Sunsdown Letdown

Had my third run of the year this weekend the Adidas Sunsdown event to be held at Changi Exhibition Centre. I signed up for the half marathon since they had this new category this year and from what was said it seems to be the biggest category.

The event starts from 6pm on Saturday where the Ultra-Marathoners would take off till 9am on Sunday which was the Ultra’s cut-off time. I got a special bib number for this event. Number 2012.

I had bid on this bib number in the Charity Auction held by Adidas. Paid $50 (it was the opening bid) for it the number of course is not to signify the end of the world as from some mayan calender but it was actually the birth date of the twins. I figured I should give it a go and get a bib number of significance just this once.

I got there early just to see the flag off for the Ultra, my event only starts at 9pm so I had some time to waste after the runners for the Ultra started. There were quite a few people I think more than a thousand runners took part in the ultra but not sure how many will make it over the finishing line. There was the One-Arm Marathoner and even a guy (elderly guy) who was running the Ultra SDRAWKCAB that’s – BACKWARDS. It makes you just want to put on your running shoes and run after them.

Above the event site before the sun went down. The Ultra’s Started at 6pm this was followed by the women’s 10K at 7pm and the Corporate/Team events at 7.30pm I was around to see the Women’s finisher and boy was she FAST I think she set a new course record (the one she set last year) and the 2nd place finisher was like 5 minutes behind her. Soon it was time to prep for my event the organizers had these little light sticks that you could bend and wearing around your wrist (gives you some illumination) I got a couple and kept a couple as well, had 1 on my wrist, 2 more on my laces and 1 I hang on my bib.

I got my pre-race drink, did my stretches, deep heat my muscles, used the anti-chaffing cream, now this was something I have found really useful as I did not get abrasions very much for long runs once I used this. Finally had my banana and I was ready. Soon 9pm was drawing near the only other event after this was the Marathon which would kick off at 2359hrs.

We had the countdown and soon all 6000 runners were off. The route was relatively flat and some points were very very straight, we were running the length of Changi Airport’s runway. Could see and hear the airplanes taking off. Firstly I have to say it was a gruelling race. I think the humidity was a great factor, there was hardly any breeze only at the start/end point was there some breeze and that even I could detect the smell of oil which could be from that tanker incident a couple of days back. I had maintain a 7 minute kilo running pace till the 12 KM mark where my left knee started to hurt and I started to slow down, one good thing was that almost all water points had 100 plus and water. At the 17km mark it was a milestone as I had done a 25km run the previous week and that with the 17km would make it that I had run 42km (a marathon distance) so technically you could say I did a marathon and the time taken was  ….. 7 DAYS !! :)

The 18 and 19 kms were GRUELLING, it was humid, my knees hurt, my muscles hurt, practically everywhere hurts. I finally managed to reach the end in around 2 hrs 45 mins. A night race was really tough on both body and spirit. Now the thing about the Sunsdown that irked me was the water stations were not manned properly at practically every station you had to queue up to get a drink and some times you spent like a minute just trying to get some water. This really affected the rhythm of my run and it was really congested. Also the support was not that great not enough medics etc. along the route especially between water points. There were no cheer leading groups which I guess was due to the run in the wee hours of the morning. Getting out of the event venue was something that they needed to work on as well. I spent half an hour trying to get out of the Car Park !!! I reached home around 3am after I had something to eat as there were no banana stations along the way. They did give out bananas at the end point.

I did not really enjoy myself during this run and I think this will be my first and last Adidas Sunsdawn run. The final nail in the coffin for me was the number tag. I wanted to keep my number tag due to the significance of it. But when I took it off, normally on the back they put details of you and the emergency contact just in case it was needed, the entire details had faded away and was now on my shirt, what was left was this.

As you can see all the details had come off (the details were now on my shirt) if anything had happen to me they would not know what to do or who I was. This was the first time something like this has ever happened to me. However luckily the front was still intact and I could still keep the number tag. So half of my 6 runs this year are completed. Next up likely to be the Army Half Marathon.

Re!tro Night

We had dinner today at this Hotel called Hotel Re! at Pearls Hill. I think the Re! stands for Retro as the place has got that retro feel to it. I like the way they make use of the “Re” to name their facilities like “Re!Fill” is the Restaurant, “Re!Connect” is the internet area, “Re!Wine” is their Bar, “Re!Charge” is their gym, “Re!Tune” - “Re!Union” - “Re!Call” were their function rooms. Below their reception area, in happening pink man !!!

The decor in the dinning area had these really techno walls.

The food was not too bad, we had the set menu which was different for each day from Western, Chinese or Italian. Today was Japanese and they even had Peranakan (Buah Keluah – my favourite) For Japanese we had soup, salad, main and a dessert the usual tea/coffee followed. The food was good, less salt very healthy stuff I guess, but some may find it bland. Most likely to try the Peranakan one day.

Passion Photos

Finally got some time to get my photos uploaded from my Passion Run. As with this year’s running theme, here’s my bib number with the yellow running vest.

