The 3rd race from the five races planned for The Performance Series runs 2016. The 3rd race was held on Sunday 7th August at Gardens By The Bay and I am happy to complete my 10km distance race although my race timing didn’t improve from my Race 2 at Jurong Lake. While I am a bit disappointed, this was also a time for me to reflect on my running, training preparation and life too.
The 10km route of The Performance Series Race 3 was familiar to me, having run a 10km distance before in another run some years back, starting from Gardens By The Bay East, towards Marina Barrage, Gardens By The Bay, Marina Bay Sands and towards the Promontory at Marina Bay before turning back in the reverse route. This route has some gorgeous landscape scenes of Gardens By The Bay and Marina Bay area. On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, the views were magnificent! The run up the ramp at the Marina Barrage can be quite a bit of a strain for some runners if they are too used to running on level ground. It was taxing for me partially due to my insufficient training preparation!
Some parts of the racing route can be a bit tight in space and I can totally understand since I frequently walk up and down the Marina Bay and Gardens By The Bay for my photography walks, therefore, I know the area, terrain and landscape quite well. It was great to see that organisers try to give more space for the runners as long as they were able to do so when they plan their running route e.g. at the Marina Bay Sands area, they separate the runners between the upper deck and lower promenade deck, ensuring that runners running back don’t squeeze into one sector only. I personally feel that the number of water points for The Performance Race 3 were insufficient for the 10km race route, hopefully the organisers can look into this for future races.
My timing was 1hr25min based on my RunKeeper app, although I didn’t improve from my Race 2 timing, I was happy to complete my goal of finishing my 10km distance. Reflecting again on my third race, my training and preparation were not ideal and insufficient. First and foremost, above other factors, I have to buck up in this area first! Choosing the 8am wave 3 flag off timing doesn’t seem like an ideal timing, the heat and humidity builds up pretty fast from that time.
I would always use runs to let go of my stress and frustration (on top of keeping fit and healthy), I should be doing more and I want to do more. Running is like my current journey towards what I am going to setup, there are ups and downs, at times, good and bad. Some key similarities are to keep training, improving, disciplined and not giving up during the journey/run.
3 out of 5 completed, now for my next run, The Performance Series Race 4.
