The half-marathon is my favourite race among all distance events.

I’ve often felt that the half-marathon is an appropriate distance to challenge the mind, body, and soul: it does not tax the body too much as other endurance races, and yet it is long enough to dispel the doubts a person might have about his or her stamina levels. I usually join two to three half-marathons a year just to see where I stand in terms of fitness.

No effort was spared by the organisers in advertising The Performance Series. Smitten, I made the decision to run the 21 km race in Penang after the daily bombardment of advertisements on my Facebook wall. Being an ardent collector and wearer of race T-shirts, I was especially taken by the tee designed for this event. A plus point for this race was that it was being held in Penang, and I love running in Penang!

As all on race days, I could not help but feel a little nervous as dawn began to break at Fort Cornwallis on 9 July 2017. Loud music and bright lights electrified the air as race participants arrived at the event and began warming up. I chugged down the last of my sports drink and made my way to the starting point as the clock ticked down to 6 am.

The 21 km race began on time, with a gun sounding off the participants. The runners meandered through famous landmarks and World Heritage sites in Penang at the beginning and end of the race, making their way up to the almost zero-gradient Jalan Burma, Jalan Kelawai and the sloping hills of Jalan Tanjung Bungah before looping at the Flamingo Hotel and returning via Persiaran Gurney.

Running the route was a pleasant experience, especially made so by the cool temperature and low humidity level in Penang that morning. Safety personnel were amply provided at every junction along the race route to man the traffic flow as the race progressed. Five hydration stations were provided along the route for the 21 km race, all supplying water and Lucozade, and bananas at the 11 km mark.

I found full support as I raced along the route that day. Helpers at the event shouted words of encouragement as runners kept to their battles. Many regular Sunday morning runners and cyclists waved, smiled and called out their support to the race participants as well! Their support was a definite spiritual boost at the hilly Tanjung Bungah road, where many runners were depleted in strength after struggling up the hills in the first half of the race.

A great relief washed over me as I made the final loop at Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakbah and headed back into Fort Cornwallis, with a time of 1:51:30 (gun time). I was immediately given a medal, a potential podium finisher card and a finisher tee, as well as food and drinks a few steps away from the finishing line. Participants of the 5, 10 and 21 km race began to arrive in droves at the finishing line. Everyone mingled and relaxed as the organisers scurried to prepare the results as fast as they can.

The organisers of the race did not dally in announcing the results, as the first batch of prizes were given out at 8.30 am. I was surprised and thankful to discover that I was the champion of the 21 km Women Closed category. I was gifted with RM 200 and an RM 300 shopping voucher from Qoolmart.com. I was also fortunate to have been asked to comment on healthy lifestyle choices by Pride Foundation Malaysia, a charitable organisation that champions efforts to enhance awareness and improve accessibility to treatment and care of breast cancer.

The event wrapped up at around 9.30 am, with most runners scrambling to look for breakfast joints in the local food paradise located just a short jog away from Fort Cornwallis.

As I was halfway back home, I realised that I misplaced my winning bib number and potential finisher card at Fort Cornwallis in my excitement of winning the race.

Oh well.

Images sourced from https://www.facebook.com/ThePerformanceSeriesMY/

This year is the fifth year of the Straits Times Run. Straits Times decided to do something special by partnering with SCMS (standard Chartered Marathon Singapore) and also offer a gift to those who signed up for both Straits Times Run and SCMS half or full marathon run. I didn’t sign up for SCMS run as I don’t have enough confidence to complete a half marathon at that point of time. There were 3 categories to choose: 18.45 km, 10 km, and 5 km, I chose the 10 km one.

The run was held at the Padang on 16 July 2017, flag off timing for the 10 km runners was at 6:30am. This was my second 10 km race and also my first time waking up early for a race. My first 10 km race was the Star Wars Run Singapore which started on a Saturday night. Took some supplements such as an assortment of vitamin B3, B6, B12, and C before I left my house. Thankfully, I managed to take a cab that came straight away and reach the race venue at 6am.

When I arrived at the race venue, I could find any of my friends who also signed up for the run. So, I went to deposit my bag at the bag deposit counter and make my way to the start pen alone by myself. The flag off for the 10km runners wasn’t delayed. I was flagged off in the second wave of runners which was 10 minutes apart from the first wave.

