Was kind of looking forward to this Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon as a finale to this year.  Had been a very productive year in a strange kind of way.  Not really planned especially in the last 3 quarters of this year.  I did my other usual races which included Sundown Marathon in March, then surprised myself with my PB in Gold Coast (Airport) Marathon in July and then the 2XU ultra 50 km in early October.  So when Mr Peter Tan (JustRunLah) asked if I would like a slot for the full marathon, I said ‘sure, yes’.  And Thank You !

It will be a nice challenge for me to end this year’s of what threatened to be a ‘weak’ year with a strong finish.  ‘Weak’ because I was injured for just over a year ago and still on road to full recovery.

So four long distances, and 3rd Marathon this year, breaking my previous record of two is not that easy a feat as I thought.  This was the only Marathon race that I’ve actually done long distances exceeding 21.1 km in the span of 6-9 months prior to the race itself.  In fact I’ve just completed Newton Race – 32.195 km too.  I knew that I may not have been able to speed up on my pace but have built up some level of endurance this year.

The race pack collection was very much a breeze – the hall was huge at Marina Bay Sands Convention Halls and reminded me of the Gold Coast Marathon Race Collection back in July.   The expo had the usual and unusual (hair products, helmets, insurances) promotions.  I took some time to browse through but only bought the energy gel since that was the only stuff I needed at this juncture.  I was overly anxious to get to the shuttle bus booking and had to loop back after realizing it was actually nearer the start of the expo.  There was a 2 am or 3 am timing. Recommendation was to take the 2 am if I wish to deposit baggage.  I decided not to risk queuing for bag deposits and settled for 3 am.  Also because I thought I needed the sleep.  I hadn’t been able to sleep my usual time the last couple of nights or so.

On Sat night despite efforts to try and sleep early, I couldn’t quite get to dreamland.  Woke up every few minutes perhaps due to the excitement too.  Then I took a bit longer than usual to get ready this round.

This year I also had a bit of an extra role to play.  At the back of my running singlet, I had also pinned a small bib to encourage runners to ‘Bin It’.  I was one of the ‘light’ SCSM Green Ambassadors.  Wearing the sign serves as a reminder to fellow runners to at least bin the cups, banana peels and energy gel bag into the appropriate trash bins provided.  This was championed by Tyre Lady Ice (Rima) whom I actually ‘met’ in the ultra 50 as she passed me with a companion runner then (see my previous blog on ultra 50).  Coincidentally met up virtually just weeks before the SCSM when a volunteer friend connected me to her and we got reacquainted and I took on this tiny role.  She also kindly gave me some pointers on back recovery exercises that I could follow.

I took a bit longer than usual to finish my breakfast and so ended up running the 3-4 km to the bus stop to catch the shuttle bus.  I got to the Orchard Area in good time but then lost many minutes to search for the toilets.  Wasn’t the only one searching but we grouped together to look for toilets near the start area.  I did find one used by some construction folks when the others gave up.  At least, I managed to empty my bladder.   I hurried to the start line feeling hot and sweaty though.

I was in Pen D and so waited for my turn.  Heard our national anthem being played in the distance and then the race was flagged off.  We were also flagged off probably about 10 minutes later than the scheduled time, but I wasn’t annoyed or anything.  Delays were fairly usual to me after taking part in so many local races.  I realized that it was better to expect the unexpected.  Perhaps too, it was part of my inbuilt training from my corporate days.  Murphy’s Law – anything that can go wrong will go wrong.  I thought it was applicable in real life too and to running as well.

Later I did hear of horror stories where the folks had to queue for 1-2 hours to deposit their bags.  One runner friend gave up the race in disgust.  Another two decided to run with their bags on their back.  I understood that participants were also supposed to empty their stuff into the transparent bags provided and that was also one of the reasons I decided to skip the bag deposit – I imagined it would take extra efforts.  Anyway, hopefully the organizers took the feedback and would improve further.  Some mentioned that the volunteer resources were inadequate at the deposit area.

