Race Review: Newton Challenge 2014

This is my first Newton Challenge and my first race in ECP. Having heard of it the previous year when I was training for SCMS 2013, I already made up my mind to sign up for it if I were to take part in SCMS again. So here I am..

Usually I'll avoid taking the shuttle bus to races as I prefer to sleep for 20min more and just take a cab to the event site, however ECP is really far and the cab fare will be expensive if I do that therefore I decided to save money and wake up earlier to take the shuttle bus. I tried to be in bed by 10.30pm but I took a nap earlier that day (wrong move!) and was still tossing and turning at 11pm+. I drifted in and out of sleep that night and was already up at 3am. As usual, excitement drowned out any fatigue in me so I was wide awake immediately. Before I went to wash up, I saw the carton of Koko Krunch in the Hello Kitty race pack, I drowned it for milk as I like it really soft and squishy. I changed into the Newton singlet (which I really loved the colour) and my usual running gear and had the Koko Krunch for breakfast.

I heard the shuttle bus arriving just as I went out of house to take the lift ( I stay just opposite the MRT station), thus I crossed the road in double quick time and found the last few empty seats at the back of the bus. As most runners prefer to have one whole bench to themselves, the bus was considered full. Nevertheless, the bus still waited for another 5-7min before moving off and there were a handful of runners who boarded after me. I always had the impression that the same bus will stop at Yishun and Khatib since the timing seems to be staggered that way, but the Sembawang bus just headed straight to ECP. I've realised from my training runs that drinking coffee before my runs helps as I'm quite sensitive to the caffeine, therefore its like my secret weapon now and before the bus reached ECP, I finished off the small bottle of iced coffee bought from 7-11.

Although reviewers from the previous versions of Newton Challenge mentioned the bad jam along ECP, we only encountered slow traffic this year which was unavoidable as the shuttle buses were dropping participants off at the Big Splash area. We alighted from the bus at 4.30am and after my prior bad experience at the ST run, I headed straight for the mobile toilets after dropping off my bag. I prioritized the visit to toilet despite the long queues, although I tried to walk to the furthest end as the queue there seems to be the shortest.

Photo courtey of Running Kaki.. Thank you :)

I always thought the race is schedule to begin at 5.30am, like most of the HM. After I bought the shuttle bus ticket, I just took note of the time to board the bus and didnt take note of the race schedule. I was glad that the bus managed to drop us off 1h before the race begin as we would have ample time to get ready. Imagine my shock when I head the emcee announcing that the race will begin in 10min after I left the toilet! It then dawned on me that the race starts at 5am, and not 5.30am. The starting pen was already filled with people when I quickly made my way there, although I tried to weave my way to the front, I still did not make it far enough to make it to the first wave, and that means I probably wont be able to catch up with the pacers. I decided not to stress myself and just pace myself since I cant do much about the situation.

The second wave started 5min after the first wave of runners went off, I timed myself and tried to look at people who were running around me at a comfortable speed and followed behind. I gave myself around 7min/km and it's just a rough estimation as my watch is not a GPS one and I cant calculate to the seconds mentally. The first part of the race was comfortable, its the first time I'm running at ECP at such early hours and I strained my eyes to keep a look out at areas where its really dark, the areas nearer to Big Splash only had lamps on the right and it cast long dark shadows on us as we prodded on. It is convenient to run at ECP as there are public toilets every few km, therefore I dont see guys rushing to trees and bushes to relief themselves this time round, but there are people running towards the toilets as we passed them. There are also hydration stations every 2km, and I stopped at every single one to make sure I stay hydrated.

Photo from Pixelated; Thank you! 

After the first 6km, I felt sharp pain in my stomach and realised I need to visit the toilet, we already ran past the long beach seafood restaurant, the cable skiing area even the NACLI centre etc by that time. I kept a lookout for public toilets but there was none, I was glad that I saw a single mobile toilet at the 7km-8km hydration station. I stopped my watch so that I have a more accurate timing and waited as the toilet was occupied. I always have some issues with milk so I supposed the Koko Krunch breakfast was the cause of it, I also read that dairy products tend to give runners problems but I still took the risk as I could not think of anything else to eat early that morning. Sigh.. Anyway, I'm sure glad the mobile toilet was well equipped with soap and toilet paper although it was quite dim inside.


Luckily, I did not lose momentum after I came out of the toilet and I continued on with my 7min(plus minus)/km pacing. My previous long run was up till 18km so it was my target to at least finish a HM without stopping, I felt happy that the past weeks of runs paid off as I only stopped for short breaks at the hydration stations. I took my first gel after 90min and at the 14km hydration station, I took a gel to keep for later use and finished off a banana they provided. When I passed the 21km mark, I looked at my watch and realised I've hit a PB for HM while running at a pace for 32km. I'm hopeful that I will be able to run a faster pace for GE 2014 and get my PB for HM, again. With that in mind, I kept going on and only slowed to a walk after 22km. I was still able to get myself to run and walk further but I wasnt able to do that after the 26km mark. My legs were aching and I needed to stretch myself so badly but I couldnt stop to do it (or I will just get stuck and stop altogether),  it actually seemed better if I slow jog but I just couldnt maintain the jog longer than 200m.

Photo from Running Shots; Thanks to photographer :)

I finished the race in 4h 23min, I did some mental calculation and it seems that I will still hit a PB for FM if I just walk another 10km. The last 10km was a torture but it was rewarding once I reached the finishing point. The volunteer fished out a iced cold towel, squeezed off the water and passed it to me, I almost died of happiness then. It was really a good gesture to provided a iced towel after a grueling run. I also collected an ice-cream, a banana and jell-o before I changed into the finisher tee and booked a cab to go home.