Our team had signed up for both series of the relay runs organised by Pacemakers that were scheduled two weeks apart, the first one being held on 28 June.
RUN DAY 12 JULY 2015
I didn’t scare my teammates this time as I was quite early. Like the first relay, this was also held at Lake Garden; and the public washrooms were once again open and free for use.
There was more participation this time, and even though I was early, I could not get a parking spot at the park’s visitor carpark, so once again I had to park at the white multistorey carpark.
We had naturally assumed that the route for the second race would be the same as the first race… but it wasn’t!!! They changed the route!!! Not only was it a different route, but we would be taking off in the opposite direction.
Wendy Soo couldn’t make it for the run this time… but she got her friend Mary Wong, who was also a regular runner to fill in her spot.
I was early but still later than everyone else… and they had already decided the order in which to run. They wanted me to run last!!! I had to beg Andrew to switch with me because I didn’t want to be the last one staggering in with such slow timing!
They had also decided on Ken being the first runner… to which one of the marshalls had to remind us of the rule that the first runner must be female.
Mary and Luan were away warming at that time, so because there was only a few minutes before the race was due to start, I switched with Ken to be the first runner. So our sequence was now:
- Me
- Mary
- Luan
- Ken
- Andrew
THE ROUTE
The route was slightly longer than the route on the first race, although not by much – it was only an additional 1-200m. We still had a staircase to run up, but it was a different staircase this time; it was not as steep, although it was still long. In fact, although it had a gentler slope, I personally found it worse because each step was about 1.5 strides wide, which made it harder to run up. I had to take irregular steps up – alternating 1 then 2 strides on each steps.
The good thing is, it was at the beginning of the route, so we had energy to hit the stairs!
The route had its own sets of challenges – we had to wind down a ramp, which made it difficult to build momentum because of the constant change of directions. There were also some uphill moments, but there were also several downhill slopes.
Being the first runner was also quite overwhelming, because I was running at the same time as all the runners bearing the bib “A”… I just had to make sure I was not the last runner in the pack!
I was only about halfway through the route when I heard the announcement over the loudspeakers at the Start/Finish Line – the first runner had just completed her loop! Talk about something to totally demotivate me. I still had 1.5km more to go and the first runner was already done. All I can say was, at least I wasn’t last… (I was somewhere in the middle).
As before, there were of course no water stations along the loop. But there were free refreshments available at the venue as before – water, 100 Plus, nasi lemak, watermelon, bananas, and tau fu fa.
Those of us who finished the run early managed to grab a bite, and we were back in time at the finish to cheer for Andrew who ran across the line like a hero!
THE RESULTS
Results were once again posted on the day itself, in the evening. Our team had dropped ranking to #106 this time. And as you can see… I am still the slowest in the whole group! (first runner this time) 🙁
Overall, we had a lot of fun, and of course, the four of us could combine our two medals. It is ironic that Pacemakers combined the two superheroes from opposing comic book publications (Superman from DC and Captain America from Marvel), but I suppose not many people cared since these medals were not officially approved… they’re just for fun!
This is a race I would definitely join again! Thank you to the organisers for putting together such a fun event, and thank you to my wonderful teammates for letting the slow tortoise (me) be part of your awesome team!
[Read about our participation in the first relay at Pacemakers Anniversary Run Series 1]
[…] To participate in the run, we needed a team of five people, and we were aiming to join the two relay races which Pacemakers were organising on 28 June and 12 July. […]