JP Morgan run 2010

How can everything turn out roses and nice smelling all the time? So here goes..

JP Morgan run is an annual affair for corporate Singapore. Individual participation is not permitted and corporates form teams and send them for the race. As you would expect from the name, majority of participants are from financial institutions but there are those from outside the industry. The annual race was held today and I was part of the team sent by my bank.

We met at the lobby of the building. At once, I could tell the race this year would be well participated. There were streams of people making their way to the starting line, together with us. I read there would be some 11000 runners, all to be flagged off at one go. It certaintly felt like all 11000 were at the start because it was crowded and congested. When the gun went off, it took me a full minute to cross the start. This was not the end because the crowd did not even thin out until 3k onto the 5.6k race. All prospect of a PR were lost because I had spent, together with the rest of the 10999 runners meandering and avoiding each other. Most (no, all) Malaysian races have jovial crowds but not this time. Runners were joustling and the faster runners had trouble overtaking the slower one (whom stoutly refused to give way).

So it was a slow shuffle for me until I could run free, by which time, I really had to step up the pace by more than a notch. In a longer race, I could continue to plod along, confident that I could overhaul those that had started out too fast. In a 5k, it was every man for himself! Even the big needed only to close their eyes, suck it up and bear with it all the way to the finishing line.

This speeding up threw me off and I somehow struggled when my fitness should have carried me through. I made it to the end in a semi-decent time though. At least there were free drinks, and there were many many lines for the collection of the goody bag and tee shirt; it was speedy and efficient. Not the ideal race because I did not settle into a comfortable pace but the season has started.

Now for the next one in KL the weekend next.