b.ology

…and I have a new PB for a 10km race!! That’s short for Personal Best, and not Peanut Butter, folx.

Wheeee!!!

So thrilled! Sometimes, I surprise my self. I seriously thot I had already reached my max at the Sundown 10km race, considering my unfavourable age, weight and height. But I suppose, as long as I am consistent with my training, there will always be room for improvement.

What baffles me is, I ran sooooo hard for Sundown, I felt as though my lungs’ air sacs were popping days after the race. That did not happen for SHAPE. Which probably meant, if I had pushed myself harder, I could have possibly finished at a better time. But my heart rate monitor decided to die on me before the gun went off… Que sera, sera.

There were 2 races in July that I participated in. The GE Women’s 10km was on 3rd July, followed by SHAPE Run 10km race on 24th July. I never got to blog about the GE earlier, so this is going to be a little of both and it’s going to be messy – I’m not really in the right mind and mood to write a long story actually

Click on the smaller thumbnails to scroll

The GE race was… just okay. It started late [7.30am], the route was challenging – too many elevations, too many ramps, too many corners and too many slower runners to overtake. It was just too much of maneuvering to do. The weather was on the warmer/humid side which left me with a throbbing headache on the way home – apparently I was dehydrated. And for the first time, I came home with zero runner’s high. Maybe it was the lackluster “medal”, the weather, the headache plus the time it took me to complete the race at 01:13:37.25 [chip time]. It just did not feel special. My worst and most unmemorable to date.

I didn’t expect much for SHAPE. I was starting to believe that all all-women’s races are the same – boring and poorly executed. I was wrong! As it turned out, I had a great time at SHAPE!! With the exception of the disastrous location – had to take a cab before 6am and rush for the first Circle train out of Bishan to the not-so-central of a location [with plenty of potholes in the ground, mind you] – everything else turned out wonderfully, including the weather! I couldn’t have asked for more.

The route for GE and SHAPE were similar – starting point was at Nicoll Highway. But for GE, we had go thru the much dreaded Helix Bridge and MBS… SHAPE’s route was almost flat, easier to run and surprisingly, there were hardly any bottlenecks.

I must have taken at least 4 unnecessary walk breaks during GE. Was just too tired of maneuvering. Unexpectedly, I did better for SHAPE – did not stop to walk at all!! Except for the 2 water stops – can’t take chances drinking while I run, ya know.

With any other race, there will always be at least one setback – if it’s not the route, it’s the weather or the bottlenecks. For SHAPE, it was the last 2km. Oh my gawd, it was as bad as Sundown’s. You see the Finish line but it just never comes! It felt like forever! I didn’t even know when to start sprinting. I had to keep my vision on the road to avoid the temptation to walk. But at about 150m to the finishing line, I dashed and overtook several ladies [hehehee ]. I think it was a bit late. I should have sprinted from about 400m… Either way, I crossed that finish line in my personal record time. I just wasn’t expecting the urge to puke Boy, aren’t I glad I didn’t barf!

Photos taken at the SHAPE Run

Then it was the usual routine of picking up the medal [yes, a real medal!! Yayyyyy!!!] at the Athlete’s Welfare station… and lots of lining up at the Runners Kit tent, the banana tent, the yogurt drink tent, the Reebok tent, etc. SHAPE does it different – you get your goodies after the race. Met Dayah at the Reebok tent and made new friends with her friends who participated in the 5km race. It’s so exciting to be friends with people who share the same passion!! Unfortunately, I lost Jess early on while we were in the starting pen…

Came home with an extra bag of nice goodies! And a bunch of endorphines that will last for about 2 weeks

So excited for the next race – SCMS in Dec. Will be doing double the distance – a Half Marathon. I am hoping with all the miles I’ve put in, I will be ready for this huge feat. I just cannot decide if I want to do a fun run [relax all the way] or a stressful run with a time to beat. It is afterall, going to be into Sentosa and through Universal Studios… so I know I am gonna be extra excited and want to stop for photos and rub my sweat against the cartoon characters who will be greeting us.

I’m approaching the end of my 8-week workout cycle and we’re going into Ramadan, which means, a loonnng break for my legs. But I hope I’ll find the time and energy to do some short but intense circuit training just to keep me from falling off the wagon. I’ll definitely miss slipping into those running shoes…