Singapore Experience: The Half Marathon

Quennie and I tried to sleep early the night before the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon.  We always sleep late before the race.  I was still checking the map on how to go to the starting line.  Do we take the train? the bus? the cab? Or do we just walk or run to the finish line.  They said it’s near so we can actually walk for 20 minutes to the start area.

We decided to just walk.  It will also be a warm up.  I just hope we don’t get lost and miss the race.  By 5:30 am we were ready to leave the hotel and started walking to the venue.  Since this is a race with 50,000 runners, we saw several of them walking already as soon as we got out of the hotel.  We just followed them.  The nearer we got to the venue, the more people we got to see.

This is dubbed as the best race in the region.  So I kept a keen eye on what makes it a great race.  The starting area itself already well organized.  Baggage area was labelled.  Plenty of volunteers to guide you.  Race area was clean.  Litter plots were provided where you can throw your cups.

At the starting line, the music was loud and the emcees were entertaining. They prepared a few jokes so it was not boring at the starting line while we waited for the gun start.  Prior to the gun start, the emcees where announcing what to expect.  While no gun was used, we know that there will be horns to announce the start of the race.  There was no countdown too.  Just a minute of silence before the gun start where everyone was anticipating.

Quennie and I was off to a fast start.  We are planning for a 2:30 finish time.  But Quennie was speeding off at 6:00 min pace for the first kilometer.  She looks excited.  I didn’t tell her to slow down, she’s used to doing a positive split in most races.  Eventually, she slowed down and averaged a 7:00 pace.

The race route was ideal.  Wide roads. closed to traffic.  But it was still a bit crowded for all the runners.  There were no kilometer markers at the earlier part of the race.  I think there was none for the first 10K.  But later, every kilometer has it.

We also noticed that the full marathoners seems to have been given more attention.  They have their own lanes even when the routes merged with the 21K and even the 10K.  It was only in the last 2KM of the race where everyone were on the same road making the road very crowded. It was hard to sprint to the finish line.  And at the finish line, the 42K runners have more freebies.  They have their own exit area.  They have their own massage tent.  They deserve to be treated like that.  That made me think to go back next year and  get the same treatment.  😀

Volunteers and marshals were plenty.  They were there to encourage you, point you to the right direction and give out water.  But still there where those who were just talking, others were just standing, and I even saw some of them sitting with their eyes close as if to take a quick nap.

Quennie was already slowing down to 7:30 min pace.  We even had a stop at KM10 to do a little stretching.  That stretching help her avoid some pains she’d get during our practice runs.  She didn’t complain of any pain later.

But at 16KM, I started to give her some push to speed up to meet the target time.  For the next 3KM, she held on to the pace.  She looked tired then and slowed down again.  It was at the last 500m when the finish arc was in sight that Quennie gave a final push for a 2:33 finish.  Still a PR for her second half marathon.

It was difficult to meet the other runners since the finish area was big.  There were several booth for freebies, exhibits, and food.  There were some street performers too to keep some runners and their family amused.  Kids had those inflatable slides and play areas.  It was a festivity that you like in a race.  There were those who must have left the area after they finished, but with 50,000 runners joining, there is still a big crowd.

We had the usual class pictures.  Unfortunately, we missed to meet the Pinoy runners based in Singapore.  Until next time then.

 

Class pic with some Singapore based runners and a white lady.

 More to tell

Staying there for 4 days brought me lot of stories.  So check back for the food trips, bloopers, “Da Hu’s”,  and a Dream Run in Singapore.