Pocari Sweat Run 2015

This morning, hubs and I woke up at 5am. Yep, we signed up for a run and it's one of those runs which involved closing of roads so it was very early. Hubs was doing the 10km run while I opted for the 5km run. His flagoff was 6:30am while mine was 7am. The starting point of the run was somewhere near the Sports Hub which is in Kallang, somewhere in the south eastern part of Singapore.

Last year I had the ambition to participate in a 10km run and was building up my stamina and fitness. But along the way, I gave up. One of my excuses was my medical issues kept surfacing. The real reason is I found it too hard. I managed to run 7km once but I felt so tired afterwards. It felt so pointless to go after this goal. So I decided once and for all, 5km is my limit. I think it's a wise decision.

This year, I was very sluggish and barely made any effort to run. I always managed to find a reason why I could not go for a run. The result? My fitness and energy is at an all time low. Not to mention the massive weight gain. Last week, hubs reminded me to train for the Porari run. Fortunately, hubs is quite naggy and managed to nag me into going for 2 training runs. Both times, I felt like death visited me.

Before I knew it, the day of the run arrived.

This is what our faces look like after a 3 hour sleep and waking up at 5am.

Hubs wanted to be at the back of the pack. So we hung around until most of the 10km runners had left. Also, he was wondering if he needed to poop.

The organisers lost control of the crowd. Many 5km runners ran together with the 10km runners. Despite lots of appeals, majority of the 5km runners refused to wait for their flagoff. I guess it's not a competitive run for 5km, so the runners didn't care. Of course I waited for the flagoff. I figure why go to all the trouble and ruin the run by not waiting a couple of minutes.

For this run, I did a few things differently. Firstly, see the towel around my neck? That's a cooling towel. I don't know how it's different. It's like a regular towel except it's very light. Hubs bought it for me. I'm not sure why he thought it would be a good idea but it was! I used it to wipe my face and neck 3 times during the run and I felt so refreshed afterwards that I had renewed energy to run. I also had a fanny pack around my waist. It's the light weight kind for travelling and with that, I need not carry anything on my hands. This was the smartest thing I did. With my hands free, I ran better and I did not have any shoulder pain afterwards. Can you imagine? I've suffered shoulder pains every single time I ran in the past and it was all due to holding something in my hand. I'm so stupid.

The last thing I did different was I wore a pair of very light running shoes with absolutely no cushioning. I had already tested them out twice and despite the lack of cushioning, my feet are fine. I think these shoes may not be a good idea for longer runs. Oh, we had to wear the time thingy on our shoes. I didn't like that at all. I wonder why we couldn't wear a wrist band or anklet or have it on our bib.

Hub's route was more scenic. He ran past Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands (the building on the left), Gardens by the Bay and Marina Barrage.

Mine? I ran past a smelly canal that smelled like a thousand farts. Also, a highway then we U-turned back. I noticed at the U-turn, some of the 10km runners did not separate from the 5km runners to go on their route. Instead, they U-turned with the 5km runners. I wonder why they do that. Was it a mistake? Or maybe they only care about collecting the Finisher T-shirt.

I was very surprised to receive a finisher tee-shirt and a medal. In addition, I was given a banana and one bottle of pocari sweat. Pocari sweat has no fizz which I like and it doesn't taste sweet which is even better. I felt very good after the run. Did not feel tired at all.

Hubs on the other hand said "he was broken". He was thirsty, dripping with sweat and very, very tired.

I don't know my official timing for the run. I forgot to look at the clock when I crossed the finishing line. But I used MapMyRun app and it recorded 42:47 mins.

Would you believe I have another run coming up?