Nike Human Race 10k

I joined a bazillion other people and ran the Nike "Human Race" 10k this weekend.

First thing you notice is Nike did some clever marketing for the race. Instead of providing a bib number in advance and a separate race shirt after the race, they provided the race shirt in advance, with the bib number ironed on (or maybe screen printed on, I can’t tell the difference).

So instead having people running in different shirts, with different colors and different logos, everyone in the race wore the exact same red Nike shirt. This created a giant Nike mobile marketing team, a sea of red Nike logos threading through Singapore's downtown and tourist areas.

The last organized race I ran in Singapore was the JP Morgan Chase 5.6k in April 2008, For that 5.6k, I finished in 42 minutes and 35 seconds, which was a pace of about 7 1/2 minutes per kilometer.

For the Nike 10k, I finished in 70 minutes and 18 seconds, or a pace of about 7 minutes per kilometer, giving me an improvement of 30-second per kilometer.

I was also happy about finishing several minutes faster than the Singapore average of 74 minutes and 24 seconds.

My finishing acheivement took on a different meaning on the subway home after the race. There was a young guy on the platform, also wearing his red Nike race shirt. Naturally, I asked him how he did, and he said he ran in 44 minutes. I said that was a great time, and told him how I did. He said my time was a great time too.

I figured he was just being polite, but when I started to compare his time to mine, he added, "yea... but how OLD are you?"