Cambridge 5K Freedom Run mini-recap: From PR to PW!

The Cambridge 5K Freedom Run: a mini race-recap

The Cambridge 5K Freedom Run last year, if you remember, is the site of my surprise 5K PR. This year, running it 30 weeks pregnant, I knew it was going to be a Personal Worst! But we signed up to hang out with friends, and it's stroller-friendly so all our kiddos could come along for the ride.

On race day (June 3) I woke up still not sure whether I was going to spectate or participate. The weather decided it for me - sunny most of the day and in the 50s/ 60s? Bring it on! We started at the back, with the strollers and the walkers, right where I needed to be to do a 5 minute run/ 1 minute walk ratio. I was definitely running during the run segments, but it was an easy effort - no heroics here.

flag-on? flag-off!

The course starts outside a mall, goes through an office area with lots of biotech companies, then loops back up to Cambridge Street and the residential neighbourhood near the local courthouse. There are maybe four or five turns, a brief climb, and a gradual downhill back to the finish. I can think of worse ways to spend a summer Sunday. I finished with a record personal worst (36:39) and can definitively say the Cambridge 5K race experience is just as pleasant at the back of the pack as it is in the middle (as it should be). I also like to think that my PW this year after my PR last year is throwing a monkey wrench into the 'race cheat investigation' algorithms. ;) 

Kiddo's last single-stroller race!

The afterparty featured a huge range of brews and ciders (sadly, none for me this year, but I did snag a lemonade and a couple cans of cold-brew coffee to take home), but it was loud and a little overwhelming for the stroller set - and my ice cream hopes were dashed! What kind of barbaric summer race doesn't have ice cream or freeze pops at the end?! Otherwise, if you like beer and dancing plus a well-organised race experience, it's worth the money. 

Came in first in the completely unofficial, probably-1-woman '3rd trimester' category. 

Alas, post-race sacroiliac pain bugged me for the next couple of days. I've been getting pregnancy-related SI pain for the last few weeks, and the terrible thing is that I never know when it's going to flare up or how bad it's going to be - sometimes I can walk for miles or run without pain, sometimes I walk a mile and the pain shoots down my leg, and sometimes it doesn't show up until hours *after* the offending workout. This particular flare was bad enough to need a heating pad, and I'm also seeing a physiotherapist. While I'm going to try to run/ pool run as long as I can, I'm pretty positive that's my last race of this pregnancy. I'm stubborn, but not totally crazy...

Logistics: 

Start time: 9.30am

Finishers: roughly 1,800

Parking: LOTS of parking in the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall - so much so that we - ahem - nearly misplaced the car afterward.

Swag: This year's t-shirt (non-gender-specific, rougher material, tight at the collar) was decidedly substandard compared to last year's (gender-specific, soft material, perfect fit). Thumbs down.

After-party: lots of brews and ciders from Notch Brewing, Somerville Brewing, and Bantam Cider. I looove the Bantam Rojo cider, which I tried at the last Cambridge 5K race I did. Also snack samples (chickpea crisps, BarkThins, Rx bars), lemonade, hot dogs, and falafel. BUT NO ICE CREAM WHUT NO.

Registration: came to $46 including taxes and ticket provider fee

Photos: Free on Facebook, but coverage was, uh, spotty. But they're free.

Race report: the Great Eastern Women's 5K

So way back when in a fit of post-marathon enthusiasm, I signed up for the Great Eastern Women's Run half marathon, hoping to train really hard towards a sub-2-hour half (finally). 

I love love LOVE this race. I've done it every year since 2008, starting with the 10K, and then doing the half marathon in 2012 when it was first offered. I turn up my nose at many all-women's races because of crappy marketing, but this one explicitly does NOT 'shrink it and pink it'. You won't find pink here, or sparkles, or stereotypes, or 'I run for chocolate' messages that just reinforce a dysfunctional relationship between exercise and food - just messages of health and strength and fun and family. You run for your own reasons and no one forces you into any little boxes about running while female. 

AND it's really solidly well-organised every year. (How well-organised? There were about a bajillion runners, but my bag drop and pre-race porta-potty stop took me a grand total of five minutes...combined.) Those are the main reasons I love this race and I keep on coming back. 

And then we all know what happened, gestating a human, etc etc. So I was pretty heartbroken about missing this year's half. I thought I'd either have to run this half as a fun run, or give away my race entry altogether. 

At that point, the thought of being on my feet for two and a half hours was sounding less and less appealing, and the thought of handing over my precious, seriously coveted race slot to someone else who really wanted it was more and more appealing, only a) all my friends who wanted to do the half had already signed up, and b) I have mild qualms about under-the-table bib transfers. 

But amazing things can also happen if you ask nicely. 

So I wrote in to the organisers. I'm signed up for the half, I said, but will be 13 weeks pregnant by the time it rolls around. Can I swap to the 5K? I know the rules say you don't normally let people switch categories, but these are pretty unusual circumstances. And your title sponsor - the Great Eastern insurance company - has a strong emphasis on getting women to stay active and healthy. 

Lo and behold - they replied and said YES, please! We are happy to note you're staying active while pregnant! You're signed up for the 5K! 

A few weeks later, I stood in the race pack pickup line and looked around. Noticed I probably wasn't the only person running for two. And there were other women there with small children. Secondary-school girls. Women who looked like they might be my mom's age. (The variety you get in this race is enormous and wonderful.) 

And holy race swag: a gym bag, a tank top, a blessedly large water bottle, even more samples of stuff, and coupons for everything ranging from a Nando's quarter chicken to discount vitamins. 

A few weeks after that, on the lovely cool morning of November 9, I toed the start line - or rather, I was in the middle of the crowd in the second 5K wave, the farthest back from any Singapore race start line I've been in a looooong time. I snuck over to the side to watch the 10K winners coming in, cheered them on, and then boom - we were off. 

The race route goes around the curve of the Singapore Flyer and F1 pit building, down towards Nicoll Highway, and loops back around, a pretty straightforward and scenic out-and-back along the Kallang River. I felt great the whole way, kept chugging along, and finished in a net time of 32:10...not bad for a poky old pregnant lady. (I was explicitly trying NOT to look at my time. Wasn't wearing my Garmin. Barely glanced at my watch. But in a race atmosphere it's hard to resist the temptation to hustle. Which is why I'm fine running up to 10K on my own for fun, but think I'll lay off the racing - unless it's purely social with friends - till next year. Sometimes my competitive instincts are rather bad for me...) 

And you know what? I had just as great an experience being in the middle of the pack as I usually have being a little farther in front. If your back of the pack folks, who pay the same amount to register, cover the same distance, and often work just as hard, have as fun a time as the folks in front, that is the true test of a really well-organised race. 

To cap off a great morning I ran into a whole bunch of former colleagues who'd done the various race distances (5K, 10K, or half). Impromptu reunion! Sweaty hugs all round! (Also, every single female runner in Singapore apparently does this race - I spotted three other running friends.) 

Photo from Rachel. Sorry we're all squinting! It got hot.

After meandering around the finish site for a longer time than it'd taken me to actually run the 5K, I finally made it home for second breakfast. 

Good race? asked the husband. Great one, I said.