Singapore green Corridor run (trail track) - breaking the 10km barrier

Last Week I did  10km run. the Singapore Green Corridor Run. The run just started last year I think, so this is only the second time it is being held in Singapore. I feel like writing about this because that was the first ever running event that I ever entered. I do run every once in  a while, but I never really push myself all the way to 10km. I probably do like 30mins running session which probably like 3-4km. And this is a trail track, unlike the usual paved road or on the threadmill that we do.

So anyway, just wanna share some experience of running in this event. The event started fairly early at 9:20am. Anything that starts before 11am on a Sunday is early for me. So I had to wake up like 730am that day. When I was about to go out of my place, the rain suddenly pouring down. Like really pouring down, like this is the last rain and there will be no more rain after this. The first thought that I had was "Quite a shitty day to run trail". Trail running is already wet, stinky and shitty without the rain, so the rain would just multiply that by 10 times.

Against my better judgement and the excuses I created in my mind (because I really didn't feel like running 10km 920am on Sunday morning when the other option is sleeping. Very tempting), I still went to the event starting point which is the old Tanjong Pagar KTM station. I convinced myself that by the time the race going to start, the rain would stop, and it did stop when I started.

So the organiser have an arrangement where they will keep my stuff and I can collect them at the finishing point. Kinda neat, I have always wondered how do the runners keep their personal belongings, handphones or money during the race. The race started at 920am and even though the rain has stopped, the evidence of it still lingered around. The trail was basically a trail of mud and puddles. Below is a picture of proof

In the first kilometer I have already felt the difference in running trail, which I never get during running on a paved road. There was just this awkward feeling about running on soft and uneven surface, where it was kinda hard for me to anticipate on how to embrace my foot with the impact when it hits the ground. I know I have heard many people told me that running trail is different than paved road bla bla bla but you would never really get how different it is until you run one. On top of that, the trail was practically an inclining track all the way from the 5th kilometer. My knee took it quite hard from my lack of experience in running on uneven surface and inclining track practically just killed me. I was fading quite fast after the fifth kilometer. I also have to remind you that I have never been a physically fit nor an athletic person. Different people might just shrug off these things and say that I am just making it bigger than it actually is.

Oh yeah, did I tell you that only after a couple of kilometers it started to rain cats and dogs again? Yeap. Already in the race and too late to stop, although the temptation to stop was always there because there were a few exits set up by the organizers for those who just had enough with that thing. I actually joined the race together with few of my colleagues, and my managers too. My Vice President, who is my direct manager, my Director, who is my manager's manager, and my Executive Director, who is my manager's manager's manager. So yeah, quitter is the last image that I want them to have when they think of my name.

As I am writing this, I also realized that the timing that we recorded apparently went accordingly to our corporate title and age, being that the guy with most seniority (and also the oldest) finished fastest and the young little analyst me finished last. The bloody old man (My Exec Director) is 55 year old and he finished the race in 59minutes. Although he does rund on a daily basis and the shorter runs during his daily run is 10km and the longer ones would be around 30km. So this run is really just another day for him. I remember there was a day some couple months ago when he went to Korea for a business trip, and he managed to join and run a marathon (yes the full 42.195km) during his trip. This old guy is a beast, really. I on the hand, run like every once in a blue moon, and be really happy if I could finish a 5km.

My timing was relatively bad in my book, at 84minutes. I was targetting somewhere around 70minutes range but that would be in the ideal world. I can think of few reasons why I could not achieve my target. Like I wrote above, my inexperience in running trail, and the pouring rain definitely did not help and there were many points during the run where people were actually bottlenecked because many slowed down to tread the muddy trail. It was tough, really where my I can't really control a steady pace. And most of all I think it was the 2 sticks of cigars that I had the night prior to the race. Those 2 sticks definitely did not help me during the race. But those are just excuses. What I'm really looking forward to is to improve my timing and do a longer distance. Perhaps I should do a half marathon next time, and also revisit this place next year and get a better timing. All being said and done, I may still not be the fastest runner there is, but when I start something, I finish it.