Marina 21K (23.07.2011)

Just completed the race last night with a timing of 2:02. 6 minutes shy of my personal best. But I had fun nonetheless. Especially after the fiasco experienced at a race one week earlier. Last night's race was relatively incident free and well planned out. The race route was nice and being able to see fireworks from the National Day Parade Rehearsal en route was a bonus.

This race route comprised of 2 loops around Marina Bay/Tanjong Rhu area. I completed the first loop in 56 mins. After completing the first loop, I thought I could keep up the pace and finished the race with a PB. But somehow, I could not keep up the pace and fell behind. I was glad that my good friend was able to clock yet another PB and was there to take the video of me at the end point :)

Next Race: Adidas King of the Road

Community Games Road Run (16.07.2011) and Timex Trifactor 21km Run (17.07.2011)

This weekend is a relatively "busy" week in terms of races. I participated in two events. My first Community Games, Road Run and my second Timex Trifactor 21km.

Together with my team mates we ran at the Community Games, Road Run. It was a short race of 4.29km. Did not do fantastically well (about 21 to 22 mins, did not start my stop watch) as I have always found short races painful. It is ironic but short races to are really painful to me. This is because for short races, there is a need to have a burst of power from beginning till end. Power, something which I do not have much of. I am more of a consistent, moderate-paced, long distance runner who can go on and on.

Anyway, I thought I could do better at the next race which was a half marathon distance. I was hoping to beat my personal best of 1:56 as this race is usually not crowded. However, I was disappointed. I finished in about 2:06. I was quite amazed by the (lack of) organization of the race. There was a real lack of water points and one of the water points were not even manned (I guess due to a lack of volunteers). To make things worse, there was hardly any route and distance markers. The route marshals were also not clear as to how to direct the runners. We were literally running "blind". At one point runners were wondering if we were lost. I encountered a group of 10k runners who said that they could not find the route to the finishing line. This really affected my motivation as well as performance.

Well, after this experience, I am really apprehensive about my race next Saturday which is Marina 21. This is also a new race by new organizers. I hope it will not be a repeat of today's fracas. And hopefully a personal best?

Next Race: Marina 21

Pleasant surprise from HK Marathon

Had a pleasant surprise from the organisers of the HK Marathon. I actually received a "Progress Award Certificate" on top of the normal finisher's certificate from the race organisers.

I think this is a nice touch which local organisers can consider.