This post comes a bit late. I participated in a local event last Sunday, called Peace Run. It’s organized by SCI, some sort of community organization. So I was supposed to be in the Saturday night’s Shape Night Run but alas, Jenny is in Taiwan for business trip, so I had to be grounded and thank God there’s a small race in Peace Run J Anyway, I gave away the Bib to Chun Ying and he did pretty well – 12.4km in 1:12.. Very good for a runner in his 4th race. I think I would hv done 1:20 or more back then J
OK, back to Peace Run. Since I was short of mileage for the week and I did not expect to be in the top 10, I decided to do a long run in the morning before the actual race started at 7.30am. Part #1 was a run around Botanical Garden. Did a 8.14km run in 45mins. Was trying to tag along a runner who was pretty fast but I faded at last since I need to conserve some energy for the run later. Went to Youth Park at around 7am. I was told, during the registration, that we have around 2000 runners participating. Not bad for a local event though they also have schools participation. Met Edmund Goh who was running too. Then the usual suspects, Chris, Jin Ji, Sunny etc. Those are the ones who did not take part in either the Shape’s Night Run, or the BHP Run on Sunday morning. I forgot to bring along my water and had to rely on tap water for hydrate after my Botanical Run.. Bad planning.
As for the Peace Run – it started off sharp at 7.30am. As usual, got caught up by the slow running and some even walking right from the start. I wish they can always keep to the left to allow others to maneuver through. Chris was fast and zoomed he went. He did a 4:40 in a 10km event the week before in SGP. Well, my target was to keep it at a sub-5:10 and hopefully try out a sub-5 pace. It’s a 6k run. The first 3k was OK. Running from Youth Park, then make a loop back at the traffic lights at Gurney Drive. I could see the leading runners like Ow Yang and some Indian runners (don’t know them). Jin Ji was in the thick of it, so was Chris and Ramlan ! I was keeping it at 4:30-4:40 pace average then. On the way back, it was a some uphill run along the Gottlieb Road towards the Waterfall Hotel. After that, it went downhill for me, literally.. Slowed to a pace of 5:00 and then worse. I was really hoping they make a turn right into Youth Park and end my “agony” but alas, it went straight to Jesselton Heights. Well, I plodded on and managed to pick up some speed. Somehow, my fuel was already half empty by then.. No thanks to the morning run, but no regrets. I was just wanting to have a fun run ! Running into Jesselton Heights, then went into the housing area. I was already out of breath to keep up to the 5:00-5:05 pace.. Picking up some final kicks (whatever left of), finished the race @ 31:40 for a 5:06 pace. No complaints indeed. Had a great workout though I missed my own stretch goal of sub-5 pace. Anyway, as always, there’s a next race to look fwd to !! I will need to try out the longer stride run and see...
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| Starting Point @ Youth Park |
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| Me checking the watch before thr run - photo courtesy of Edmund Goh |
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| Group photo, courtesy of Jin Ji |
