This is my second pacing stint, to speak the truth it is not as intense as the Great Eastern women one , maybe because the costume play was taken away from this one. Also for this race, we have male pacers joining in.
The race take place on 29th Sep. Seems like every year the race is at Angsana Green which is at the ECP hawker centre area. This is also sometimes a favorite spot for triathlon events as there is this big green patch area for the set up of transition. The pacing program takes place from 19th August week all the way to the race day.
Running Department
one of our training runs at the Bay
The Running Department is the one handling the pacing job for a couple of events, namely, Race Against Cancer, Great Eastern Women Half Marathon and the biggest running event in Singapore, the Standard Chartered Marathon in December. I must say this running club is one of the oldest around with consistent stream of young blood joining and also very dedicated team of “older” folks. I guess one of the reasons is that they have good pacing training which helps those who want to achieve a certain timing to train together and one important thing is the trainings are free and all are welcomed. You can see from the turnout of their events every weekday and weekend, and it proves their popularity.
Having started my running journey since 2011, I have seem many clubs come and go and some are not even serious, there were also some scam ones. But somehow running department braved through these and still retained its name as a prestigious running club which welcomes all types of runners fast or slow. Having done the Great Eastern Pacing stint with them, I realise their club members are all very friendly and no arrogance here. A lot of them are podiumers, experienced runners who have done many races before, but they are willing to share their tips and trainings with new or old runners.
Training Format
Same as GE ( Great Eastern) the training is every Wednesday in the town area ( usually a 10Km for 10 Km pacing jobs) and Saturdays early morning either ECP or Kallang Stadium. Actually, I find it kind of beneficial to run with a bunch of people, you will be apt to keep with the timing and put in more effort. It is also good that you can find like minded people. This time round, I missed one Wednesday session. The Wednesday session we were not obliged to run together in a team, but somehow we end up running in the same group together always. Weekday runs is always from UOB to the barrage and further a bit making a 10k, there were also hills and tempo runs too. Weekends will be the 3km loops making it easy for hydration plans. The run group were also broken up in to various timings, the more popular timing like 6min/km 6:30min/km usually have larger groups so are the 7mins too.
The Team
Team of T60 Soo, Pingzheng, Zhuo cheng and me
This time my team comprise of 2 guys and 2 ladies. Me and Soo are the ladies while guys are Zhuo Cheng from China and Pin Zheng our group leader. Both the guys are pretty young in their late 20s, this is when I realise I am getting really old ! Good thing is we could get along pretty well and all of us understood the importance of pacing and keeping consistent speed. Both Soo and Pin Zheng are also more of the old birds in pacing and also Running Department.
Race Day
early morning crowd
We did our last Wednesday training on 25th Sep which is in conjunction with the Nike run. I did not manage to see my team and we ran on our own with the respective teams we joined. I did the final 8km hills and then that was it 29th Sep for the show time. I decided to ride to the start point which is about 23-25km away from my house depending on the route. Riding in the early morning before the buses come out is always good. While coming back with the buses can be a bit troublesome.
Some sponsors
We all gathered about 6:40am and took our bibs, attach our pacing balloons and do some bag drops and stuff. I just locked my bike on the barrier and went to report. It was quite a nice morning and good thing it did not rain. After changing up to the pacing gear we walked around to take some pictures and say hi to other runners.
Getting ready at the pacer area
Bag drop is just near by
Standing at the start line
The run itself was very smooth, from the Angsana till around the Fort road side was about 5km before we made an Uturn back. It was nice, not too crowded and not too many bikes also. We started off a bit fast but managed to keep in consistent speed after 3-4Km. Overall, we managed to keep within the timing and it was quite a job well done. Quite happy that some runners actually followed us to achieve their desired timing.
On the run
Some pacing photos
Some tort friends too
Ending it
More friends
Freebies at the end
The bib and medal
We were given water, 100plus, banana and some salt sweets at the end, not forgetting the finisher medal. This time round we were not given any goodie bag, but I guess not every stint is like GE where you get many good stuff. Managed to catch a few good friends at the finish line like boss Sam who has been joining me for the past few weeks, usual Tortoise group people also. Zhuo Cheng managed to take a video of us along the course. It was really nice. After we gathered at the pacer tent for a final photo, we all bade goodbye and that’s it, no more training from this week on. I guess I will still pop by Running Department when I can just to keep the momentum going until after my races.