And this was the race belt which they gave out and I thought it was cool since I could attach those Energy Gel packs to the belt for long runs you can just make out the holders on the right of the picture. I tried the one they gave at the 25K passion run and it came in handy as there was no ‘food’ point.

 

 

PAssion Run 2010

PAssion Run 2010, this is my second PAssion Run I ran this event a couple of years ago, signed up for it last year but was sick and could not attend last years event. This year the event would be held in the evening and they had new categories for 25km and 50km Duo which I think was just 2 people running 25 km and the combined times would count. It would be held at the East Coast Park. I was contemplating signing up for this run as I had already signed up for the Sunsdown half marathon and it was held one week after this. I think the factor that interested me was the distance and the goodie bag items which included a race belt which would come in handy for long runs. (Pictures of my tag and race belt to come later)

I've never run an event held in the evening before so I guess this was a good experience for me as well. The race would start at 4pm but the first wave left around 4.20pm. I had arrange to meet a friend who had also joined the run. For some reason he had not taken lunch and was hungry and took some Curry Puffs .... big mistake, it did not go down well with him. We arrived about an hour before the start, checked out the activities and prepared for the run.

4.20pm and we were off. Did not think there were many people since I think most were preparing for next weeks Sunsdown. The race started from the Food Center near Bedok we ran towards town, pass the Chalets, the Seafood Centre, Playground and further up before we made a turn back down to the start point, we ran pass it towards the Changi Jetty, Outward bound, Sailing Club and then the turn back towards the start point again (which also acted as the finishing point)

I decided to take it a little easy for this race since I have another half marathon the following week. I took 1hr 10 mins to get to the 10km point which I felt was too fast so I slowed down a little. Took me 2.5 hrs to get to the 20km mark. At last years Standard Chartered Marathon where I did the half marathon I knew I had difficulty at the 18/19 km mark. This round I seem to feel a little better at that mark maybe because I was running at a slow pace but it was around the 20km mark where we had to run up and down this super long service road where I felt my right thigh cramping up. Oh dear I thought, needed to slow down a little, I managed to walk off the cramps but it sort of came back. Luckily there were people by the side of the road with sprays to help ease the pain I got some on my leg and it felt better but then the left side started to cramp up but managed to walk that off.

At the 21km mark I was relieved that I made it this far - half marathon distance. When I saw the 22 km mark I was a little overjoyed since it would be the furthest distance I had run in the longest time. It sort of spur me on to continue running and finally completed the 25km in about 3 hrs 15 mins. The finisher tee was nice, dark grey bodynits design. Hanged around for a bit before heading home to a well earned shower and some sleep. It was a good warm up run.

So what did I learn about night running ?

- It gets dark pretty fast and once that happens it's kind of hard to see where you are going especially as the East Coast Park was not very well lit.

- Again at the 18/19 km mark I had trouble, this time was cramps, this could be something I need to watch out for.

- Its still humid in the night.

- It starts off hot but gets a little cooler as the sun sets.

The Race is On

It has been a busy running week. I collected the race pack for the PAssion Run last week which would be held this week and also this week collected the race pack for the Adiddas Sunsdown Run which would be held next week at the end of the month.

The PAssion Run would be a 25 km run along the East Coast while Sunsdown would be at the Changi Exhibition Centre area. I decided to participate in the Half Marathon in that.

I also sign-up this week for the Standard Chartered Marathon which would be held at the end of the year (5th Dec 2010) I had wanted to sign up at the launch but by the time I got there there were queues which snaked round several buildings at Rafles Place. In the end, since it was drizzling as well, I decided to just sign up online. More on the races soon.

Mother’s Day

Its been a while since I updated. During Mother’s Day the family did not really have a place to go, I checked with my sis and she had not planned anything so in the end on the day itself we had a quick chat and decided to try out United Sq, guess it was baby friendly enough with all the kids and prams. So we had our little Mother’s Day Celebration there with my parents and my sis. So where did Grandma have dinner at Grandma’s of course :)

Morning PT

It was one of those morning where I went for my 5 am early morning run. I usually run near the house or get out to MacRitchie for a run. Some days I drive there some days I run there. Today it was a ‘run there’ kind of day. But I took another route, instead of the normal Jungle trail I decided to run round the Thompson/Bishan area. It was there that at about 6.50am I happen to be running by the Bishan Fire Station and an announcement came on. The voice said (and it sounded like Glen Ong) something to the effect of rise and shine it is 6.50am and all firemen are to assemble for morning PT. I never knew it till then that Firemen did morning exercises as well. I also notice that in the wee wee early hours of the morning there are lots of cyclist in their cute little bicycle shorts and colourful shirts riding along thompson road. It seems to be a favourite among enthusiast.

Anniversary

It’s our first wedding anniversary with the kids. So how did we celebrate this year, well the morning was spent buying diapers and grocery shopping. The afternoon was spent buying more diapers. I think the house now looks like a diaper warehouse. We did have a very nice Chinese dinner at City Square Mall (my newest fav place to go) Got one of those family parking lots which was cool. Happy Anniversary Sunshine.