Anyway, I woke up at 3.30am that morning, just in time to see the shuttle bus leaving below my block (staying just opposite the MRT station). I did not opt for the shuttle bus service, as I thought I will want to sleep at least 15min more and just spend on taking a cab to the race site. I went downstairs half an hour later and got a cab almost immediately. The friendly cab driver dropped me off at the nearest possible point and I already see many other runners walking towards the sports hub. I was happy to note that it was only 4.30am, an hour before the start of the race and one of the rare occasions I made it to the event site so early. A short brisk walk brought me near to the bag deposit area and I stopped to pin my bib and down a packet of gel. After which, it was just 4.45am and I was undecided on what to do next, I decided to explore and find out the route to the start point as it seemed to be some distance away. I walked towards the start point (about 100m away) and realised that the start pen was not opened yet as other runners are standing and sitting around waiting. I decided that it was still early and therefore I should take a toilet break, so I walked back the way I came. I was dismayed to see the long queue at the mobile toilets (there were 5 or 6 people ahead of me), after waiting for awhile, judging that the start pen should be opened, I changed my mind again and went back towards the start pen. Actually, I was so nervous that I could not even tell if I really need to pee or not, but the kiasu- mentality in me talked myself into heading to the start pen so that I can be as near to the front of the pack as I can.
Even though there were signs directing the slower runners to the second and third wave, I was feeling guilty as I just followed the faster runners to the front. Initially I did not know what they intended to do when they called out for the >3h people to keep to the right, so I just kept going left. Eventually, I saw them being left behind and wondered if those peeps regretted being too honest? I guess I should be directed to the second wave if I follow my previous timing but ended up standing right in front of the small stage and was within the first 50m from the start line. Listening to the few guys standing near me, they were kind of glad that they 'cheated', thus did not get stuck in the later waves. I felt comforted that there are others doing the same as me hehe.
On hindsight, I made a mental note to myself to just visit the toilet as soon as I deposit my bag for any HM/FM next time, I remembered I did visit the toilets before starting my HM/FM last year and kind of regretted I did not do it earlier. It was not a good idea to skip the toilet as we waited for another 30 min at the start pen. :( As soon as I started running, my bladder was calling out to me to make a stop at the next toilet, it was a lingering feeling that I could not shake off and I had to make a stop at the 7km mark after we passed the F1 gallery. I envy the guys as I saw many rushing off towards the bush along nicoll highway shortly after we started. There were mobile toilets at the earlier hydration stations but I did not want to stop there as there were others queueing, the toilets near the float were clean and bright, so I was glad I stopped there instead.
However, my pace was disrupted after that. I was some distance before the 2h 30min pacers before the toilet break but they were hot on my heels after I came out from the toilet. I got quite irritated and distracted by their loud chatting when they were just behind me and I had not pick up the momentum to continue on. Another unfortunate thing which happened was my ipod nano died shortly after the race started, barely making it after the first 2km, therefore I could not drown out the noise behind me with music, neither can I keep track of my timing and pace. I slowed a lot to let them pass, and there was a huge entourage following the group of pacers, so I had to slow even more to a walk when I realised there was no way for me to overtake the group and leave them far behind me.
My continuous running became a jog and walk after that and I was barely at the 8km point. The 10km runners joined us shortly after the MBS stretch, making it even more crowded. Luckily, the roads were wide enough so there were no bottlenecks, but runners were jostling for drinks at the marina barrage hydration point. I was gaining back momentum by counting my steps in my head and having a rough gauge of distance by doing that in accordance to the distance markers. Just when i was getting more motivated, I encountered a major bottleneck shortly after the 14km point. It was the worst I've ever seen in a race as the road was so narrow, it took us a good ten minute before we could continue running again. I was thinking there was no way I could achieve a good timing with all these disruptions, my motivation was not completely ruined after this point but I realised there was a good number of walkers among the HM runners after that. Seeing people walking around weakened my resolve further and I was slowing down to walking most of the time after the 18km mark. The last 3km seemed to go on and on...
Without my watch to tell the time, I completely had no idea how long I took till I got the results. I was quite disappointed when I saw that my timing was a full 3h but I guess without the bottleneck and stop for toilet break, it should be quite close to my previous HM timing of 2h 45min.
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