Sunny 4th Runaholics Trial

It was the 20km Nike Runholics trial run at East Coast Parkway this morning. Quite a number of events were also going on at ECP, with the SAFRA Running Groups out in full force for their final stages of SCSM training. Then there was the GE Women's 10km race too. The PSI level seemed to be below 50, as I picked DO, Superboy and stazla up on the way to F2. Saw Beverly doing her own ninja run, as she was not able to join us due to her tight 'class' schedule...:).

Reached F2, and spotted notme (yew) who had just finished his long bike training. Saw the rest of the SgRunners gang; Ultraman, Jamessoh, Brokie, Vincent, Cokiee, Sotong, Commando. Stephen gave a brief of the route, and we started off promptly at 7.30am. I adopted an easy pace early on, as I have planned to do an extra 10km after the 20km Nike run. We ran towards NSRCC first, and I was just happy to be following Ultra from behind. We reached NSRCC (3.5km) in 18min+, slightly off the 5min/km pace. All was fine, and I just carried on with that pace. By the time we reached back to F2 (7km), the sun was rearing itself. Time was 36min+...about 1min off the 5min pace. Aiya, I decided to just go that pace, and not push hard, as I wanted to reserve energy for a longer run. Have more or less overtaken most of the mid-pack runners...could see Ultra in front, and bumped into a number of SAFRA Tampines runners along the way...Rita, Shirlyn, xsuanjing & Patrick.

I reached the water point at the 11km mark, just off MacD, but decided to skip that as I had my fuel belt of Gatorade with me. Soon I could see Lim Kien Mau (very fast front-runner) followed by Sigi and Hock Leong. I know I should be about 1km away from the U-turn point. Took my Gu Gel (Choco) with some water, and proceeded on to be within 100m off Ultra. I could see that Rod Monteiro was just ahead of Ultra. We signalled to one another, and I soon reached the U-turn (13.5km). Pace was still maintained at slightly over 5min pace. With about 6.5km to go, I increased the pace slightly, and I was feeling the effects of the sun beating down strongly on my face and back.

I was careful to restrain my stride so as not to get 'ponchet' too early. I was just happy to trail Ultra from about 200m all the way back. Met David Shum, Edmund and a few other SAFRA Tampines runners...we acknowledged one another with a thumbs-up....always nice to meet familiar faces when running :). Was glad to meet Sukaimi running with his friend, and we acknowledged. Fatty-Bom-Bom too was doing his ninja with another kaki...wow, the whole ECP was like full of runners whom we know...really gave a warm ('fuzzy') feeling...and that perked me up to sustain till the finish. The heat was getting to be unbearable, but I took it in my stride as part of 'good conditioning' for SCSM...it might be even hotter then.

I soon made it to the Bicycle Kiosk nearing F2...about 500m to go... I could see Ultra breaking away, and I soon saw Rod in front...he was slowing slightly. Ultra overtook him in the final 200m, and I was just contented to finish just behind Rod in 1hr40min....oops, just missed the 5min pace...ah well, I wasn't pushing it too much, so was quite glad to finish it within reasonable time. DO came back shortly, and we went for our 10km jog after I had lots of water and a banana with 10min of rest. Spotted teelee and SassyR who had just done their ninja 15km run...jio-ed them to join me for a recovery run, but they already did quite a lot yesterday...nvm...next time then. I was feeling stuffed as we did a slow jog towards the Cable Ski area...started off at 9.30am, aimed to get back by 10.30am for an hour of slow run. Along the way, we saw the first lady runner arrive (Adeline)..and Brokie was just behind her...aiya, wasted, the first guy and gal runner to complete the 20km will get a special prize..and Brokie was just a minute away. Commando, Cokiee, Superboy, Sotong, stazla all came back shortly after...wow, power-pack SgRunners...*kudos*

I did my 'very slow' jog past Cable Ski, MacD, and took a short walk break after 30min of running...the heat really did get to me. On the return, I did a faster pace, and was glad to reach back to F2 Nike tent in 1hour. After waiting for most of our SgRunners kakis to be back from their extra mileage run, we assembled for the famous 'Brokie Barley'...during the wash up, a unfortunate incident happened, but that did not dampen our spirits as we proceeded to Marine Parade Food Centre for famous laksa and Yong Tau Foo. A very hot day, a very challenging run. Next week will see Runaholics going to MacRitchie for a 25km distance....should be interesting then. Loooking at my Runaholics Log Card, i have chalked up 60km so far...just 40km (2 more runs) before I get that pair of Nike bowerman shoes? hmmm....something to work towards too..hee

Distance: 20km__Time: 1hr40min31sec__Pace: 5:02min/km
Additional Mileage: 10km__Time: 1hr__Pace: 6min/km