Anyway, once I started running, I was consciously holding back on my pace this round, to ensure I didn’t start off too fast.  The air was kind of still and very humid.  We were running past shopping malls and the central district area buildings at the beginning.  I thought it was still fine till around 10 km, when Garmin kept buzzing to tell me another kilometre had buzzed by, when I knew it was too soon.  I realized that perhaps the tall buildings or too many signals sent by all the gadgets runners were wearing, were affecting the reception somehow.  Distances were going haywire and therefore the paces shown were now inaccurate.  This continued for some time, and I was feeling rather upset with this disruption.

Then I tried to calm down and started manually calculating the pace each time I came across a signage.  Anyway, it did interrupt my sense of equilibrium, and perhaps too, with the humidity, I found myself slowing down, and felt rather heavy with the sweat that was pouring down my face and arms.  I knew that I couldn’t get anywhere near my Gold Coast marathon pace that moment.  I decided too that I would keep myself hydrated at every station that I came across.  I must say that the hydration stations were more than adequate and I was able to get either water or 100-plus or both.  There were also bananas at certain stations as well as energy gels in the later stations (at least two of them).  And I made sure that I aimed properly to get the trash in the correct bins !  Below are the true Green Ambassadors whom some runners may have encountered in their race.

(The Pictures Below are sourced from SCSM2017 Album which I thought showed a good cross section of some of the interesting scenery/encounters.)

Probably in KM 20s, I experienced some pain in my right foot, at the area where I had gotten blisters in the ultra race.  (Later at home, I realized indeed the blisters had developed again in the same area.)  My shoes must have gotten wet with the water that I was pouring over my head or I was stepping into water patches near one of the stations.  My toes were feeling weird and they seemed to be curling up with pain and tension in the 30s.  I didn’t experience any cramps though.  But I wasn’t able to really run at the pace I wanted.  I was slowing down too much vs what I wanted.  But I told myself to keep going. No pain.  Just go.  Next km, next km.

The humidity and heat kept going up.  There were two mist tunnels that we looked forward to though it wasn’t as cooling somehow.  But there was a few huge fans blowing just after the tunnels so some runners decided to stand in front of them and took a break.  I shouldered on.  There were some entertainments in the form of drums and even a couple, with the lady playing a violin.  At one or two points, there were real cheerleaders who were very encouraging, thumbs up for them.  Still, it was visibly and relatively much quieter than the overseas race or the last Mizuno race I had done just last week.

It was only towards the last 4 km or so, that I managed to force my pace up a bit and tried to target for 6.5 hour or better finish.  This would be at least 15 minutes better than my first marathon of this year, though not the fastest.  In the end I managed to hit it just below 6.5 hour reaching the Padang Finish Line.  I collected the finisher medal and was told that the L size tee had run out, but I was alright with the M size they passed to me.  I was given an apple, a very unripe banana that refused to peel and a can of 100plus.  I slumped down at one of the closest shaded area I could find with a group of other runners.  One of them was from Malaysia and he had driven in just last night and spent the night sleeping out in the open.  He said it was more comfortable than in the car and he got enough sleep to get by since he found a place near one of the malls there, with his friends.

I didn’t have energy to roam around and my feet were killing me at this point.  The rush in the last 4 km had exhausted me somewhat.  I was feeling strange too given that I had not been as tired during the ultra and I had then continued with another 10 km race a few hours after (you can read it in my other previous blogs).  I realized it was mainly the heat which had gotten to me this morning.  That and perhaps the ingestion of the gel and 100 plus must have taken some kind a toll.  I’m also thankful to two groups of volunteers who were giving away ice cubes which I used to suck and also slapped onto my neck.  There was a family who was also using a hose to cool runners down if they wanted to.  Very warm touch in the warm weather too !  THANK YOUS ! (and to all the volunteers who had to work in the sun as well.)

I’m grateful that I’ve finished this marathon and it was an apt finale to my building up of my endurance level.  Not a perfect one but still satisfying.

Statistics reported after the race : 957,141 km of distance covered by runners, 73,840 litres of water, 48,000 participants, 28,992 litres of isotonic, 4,000 volunteers, 125 nationalities, 5 categories and 1 race of the year.  Looking back, I would probably feel good to be part of this one race, not for having broken any PB but more for helping to carry two or three subtle messages : zero waste, running for ‘good’ and for self- improvement/ awareness.  All the long distances done this year had given me some time for self reflection too during and after.  I would share more of those in other blogs if I sense there is some interest in the sharing of an amateur old runner’s journey since 2015, or late 2014.

