Marathon Pacers Training #2: 24km Trials

Marathon Pacers Training Report - filed by FatBird Anthony

With the last couple of months doing Ops Kingfisher and training for AHM, it has been quite a while since I did a run greater than 21km. I was looking forward to this 24km run with the Pacers at ECP. We bumped into some of the regular Team Fatbird trainees as well as some who were there for Ops Sunbird, which will start in the week of Sep21....these enthusiastic marathoners were just ready to get started with training....we asked them to be patient for another 2 weeks :)

Back to the Pacers running...good to see their enthusiasm and high spirits....just looking forward to build up a good distance base for them to fulfill their important mission. Keonz and DO dished out the requirements, and chatted along with the various pacer groups. I tagged along the 4:15h group for a bit, and then the 4:30h group. At the U-turn along Changi Coastal, I ran along for short bits with the other pace groups. The 5:00h and 5:30h groups were soaking in the blistering sun....wah, they didn't look like they were enjoying the sun-tanning....haha. I took that in my stride, and considered it good conditioning. Eng Pat and Beng were going strong, trying to rush out of the reach of the sun.

Had a word with David Tay and his team, who too were training hard. The sun would be good conditioning for David's race in Chicago in a month's time. Said hello to the other familiar faces of the adidas pacers. Near the ski area, Tekko, Molly and their group were getting their weekend long run in too.,...friendly waves abound. On the way back, I joined Nigel, Teck Wee, Beverly, Suan, Nicholas for a good 6:50min/km pace. Beverly was as usual complaining about the heat, sending me ahead to get some pocari sweat....haha. However, the mental strength of the group was great as always, allowing us to push forward. Teck Wee was thankful for the fuel-belt advice, and got himself the life-saver today....no more carrying bottles in one hand.

With 2km to go, Prata, myself and Nicholas got in front a little at 5:00min/km pace and completed the 24km run happy and satisfied. 100-plus and bananas were offered by Beng/Esther, the super-duper refreshment/logistics team....always a pleasure to see them handing out the drinks and smiling, especially after a hard run. There were exchanges of pointers and discussions among the pacers about their running form, endurance and tips on pacing. It was fun learning from one another, and I could see a crop of very good pacers forming up. Till the next TFB Pacer get-together, Follow Our Pace, Win Your Race!