To make up for the absence of big-scale races in Singapore these days due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my running club Coached has been organising no-frills running events. 

These events are a way for athletes to test their fitness and give them a goal to aim towards.

Close to 30 runners with social distancing

The fourth edition took place early last weekend at East Coast Park’s Carpark B1 in Singapore, with close to 30 runners taking part. 

Social distancing measures were in place at the start and the finish lines and runners being asked to leave the venue immediately after finishing their race – in order to prevent crowds from gathering.

I took part in the half marathon

There were two categories, a 10km and a half marathon. I joined the half marathon, which was flagged off at 5am. 

The 10km started slightly later at 5.15am.

At the start line, cones were arranged in groups of two, again in line with Singapore’s social distancing measures.

Pacing myself

I was taking part in this race for fun, with no specific targets. I guess my main aim was to see where my current fitness level was, as I look towards beginning my marathon training for April. 

With so few runners taking part, I was pacing myself for most of the time. I think that I managed quite well. 

It was a cool morning for Singapore standards and not as hot as the previous Coached Race that I took part in.

Consistent splits

As such, I was able to maintain pretty consistent splits of around 5:35 – 5:40/km throughout the whole 21.1km. This was my target.

I did encounter a couple of other Coached runners within my line of sight, but I decided not to really use them as pace rabbits as I was not too sure of what pacing they were going for. I didn’t want to chase someone and cook myself as a result. Unless I am absolutely certain of someone’s pace, I figured that it would be smarter to pace myself.

The half marathon consisted of two loops, each loop was from carpark B1 to the cable ski park and back.

I reached the halfway mark in good time and stopped to fuel myself before beginning the second loop.

Second loop

Due to the repetitiveness of the loop and the lack of sights to see at the early hour, the second loop was somewhat more boring than the first loop but I focused on my pace and plugged into podcasts to keep myself distracted enough to keep going.

Finishing in good time 

My legs were feeling a tad achy in the last few kilometres of the run.

Nonetheless, drowning my aches with the podcasts helped, and I reached the finish line in good time, completing 21.1kms in 1 hour 58 mins 29 seconds according to my Garmin. I am happy with the timing.

Chitchat and catching up

I spent some time catching up with my coaches as well as kakis from Coached, before then heading off to the Starbucks outlet a mile away for more chitchat plus coffee.