The gear for tonight.
Met Alin at City Hall at 1530Hr to go to Expo together. The boarding point for the shuttle service was at Expo MRT. We reached Expo at around 1600Hr. The place was already crowded.
The bus departed Expo at around 1610Hr. As we were early, the queue was still moving quite smoothly.
The traffic was clear all the way to Changi Exhibition Center (CEC). We reached at around 1635Hr.
Some of the tents of the main sponsors.
The apparel sponsor, New Balance.
This year, they had changing tents for the participants.
Some of those who arrive early were sitting at the seaside while waiting for the start time.
The starting pen opened to the 10km participants at 1730Hr, 30mins before start time.
The airhorn went off at 1800Hr. The few rows of runners in front of me were all very fast runners. As I was still picking up my pace, they had already sped off, leaving a trail of smoke.
Passing the first km of the run, I knew something was wrong with me. I could not maintain the fast pace. It just dawned onto me again that these few months of running LSD wiped out all speed in me. I was breathing hard. I knew I had to slow down. I did. At the first water station along coastal road, I walked for a short distance before resuming my run again.
More and more runners overtook me. I am alright with it. We were running for different things. They were focusing on speed. I had already set my training to focus on endurance since the start of my UM training. I knew I had made a mistake of starting of at such a fast pace.
Now, focus!. Finish the run!
Soon came the U turn. As I headed back to CEC, I passed by the middle pack of the runners on the other side. It was really crowded.
As we turned right towards CEC, there was another 3km to go. Endure! Finish it!.
It was tough.
I barely survived the 10km run.
Gun Time: 00:53:20
Net Time: 00:53:16
Overall Placing: 76 / 5981
Gender Placing: 60 / 2618
Division Placing (M30-34): 12 / 592
Karen Loh.
Soon Teck and Joanne.
Mohan.
Reuben and David.
With Khai Leng and her running twin, Yvonne.
Soon Teck, Daniel, Stella, Joanne.
Steven.
Winston, Le Giang, Steven.
Le Giang.
Daniel.
Cherie.
The New Balance staff.
I took the waiting time to rest and ate a Subway sandwich I had bought before meeting Alin. I also ate a packet of dried cranberries. The 42km run later will be a slow and relaxing run. I also went for a shower and changed into a new set of running attire.
Alin was also the 5:30 pacer for the 42km run.
My strategy was to follow the 5:30 group for as long as I can until I break away from them. Sounds good. I knew I was in no condition to attempt for a 4:30 timing.
This was for Fia, who was also a 5:30 pacer but could not be here as she had injured herself a month ago. Besides this, other friends of Fia also did similar "For Fia" signs and pinned on their back.
The race was delayed for a short while. But as soon as the airhorn blasted into the sky, all the runners eagerly ran past the start line through the photographers and videographers, jumping and waving to the cameras.
I sticked closely to the 5:30 pacer group. There was people all around me. 2 pacers lead the way while Alin and Winston stayed at the back.
The pace was ok. As we were running, the 21km-ers were also running back. Soon we reached coastal road. I tried to run by myself to get used to running alone but still sticking close to the 5:30 pacers. Every now and then, there would be runners coming up from the back. Once they saw the 5:30 tag on the back of the pacers, they would ask their friends to speed up and overtake them. These are the people who wanted to do a better timing.
Soon we were at ECP. The smell of the BBQ stuff was very enticing. At F1, there were even a group of Caucasians cheering the runners on.
It was a very familiar route. I have ran it countless times. The 42km today was meant as a milage clocking run. So as I trotted along, I was trying to imagine myself running there all by myself during the UM a month later.
One month later.
Although I had done it once in TUC in March, but I was still unsure of the SDUM. This kind of races, it does not meant that if you have done it once so you can do it again.
As I was thinking of the UM in my mind, we came to the food center.
The time was now midnight.
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