This marathon distance also went into the count for my ongoing campaign to complete 500 km since Oct 7th, by end of this year.  It would not be easy given my usual mileage in the past.  As I’m writing this piece, I’m still left with 151 km to cover in about 23 days.  But I’m reminded of the saying ‘Don’t pray for easy tasks, but pray for the efforts/mentality to deal with uneasy ones, for life is often difficult and not easy’.  I’m grateful I’ve completed my 6th marathons or 7th if you include the ultra marathon in just 3 years.    And I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following persons who had helped strongly to support the latest journey of my contributing back in the fight against cancer : Hwee Bin, Swee Fong and her hubby, Shadus, Hock Chuan, Amelia, Jay, Linyou, Ming Hui, Siew Cho, Sie Yong and Dawn.

Stay Strong, Run Happy, Run Safe.

Just some final words on the race itself :

For the overall race review, I’ll rate it 3.8 out of 5, based on my own experience.  Well organized for race pack collection, the expo, nice touch on printing the names of participants.  At the race,  the hydration and aid stations were adequate and placed at fairly consistent intervals;  still fairly above average volunteers, nice entertainment though fewer at the later hours (because of the sun perhaps).  Kudos for taking the initial steps towards Green Marathon as part of its initiatives this year.

Areas for improvement would be in the baggage deposits.  I don’t know what could be done about transportation since if we had depended on MRT and if the MRT had issues, there would have been a lot more negative comments.  My own observation of the shuttle bus service was that the bus didn’t open its doors till it stopped exactly at the bus stop.  This could have been a legal or strict safety requirement.  But as it was early morning hours, perhaps more rational decisions could have been made to allow runners to disembark and thus not caused further delays to the long queues behind.  In future years, probably MRT would still be the best mode of transportation.  I also would like to suggest that the marathon timing be shifted to around midnight or thereabouts and make it a midnight run instead.  After all, with a start time of 4.30 am, and with road blocks starting from 12 midnight and even earlier, it resulted in runners not having enough time to sleep anyway, unless they are staying at hotels nearby.  The average and slower runners would not have to contend with the high humidity and heat that’s prevalent in Singapore.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 42.195KM
Date: 3 December 2017
Flag Off: 5:20AM (Pen E)

—————————–——–

This is my second FM after The Green Race 42KM (DNF and you can read my story somewhere in this blog). First FM running on the road. I am still a novice in running.

Why did I sign up for Full Marathon? Because half marathon is no longer challenging enough and I feel I should go for the full distance to better experience how people run and complete a marathon.

2 years ago I said I couldn’t run a 10KM. I would die. But I ran a half marathon at 2XU compression run for the first time. It was painful but I survived, just nearly puked. After that first half marathon experience, I was hooked and looking forward to many HM races along the way and I have completed 13 HMs so far and 32KM twice. Shorter races do not appeal to me.

I took part in SCSM for the first time this year. As an IAAF Gold Label Race, I was expecting a superb race experience at this prestigious event in Singapore. REPC was good, collecting of race pack was quite fast. I saw the baggage deposit service at the REPC was quite empty. Seems like not many prefer to deposit their bags in advance or they were not aware. To me, I do not bring bag for races and do not need baggage deposit service. I go to races with just a waist pouch storing my essentials like money, ezlink card, credit card just in case, phone and gels. After running, I just go home with stinky clothes. I would suggest to runners not to bring any bags for races for your own convenience and peace of mind ?. To race organiser, for such a big and prestigious event, baggage deposit should have been managed properly but sadly it didn’t happen. I was shocked to see the horrible long queue when looking for toilet in the morning. Portable toilets were not sufficient as well and far away from the flag off pen. Many runners missed their flag off due to baggage deposit delays and I saw some who chose to carry their bags along to run. It was not a pleasant experience for them. A lady was carrying a large leather handbag on one shoulder with her to run. It was agonising.

