The 10K flag-off was at 6:30, so I woke up early and had a granola bar before meeting Stephanie at Starbucks. (Just a meeting point - strangely, coffee shops in Singapore don't seem to open too early.. the Starbucks we met at doesn't open til 8:30!)
There was a half marathon, a 10K, a 5K and a fun run, and there were about 70,000 people registered - huge! By comparison, I think the Country Music Marathon event is only about 30,000 runners, and Singapore is a tiny island, so there were people everywhere!
The race itself went just okay. I felt fine with the distance, but the heat, the crowds, etc really did not work in my favor haha. Obviously, with so many runners, there were quite a few places where there were bottlenecks, and I spent a lot of time bobbing and weaving through the crowd. There were a lot of bridges and tunnels where the street narrowed, and that made it challenging too. But the route took us through parts of Singapore that I had never run through, so that was a nice way to explore!
Around the 8K mark, I was starting to feel really bad. Even though I felt like I had been hydrating well along the way, I think the heat and the crowds were getting to me. Stephanie said she was feeling pretty badly too (she's been sick all week), and I really think that we were overheating a bit. The last 2 kilometers was a complete struggle - both because I felt so bad, but also because I really do think that they didn't mark the course correctly. Stephanie and I both kept looking for the finish line, but at each corner we turned, we still couldn't see it! Stephanie's GPS watch was even saying that 2 kilometers had elapsed, but the finish line was nowhere in sight. It was really defeating. The only thing that was keeping me going was the hope that I was almost done and water was nearby, but it honestly felt like forever before we saw that finish line.
We crossed at just under 1:14 according to the watch, but who knows what the official time will be. I don't really care haha. I'm not going to lie - this race was really tough for me. Its funny because on the weekends I've been running later in the day and about the same distance as today's race, but this morning was so much harder than any of the runs I've done on my own. I think that having all those other people around really took away from any breeze and made everything seem that much more stuffy and hard to breathe. After the race, Stephanie said she felt like she had just run 12 miles instead of 6 - I can't really imagine if the race had been any longer...
And on that note, I am officially signed up for the Great Eastern Women's Half Marathon in November. I was already nervous about the distance, but after today's race, I'm even more worried!!
After the race and a hot shower, it was time for lunch in Chinatown! I went to a place a few weeks ago that had an amazing shredded tofu salad that I haven't stopped thinking about, so I went searching for it today.
The streets of Chinatown.. its decorated for the Mid Autumn Festival, going on now.
Chinese water spinach sauteed with garlic - my favorite!
Soup dumplings, of course
And spicy shredded tofu salad!!! I know it sounds totally weird and looks like noodles, but trust me, this salad is SO good.. and its only like, S$5!
I got on the wrong bus when I left Chinatown and ended up at Vivocity instead of my apartment, so I decided to do a little shopping before heading back. As soon as I got home, it started raining.. seems like a good time for a lazy Sunday afternoon.. wish that I was watching football too though :)
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