After 3 years playing a passive role in this night race, decided to get involved more directly and signed up for the race itself. Not the Ultra distance or even the full. Just the half to add one more piece to the race jigsaw.
The half starts at 8pm so after a light dinner, we drove there about 6.30pm. There was heavy traffic build up along Changi Aviation Park Road and it took more than 20 minutes just to clear that 2km stretch to reach the race's carpark. So we still had a little bit of time till flag off or so I thought. Had arranged to meet a friend to pass him some stuff but unfortunately, he too became a victim of the jam. After waiting and waiting, finally gave up when I heard the flag off. The sidekick had already gone to the start line earlier and should have started. Ran back to the car to keep the item and ran back to the start. Wasted 5 minutes and started right at the tail end.
With that inauspicious start, my whole race was blown. While I do not have high expectation for myself, I have hoped to be able to maintain a sub 2 finish and with the flat route and cooler night temperature, maybe even a PB. With this in mind, I have a mental plan to run at certain pace and to do it with as little stress as possible. However, the late start means that I was caught behind all the walkers and stragglers and try as I could, I could not clear the massive crowd in front of me. To do a sub 2, I need to do constant minimum 5.35 pace but the first km was done in 6.37 minutes. The next 2 km were no better. I took 31 minutes + to do 5km. Way too slow. And since I am not a fast or strong runner, there was no way I could do a negative split to make up for the lost time. And the route was so boring. Just one long pitch black road with nothing to see except the back of all the sweaty runners.
After 5km, I managed to clear the main bulk of the stragglers and was able to run at a slightly faster pace. Even then, it was 1 hour on the dot when I hit the 10km mark. I knew the sub-2 was now a pipe dream. There was no way I could do 11km in under 60 minutes. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to do a stroll. Took a gel and after a short breather, started to run with a little bit more urgency. Managed to do the next 5km in an average pace of 5:50 minutes. At 15km, I was staring at the watch and it shows 1:29:34. So I had managed to move into sub-6 minutes region. Even then, 6km in 30 minutes? Was contemplating what should be my strategy when I saw the sidekick just 50 metres in front. There and then, I decided to run with her but not wanting to stress her, I stayed behind her all the way keeping a distance of about 20 metres. Even at the drink point when I caught up with her, immediately fall behind when we resume running. Don't want her to chew my head off for giving her stress:). Consequently, the pace dropped to an average of 6.30 minutes.