I was assigned to Pen E based on my estimated finish time so I was at the very back of the pack. I was flagged off at about 5:20AM. The new route was good, no bottle neck and we had ample spaces to run. Though early morning was dark but Singapore is a bright country with countless number of lamp posts. I was still able to see many heritage sites while running by. They were beautiful and I enjoyed it. At East Coast Park, I was looking at the sea and ships while running and imagined myself lying on a boat floating on the water and enjoying the breeze, peace and quiet, away from the busy city life. It was heavenly. When I saw the aeroplanes flying, I imagined myself sitting in the plane enjoying the in flight food and entertainment… I was telling myself that after this gruelling marathon, I was going to take a well deserved break and enjoy my holiday ?.

I was praying for the clouds to shield us from the merciless sun and the clouds really helped. It was mostly cloudy with certain parts being slightly hotter but bearable. I was grateful and pleasantly surprised for the two water mist tunnels that organiser had installed along the route, together with the powerful fans blowing. They were saviours. Some volunteers were sleeping but some were very encouraging and shouting words of encouragement. They were great! Upon reaching 30KM, I was hurting and frowning and couldn’t acknowledge their cheers but I was grateful. Thank you! Happy that hydration points still have enough water and 100 Plus and the 100 Plus were cold! The distance tracked on my Garmin watch went a bit haywire after 10KM and it was clocking about 1KM faster than the marking. But I trust SCSM marking because they were professionally measured. GPS watches can sometimes get interrupted due to many factors.

A few runners saw me spraying my muscle spray and asked me to lend them and I did. I could empathise their pain because we were all suffering. Along the way, I saw some were vomiting, some collapse on the ground but conscious, they just need some resting. Heard an old runner fainted and was helped into the ambulance. I hope he is fine!

I was walking with my sister for the last 10KM because the legs were simply too painful to run. We just aimed to be able to finish before cut off. So happy to cross the finish line eventually but the distance to collect the finisher tee and medal was quite long. Still couldn’t rest the legs until we collected the items and went to find a place to sit down. Finisher tees were too big for us because smaller sizes were all given out. Organiser should take our sizes upon registration and indicate the sizes on the bibs and we should be ensured of our sizes upon finishing the marathon. This part was very disappointing. Ironman Asia, please fix this issue for your future races as not to tarnish your reputation further. Otherwise, the entire race experience was wonderful. Thank you.

Marathon runners are amazing, they have high endurance level and the never say die attitude. No matter what is your timing, able to finish the brutal marathon is already a huge achievement and you should give yourself a pat on the back! You can now enjoy a feast and eat all you want because you have just burned over 2000 calories! To those who DNF, no worries, train harder and try again!

A quote from the late Grete Waitz, “Whether you are a Kenyan trying to break 2:06 or you finish in 6 hours, we respect one another. The 6 hour person for the speed of the Kenyan, and the Kenyan for the tenacity of the 6-hour person. At the end of the day, we are participating in a sport we both love”. Well said.

www.mindfulrunner.amkio.com

The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon was held on the 2-3 December 2017. This is my first time joining Standard Chartered Singapore marathon and also my first ever half-marathon. The new running routes and the famous iconic landmarks of Singapore along the route motivated me to try running this half-marathon. The half-marathon route is much more appealing than the 10km one, for me. Authorities had come to close major roads for this run, since it’s the largest and most well-know event in Singapore. No wonder about 50000 runners from around the world took part in this race.

Pre-race preparation

The longest race I have taken part in is 12km puma night run 2017. I trained by running a few long training runs of up to 14km once a month and a few short runs a month in addition to swimming ? once a week as usual. After all, I took the courage and signed up for my first ever half marathon 3 weeks before the race.

Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC)

Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) was held at Marina Bay Sands Expo from 30th Nov to 2 Dec 2017. There were little runners queuing when I came in to collect my race pack on 30th Nov. This is my first time seeing so many exhibition booths after walking pass the collection counter. Bought some shotz energy gels and crampfix at the REPC Expo. I Tried taking a packet of energy gel and it seems suitable for me. Normally, I never take any gels for 10km runs and other short runs. For this half-marathon, I decided to take energy gels along the way to ensure that I don’t run on empty.

Before The race – getting there

I took grab taxi to SCAPE because I want to deposit my bag at there. Things didn’t turn out as planned. There’s no way my taxi could get to SCAPE because of the road closures and traffic congestion around Orchard area. So, I alighted near Paragon Shopping Center at 4:20am and made my way to another baggage deposit area at Anguilla Car park near Wisma Atria because the volunteers directed me there.

