This was my first half marathon. I was so worried about a DNF that I arrived early at the race village so I can join in at the first few waves for flag-off. You know… start at the front so you have some buffer time to fall back.
But before that, let’s start with the race pack. This year’s race pack was really simple and minimal. Race singlet and timing chip. No sponsored products. I think there was a strip of actitape? Well, the colour scheme for this year (for the females) wasn’t as nice as the last but it still looked pretty good.
Now back to the race day itself. There wasn’t any problems at the flag-off and the route was pretty good with no bottlenecks. That’s what I like about 2XU runs actually. Very well-planned routes. Everything was good with enough hydration points. But seriously, this has got to be the 21.1km run of pain for me. My first few km was hit with a side stitch. And when I slowed to regulate my breathing better and finally picked up the pace, I stepped on a tree branch near the grass area somewhere near Water Venture Marina(because it was too dark) and scratched myself. I have ‘pretty’ 5 parallel cuts at my ankle now. I washed it with water at the next hydration point before continuing down to Garden by the Bay East. So the pain was pretty much throughout the whole race until at the 15km mark, hunger pangs hit me. This was the worse. And I regret not reading up on fueling with energy gels. I thought I could have done the distance without supplements. I guess I was wrong. I had to walk the last 7km and that was when my pace took a dip and the nightmare of DNF came to haunt me again. Luckily my pace at the start of the race earned me some time and I managed to cross the finishing line after 3hrs 25mins. I was disappointed at myself mostly, for not reading up and doing pre-race fueling properly. Well, mistakes were made and I clearly underestimated the distance. I mean.. since I have so much fats at various areas, just burn them ya? Use all you want. But I guess not… Eating well before the race is still important. And I might consider experimenting with some energy gels to prepare me for my next 21K.
So yup. Imagine my happiness when the volunteer handed me a banana at the finishing point. I was just happily munching away and drinking my Pocari Sweat. Everything turned out well and I changed into my finisher tee and headed for home.
I’ve been a loyal runner with 2XU for a couple of years and their races have been so well-organised that they kept me signing up with them year after year. I’m just hoping the colour scheme for next year’s run tee will be different from this year 😛
