Impromptu Punggol 5km

Only decided last nite at 10pm to gatecrash today's run. The sky was flashing lightning when i woke up. Was contemplating to go or continue sleeping but it took me less than a min to decide.

Met up with Fennel, Yee Hua & IMD who kindly gave me a lift to far far Punggol. It was still drizzling & we could see lightning upon reaching the start point. Said hi to DO, DR & Kayano who were volunteering for this event. Soon, Fennel got busy with her photographing & i wandered off from the crowd & "hid" at some quieter spot. To kill time, I kept walking round & round the MRT station. At God-knows-#round, bulk of the runners were out of sight! I saw a big gp 20m past the SP, running. There were ladies amongst them. I started to give chase after confirming those were the 5km-ers. The 3km-ers were abt to be flagged off then.

It was 3mins or more after the official flag-off & I was literally the last runner (before the 1km mark). Not wanting to burn out early, i told myself i needed to warm up by starting slow for 7min. Haha, who knows i mis-read the time again. I was looking at the clock mode i/o stopwatch. It read 8:22 so i tot i had better pick up my pace.

At abt 2km, i saw DO pacing up & down, encouraging the runners. He told me to chase a boy whom i think was at least a decade younger than me. Hahah..DO, u see me too up liao :P Passed DR who was also sweeping & then saw Fennel taking pic.

Sxuanjing was stationed at ard the 3km mark. I was later stopped for a little while at a traffic junction. Crossing the junction, my stopwatch read 18min. Was thinking, "Cham, i've got only 10min to finish 2km...how izit possible to run per km at 5min leh?"

Approaching my 4km, i spotted Charmaine, Yee Hua, IMD (who had oredi finished his run in 20min) & Brokie on the opposite lane. That felt encouraging.

Towards the last 10m, i saw Gentle, Fennel & Ripley cheering on the runners. I then slowed down to a comfortable stopping pace before crossing to the side of the finishing line. Hee, gatecrashing isn't a good thing to begin with. Hence i told myself i can't go under the start/finish banner or accept any support (eg. water) from the organisers. Bandits must also have "ethics" mah...hehee

I am happy with my timing cos i finally did a sub-30min on my own!

Post-race tots: Seems like i perform better if i set my objective at the last min. Also, i am happier starting at the back of the pack. I've tried starting runs with the mid-pack but once pple overtake me, i feel like i am blocking their way (ding deh). Hahah...and not to mention i can cheat my own mind (i always tot i need 7-8min to warm up but today i used 5).

I ain't sure if i can maintain the same for another 5km but at least today, i've tried to push my 1st 5km.