This was the first time ever that I did not need to wake up early for a race in Singapore, as the women's 10km for the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon would be flagging off at 8:30am. I met Sera at Bugis to leave my bag at California Fitness Gym before heading down to Esplanade - the starting point. There, I met up with Janice and Shirley, my other team mates. Sherman had started the 10km by then (the men's 10km flagged off at 7:45am) while Jeff was ill. I also told Janice and Shirley that I had sustained a strained from my recent US's races on my right foot and would be walking the whole of the 10km though my target time was to complete the "race" within 2 hours. We were promptly flagged off at 8:30am sharp.
There were a lot of supporters and most were shouting and encouraging the runners and walkers. We took about 13mins to reach the 1km mark. By then, I already noticed that Sera was very bored as she was a competitive person by nature and would love to chiong as fast as she could although her quads were sore from Friday's training. I tried my best to take this opportunity to talk to her as we hardly had time to communicate face-to-face. At the first water station, I stopped to take photos and noticed that in general, the old uncles are less spontaneous than the younger volunteers. At least in Singapore! They just looked at you blankly and wondering what you are trying to do while the younger volunteers would pose and smile at you. : ) I took a cup of water and kept it with me after drinking - trying to do my part to use less paper cup! (Every effort counts! :p ) We took almost 1 hour to reach the 5km mark along the ECP expressway. The view of the CBD skyline was awesome, especially the Singapore Flyer (when you looked at it from the ECP expressway). I stopped to take more photos, much to Sera's chagrin.
After more photos, we tried to quicken our pace by picking target after target so that we could finish the event within the 2 hours we set ourselves. Just after passing the Singapore Flyer (at ground level), before we entered the F1 pit-stop, we noticed very strong muscle rub. This was the point where the marathon/half-marathon runners merged with the 10km runners. This was the 40km and 8km mark for the respective runners! We met Hokkien Beng and Yankee taking a drink at the water station, as well as BoSe and his friend. They were all doing the marathon and the adrenaline from seeing these marathoners prompted us to start running. We stopped along the Esplanade Bridge (approximately 9.5km mark) for more photos after seeing Tekko before crossing the finishing line in 1hr 55mins - the longest 10km we ever "raced"!!! We enter the 10km chute, get our medal and went straight for lunch.
Overall, it was a good workout. The weather was exceptionally great! The sun was taking an off day and didn't appear until about 11am. The only negative comment was that there were too many turns and bends for the 10km route and it just slowed down your momentum, even for those walking. I would not walk another 10km anytime sooner but will cherish this morning's experience. P.S. The Singapore Marathon is one of the "un-green" event I attended - as comparing with the recent races I did in the USA. The bib number came with a plastic ziploc. The blank bib-like paper came with another plastic ziploc. The event tee came with a plastic cover. And the medal came with a plastic cover as well! I hoped the organiser could do their part and do away with all these unnecessary plastics and ziploc!!! It's time to SAVE THE EARTH and be GREEN!!!
There were a lot of supporters and most were shouting and encouraging the runners and walkers. We took about 13mins to reach the 1km mark. By then, I already noticed that Sera was very bored as she was a competitive person by nature and would love to chiong as fast as she could although her quads were sore from Friday's training. I tried my best to take this opportunity to talk to her as we hardly had time to communicate face-to-face. At the first water station, I stopped to take photos and noticed that in general, the old uncles are less spontaneous than the younger volunteers. At least in Singapore! They just looked at you blankly and wondering what you are trying to do while the younger volunteers would pose and smile at you. : ) I took a cup of water and kept it with me after drinking - trying to do my part to use less paper cup! (Every effort counts! :p ) We took almost 1 hour to reach the 5km mark along the ECP expressway. The view of the CBD skyline was awesome, especially the Singapore Flyer (when you looked at it from the ECP expressway). I stopped to take more photos, much to Sera's chagrin.
After more photos, we tried to quicken our pace by picking target after target so that we could finish the event within the 2 hours we set ourselves. Just after passing the Singapore Flyer (at ground level), before we entered the F1 pit-stop, we noticed very strong muscle rub. This was the point where the marathon/half-marathon runners merged with the 10km runners. This was the 40km and 8km mark for the respective runners! We met Hokkien Beng and Yankee taking a drink at the water station, as well as BoSe and his friend. They were all doing the marathon and the adrenaline from seeing these marathoners prompted us to start running. We stopped along the Esplanade Bridge (approximately 9.5km mark) for more photos after seeing Tekko before crossing the finishing line in 1hr 55mins - the longest 10km we ever "raced"!!! We enter the 10km chute, get our medal and went straight for lunch.
Overall, it was a good workout. The weather was exceptionally great! The sun was taking an off day and didn't appear until about 11am. The only negative comment was that there were too many turns and bends for the 10km route and it just slowed down your momentum, even for those walking. I would not walk another 10km anytime sooner but will cherish this morning's experience. P.S. The Singapore Marathon is one of the "un-green" event I attended - as comparing with the recent races I did in the USA. The bib number came with a plastic ziploc. The blank bib-like paper came with another plastic ziploc. The event tee came with a plastic cover. And the medal came with a plastic cover as well! I hoped the organiser could do their part and do away with all these unnecessary plastics and ziploc!!! It's time to SAVE THE EARTH and be GREEN!!!
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