StanChart 2009 - Kids' Half...

Since Paul went through all the trouble to go hom to get this camera. Here are some of the pictures!

2009 StanChart Marathon - my half....

One year ago, I did my very first half marathon at SCM. Yesterday, I did my 3rd half marathon!

I was apprehensive.

I had trained for the Army half in August, but due to work picking up at the office, I couldn't quite train for the SCM half. As you know, I always want to improve on my previous timing, so with no training, I was considering giving up my race slot.

The running I did leading up to this was basically TNF in Oct and GE 10k in November. In between, not a whole lot of running cos my ankle was just a bit dodgey. I thought it best to just keep off it so that it would heal properly.

2 weeks before SCM, I decided that I might want to give it a try. I decided to cram my half marathon training into the 2 weeks leading up to race day.

Sun, 22 Nov - 10km
Wed, 25 Nov - 15km
Sun, 29 Nov - 17km
Thu, 3 Dec - 4km (taper)

I was told that preparing for a run isn't like exams where you can cram at the last minute,..... but what choice did I have. I needed to just clock enough mileage so that I can at least finish the race.

Race Day - Weather was nice and cool. Flag off time was 6:45am. If I could finish by 9am, I guess I wouldn't be caught in the sun for too long. Armed with my Garmin, I was off. Although I had little training, I was targeting for 2h 06min (i.e. 6min pace), I would have been happy to have just beat my previous time of 2:11 though.

The route was a little demoralising cos it seemed like it was looping all over the place. The atmosphere wasn't great either with just a few scattered ppl with big sponge fingers falling asleep by the road. It didn't really matter - I was on a mission.

At the 10km mark, I was about 58min into the race and feeling ok. Not as fresh as the Army half, but not gasping for air or anything like that. I would say throughout the race, I felt pretty much the same. So-so. Unlike in the Army half where I punctured at various points. I plodded on....

I decided to follow a similar strategy to the last half marathon. I had 3 gels which I took at 7k, 13k, 18k. I have to say that the water points didn't really coincide with my gel consumption plan, so I ended up with a very dry mouth with gunky chocolate Gu gel a lot of the time. I guess I could have been more flexible with when I took my gels, but I needed to "stick with the plan".

By the time I got to the F1 pit, I was tired but still able to pretty much keep at a 5.5 - 6min pace. No punctures this time. By then, I knew that I would be able to make a PB and possibly meet my target time..... I finished the race 2:05:46 (157 / 4892) woohoo!

What I am REALLY puzzled by was how I managed to beat my previous time when I did so much more training previously..... I thought hard about it and I can only think of a few things that could have contributed to this result.

1. I did some weights in the gym for the last 2+months (to build core)

2. I am now a pseudo vegetarian (I don't eat meat but I eat fish)

I seriously think that it is due to me being vegetarian. For one, previously when I used to take gels, I never really knew if they were effective. I never felt anything significant, but took them all the same as instructed by Paul. This time, each gel hit was clear. Somehow my body was able to feel the effects.

Do I think I can improve on my timing from here? One would think yes seeing as I went from 2:22 to 2:11 to 2:05. But the truth is, the next step (sub 2hrs) will be quite a leap for me. Simply cos so far, I have not been getting faster as such but just improving on my endurance (i.e. running non-stop) Now that I can achieve 2:05+ without walking, it means that I need to do speed work (i.e. intervals / hills) and I am in 2 minds about that cos I don't want to get big legs! :P

Anyway this is something to mull over while planning next year's race calendar....

Paul was running with me (although he didn't sign up). But he was just doing his usual Sunday run. He did 10km, then drove home to get his camera before coming back to the race. He wanted to have his camera ready to get pics of Emma and Cate doing the Kids' Dash (750m).

There were lots of activities for the kids. Body Art, Gladiators, Bunjee thing, hoops, golf, bouncy castles. Check out the pics below....