Keeping The Saw Sharpened: Waterway PAssion Active Run 2012

10th Jun 2012, The first running event Waterway PAssion Active Run was held in newly opened Punggol Waterway. I registered it not only because it was near my door step, but also I knew the organizer was the famous grassroots running enthusiast. They didn't fail us, the registration fee was cheep, only S$23 under PAssion card, and goodies were quite good abundant. I have been toured either by running or by cycling around the waterway before. And I also arranged a walk through when the route was  fixed 1 week before race. I was quite satisfied with the 10km course they designed, scenic, no traffic interruptions, and least bridges. It implied I could possibly set a PB here.

Though I just finished a marathon 2 weeks ago, I felt fully recovered already. I did rest very well and carried out just enough cardio workout (jogging with my wife at 8~9min/km pace) during the days. I think my peak performance could maintained till the race day. Good news was the weather of the race day was cool, the sub 45min target became much more achievable.

The race was flagged off at 7:30, I tried to move closed to start line. As usual, all runners were burst out at beginning. When I read my pace to be ~4:00/km on Garmin I slowed down. The 1st km was heading to the Waterway Park from Punggol interchange. After entering the park there was a big down slope, there I just keep my stride but increase cadence according to the declination, no acceleration nor braking. Soon I was in the 2nd peloton after the elite runners. The course was barefoot friendly, mostly asphalt, only few with tiles (the uneven tile surface made my soles uncomfortable). When I began to maintain a steady 4:30/km pace. I runner whistled at me when he roaring by. It was Barefoot Pua, my colleague and veteran elite barefoot runner, who inspired me for barefoot running. He said he was running home and disappeared in the front.

At the bridge (4km mark) I began to separate with the peloton. My climb was much better than before, made no speed loss. I overtook a VFF runner before 5km turning point. Barefoot Pua was there cheered for me. He had finished his morning run and ready to go home (he lived around but not participated in the race). More runner slowed down after halfway due to stamina loss. I had no difficulty passing several more. And before 8km mark, I overtook another female elite runner, Sumiko Tan, who ranked 4th in Women. Then came the big up slope at the same place we ran in. I still had enough stamina to climb the slope without loss of speed. The cost was I could not sprint in the last km. The young guy I overtook at the slope rushed off and finished before me. I felt my self quite old/ Sigh.

The system clocked me 43:38, it was a new 10km PB. I did it and proved that I was still in the peak even after a marathon. I was ranked 42 among 569 participants in my category. I was surprised by the level of this race, normally I should rank within top 30 in the entire fields for the small running events like this (~2500 participants). But when I looked into the top 10 finisher list I knew why, the top Singapore runners were all coming: men we had Lim Kien Mau and Foo Gen Lin (both ~33min), women we had Qi Hui (aka Ann Date) and Vivian Tan (both ~38min), they all latest local event winners! If Mok came, it would be more like an national championship : )

I took some pictures (album1, album2) when I waiting for my friend ti finish. And the race was supported by a lot of volunteer photographers, everybody got a bunch of pictures to memorized the hilarious moment. I would give two thumbs up for the race, a truly grassroots, runner oriented event, could not be better!

I also found my image in the race report by Run Society: http://www.runsociety.com/2012/06/11/waterway-passion-active-run-2012-sunday-communal-fun/