Army Half Marathon

event: singapore bay run (ahm)
distance: 21 km
time: 1 hr 47 min

route: esplanade bridge - cross street - south bridge road - maxwell road - east coast parkway -fort road - east coast park (u-turn) - fort road - mountbatten road - nicoll highway - republic avenue - ndp floating platform


first times...

i clocked my personal best timing for half marathon in this run. adding to the sweetness of the achievement, i came in 10th position in the women's open category! now that was a total surprise... my first time ever, to get a prize for big runs like this. the last time i won any placing in a run was during my secondary school time! haha..

i achieved another "personal best" earlier in the morning - 15mins from out of bed to out of house! supposed to meet IN and HS at 4.15am and i even reminded HS not to be late. had alarms set at 3.15am, 3.30am, 3.45am and a snooze alarm at 3.30am. i slept through all of them!!! it's 4am when i jumped out of bed. my race had already started.. :P


feedback...

the route this year is much well planned than last year. we cleared the city areas early in the run, avoiding interruptions like last year where runners had to be held at traffic junctions. the organizers learnt their lesson. runners don't like to be stopped!


focus...

the u-turn point is at east coast park again. but this time, it is much further into the park than previously and it seems like we were never gonna reach the u-turn point. even after running 2 km along the park, the elite runners has not turned back...

it is also along this stretch that fatigue set in. the mind gets tired, the strides get smaller, the breathing gets faster and heavier... i pop a gel at 9km and it took another km to kick in. i looked ahead at the road and concentrated on regulating my breathing and my strides. 2/4 rhythm, low cadence, long strides, breathe...

IN once said that my pace is hard to follow. unlike HH's small and fast step or SL's normal steps, mine appeared as though i'm running slowly but my steps are big. steadily, i overtook many others along the way. focusing on my running, not the race, i conquered the stretch of east coast park and the rest of the route.


finish lines...

250 m and the finish line is in sight. i get ready for the final burst. opened up my strides, increased my cadence, and started to sprint towards the finish line... suddenly there were barriers ahead and marshalls waved us on to turn left... there's another finish line?!?! we followed the left turn and made another right turn, now there is our finish line 50 m ahead.

this is it... :)