Race Review: Pocari Sweat Run 2015

Contrary to the weather forecast that it would be raining this morning, it was cool and breezy when I headed to the Kallang Practice Track for the Pocari Sweat Run today. This was roughly half an hour before the 10km flag-off time of 6.30am.

Click Here for Pocari Sweat Run Race Review 2016.

A happy volunteer at this morning’s Pocari Sweat Run.

Heading down to the starting line

After depositing my baggage and catching up with a few friends, I headed down to the starting line. Right from the beginning, I thought this would be an easy recovery run for me, after the exertions of running 42.195km at Sundown Marathon the previous weekend. So I was not feeling too stressed up about this particular race.

I started the race in the second wave, about five minutes after the flag-off. The race began at Stadium Boulevard, near the Kallang Practice Track – before quickly turning the corner into Mountbatten Road.

Exhausted runners crossing the finishing line.

Run was pretty cooling

As I ran, I found the run pretty cooling due to the early starting time and after running about two to three kilometres, I reached the first drink station, to my delight. As hydration is so important when one is running, I stopped for a few seconds to drink a cup of the refreshingly ice-cold Pocari Sweat beverage. Then I continued with my run.

The route took runners past iconic Singapore landmarks such as the Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Barrage before returning to the Singapore Sports Hub – along the scenic Kallang River.

A runner receiving her finisher medal.

Plenty of ice-cold Pocari Sweat

Along the way, there were plenty of other stations stocking refreshing ice-cold Pocari Sweat. Each time I saw the blue coloured sign that the next station was near, I looked eagerly to sipping the drink, which helped to keep me going.

Chasing down the colourful pacer balloons

Another thing that had helped to spur me on during the run and given me a short-term goal, was when I initially spotted, then started chasing the pacer balloons. Because I had been flagged off in the second wave, this meant that the pacers, who had begun in the first wave, were all in front of me.

Your friendly pacers after the race.

So I found myself looking out, for the colourful balloons, and then picking out the pace groups in front – to see if I could outrun them. By gradually picking up speed along the way, I eventually managed to pass three of the pace groups, the 8.00min/km, the 7.30min/km and the 7.00min/km pace groups during the run. Passing these pacers gave me a good indication of roughly what speed I was running at and roughly where I stood, in terms of my own finishing time.

Weather continued to hold up throughout

I felt rather fortunate that throughout my run this entire morning, the weather had continued to hold up and there was no sign of the predicted thunderstorm at all – as forecasted by my iPhone’s default weather app. Running in the rain had clearly not been something that I had not been looking forward to doing! So luckily for me, that didn’t eventuate today.

Runners lounging around the post-race carnival.

Towards the later part of the morning, it did get a little hot though, but if I had to make a decision, I think that I would still prefer the heat, compared to the rain.

An 11.4km race and not a 10km race

The most depressing part of this morning’s run was that the finishing line was absolutely nowhere in sight… even after spotting the 10km marker at the bridge crossing from the Tanjong Rhu area into the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Runners awaiting the lucky draw.

In the end, all of us ended up running another 1.4km (according to my GPS watch) through the Singapore Sports Hub, before seeing the finishing arch.

Once I crossed the finishing line though, there was an endless supply of Pocari Sweat awaiting me, so that was more than enough to make up for the extra 1.4km that I had covered. And in fact, it had tasted so good that I probably lost count of how much Pocari Sweat I had drunk.

Victorious after a SGD300 winning run.

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Overall, the Pocari Sweat Run 2015 was a rather enjoyable morning run – and I thought that the post-race entertainment was pretty interesting too. There was a full line-up of activities that greeted the finishers. These had included a Japanese Taiko band performance and a discussion panel featuring three prominent medical doctors in the Singapore running scene.

Souvenirs from Pocari Sweat Run.

Pocari Sweat ambassador Dr Mok Ying Ren also dropped in – via a conference call – to say “hi” and add a few words about how his training in Boulder, Colorado, in the United States, has been going so far.

Click here for the doctors discussion panel at the Pocari Sweat Run 2015.