During the run, everything was good until I reached the 2 km distance marker where I felt soreness on my right calf muscle. Thankfully though, my stamina never fail me throughout the entire race. Despite of the pain, I ran most of the time, stopped only at the water points along the race route to rehydrate and stretch whatever sored muscles.

My official nett time was 58 mins and 10 secs but on my Garmin watch it recorded 59 mins 14 secs because I didn’t stop the tracking on time.

I didn’t expect a good 10 km timing as I didn’t sleep well before the race. I was really happy and satisfied with my timing and it was also my personal best for a 10K race. Timing for my previous race was about 11 mins slower.

After the race, I decided to stay back for the lucky dip. Though I waited for over an hour, it was worth it, I won a steam iron from the lucky dip. It Took me about 3 days to recover my sored muscles after the run. After all, It’s God who enabled me to achieve my PB (personal best) and blessed me with the steam iron as my lucky dip prize.

This is the fifth year of Straits Times Run and they make it into something bigger such as partnering with SCM offering a package to runners who registered for both the Straits Times Run and Standard Chartered Marathon I registered for both runs ?

There is 3 categories for the Straits Times Run the 18.45km, 10km and 5km. This 18.45km category is because Straits Times is established in 1845 and this is my 3rd year running this category.

Not really a good run as I didn’t have enough rest was yawning for so many times while waiting for the flag off ? Woke up late and I really dreaded waking up and ask myself why am I doing this over and over again? Signing up races and forfeiting a nice weekend morning to nua in bed ? Took Grab down and immediately rush towards the start pen but there’s a holding area and waited quite a while walking at snail pace to enter the start pen as the securities check our race bibs to let us enter the start pen. Ever since I downloaded the Grab app this year, I find the fare quite acceptable and I don’t buy shuttle bus tickets for races anymore since I don’t need to wake up so much earlier to go to the MRT station to catch the shuttle bus and some runs don’t even have shuttle bus at my nearest MRT station ?

Flag off was delayed. By right flag off is at 5am for the 18.45 category but we were flagged off around 5.15am. Don’t know the reasons of the delay, it’s either because of my blurrness in the early morning I didn’t pay attention to what the emcee is saying or it’s the emcee too good at smoking me off ? Thought it would rain as it’s quite cold and breezy but luckily weather is good! It’s very shiok at some parts of the run because it’s really windy though there’s some resistance as we are running against the wind, when there’s no wind it’s so super humid ?

Once flag off, it’s really squeezy and not easy to manoeuvre around. If I use driving a car as an analogy, I’m driving dangerously as I’m weaving in and out and I scared accident ? Don’t want to kena accident like tripped and fall but bo bian just run. Though not aiming to be Mo Farah but kena blocked in running can be quite sian and at the same time I also hope I didn’t block others lah ? But just be a tiny weeny more conscious of the keep left rule will make running more enjoyable right ? Just picture the lanes used for 60km or 80km car then one car drives there at 30km all cars behind will over take right? ? Luckily like after about 4km or 5km then there’s starting to get more space to run.

I was counting down every KM and lucky me to have Willis for the whole 18.45km motivating ? Nearing the water point before 10km, I heard a familiar voice from a far, a very motivating and encouraging voice is cheering for the runners and it’s Coach Arnel from Pinoy-Sg Runners! Really so happy to see him ? And we will be pacing for the upcoming Race Against Cancer in two weeks time and this is my first time running as a pacer ?

Then I was counting down telling myself it’s just another 8km something more! I can do it! Then seriously it’s moments later, 10km distance board says something like this: You are NOT there yet ?

My feelings sort of kena cheated by the map of the route. Though no need to run up the Marina Barrage torturous slopes but once exited Gardens by the Bay East and was guided by the marshals to run the slopes I tio stunned and this emoticon explains it all: ? Bo bian no strength so the whole up slope I walk ? But ok lah, routes subject to changes already stated in the route map ?

Once we completed our run, we collected our finisher entitlements and was given a super cold towel which just feels so fantastic after the run! ? And there’s the 100 Plus cool zone spraying mist of water to cool us down ? Really love big runs as they have big sponsors and logistics is enough. I asked for another can of 100 Plus and the volunteers gave me ?? I think the medals is nice just like the previous two years collecting ?