NB Real Run

you see, when you go to a foreign land to race, it's very hard to draw expectations. but i always do. especially after my fantastic lucky outcome last week at Bt Gasing, underneath my humble facade was an expectation to kick some kiasu asses that was dying to get out. so it is needless to say that the blow i got did not only strained my calves and hemstrings even more, it punched brutally into my ego.

race flagged off at 7.45 am - a little late, but i'll try not to be a bitch. the place was sardine-packed! so much so, we were walking for 3 whole minutes from flag off. i was the only idiot with a hydrapak. but it did pay off because then i didnt have to rub sweaty shoulders at the drinking stations. i was happily overtaking them during those moments.

road stretch was 5 km. then there was a sand stretch of 500m. sand running is hard. it's like taking 2 steps front and 1 step back. i seriously had a hard time keeping my pace. after 500m, there was about a km of road again, and then back onto the sand for another km approximately. it's so easy to lose your focus when times are rough. subconsciously, i felt myself slowing down. i have to hand it to the race marshalls though. all along the route, standing about 3-4 feet apart were race marshalls cheering you on! it really made a difference. it got my head back in the game, maintaining my pace.

Singaporeans are REALLY fit. all the way i was not able to break off from the general crowd. so used to being amongst the front runners in KL, it bugged me that i was just-one-of-the-many here.

finally i came onto the trail running. now this i almost laughed. errected right outside the stretch was a sign which read "Jungle Challenge route starts here". i thought, yay! but all i ran on was a tar road, with potted plants on either side of it. Sure there were some trees growing from the ground which hovered somewhere above my head. Sure the road went uphill and downhill on intervals. but seriously, where was the dirt people!??! owell, i was forewarned.

i managed to run in before the clock touched 1 hour 1 minute. a sea of people were already cooling down with cold cans of 100 plus. slightly disappointed, i consoled myself that i just ran 10 km in an hour even with sand-running. i am, overall, satisfied i guess. :) many thanks to Kelvin for inviting me to join. and for all that he's done for me during my short stint in the Lion City.

p/s: Once again, blogger photos not working, photobucket not loading. photos tmr la. gnite!

*edit* when in doubt, slide it!