[Edit: I finished the 10K in 55 mins. Not too bad.]
Woke up at 5am for Mizuno Wave Run. Saw the rain, dammit why does it always rain when I have to run Bedok Reservoir? Anw, left house at 6 to get to TP, managed to get a cab.
me: ah hi uncle, TP pls. The stadium there. Thanks.
driver: ah ok. wa so early u go there for what?
me: ah, for run. got run going on.
driver: wa raining also run, siao ah?
me: -_- no lah it's an event.
driver: ahaha okay run how far ah? marathon ah?
me: um no lah not marathon. quite short, 10K only.
driver: WA ten thousand click ah?! i run 5 click beri good oreadi!
me: (LOL) umm no it's TEN clicks.
driver: orh ahha okok (goes on to talk about his son and all, which is pretty humorous talk. damn funny)
*we reach TP*
driver: this one right?
me: ummm looks like it.
driver: (asks random guard standing outside gate) eh brudder, marathon is inside here ah?
me: (damn it's 10K not marathon!)
Anyway, Mizuno Wane 2007 is probably the worst race I've ran. Even ATC was better.
Baggage despoit was into a goddamn TRUCK.
Firstly, VIPs were late. I don't if you're an MP, CEO of VGO or CEO of Mizuno, Japan. Damn, I don't even care if you're Japanese or Indian. But dammit, if you're got transport, can you dammit don't be late? In any case, they were (by 10 mins).
Starting gantry was small. Path way from TP out to Bedok Reservoir was minute. A Lego set would look huge next to it. There were bottlenecks within 5 mins into the race, and I was already walking cos I just couldn't find the space to run. Half the time I was swearing away, and the race barely started.
Out to the reservoir. Rain made the gravel path look like a mud-bath. I did it before, so I just chionged. Overtook a few ppl I recognized along the way. Made it out to the main road. Water point was a disaster. They freaking gave out NEWater bottles. And they didn't even prepare for it. Skipped both water points.
Footpath was about 0.25m wide. I spent half my time trying to overtake slower runners. They have this special ability to hog the whole pathway. Got sick of it, went onto the road. Saw a few nice runner girls. =)
with the free maxim, lol.
Met Daniel and HK(how to spell his name ah?). Spent some time warring with them. Then I went to chase more runner girls, lmao.
Turned back into Reservoir. Ran for another I think, 2K? before I heard the emcee over the system. This was where the fun/chaos started.
I spotted the circular gantry, which I assumed (wrongly) to be the finishing point. (Trust me, I wasn't the only one.) Started to pick up my pace so can end with a better timing. 25m away, I had a killer stitch (of all times). I decided to bear with it and just chiong anyway. Passed gantry (not finishing line, but I thought it was). Stopped. Heard some idiot screaming that the finishing line was further down and that we had to run more. Jogged with a dulan face down to the real line cos of the damn stitch. I saw a lot of dulan running faces around me.
I swear they look identical.
Godammit, if the place was not the finishing line, why the crap did they put the damn thing there?
There was more to come.
Goodie bag collection was an ass. The queue was never ending and the inadequate ah-mas staff didn't manage things well. Most ppl weye cutting the queue. I took 30mins to collect my goodie bag. By then I was damn dulan already.
The baggage was the most legend.
The truck(s) were open and some runners were standing inside and shouting out number tags and throwing out bags that have happily found their owners. I, sadly, wasn't that happy. I stood there for 15 mins or so, but my bag was no where in sight. Wait somemore.
And more.
And more.
And more. (You get the idea.)
I caught wind that there were more bags on the OTHER side, from the other truck, but apparently there was no staff no direct anyone there, cos everyone was happily bidding for their bags in the sole truck.
Walked over, found my bag sitting on the (muddy) floor like a prized gem. In all, I spent more time queuing for my goodie bag and baggage than I spent running. I find it hard to believe that the organizers did not allocate any manpower to facilitate the redistribution of the bags. The ppl doing it were actually participants in the run.
Like I said, this is the worst race I've ran. The interesting muddy path, the nice runner girls =x, the singlet and the shoe bag didn't make up for the lack of manpower, the lousy organization skills and the misplacing of the god damn finishing line. The worst thing in a race is not to know where the damn finishing line is.
Sgrunners forums are blazing with comments now. Lol. I shall boycott Mizuno events for 1 year. Time to stop running and start studying. Next race will be on 2 Dec. Already signed up for 21K again, lol.
Bye all. @ 20:50