9th August 2008 National Day Horror Run

This morning I decided to run at 11am,at East Coast Park after dropping off my wife at gym class. Having rested at least
9 hours the night before from a short 2 day trip to Malacca I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to get the body conditioned for the Singapore Bay half marathon (24 August) barely 2 weeks away.

I started the run quite ambitiously wanting to do a complete 12 km and get my body used to the distance. The first
6 - 8 km were quite smooth, however, the heat started to pick up after 11.30 am and the throngs of people coming to the
East Coast Park were making things difficult as I had to swerve to avoid the prams,bikers and small children.My pace was about 5.50 min/km which was quite fast given the temperature and I was wearing shades. At around the 8 km mark,my breathing became quite laboured and I stopped at the wash area to douse myself.

I continued again for another 1.5 km before stopping once more as I was puffed. After walking for 1 minute or so
I continued and ran slowly all the way back to the start point.

This is recorded as the most trying run for me this year and I call it the Horror Run of National Day for all
the mistakes made during this run.

This is to remind myself not to make the following stupid errors in future :

Error # 1 : No proper Hydration. I did not drink much before embarking on this run.It is not good enough to have fun at
Aldy's and down 3 beers - and take it as hydration.
I should have drunk at least 1 litre just before I attempted to run this distance of 12 km.
I also should have drunk lots of fluids the night before.

Error # 2 : Too Hot to Run. What was I thinking ?
The temperature from 11am - 12 pm was 33 to 34 deg C and humidity was in the high
80s. Unless you want to have heatstroke, this is NOT the time to do distance running unless it is raining or
overcast.

Error # 3 : Body was getting Too Hot.!
My mind was very lightheaded and I was braking out in cold sweat near the half - way mark.
Luckily there were several washpoints along the way and I doused myself.

Error# 4 : Wrong Place to Run; This was very packed with thousands of people having Barbecues,Pitching Tents,
Roller Blading and Cycling on Running Path

Error # 5 : Too ambitious.Distance was a little long to attempt as my past runs were all about 8 to 10 km.

When I finished running I actually said : "Oh God !" ; It was not a sigh of relief but a reprimand to myself
of all the wrong things to do leading to this Horror Run. Hopefully I will learn my lesson and do better in 2 weeks.