed next year to get a better position.
But good thing is that the W Open's bib is pink while the Closed is orange. Lol.


Steve told me "aiya, AHM very easy one cos got a lot of scenery so you will be distracted".
What rubbish lor. I didn't even take notice of any scenery except for the Flyer when I was at the F1 track cos I wanted to die and was wondering how far away the Padang was.

Don't know how I'm going to finish 42km but Hans said he would train with me even though he isn't doing SCSM.
Catch us training at ECP! :D

I'm going to say I aim to complete my first full marathon below 6hours but I might eat my own words and secretly come back and edit. Haha.

Yay to me for being able to strike off one more goal for 2009!
:)