Before The race – bag deposit

When I arrived at the baggage deposit area, I saw a queue about few hundred meters long. It was disappointing to see this especially when the organiser do not allow runners into the start pen after 5:20am as stated in the website. I decided to stay in the queue until I deposited my bag at 5:50am. Waited for about 70mins to get by bag deposited. There were runners expressing their frustration with the baggage deposit service online. While waiting, I contacted my 2 colleagues who signed up for the race and none of them turned up. So, I was left alone throughout the entire race. ?

During the race

Because the start point is so far away from the baggage deposit area, I need to travel another 1 km on foot before I start my Half-marathon! By the time, I crossed the start line, it’s about 6am!

Thankfully, me and the other late runners were allowed to cross the start line. While running along Orchard Road, I saw that the road is partially opened to the traffic already.

Somewhere along Victoria street, at the 3km mark, the road are going to be reopened by the road Marshall. By right, me and the other late runners will be disqualified. Thankfully, the road Marshall is lenient and let us proceed.

Before reaching the 9km mark, I saw a water point and slowed down by walking. Then I felt a discomfort in my stomach that makes me want to puke. Just drank a cup of water and continued running until the discomfort is gone. There were energy gels provided near 9km mark, I just took one and kept it in my pocket. Shorty after, I Took 1 banana and slowly ate along the way. Tried to maintain pace by running at the speed of 8.5km/h throughout until I reached 15km marker which was near Marina Bay Sands. From there, I saw an uphill slope along Shears bridge. So I run-walk my way up but at a slower pace than before, trying to go slow and keep my heart rate down.

1. From the descend of Shears Bridge at 16km mark, I tried to maintain running speed of 8.5km. By the time I reached the last kilometer, I slowed down again due to fatigue and cramping legs. I took crampfix (that I brought along) and endured to the end with the determination to finish the race.

At the finishing point

The crowd who stationed near the finish line kept cheering all the runners on. Medal collection was smooth and they provided towel dipped in icy cold water. Apples, bananas, bottled water and 100 plus were provided as well.

Post race thoughts

There were sufficient hydration points offering both water and 100 plus. Waited 5 mins for the collection of my baggage. Overall, it’s well organized except for baggage deposit where there’s room for improvement.

Personal accomplishment

Felt the great sense of accomplishment that I’m a half-marathon finisher. I had never thought that I’m able to do so. Had been praying for this race and thankfully, God brought me through till I finished the race in 2hours 36mins 42sec. Hoping to recover from my muscle soreness fast and also hoping to do more half-marathons next year.

This marquee event, aptly called by some the ‘Race of the Year’, took place from 2 Dec to 3 Dec. The running routes encompassed going through the many iconic heritage places we are familiar with.

Personally, I think this is also one of the very few races where the authorities allow the closure of major roads to facilitate the run. It is little wonder then many serious runners opt to run in this race, with participation from runners around the world. This is one reason I decided to try my first half marathon in SCSM!

Pre-Race Preparation

I do runs once every 4 days, one longer run during weekday and a shorter recovery run during weekends. To give my body enough rest before SCSM, I stopped doing any physical training one over week before the race day. This was also to create the ‘hunger’ to run.

Race Pack Collection (REPC)

Runners can retrieve their race kits from 30 Nov to 1st Dec at MBS – a 3 days period before the ‘Kids Dash’ event started on the 2nd. Though I believe this arrangement of collecting the race kits just before the race itself is probably to maintain the ‘hype’, personally I would prefer to collect the race kits at least one week in advance. The reason is because I like to try out the event tee for a final preparation run before the race – either to have a feel of the tee or to exchange to another size with other fellow runners. Well, this is only my perception.

There were many counters for the race packs collection. There wasn’t much of a queue when I collected on Friday at around 11 am.

One thing I like during the race pack collection is you were able to deposit your bag right away. I think this will save a lot of time queuing for bag deposit on the actual day. Things may simply get dis-organised or ‘rowdy’ when you have so many participants!

The REPC itself was like a mini market of sorts, with the sponsors and partners marketing their products. This must be one of the largest of its kind in local races, apart from the OCBC Cycle where merchandisers market on cycling products.

