Pre-SCSM International Friendship Run

International SgRunners at East Coast Parkway

Organised a pre-SCSM run this morning mainly to gather SgRunners for a final get-together run, attend the race expo as well as do some pre carbo-loading. There was a good turnout of about 25 runners at East Coast Parkway F2 carpark. Met up with shortlegs and OP from overseas, and a couple of other SgRunner groups like hohorunner, aichai, spiffy. Took the customary group photo and away we went at 7.45am heading towards NSCRCC. The sun was up, but with a breeze, it didn't feel too hot at first.

The Ozzie & German based SgRunners

Led by Doraemon, the first of the groups shot ahead with speedy OP. They were enjoying the nice pace and chatted merrily. I was running in the middle of the pack, and tried to form a link between the front and the rear. As it was supposed to be a sight-seeing run, the pace hovered around 6min/km with the exception of the frontrunners. I waited at the turning point for all to arrive, and when leggie, Mun and Shutehelup turned, I too followed along and ran along with leggie. We have souted and posted in the SgRunners forum, but this was the first time I got to meet her in person. She does a nice fore-foot stride, and was steady in the pace. Kayano was also running along with us. When we arrived back near to F2, the group were waiting for us....took a few good shots..hehe.

We took a short break before proceeding towards Fort Road. This stretch will have us running 14km to/fro, with many parts not shaded. RR who went to the gents earlier joined me to play catch up with the group which had moved ahead. We moved along at about 5:30 pace and slowly caught up with the group. I ran with leggie for yet another stretch. Because she was only prepared for a 12km run this morning, she did not have 'fuel', and suffered a little side stitch. I advised her to slow a little and catch some deep breaths to recover. I moved ahead and moved on towards Fort Road exit. The sun's heat was getting to me a little, but I thought it was good conditioning for us. With 1 km to the Fort Road exit, I saw George, followed by Doraemon running strongly back. xdd could even smile and looked very relaxed. OP, fennel, renoh and the rest ran past.

I waited for leggie to arrive at the U-turn point, and explained a little to her about the reason for the unusually large number of palm trees along that marathon stretch :). We had a good laugh, before proceeding on to finish the remaining 7km of the run back to F2. I maintained a steady pace of about 5:40 pack, and as I neared the seafood centre, I could makeout Cokiee and renoh. We gave each other some words of encouragement before moving ahead to finish the run at F2. Sotong and the front group was already there to snap some good finishing photos of us. My time showed 2hr15min for around 21km, including waiting and stoppage time. I estimate an average of 5:45 pace for me throughout, not fast, but good enough atthis late stage of tapering.

We rested and were treated to very yummy isotonic jello, courtesy of Doraemon, and Gatorade + 100Plus from Brokie and acleong. Thanks for the nice re-loading. We all had a refreshingly cool bath before proceeding to Marina Food Court for carbo-loading. I had my favourite beef kimchi ramen. Visited the race expo st Suntec thereafter and went away with some nice sports beans, Yankz lace, Adidas cap, Fuel-Belt pouch....met many familiar faces...Sandy, choonwei at Polar, Karen at VRP, Dexter at Adidas, Ruth and her friend, Dr. William Tan, and a host of other running kakis. It was one melting pot for the running community. The latest news I heard was there were 9,000+ Full Marathon runners at SCSM06...might be the beginning of a running boom in Singapore?

Distance: 21km__Time: 2hr__Pace: 5:45min/km