24Aug08- Singapore Bay Run and Army Half Marathon

Unfortunately, the rain didnt continue from yesterday so I had to run this morning :(

Woke up at 4am to prepare my bowl of cereal. Shuts! shelf life of the milk has expired. I tried 2 spoonfuls of the cereal without the milk and it tested yucky! No choice had to eat the pineapple tarts I bought last night. Didnt eat much cos the body is not used to eating so early in the morning but I did make sure I have drunk enough water.

Reached suntec about 5.3oam in the morning so had ample to do stretching and pee break.
Started walking to the start point infront of Esplanade at 6am. Man, it was so crowded! More than half of the runners were army boys. They dont call it Army Half Marathon for nothing.

As i was too engrossed with my 93.3 I didnt event hear the flag-off. It took me about 7mins from where I stood to cross the start line.
My plan was to run the first 10km @ 7mins/km and then the rest of the distance @ 6:30/km for a total time of 2hrs22mins.
Was holding back my horses in the beginning so I wouldnt peak too early, so the congestion at the beginning...erh its was more like all the way....did help.

To be honest, I didnt have time to sightsee along the route cos was too busy to dodge slower runners infront.
Anyway, I didnt enjoy my run today for a couple of reasons-
1. Too congested for the whole route. This is my first participation of AHM so I didnt have a comparison of this year vs last year. Heard the DJ said the total participants were 75,000.

2. Hated the marina barrage stretch. Felt like trail run cos it was undulating and muddy. I am perfectly ok with trail run if I am mentally prepared for it. Came for AHM and ended up doing trail run?

3. Wasnt physically prepared for the run. My weekly mileage for the past 3-4weeks averaged about 4-8km. I guess the cross-training couldnt make up for the lost mileage. I was really struggling to keep the feet going for the last 5-6km, even though HR was a low 120-130. I peaked too early in the race.

My ITB is boycotting now...sianz.

Here are the numbers.

0-5km 6:44/km HR156
5-10km 6:31/km HR164
10-15km 6:36/km HR134
15-20km 6:31/km HR129
20km-end 6:13/km HR111 (The total distance recorded on my garmin was 21.44km)

Total distance: 21.44km
Total time: 2:20:58
Avg pace: 6:34
Avg HR: 143

^..^ ^..^