To celebrate my 42 birthday, I just did a simple full marathon without much planning. Maybe I am so used to running in Singapore, it really did not bother me much do run longer distances here as I know logistic wise it will not be that bad, and one thing for sure, there is always a public transport waiting for me if in any case I wanna give up.
There was no planning for this one, some how in a very lazy mode, I just thought of doing it at the PCN nearby. Thinking of doing loops after loops, one full loop is actually 10Km, but I did a variation of circling on each side of the canal. The loop on the Pandan Valley side is 4km while the loop on the Clementi side is roughly about 6km.
One man start line
The good thing about the PCN is that the ground is flat and I already know the route. The only problem is that it gets a little crowded early in the mornings.
Getting ready was not much this time, just simply one 2litre water bottle which I left at one of the stop points I chose along the canal. I had a water belt with me with 400ml water bottle, had my phone and some cash incase I really wanted to get some cold isotonic. As my aim was just to complete it and at a reasonable timing. I thought that I should make this a fast affair.
Along the Ulu Pandan PCN from Jurong side
Starting at 5am, I made it to the start line as usual just me alone. 5am is a good timing for longer distances because the sun will not be up till about 8 am and you will have a good 3 hours to run fast. After that when it gets hotter, it will be quite difficult to finish the run and it can get really humid too. I made about 2 pit stops at my designated 2 litre water bottle point. Towards the last 2 km I was aiming to home run back home.
My Pit stop with water and change of clothes
The scenery along the canal is the same, I was kinda amazed that having ran here almost everyday and I could still finish a marathon around it. This PCN was the place I trained for my runs when there were still races. During Circuit Breaker, I tried to avoid it because it was really too filled with people. Even if they were not runners, cyclists , this PCN connects to the markets which most of the care givers also take to buy their daily necessities.
Getting too sweaty so I just took off the shirt
Many pet lovers also bring their dogs here for a walk. Thus I really did not go there much. But the good thing about this PCN was that the route is very straight and less elevation. Pretty good for speed trainings. So now since in Phase II more things are opening up, the PCN had become less crowded.
Ending it!
The timing doing a marathon alone can never match that of a race condition. Maybe its time I need to change mindset about running alone and be more motivated to train and perform as if I am in one. But nonetheless, I still enjoy running it without much stress.
Prize giving by my brother haha