adiNation Training Run & Singapore Gardens by the Bay Run 2012

adiNation Training Run – 18 July 2012

Attendees:

a) Boss Ronnie*

b) Lai*

c) Vijay

Route: 3 laps around Lake Gardens

Distance: 3 * 2.3km = 6.9km (Garmin: 6.83km)

Timing: 36:53 for 5:23 min/km pace

*on their own

Lap 1 (2.275km; 13:43)

Second workout on tap; hence the plan was to take it easy and we had the company of a newbie with us. We erroneously thought she was Eileen’s friend only to find out at the end that it wasn’t the case. But hey, it was great chatting with her and perhaps she can join some of our group runs – either Wednesdays or weekends. FYI: she just moved to town from Delhi but was originally from US (?).

Lap 2 (2.296km; 11:51)

Yelena (?) had dropped back after the first round and Vijay and I continued – kept the pace easy and the rain drizzle in the first lap had stopped. Not that it helped much with the just-so-about-to-slip tiled pathway - did any of the DBKL guys actually tested out the pathway before approving the use of the green tiles?!?!?! Yeah, thought not! And it doesn’t just affect Vibrams.

Lap 3 (2.261km; 11:15)

Vijay asked if we should finished off with lap 3 (he had completed 11km on both Monday and Tuesday) and I was OK with this – Wednesday group runs have been designated as chit chat easy paced runs for me. Since we were going to finish up here, sped up towards the end.

Singapore Gardens by the Bay Run 2012 – 10km

Date: 7 July 2012

Venue: Gardens by the BAay, Singapore

Distance: 10km (Garmin: 3.09km)

Timing: 16:00min (Garmin)

Pace: 5:11 min/km (Garmin)

Result: not applicable

Website: http://www.singaporegardenrun.sg/

Inaugural event held at the brand new Gardens by the Bay and I was going to be in town for the JLR = stars were aligned for me. Well, if you had been stalking around here, you would have gathered that it was far from the reality. Don’t get me wrong, the venue was absolutely beautiful and it would have been lovely to run around the park (ignoring any competitiveness) but the lack of forward planning and contingency plans marred this event. Compared to the Pocari Sweat Run 2012 (excellent reviews all round from those who did it – I missed this for the Shape Run), this run really looks bad – some of the comments on their FB page was rather “mild” and forgiving on the organizes blaming lack of experience etc. Unfortunately I don’t buy this – lack of experience and youth should not be an excuse for slacking on of forward planning and contingency plans. Rather tired of reliving and rehashing this run, so here’s an excerpt I put up on the Pacemakers Malaysia FB page:

Disastrous organization:

a) it was supposed to be a wave start with the men going off first followed by Women Open and Veterans. So a group of ladies (especially those gunning for podium or placing) were waiting for them to sound the horn and only to be told like 5-10min later that it was a mass start.

b) no water at the start and even after 3km, no hydration station spotted

c) run was called off after 3-4km (depending on when you started and how far along you were) due to the weather; this is understandable but runners were not directed to shelters and were left to fend for themselves. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, if the red flag is raised (category A? i.e. lightning), wouldn't be safer to direct runners to a safe point? Nope...we walked back or to wherever the exit of the gardens was etc. 

d) extremely narrow route and a lot of the slower runners and walkers were walking on the RIGHT hand side despite multiple announcements made prior to flag off; this coupled with (a) = take it as a leisure jog

Photo log:

Event tee (there was also a coffee mug/jar but I let Andy have it – he eventually threw it out coz it leaked when his cat knocked it off the table – yeah another minus point for poor quality, huh?)

Thursday’s Mantra: 3Rs - Rest, Re-hydrate, Re-fuel.