Marina Run 2014

I just finished my first  half marathon in Marina Run 2014!

I enjoyed the run very much as it was in Marina Barrage, the surrounding was so scenic.

My tears actually welled up in my eyes as I was enduring great pain in my left knee for the last 5-6km *sob* However, luckily it was so windy that evening that it blew away my pain and sweat, and tear?.

Though I finished it at 2 hours 54 mins, which is 24 mins slower than my target, I still felt very proud the moment I crossed the finishing line.

I will still take part in 21km this year to improve my personal timing to 2.5 hours!

Standard Chartered Run 2013

After Great Eastern Run 2013, I planned to give myself the best shot in SC Run 2013. But who knows one week before the run, I was down with fever and coughing. The coughing was so bad that it even trigger my back bone pain. 

However, as quite a few friends joined this run, I still insisted to take part, even I knew I could not deliver myself good result. Running could be a very serious addiction. *grin*

SCSM 2013 was really a happening one, there were 40k++ participants! The whole Raffles are was so crowded. 

during the run

I enjoyed my run though I finished the run at 80 mins, 14 minutes slower than my GE Run. 

With friends happily on SC Run 2013 medal

Alvin also started to get addicted to running, we have signed up for Marina Run 2014 half marathon which falls on Feb 15! Gotta train for it! No target set yet, but I would try my best. 

Let's run for a reason~~~

Great Eastern Women's Run 2013

After two mediocre 10km marathons in 2012 Nov and 2013 Jan, I took part in my company 10km women's run again. Previously both run were done with about 90-95 mins.

But after my company's Live Great program on employee brisk walking every Wednesday few months ago, I was determined to improve my physical strength. I started jogging, elliptical training and climbing staircases. 

This time, I made it a quantum leap by finishing the run at 66 mins! I was so thrilled. 

Free picture from the running organizer... 

Hopefully for the coming Dec 1, 2013 Standard Chartered 10km marathon, I can at least keep up with this performance. Hope for a better one like 60-64 mins?  

First 10 in 2013

Right after my ever first marathon since high school, I immediately looked for the marathon calender 2013 to participate in some more runs. And here it is. Early in the morning today, we took a cab to Keppel Road (Tg Pajor Old KTM Station) to kick start our run. The marathon event was rather a simple one and there were only 6000 runners from 6 categories. Everything was done in a quieter manner as the nearby residents complained and asked to stop this event before. This time round my friends and I (10 together) were taking part in this inaugural run. We all ran separately and just met at the finishing line. Overall, my performance did not improve nor deteriorate. But again, I had stomach cramp when I crossed over 1.5km. The pain subdued after like 10 minutes and I continued slow running and brisk walking. I am wondering if I am suitable for any marathon in the future.   

Here are some of the pictures after the finishing line.  

A finisher medal means a lot!

The first three (among 4 of us) to finish the run

Got a nice towel and medal after the run

After the run and shower, we pampered ourselves at Buffet Town.

Great Eastern Women's Run 2012

I could not recall how many years I did not run for more than 5km. But it had been around 6-7 years I did not take part in any marathon. The last one was during my Form 4 or Form 5, and it was just a 4km marathon. 

This year, as usual, my company holds the yearly inaugural women marathon in Singapore. It was on 11/11/2012. As a staff, I am given to run for free! And out of greediness, (I want the running singlet and see how does adult marathon look like), I took part in the 10km marathon.

Soon after I joined, that was also after my Mount KK hiking, I found that I need a serious training to improve my stamina. So I signed up a gym membership in True Fitness for 2 years. At a start, I really trained hard of 5km treadmill 3 times a week. But after a month, I saw no improvement in my muscle mass and deterioration in my fat mass. A friend of mine who is quite into body building told me that I instead just need to sprint for 1km then go for weight training on all sorts of body parts to improve tremendously. So I followed. Yes, I did see the results, I lost 2kg of fat mass and increased 1kg of muscle mass in one month. But of course, my short sprint will not help anything in my 10km marathon! 

Two weeks before the marathon, I stopped all the exercises due to my examination. When I resumed one day before the marathon, I had stomach cramp as I was suffering from PMS. I was like damn, tomorrow gonna be TOUGH! Still I decided to give myself a try. 

The next morning, as early as 5am, I woke up with my marathon buddy (also roommate Angie) and got ourselves prepared to the runners village. It was still pitch dark as we departed to Marina Float on a bus. But when we reached, it was crowded with runners and their families. The 21km (half marathon) was even kicked off already. 

We deposited our bag and made our way to the beginning line. As we got there quite early for the run to start, we were at the very few first rows and practically were just with those elite runners. I saw them well prepared with little bottle at their waist, mp3/smart phone wrapped at their arm. (I wanted to run with music blasting in my ears, but I just forgot to buy the band @@) I was a bit nervous, not because I was with the elite runners but afraid of my stomach cramp. 

Soon the cheerleading and warm-up session were over, GE chairman flagged off and there we started to run. Running on road is very different from running on treadmill. Each step of running on road requires equal effort paid; but each step of running on treadmill requires like half from running on road. I was uneasy as it was quite warm (when I run on treadmill, I would switch on the little fan in front of me @@). 

When I was nearing the very first km, my stomach muscle started to get tighter. And as expected when I saw the 1km sign, I suffered from stomach cramp, I could not continue but to squad down at the road side to have a rest. While I was resting I was thinking to give up repetitively as I thought I practically lost nothing for this run except the insufficient sleep for the previous night. But after 10 minutes, I continued.

This time I did not run much, but walked with fast pace coupled with little run in between. I timed myself 10 minutes for 1km. I know it was very slow, but I know with this, I would be able to get the finisher medal with the cut off time of 2 hours. Gradually, I passed by 2km, 3km, 4km... 9km, and yeah, I was still in the budgeted time. And finally I saw the finishing line! I slowly ran towards it and clocked myself at 1 hour 34 minutes. I was 6 minutes better than expectation :P Though Angie did better than me for 6 minutes without going to gym like me @@ 

Though I was not able to finish within 1 hour 15 minutes (my goal before the run), I was still happy as I did not hate marathon anymore. I hated all sorts of long-haul running during my school times. 

We then made our way to the massage tent to have a 15-minute foot massage before we called it a day. :) 

Overall it is a very good experience, and we are now calling friends to have a marathon which falls on January 27, 2013. Stay tuned for my 2013 marathon logs :)