New Balance Real Run

It was an amazing race indeed. The Sun, the Sand, the Sea. The turnout was huge, and this year's Real Run's sponsors were New Balance, so it was a whiff of fresh air. High hopes of better goodies bags were in the minds of many a runner (maybe? But definitely me haha)

Bro Kops21 picked me up at 6.40am, and we went to Bukit Panjang to pick up Simon, a fellow runner. There was a slight jam at the bridge entering Sentosa, and parking lots were few and far between. The deities must be helping us, for we managed to find a lil' corner in the congested 'carpark'.

Placed our stuff in the car, and prepared for the run. A 10km run.

Met up with some of the SGRunners people during the pre-race period, and it was nice to see them. In all, they're great runners (so Lonely Runner, if you're reading this...haha...) and they'll most likely destroy me and leave me eating the sand with their pace.

Race started with the Junior division going first, followed by the Open categories and Veteran categories. The start was as usual, SLOW. With a huge block of people in front of you, what can one do when he's at the back of the queue?

By the time I ran out of the Gateway Carpark, the number of runners I saw ahead of me was terrifying. Okay, then again, maybe not.

Did my slow constant pace with a fellow SGR runner, and maintained it till the 3km mark, which was where we looped at the Satellite Station. Had never been to the trial runs before, so I was unsure of my pace and timing. Worse yet, I was unsure of the challenges ahead, the slopes and sand would definitely kill, should I decide to speed up.

After clearing the Satellite Station loop, turned into the Dolphin Lagoon area to the left, heading towards Tanjong Beach. Saw the lead runners already doing the return leg, and it was like...WOW.

My confidence plummeted into a black hole on hitting the sand. It was WAY too difficult to run. Especially one has to gravitate and makes sure he does not sink into the coarse sand. Basically, the path was already so well-trodden, it was impossible to find a path with relatively untouched sand (for the un-informed, IMHO, during sand-trail runinng, it's best to have sand which has not been trodden yet. Best to avoid the wet patches.)

After the first sand path at Tanjong Beach, I passed the Dolphin Lagoon, and hit Palawan Beach's long stretch of sand. Dang. That entire stretch made me really tired. But I managed to press on, despite slowing down.

After getting out of the beach path, it was a smooth trail all the way back, along Siloso Beach and then heading towards the cycling trail near the bus-stop of UnderWater World.

The inner jungle trail was winding, but relatively easy. Still, I think I slowed down a little during the trail run, until I saw the magical 9KM mark. That definitely spurred me on.

On hitting the S-curve, I reached the road, went under an overhead bridge, and it was a 400m sprint from there onwards. Managed to clock in 50:34 for this run. Not bad indeed, for someone who had a layoff for roughly 1 month.

Met up with Huiqin, Tianyuan, Ghim Song and Kenneth after the run. Been some time since I last saw Kenneth and Tianyuan, and they're damn fit! Kao...I think I slack le. Haiz >_< (Time to do more runs)

Henry gave me a ride home, that's why I'm here so fast to blog. Mwhahaha. Time to rest my tired legs.

Mizuno run next! ^_^

Me, Kops21, Simon


SGRunners!

Current Mood: Hyper-ness