May23 - Pacemaker Circuit Run 2 (30km)

Another month till my 1st 2009 marathon at Phuket. So when Keat Seong told me Pacemakers was having their Circuit Run at Lake Garden, I jumped to it. Mainly because :-
- I need the distance into my legs
- It’s a flat route around the lake
- It’s at night
- And every runner who completes it will get a trophy

The bad thing was we had to run 13 rounds around the lake. Seriously…the ultimate sienness

It started raining heavily at 6pm, with questions in all our eyes, is it still going on? The starting time was delayed 1.5hrs due to Mother Nature (weather ah…not me) but it cooled the air for a better temperature.

The run was on, with about 25 runners on the trail. I wouldn’t say it was a race because you are running against urself and not the others. There’s no Top 10 cash rewards nor Top 100 finisher medals.

We were provided with fruits & cool drinks. To my disappointment, the watermelon wasn’t sweet, & I didn’t dare to touch the bananas as I’ve not tried eating & running at the same time. Well, imaging eating & bouncing continuously. Hence the reason why PowerGels was created. It’s easier to swallow with water by just gulpping it down.

I kept a pretty good pace in my first few rounds. There were parts of the route which was dark, without any street lamps. But with the earlier rain, the wind cleared the skies & the moon shoon down, lighting our way.

I was seriously thanking our lucky stars when we were provided cold 100plus. I could have just drank 3-5 cups in a row but I wouldn’t wanna bloat myself.


I think I ‘bong’ at the 18th round where my back started to hurt (holding body up). My legs was starting to drag as if I was carrying bricks around my ankles. The heat was taking its toll around me. The music in my ears (mp3) come out as a humming tone. Yes, that’s wat’s its like to ‘bong’ aka hit the wall. At least I didn’t imagine a Polar Bear (KS did).

Each of our loops was timed & counted by volunteered timekeepers. When I was at my 20th round, I could see a few male runners already resting. I wan to!!!
Poor Keat Seong was mistakenly told by the timekeeper to go an extra round when he should have already completed it. Manual timekeeper vs Garmin GPS. Fight!!! Too tired to argue, he just went for it.

I was glad that mine was over. I was the 1st female in the group to complete and to my surprise I was awarded a trophy labelled ‘Champion’ on it.

By 11pm, we were both tired & satisfied (this sound so wrong). We’ve got our distance, our sores, our freebies & trophy.

From what I read, the last runner who completed the run, finished nearly 1am taking almost 5hrs worth of run/walk. Kudos to the organisers & Tey who was there to support.