The HomeTeamNS REAL (Regular Exercise, Active Lifestyle) Run is an annual run that promises to provide a running experience that includes both road and trail terrains. And this year, the run is organised at Punggol/Coney Island. The run prides itself to be the only run in Singapore organised by NSmen for NSmen.
Ok… although I’ve never served national service but still, I’m joining the race because I support SPF and their cool blue colour (yay).
I arrived at the race village around 6.35am. Pinned my race bib to the race singlet and off I went looking for the start pen. It’s a little far but since I’m early, it’s not much of a rush for me. The race started off on time without any delay and off I went in wave 1. Shortly after the race started, many of us got startled by a cameraman squatting in the middle of the lane trying to take a shot of the race! We certainly didn’t see him there in the midst of all the runners and the last minute jumps to avoid collision.
We ran along Punggol Waterway park and made our way to Coney Island. There’s nothing much to see actually. (I still prefer the Marina Bay routes although many might find it boring since many races were held there) But I did spot a lot of caterpillars on the road though. Many probably died today.
Just while I was running, I started to realize that the runners are mostly males (a bit slow hor? it’s a NS run after all). So yeah.. a bit stress since I don’t want to end up at the end. All of them were running so fast! And so of course I have to kick up a notch and put in more effort! 🙂
There were about 3 hydration points along the route… one at 2km, 5km and 7km. They only placed 2 bins there, both of which were rather close to the hydration point. I felt that they should probably place a few more further away because first, there are not many bins along the route and second… we had to stop by the bin to drink the water. I like to walk and drink at the same time… but with this set up… I didn’t get to drink much before I walk past the bins 🙁
I finished my run in a faster timing as compared to last week’s SIA Charity Run timing which was great. I think the tapes on my knee and the anti-chaffing roll on I put on my feet really helps a lot with pain relief. Super worth-it investment!
So yup! That’s about it. The run was awesome and I think it’s probably the safest run in Singapore! Since so many policemen and firefighters are there 🙂
Thank you all for keeping Singapore safe!
