Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009

I ran my second Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon (SCSM) 10km last weekend. The route was EXACTLY the same as the previous year and the usual congestion hotspots were no different i.e. the last 3 km.

I finished in 56:23 minutes (net) or 56:26 (gun) to finish 65th (net) or 58th (gun) in the Women’s 10km. Within my division, it was 7th placing. I’m pretty glad to have run all the way with no stops or walk breaks as had happened previously. The human wall in the last 3 km slowed me down a fair bit and hence my heart rate was not as elevated as in previous races. Unfortunately, it was American football dodging at this stretch too – my apologies to those I elbowed, pushed, or squeezed to get my way through. Hey, if you are walking, please keep to the left. I’m especially pissed with those hand holding couples and those who talked to their friends while walking in the middle of the route, oblivious to those who are running and aiming for their personal best.

Unlike the adidas Sundown or Run for Hope route (which was basically a pancake course through the East Coast Park), the SCSM route is pretty challenging. The course took us through some of the major highways (Nicoll I think) and a bridge (Benjamin Sheares Bridge?). The bridge was a killer – fundamentally a 500m (or more) upslope. I remember running and running and every time I looked ahead, I could still see more upslopes. This was probably the most frustrating part of the course.

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