Army Half Marathon 2009

This year the race started earlier at 5:30am on a cooling morning, and as usual I will set a target finishing time. For this race I hope to complete it in 1:45hr and to maintain a pace of 4:55min/km where mathematically I will finish in 1:43:56hr.

It was about 5.20am I tried to inch closer towards the start as I was quite far away, to my surprise the MC suddenly announced that the race had started, it was then about 5.25am. I still don't quite believe it and thought it was a joke as I did not hear any horn or bang sound. But when I get closer to the start point I soon realised the truth, I quickily started my Garmin 405 just before I step onto the ChampionChip mat.

The initial 3km was tough as I weave in and out overtaking slower runners, determined to keep up with the pace I set, and so far so good as I hit 5km in 25mins. Along the way I overtake a number of Safra runners and met Daryl from Safra who is also my coming TNF100 partner. Soon I reached the 10km mark, feeling tired as I struggled to maintain my 4:55min/km pace, a glanced at my watch shows 51mins, hmm.... slightly off but will keep trying hard. Then at 15km Solomon (Safra runner) caught up with me, had a chat with him as he asked if I am aiming for any timing? I tell him 1:45 and currently slightly off target, he then ask me if his current pace okay with me? I replied okay and he soon replied me that after 18km we will go all the way. Feeling grateful with him as my pacer I tried really hard to keep pace with him up till 16km before I started to drift apart from him. It is only after 17km before I totally lost sight of him. Hmm... sigh... it was nice of him but too bad I could not keep up with him. At that moment I too sighted Choon Teck (Safra runner) way ahead of me at the last U-turn point, surprise that he is even ahead of Solomon.

As I was approaching 18km I decide to conserve some energy for the final push. At this point I gauge that the 1:45hr target seems beyond me, will just have to run as fast as I can. The final 2km is really tiring as I was not able to make the final push unitl I saw the placard displayed by the NS guys : Pain is temporary. Pride is forever. Wow... that right, and at that moment I thought it is now or never. It really motivates me as I push myself harder to run faster, determine not to go beyord 1:50hr. From a distance when I see the finishing point I summon all remaining reserve I have overtaking a number of runners ahead before finishing strongly. Upon crossing the finishing line, feels glad to be greeted with applauds from our ex-safra trainer Andy. :)

Overall this is still an encouraging result, another PB for me but still feel disappointed as I somehow could not maintain the consistant pace needed to achieve my aim of 1:45hr, it is bad as I am not really close to the target and with a terrible a split of 5mins from my target finishing time.

Garmin watch distance: 21.28 km__Time: 01:50:25hr__Pace: 05:11 min/km


Start - 9km > time 47min 35sec. This is 5min 10sec per km for 9.2km
9km - 17km > time 40min 6sec. This is 5min 8sec per km for 7.8km
17km - Finish > time 22min 32sec. This is 5min 30sec per km for 4.1km

The last 4km shows a terrible big positive splits. It shows I am still not fit enough towards the end of the race.

The splits below based on Garmin watch distance tracking

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace	Best Pace
1	0:05:00	1	5:00	2:53
2	0:04:58	1	4:58	4:27
3	0:05:17	1	5:17	4:48
4	0:05:08	1	5:08	4:25
5	0:04:47	1	4:47	4:03
6	0:05:12	1	5:12	3:05
7	0:05:19	1	5:19	4:43
8	0:05:15	1	5:15	4:34
9	0:05:15	1	5:15	4:23
10	0:05:12	1	5:12	4:22
11	0:05:05	1	5:05	4:20
12	0:05:11	1	5:11	4:24
13	0:05:12	1	5:12	4:24
14	0:05:21	1	5:21	4:29
15	0:05:14	1	5:14	4:26
16	0:04:50	1	4:50	4:31
17	0:05:21	1	5:21	4:44
18	0:05:29	1	5:29	4:20
19	0:05:12	1	5:12	4:18
20	0:05:24	1	5:24	4:23
21	0:05:17	1	5:17	4:25
22	0:01:15	0.28	4:31	2:46
Summary	1:50:25	21.28	5:11	2:46

Adidas King of the Road 2009‏

This will be my second overseas half-marathon of the year. As it falls on the 3rd week in my 5 weeks preparation for the AHM 2009, it will definately be part of my training done with marathon race pace.

As it is suppose to be a 22.7km event, I set a target to complete the race below 2 hours and also with limited medals allocated for each categories I too wouldn't want to miss getting a Finisher Medal haha.

At 6:30am, with a 'bang!' and there goes the start of the race where I am running along side Lawrance from Safra Toa Payoh. As it was very crowded we kept a steady pace of about 6min/km until after 2km when I decide to speed up.
I was lucky to have my Garmin watch with me as there are no distance marker, only sign boards indicating directions for different categories. Along the way I overtake a number of Safra runners so pleased to hear encouraging cheers from them too. Especially Teo and Vincent Low who ask me to disappear 1 km ahead of him hehe....

Overall there were only 6 water points so just cannot afford to miss any as I will make a point to aim for every water points. The route was also quite tough with quite a number of up slopes and down slopes, it makes it very difficult to maintain your pace. The torturing part is the up slope at around the 19km mark, running almost at walking pace. However the last 1 km is great as we will enter the stadium, going through a tunnel before stepping onto the running track and cross the finishing line. It really reminds me of the Korean running boy finishing his marathon.