Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014

I’m a big fan of Great Eastern Women’s Run, because they always managed to create a fun, clean, and (IMO) the best organized race. This was my third time joining GEWR (first and second times were here). This year, I upgraded myself to the Half Marathon distance. My first time trying their HM course… and, again, it was my most enjoyable HM race I’d ever run.

For this race, I tried to train differently. Instead of going by distance, I tried the heart rate method. My heart rate always goes crazy during my runs, so I started to get worried. That’s why I decided to go by the heart rate method. My runs ended up much slower than usual, but I think I was much less tired. I was hoping this method would be less taxing to my body.

The day before the race, I’ve put together all the stuff I was going to wear. The tanktop, the legging, the socks and shoes, the visor, the heart monitor belt and the Garmin watch. And don’t forget the bib!

This way, i wouldn’t forget things. Or so I thought…

I left home right on time. The weather was chilly, with a light drizzle. When I got to the Race Village, I met up with Yana, Yiyi and Yasmin. Chacha came by later on. Once everyone had arrived, the 5 of us walked to the starting line. It was still a bit drizzly. I thought it was the perfect weather to run.

Nearing the starting line, I wanted to turn on my running watch so that it can start searching for the GPS signal. When I reached on to my left wrist, there was nothing there… I FORGOT TO WEAR MY RUNNING WATCH! I can’t believe I forgot the watch! It was on the picture above, too… How could I forget? I remembered putting it on top of my running clothes last night… But I guess, since it was on top of the clothes, I had to move it when I was about to wear the tank and the tights. Argh! And even more ridiculous, I actually wore the heart rate monitor belt underneath my bra. D’oh.

I thought of taking a cab back home to get the watch, but it was only 15 minutes before the start time. There was no way I could make it. So I just took a deep breath and laughed at my stupidity… *sigh*

Since I didn’t bring the watch, I decided to shadow Chacha during this run. She was wearing hers, and she would warn me if I go too fast or something. And I also had a running buddy to make the run less boring.

So I ran with Chacha for the first 16km. She was a fun partner to run with… It made the run a breeze. The drizzle was on and off throughout the whole race, and the sun was hardly out so the weather was cool the whole time. It was indeed the perfect running day.

After the 16km mark, Chacha wanted to slow down, so I went by myself for the last 5k. I actually bumped into Julinda, my OBGYN, who was sitting on the sideline cheering for her daughter… But she said she was on the wrong track, because her daughter was running a 5k, and the 5k and 21k track didn’t merge. Oops. Well, she got to cheer me instead… XD

The track was the usual route, around the CBD and all. So, nothing new. But there was no jam and the course was relatively flat, making it a very nice no-hassle run.

According to the official timing, my finish time was 2:50:45. Not too bad. It’s not my PB, of course. But it was the most enjoyable HM ever. I didn’t feel tired, and wasn’t too sore the next day. Maybe it was the training, or maybe I was just in my tiptop condition. I just wished I brought my running watch (d’oh!)… That’d make everything perfect.

At the finish line, I met up with the rest of the HM-ers, and later got together with the rest of the Mama Runners, Dessy and Shinta, who went for the 5K run. And, of course, took many pictures 🙂

And this year, GEWR stepped up the game by providing the official race pictures for free. You know, usually the price of the race pictures were almost as much as the race itself here in Singapore… So, GEWR was so cool that they could provide it for free!  So I downloaded them all… They are in my Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014 photo album in Flickr.