There weren’t too many people, so I managed to get a photo shot after a relatively short queue! I think this is the advantage of collecting during weekdays?

Night before Race Day

I tried to give myself at least 5 hrs of sleep before waking up at 1.15 am. But ended up didn’t sleep a wink, perhaps due to the ‘excitement’ of the race couple of hours away. Also, not used to sleeping so early. So far, only the duathlon and spartan race had given me sleepless nights (Lol)!

Race Day – Going to Venue

I opted to take the shuttle service. Pickup location was at Bedok Interchange at 3 am. It was nice to see runners gathering at the stated time to go together, even though we may not know each other. Well, there was this ‘sense of common purpose’.

At the Venue

The atmosphere was good. People were chatting, taking group photos, doing warm-up exercises etc. I proceed to search for the available restrooms to use, but some volunteers whom I asked did not know where they were located. Until I headed towards Mandarin Hotel where the staff (Lol) directed me to ‘Scape’. It was also then I realised that was where the bag deposit areas were as well as the mobile restrooms – just outside Scape.

The baggage queues were really long. Fortunately, I had decided not to bring any bag as I believe the queues could be long. I had this bad experience in another race where the queue was long and after depositing my bag, I did not have the time to queue to use the restrooms (Lol). Lesson learned, I guess.

The Race

I entered Pen ‘D’, which I guessed was for runners with the same projected finish times (which we indicated during registration). Everyone was full of expectation waiting for the gun to go off.  After kicking off a number of waves, my turn started off at around 5.10 am.

It was a very hot and humid morning. I had hoped for a rainy saturday and followed by a cooling sunday morning (Lol)! The event tee was not dri-fit, so the perspiration really took a toll on me. Really not comfortable to run when your shirt was ‘sticking’ on you.

Fortunately there were sufficient hydration points along the route. Both plain water and 100 plus were provided, which I think was good, giving runners options to choose. Not only did I drink up, but also pour some water on myself to cool off to prevent heat exhaustion.

My knees started to hurt quite badly and ‘locked’ when I reached around 16 km mark. The rest of the run wasn’t easy then, as I started to walk, hop (Lol) and jog. Each stoppage I needed to do squats and stretching to relieve the pain before continuing to run along at a very slow pace. I controlled each stop to 1 min or 2 min, as I know anything longer than that my heart rate will slow down and cause ongoing running even more difficult as momentum was lost. I certainly did not want to DNF for my first half marathon!

The run up Esplanade Drive was excruciating, as I need to endure knee pain and at same time, tried to hurry along to pass the Finish Point under 3 hr, a personal target.

At the Finishing Point

The crowd was good. I believe many had come to cheer for their friends. There were  tourists too, some of whom encouraged runners to endure the last few metres to the finishing point.

Medal collection was smooth and each runner was given a hand towel dipped in ice cold water. Apples, bananas, bottled water and 100 plus were provided as well.

Post Race Thoughts

The closure of major roads allow the runners to run in relatively wide roads. I feel this was good as it gave faster runners a wider berth to run without having to ‘zigzag’ through front runners. The routes were relatively flat, except for the slopes we (half marathoners) encountered at the Sheares Ave and Esplanade Drive.

I also feel the event was well organised, considering the huge number of participants, though there were some feedback regarding the bags deposit and road closures affecting some residents/businesses in Chinatown. Well, the event organizer and authorities will have to think of ways to improve this for next year’s run.

Personal Achievement

I have set to complete the race within 3 hr. My official net time was 2:58:39, just 1.5 min shy of the 3 hr mark. I knew I would probably finish beyond 2:45 when the ‘2:45 min pacer’ ran past me.

On hindsight, I believe this timing could be improve if I increased my training activities before the race, and of course, my knees gave lesser problems. I had expected to finish between 2:30 to 2:45 hr, so the result was a bit disappointing even though it is a ‘sub 3’ (Lol).

Targets for Next Year

I don’t aim for specific PB, but having said that, I do hope to improve my timings. I will probably take part in another 2 half marathons, which events I have more or less identified.

Lastly, congratulations to all runners who completed their races and got their well deserved finisher medals.

For now, run safe. Run happy!