Mizuno Wave Run 2005

And Oh Yes!, it is a Personal Best 10km for me....

The 2nd Mizuno Wave Run was raced today. This is the first anniversary of this run sponsored by Mizuno, and it also represented my maiden 10km run which I participated in Nov2004. As I remembered clearly, that was the first 10km race I took part since I started this hobby of running in June 2004.

After a year, I come into this event having known more friends from running, and I will no longer be just by myself as in last year. I was looking forward to meet up the rapidly growing SgRunners group, and of course friends from SAFRA Running Club, as well as some from MR25 too. I reached Kovan Hub at about 6.15am, and found ample parking. By that time, cars and runners were streaming, and loud music has begun to be aired. I moved around, doing some light warm-up, and very soon bumped into the SgRunners, TLR, taz, renohtaram, BrokenRunner, Carine, the usual early birds. I also saw Ronald and running friends from SAFRA, as well as some individual runners whom I have gotten to know since last year's run. If my memory served me well, I did something like 52min+ for the same 10km route in 2004.

SgRunners @ Mizuno Wave Run 2005 - Take #1

This year's event seemed to be slightly more organized than last year's, but the shortage of water to runners reared its ugly head after the race. The event was divided into a competitive as well as a fun run. Most of us were running in the competitive category, which was to be flagged off first at 7.30am. At the line up, I saw the usual elites who also raced last weekend's NB Real Run...Elangovan, Pulham, the Gurkhas, the MR25 elites, and of course the good women runners too. The start was pretty smooth, and was not jammed up like the NB run. People were starting off faster, since there wasn's any need to conserve energy for obstacles like beaches and sand. The first 5km was ran at a very fast pace, and I was overtaken in the first 2-3km by all sorts, many of whom were young women runners....wow, I never had so many women runners overtake me before....hmm, maybe there are a lot of good women runners this year. Surprisingly, there weren't that many guys overtaking, and maybe I wasn't letting them, as I increased pace. Skyvvers, Alan did overtake me, and I never saw them until after the race. Both of them did well with 43min-44min finish times. Of course there were TLR, sanji, phishy, and those young turks who blazed in at 41min-43min times....these were the future elites of Singapore distance running....there is good potential in the crop.

At the Start (I am with red top) - Courtesy Of LTH. MR25

There were 2 additional water points added midway for this year's run. I stopped at all water points, but the delivery in cups made a mess of things. I could hardly drink without stopping. At the various stops, I found quite a number of runners not stopping to drink...hmmm, they were the younger ones, and maybe they have full tanks...Golden boys like myself really need good hydration throughout. Once hydrated, I managed to catch up with those who bypassed the water points. At the halfway mark, I clicked my watch and it read 21min+...quite fast pace for me, and I knew I have been drafted to run too quickly by the crowd. The sun was beating down, and it was just another long, straight road to go back 5km. Such routes are not pleasant for running, as there were hardly any scenery on both sides, and the road was just so mundanely straight.

On the 5km return stretch, I managed to overtake a few tired souls, and then it was pretty stable. Hard breathing from young runners as they ran beside me. One wearing 'Saints' singlet, the other Raffles...I tried to run behind them a bit to get some drafting (save strength), but they were probably too lean for me to hide behind...hehe. The 'Saints' guy ran with me more or less to the finish point, with us overtaking a few more at the end. From the halfway mark, I did not come across any more women runners...they were either way in front, or behind....most of them were 'heavy-breathing' guys...huffing and puffing... I was feeling hot and tired just listening to them breathe...haha. With 1 km to go, I tried to up the pace, but it was painful. My legs were tired, and my heart rate was high...working overtime.... Finally saw the finish in sight, dashed for it, and straighten with a nice posture, legs kicking high, for a good photo (in case they were snapping)....haha....Crossed the finish line in 45min30sec, according to my HRM. Immediately I saw skyvvers and he kindly handed me a bottle. I could hardly talk, and I just moved along to catch my breath. As I was resting, I met up with an old friend (he was a commando) who remarked that I improved a lot this year (since he was there last year too). I also met Alan, the new SAFRA runner, crouching-tiger guy, who say he is not fast, but actually did something like 43min. I then collected the goodie bag, and got a nice Mizuno DryScience T-Shirt. Much nicer than last year's shirt. Exchanged congratulations with the SgRunners, and then stayed around for another 1 hour to meet and mingle with many more SgRunners. There were many photos taken, and I will post them up as I receive them.

SgRunners @ Mizuno Wave Run 2005 - Take #2

Overall, a most enjoyable run for me. And Oh Yes, it is a PB for me, assuming that the route was indeed 10km (there were earlier discussions by some that the route might be shorter than 10km, but based on renohtaram's latest Polar distance measurement, it is indeed 10km...so I'll take it...hee). My previous best 10km timining was 45min50sec set at the SAFRA Time Trial in May05. I certainly enjoyed the company of running friends and the festivities. I now look forward to a good lunch with the family, and start thinking and preparing for the 21km Army Half-Marathon next sunday....and the journey continues...

Distance Ran:10km __Clock Time:45:30min___Pace:4:33min/km