Army Half Marathon 2007

Rank: 1149/3324

Timing: 02:06:24:24

Woke up pretty early around 3am. Couldn't really sleep. Pre race jitters I reckon. Felt rather confident of finishing the race after all the daily 10km runs in camp. And so me and dan headed down to Marina Madarin Hotel all thanks to his colleague who drove us there. We got changed into our gears and off we were to the race area.

Race started promptly, but the crowd was huge and it took me approximately 5 mins for the first half of the guys to run off before I reach the starting point line where the electronic pad was.

Started my race pretty slow with only the intention of completing the race regardless of the time. And so I jogged pretty slowly enjoy the race view. Its amazing how hard it is to find a person with common interest of runnning amongst your friends, but instead in all these strangers running beside you during your race. Trying to distract my mind of my body, I kept looking at the surrounding old buildings and temples down the road. It was a quick journey down the road and in no time we hit the highway. That was the most horrible part. The highway itself was one hell of a long stretch of road lasting from the NDP parade ground all the way to the start of ECP. Along the way waterpoints were set up, but I tried to resist the consumption of water for fear of stitches and so limit my intake to every 4km to 6km instead of 2km.

Hitting the start of ECP was kind of a relief for me. There as I entered the park, the leading pack were already on their way out of the park. Along the way, many people could be soon making their way towards the exit of the park. And there I was thinking "hey the turning point should be there soon..." Oh that turning point never came for around 20mins later boy. It was one hell of a run just to reach the turning point. And by then the sun had already risen and yet another rare view captured.

The public road was next on the run. Mountbatten road area was pretty quiet in the early morning. As I slowly made my way through the route, the pain in the achilles tendon and knee cap starts to kick in. Slowing down just a bit, I start to distract myself with the surround view. Nothing much there along kallang road though so not much of an effect. Suddenly the quote "the runner in front of me is meant to be overtaken" came to mind and so I kept my eye fixed on my competitors. Trying my best to tell my mind to overtake the everone in front of me. From there I pushed on with on realising the tiredness of my body.

And so I pushed on and on... Till finally the banner "FINISHING POINT" came in sight. Thats when the kick comes in. Pushing myself, I sprinted past the finishing line. Hearing the "beep" on the time recorder gave me such great satisfaction that I thrusted both fists in the air and heaved a sign of relieve that the race was over. Staggering to the 100 Plus points, I quickly down 2 cans of it and ate a banana. For once banana tasted good giving the fact that I never had a liking for bananas. Exchanged my Championchip for my medal and went for a relaxing foot massage. I must say the masseur was pretty skilled. He managed to relax and de-strain my leg muscles in half an hour.

All in all the race was good. Felt good :) Boy I love the super tired and worn out feeling. And now to continue training for my marathon. Hopefully next 21km, I can clock below 2 hrs and put a little more speed in it.

Till then, "THE RUNNER IN FRONT OF ME IS MEANT TO BE OVERTAKEN"