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Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon (Singapore Bay Run) 2009



I just returned from the Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon (Singapore Bay Run) 2009!

Waking up at 5.30 am on a Sunday is definitely a challenge to many, but I would call it a discipline, a committment to a cause; the cause being to run the annual Army Half Marathon 2009!

The morning interval of the MRT was very long, resulting in my arrival at the Esplanade at exactly 7 am (start time of the 10Km race I would be participating)! No sooner than I exited from the Esplanade, I heard the blast of the horn and the race started!

Everywhere around me was jammed packed with runners! There was hardly any running space at the beginning as due to the crowd, everyone just strolled slowly and it took me around 5 minutes to reach the starting point from where I was!

After the starting point, the route was okay. "Run your own race" was definitely the mantra of many as you would need to know how to run the race. This race called for knowing just when, where, how to overtake other runners, what to look out for (any dangerous spots along the way) and why were you in the race in the first place; in essence: 4 'W's and 1'H'.

I did not train up for the 10 km race though I am a regular weekly '5km runner' around my neighbourhood. I participate in the Army Half Marathon and Shears Bride run annually since year 2006 as it is the one of the very few occasions when you can take to the roads in the CBD, and not forgetting 'taming' Sheares Bridge itself and run around the skyscrapers in Singapore's key finanical district.

Along the way, there were a number of water points, performers who included scantily dressed dancers and cheerleaders as well as army men holding motivational posters!

I ran the race, stopped for water occassionally, ran at my own comfortable pace and the timing was really embarrasing: 1 hr 15 min!

Wow, compared to my army days almost 10 years ago, when I could easily run 10km within 50 min, my body is definitely not as fit as before; I have definitely aged.

One consolidating factor may be the twists and turns of the running route, the slope and the different terrain which could be tricky for amateur runners!

After the race, I queued among a myriad of sweaty and 'salty' bodies and grabbed 2 cans of H-TWO-O and with the banana I grabbed from a marshaller along the route (and I ran to the end point holding a banana!), found a spot and savored them to replenish my energy.

I perspired until my shirt sticked to me like a second skin! Well, I am going for a shower now! What a rewarding Sunday for my mind, body and soul!
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