Mizuno Mt. Faber 10km Race

SgRunners

It was the 10km race at MF, a revival of what used to be a regular race organized by Brooks in the 1980s, and this year Mizuno had brought it back. As it was the first time we were having a race at MF in a lomg while, participation was good, especially for the SAFRA Runners. Lots of MR25 runners and school middle-distance runners were represented as well.

I met up with the SAFRA Runners at MF, and Brokie+Vincent joined us too. When Ong arrived, all of us did a warm-up jog to the start point at Henderson CC. A crowd had gathered already, and was good to meet up with many friends from SgRunners, the 3 SAFRA Running Clubs, Animiles, Trifam, MR25. Good to see Akira decked in stylish red, and was impressed that he was the main organizer for this race. Good to see bbmon...wah, she lost some weight, SC5, Vivian Tang, Anna, Stephen Lee and lots of familiar faces.

The startoff at about 7.35am was erratic, with runners going in all directions, and some even waiting by the side of the road to join in. I moved into a 5min/km pace early on, taking care not to extend too much too early. I was following along some familiar backs, and 1km into the run, a number of runners were overtaking me. They were revving their paces quite early. As we ran towards Morse Road, I took back some positions as some of the runners were slowing down (possibly in antipation of the slope up to MF). I chugged up MF, slowing overtaking the tiring legs as we went round a few bends. When we hit MF loop, we were forced to run along the narrow channel to the right...Arggh...it was tiring to run behind the slowing runners, as well as trying to moving around the 2-man channel.

After a bit of huffing and puffing, I made it to the top at Jewel Box in 24min....was glad to see the first water point, and stopped to take 2 cups of water before playing catch up with those that went past. There were 2 girls that caught my attention...one was Priscilla, a SAFRA Runner from TP, and the other a young school runner...these two were running very strong, and I was using them as pacers as we ran down Kampong Bahru. Once onto Telok Blangah Rise, I managed to overtake quite a number of guys on the slope, and finally ran past Priscilla...she eventually took 9th posiiton in the Women's Open, in front of Lai Chee....wow. The remaining 4pm was quite mental as we charged through traffic junctions, and I was halted for a while at one of them. Many of the runners were tiring, but they continued on. I maintained my 5min/km pace, and managed to overtake more of them.

After what seemed like a long time, I finally round the bend and headed for Henderson Road...yippe, just about 1km more. Time was 44min...I was thinking I could still do a sub 50min run lah. I did not charge, but maintained a steady pace up the final upslope along Tiong Bahru Park. I spotted small Chua in front, and then tried to narrow the gap. Running into Henderson CC, saw Melvin who had already finished, shouting '200m more'....whoot, I picked up pace, waited for the runners in front to clear, and trotted to the finish in 49min10sec. I allowed 2 to overtake me atthe end, so I could have a clear view, just in case there were photos...hehe. Thanks to Ripley and WaiFung who had taken photos of us when we were finishing. I was happy to finish in sub 5omin, and when I heard from the Organizer that the distance was actually more than 10.5km, I felt that my timing was quite ok.

SAFRA Runners

Joined the rest in cheering for running friends coming in, and downed 2 bottles of 100plus. Took quite a number of group photos, and went to cheer our running friends who had won prizes...well done to Alan Chao, bbmon, Lai Chee, Priscilla, Vivian Tang, Anna Teo, Uncle Lim, Ramos, Juwatim...all of whom did very well for podium. Also congrats to lucky PS who got a nice lucky draw prize. I enjoyed the whole atmosphere more than the run itself, and somehow, a 10km is always a tough run for me :)

Distance: 10.5km__Time: 49min10sec__Pace: 4:41min/km