Race Review: Runninghour 2015

This is the first time I take part in a Runninghour race, and I believe the 2015 race is also their first edition. I signed up a few months back when they revealed the Braille medal, it is really unique and one of it kind to show that the race is to raise awareness about the visually impaired community.

Nice run, I'll be back.

After the Hong Kong trip, I kept wanting to go for a run to burn off some of the stuff I've indulged in during the trip, but somehow there was no motivation to run and it kept raining these few days due to 清明. On Sat, I finally went to the gym and did a 5km on the treadmill as it was raining in the evening. The run felt good but I knocked out at night without having dinner and I didn't pack my stuff for the race. 

I woke up without setting the alarm clock at 5.15 and really didn't want to get out of bed, with the thought of skipping the race. It felt really good lying there and it was almost another DNS race for me. In my mind, I was going through the stuff I need to pack to get ready but it was like a dream as I found myself still lying on bed after 10min. I finally coerced myself out of bed at 530, did the necessary preparation and got out of the house at 550am. 

The train was crowded as it took 5-6min to arrive. I think many people had exactly the same thoughts as me, wishing that we can at least get a seat so that we can continue to get some shut eye. Whenever I travel early on weekends, there are a lot of blue collar workers waking up early to commute for work, looking tired... I kind of pity them and appreciate my life even more. 

Anyway, the crowded train took sometime to reach Raffles Place and many people dressed in the purple Runninghour tee alighted. The station was crowded with runners, and I had to make a stop at the toilet as my tummy was already protesting when I was on the train. Luckily, there was just one person in front of me in queue, so I got a cubicle shortly. When I'm done, it was already 650am, just 10 min before the flag off of the race.

MBS looking so serene in the early morning

I followed the crowd and reached the race site after walking through the links. There were not as many runners as other races but the competitive runners were getting ready to be flagged off , and I had not even collected my racepack as I was overseas the previous week. The racepack collection was done at the registration counter and there was nobody in queue. Next, I went to the baggage deposit counters to drop off my bag after taking the bib out from the racepack. Again, there was no queue and I even noticed that many of the racks were still empty. I found it quite odd but proceeded to pin my bib and at this point, the air horn was sounded and the competitive runners were off.

No queue, thumbs up!

When I got to the start line, they did not let the leftover competitive runners start immediately, we had to be flagged off with the blind category runners. I was surrounded by people with the purple bib, they were all in twos with their blind run partner, the eye mask and the lanyard also looked like something of good quality. It would be quite nice to experience the blind run next time if I can find a partner to go with me, they do pair up people without a buddy but I thought it will be odd to literally run blindly with a total stranger. I did ask W to go with me months ago, she was interested in the run but she could not make it on Sunday mornings due to church commitments.

Me among throngs of runners doing the blind run

Trying to get ahead of them

We got flagged off ten minutes later. I could see that the blind runners were really not used to running without their sight and most of them move really slowly in a zig zag manner at the start. I was stuck among them as they moved really slowly, so I went to a clear path at the side and ran forward to get past the crowd. We were flagged off from the Marina Boulevard, the same place where I did the Garfield run one year ago. The route was very familiar as I got to the MBS shortly and made my way towards GBTB and the Marina Barrage. I did not stop at the first water point under the bridge, and as I had guessed, the second water point was at the Marina Barrage. I looked up the huge slopes at the Barrage, hoping that we will not need to run up the slopes for this run but eventually we were still diverted there. It seem unavoidable for races to include the slopes in their route nowadays, as I've just done it two weeks ago at the Venus run. I managed to keep on running up, up, up the slope, then down, down, down again.

Running past the MBS area

After the Marina Barrage, we ran along the GBTB east and headed towards the U-turn point (near the 5km point) where the next water point is. Somehow, I felt that it was not easy to maintain my pace and I even slowed down to a walk several times. I felt worry about the 2XU compression run that was going to take place the following week, and I will be running my first HM of the year. Perhaps, my fitness had really dropped after not running much the past two weeks.

Along GBTB east after the U-turn point

Even though I walked quite a bit, I was just two minutes slower than my best timing, and I finished the run in 1h10min. There was no isotonic drinks throughout the run, but we were given a bottle of water at the end, the collection of the medal was also smooth. When I went to pick up my bag, I realised that there were runners dropping off their bags. Then it dawned on me that the 5km race was not flagged off yet, and the runners had just started to take their place at the Start Line. It's probably good for us 10km runners since this staggered timing eliminated any bottleneck, but not so good for the 5km runners as it was getting really warm when I left the place.

Forcing a smile for the photographers near the end point lolz

Heading back.. looking serious.

My favourite pose and picture