Maiden AHM

Few months ago, before I joined SGRunners, I never thought I could ever run a half marathon . This, however, became a reality on 27 Aug 2006 when I completed the Sheares' Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon 2006.

I woke up at 3am and was relieved to feel well enough to go for the AHM. Have been fighting and then nursing a flu attack for the entire week and had been worried that I would have to miss the AHM. Thankfully, with all the support, wonderful advices & concern from all of you, I managed to keep the flu in control. (Thanks everyone!)

Left the house at 4am to meet Gentle, Taz, Junie & Doraemon_Red at the bus stop near my place. THANK YOU Gentle for giving me a lift to Raffles City and THANK YOU Junie & Taz for helping to arrange this transport and including me! *BOW* Everyone was in an upbeat mood and chatting away happily and enthusiastically about the upcoming run. We reached Raffles City at about 4:45pm and by then the place was thronged with people in their running gear.

We met the rest of the SGRunners at the Tan Kim San fountain and chatted for a while before proceeding to the starting line. I wasn't jittery or anything, but was just a little apprehensive about running a 21km alone. I also wasn't looking fwd to running in such a huge group, it would be lots of jostling, sweaty bodies and fighting for air :P

Thankfully it wasn't a long wait before the Chief of Army flagged off the run. It took me about 3 over minutes i think before i actually crossed the start line .. and off we went.

I kept to a very slow pace of 7:30min/km and kept reminding myself to go SLOW, not wanting to repeat my mistake at Shape run. Thankfully the soothing, jazz music that I have organised in my Running Playlist in my ipod helps to keep me on track. Junie was very kind and kept me company throughout, asking whether I'm ok and reminding me not to push too hard. Thanks Junie! So sorry that I was quiet throughout the entire run coz I had to concentrate on listening to my body, monitoring for any signs of unwell and especially with my gastric problem (brought on by the anti-biotics that I was taking *mumble mumble at the stupid anti-biotics*), I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to yak.

Its a good experience running along CBD area, passing by Lau Pa Sat, the route we sometimes took for CBD run, so early in the morning. There were still people hanging out from the revelry the night before. They looked kind of uncertain seeing such a huge crowd of us running along the road. I kept to my slow pace and many runners overtook me. I reminded myself that this is normal and that shouldn't trigger me to quicken my pace. Anyway the distance is long and I have to conserve my energy if I wish to complete the race comfortably. We saw Bee running alone and considering all three of us were about the same pace, we ended running together. Many times one of us will overtake the others only to be overtaken shortly after. It was good pacing them and helps me to at least take my mind off my flu and gastric momentarily. We trotted up Sheares' Bridge, up the ECP and towards East Coast Park. The run was relaxing except that it was just TOO CROWDED.

I constantly checked my watch to make sure I'm keeping to my pace. The night before, I have jotted down my estimated timing for every 4 km interval in a small piece of paper and plastered it to the back of my ipod to help me keep track of my timing.

I didn't stop for water until almost towards the half way mark. After drinking the ice cold water (too cold for comfort!! especially with a weak gastric) and taking a 2min walk, I felt more refreshed and started to increase my pace. Junie was with me all the while until much later when she caught up with me to tell me that she couldn't catch up and reminded me to take care and don't push too hard. (Thanks sweet Junie buddy jie jie! Really appreciate your concern and help!) So there I was, running alone, with my music keeping me company, and the tons of strangers running alongside me. At one point near Nicoll Highway, the army boys were out spraying water at the runners. I had to quickly avert the spurts of water by running behind the boys so that I would not get wet. I was already feeling cold and slightly shivering and if I were to be sprayed by water I would definitely feel too cold to continue with the run, and most likely to come down with a high fever thereafter!

At one point I spotted sxuanjing but missed her in the sea of runners before I could say hello. Also passed Angeline and managed to just ask whether her knees were ok before i proceeded. When I passed Orchard Road, I knew I was near and so had renewed strength to proceed. Met flip and sv along the way and said my hellos. There were many traffic stops along the way and it gave me some time to catch my breath. But also made many of us lose our momentum and all the start / stop can be very disruptive to the runners.

The run brought us to Clemenceau Road, Havelock Road, Outram Road, South Bridge Road and back to the finishing line. Nearing the end of the run, I tried to pace flip but she was way too fast for me. She was going strong and increasing her pace right to the very end. Well done flip! I mustered whatever strength I had left and sprinted for the finishing line crossing it in 2hrs 19++mins. Not bad in my own opinion since I was gunning for anything below 3hrs with 2hrs 30mins being my stretch target. *pat on back* And I got my very first medal from a sports event!!! *excited*

Met up with the rest of the sgrunners who have finished very early on (teelee - 1hrs 25mins and the top 19th position!! *kow tow*, DO/DR - 1hrs 30+mins, cfred - 1hrs 45mins and many others who all hit sub 2 - roentgen, brokie, ronnie, aichai, charmane, shark etc)

Well done everyone for a good run! Many of the runners achieved PB and I am really really happy for them! Cheers and to many more good runs!

After the run, had breakfast at Marina Square, then lunch at Kovan (hahahaha, just keep eating) before heading home for a much required ZZZZZZ.

Now which half marathon should I go for next ? :)