Sue's Ramblings: Yellow Ribbon Prison Run 2011

Date: 18 September 2011

Venue: Changi Village to Changi Prison Complex, Singapore

Distance: 10km (Garmin: 10km) (spot on! Did I run the perfect tangents?!)

Timing: 50:59 (Gun); 50:28 (Chip); 50:32 (Garmin)

Pace: 5:03 min/km (Garmin)

Result: 20th (Women’s Open) (here)

The toughest or rather the most painful run of my life. I thought about chopping off the right ankle especially in the second half of the run. Oh yeah, it was hilly as in upsloped (is that even a word?!) roads and someone counted 6. Holy moly! 6 + iffy ankle = immobilized foot for rest of week. I kid you not.

Km1-3

I started about 7-8 rows back - my usual spot although I probably should have gone back another few rows since I wasn't racing with the iffy ankle. It was relatively flat for the first km before the left turn - that's when the upslopes started. Everything was OK although there was some niggling on the ankle.

Km4-5

Cooling station at km4 which I skipped/ran on the outside since I'm not a fan of drenching myself with water. Then again, it wasn't bucketfuls of H2O, just wisps of cool water+air?

Km6-8

Another upslope here (km6) - I lost count after so many but I remembered this one because the pain on my ankle got worse and I wanted so much to quit. This portion of the race was around the Changi Industrial(?) or Business(?) area - saw lots of office/warehouse spaces. I spotted Tey along this stretch as well and tried to relax and smile for the pic. Operative word here is "tried". See the pic below and tell me what you think (yes, I'm being too full of myself).

Km9-10

Finally in the prison complex - we ran a loop around the prison grounds. Does anyone else find it so demotivating to run the last few steps when you can literally see the finishing point and hear the music in the background? So so so glad to finish......................and head to the medical tent for ice.

Pros:

a) Another well organized event – cheers for the committee for another year of fantabulous event.

b) Online registration and accepting feedback online through their Facebook page, SgRunners webpage/forum etc.

c) Shuttle service to and fro from Expo MRT although the return journey only commence at 10 am – nope, this is not a “Con” and it’s perfectly understandable given the road closure around the area.

d) Road closure.

e) Great cheering crowd along the route – there were some singing, band playing, volunteers cheering and shouting encouragement.

f) 2-3 hydration stations along the route and a cooling station around km4.

g) Distance markers every km and towards the last km, it went into every 250m.

h) Fantastic carnival – FOC Pokka drinks and Andersen ice cream, games, large tentage for runners and family to meet/gather.

i) Different routes and finishing points for the 6km and 10km – no congestion.

j) Awesome swag – check out the trinket for the mobile phone!, nice medal, shoe bag, usable vouchers (e.g. Jollibean, Andersen vouchers instead of hard-sell spa ones).

k) Markers letting runners know if there are any attractions ahead e.g. cooling station, Changi chapel etc.

Cons:

a) The traffic management at the finishing point could do with some fine tuning. The 6km-ers had to walk about 500m from their finishing point to the race carnival and unfortunately, that path is also used for those who wanted to leave the race site. More unfortunately, it was narrow.

Photo log (credits to Tey and Chris/Tekko)

Check out the serious face (and probably gritting-my-teeth-hard to mask out the ankle pain)