I’ve attended all 3 years of the YOLO run since its inauguration.  First year, I was impressed by the call to run free – to run unhindered.  Liberating oneself by being shirtless while running was probably just symbolic.  It wasn’t easy to be shirtless somehow for me.  Especially when he had reached beyond 50 and had only started to run a number of months before the event and still have body fats in the wrong area.  But still, I decided to do that in the first year because I wanted to contribute in my small way to charity – dollars donated to charity for each shirtless body.

Second year, I wasn’t feeling that well and I was also made more conscious of body fats by friends.  But I did manage to get some new friends to run who had gone shirtless near the finish line.  But I started to notice and wonder how exactly the organizer was counting the number of shirtless bodies.  Third year, I almost did it again. Except that the whole marketing focus seemed to have shifted.

The marketing communication is, I believe, one of the more attractively worded ones :

“The YOLO Run is a fun and performance run event where participants are encouraged to free themselves, be a part of a run that gives back and also partake in a mass yoga session after the run. The spirit of the YOLO Run draws from the aphorism “You Only Live Once” and encourages participants to seize the day, not care about what people think, and free themselves from labels, stereotypes, body types and inhibitions. This action of liberation is signified by participants running shirtless and is supported by X-Change Republic (the creators of the YOLO Run) or the sponsors, through donations to the adopted beneficiary for every runner who runs shirtless. YOLO Run believes in the appreciation of life. Everyone only lives each day once, therefore when one is able to, he should always help those in need, simply because there could never be another chance for it.”

I believe in helping others whenever possible through whatever means.  If you earn a lot, then chip in money, if you run a lot, then raise funds by running etc.  Now, there is however another part to the equation, communicating well is one thing.  Execution is the challenging part of it.

The first year it was just a fun event, the second year it incorporated the competitive run and this year there is the inclusion of the half marathon as well as the challenge to break the national record, with the possibility of taking home the Alfa Romeo.  This, when one were to read closely the terms and conditions, would actually preclude the majority of the local running population.  Still the hype was built perhaps.

When I turned up to collect the race pack on Friday, I was greeted by a long queue.  I wasn’t exactly surprised because I have seen longer queues before.  I have probably participated in around 24 events each year since 2015 when I took up running.  So I thought this was also an indication of the crowd that would be appearing on race day.  I was only reminded of the ‘lengthiness’ of it because I was collecting on behalf too, of a FB friend.

I explained to him the queue I was facing and at the same time too, I decided to share the queue status online so that other friends could be more prepared for the wait.  It probably took me more than an hour 15 minutes or thereabouts, in the end.  Still, I didn’t think that much of it because I had queued for longer in the past for other events.  When I left, I thought the queue had reduced in volume somewhat.

But subsequent reports and updates by friends showed that the situation was getting worse, for its long wait and for the wrong sizes/unavailability of the ladies’ apparels.  I read also the offer of alternative collection dates and then the cancellation of one of the days.  This didn’t seem like a good sign of things to come.

On actual race day, I was early again, and was able to participate in the first wave of the 10 km race.  But I saw in the distance that a crowd was still at the starting point.  It turned out to be the half marathon runners. Their start time was delayed for more than 50 minutes.  The one thing that struck me was that the F1 Pit was shrouded in darkness when I reached there before 6 am.  Usually it would be all lighted up even with earlier start times.

For ‘popular’ races (and the size of the race pack queue is usually a good indication), I would follow my own checklists of what not to do.  One, don’t use the deposit baggage if possible, so don’t bring too much stuff.  Two, don’t depend on the toilet cubicle – so try and release yourself on the way to the venue at other public toilets if possible.  I therefore didn’t go through the hassle and frustration that many runners experienced that day before and after the race itself.

We were flagged off after waiting for about 20 minutes after the start time, one of the longest I experienced.  The explanation given was that there was a held up at the Sports Hub area.  The organizer also apologized for the past week’s of frustration and unhappy experience due to the waiting time and availability of right sizes of the apparels.  I thought that was a good gesture.

It was still a pleasant morning, weather had held.  To me, the weather was better than the week before at Newton’s Race.   Then a few hundred metres on, I saw a sign that said 1 km.  I would have been blur as sotong if this was my first few races because I didn’t even wear a watch then.  I looked at my Garmin and knew the sign was wrong.  So I just dismissed the accuracy of the signs for this race (apparently it was because some of the signboards were meant for the GEWR race).

Then soon after we hit a hydration stop.   As it was only 10 km, I didn’t worry about hydration as much.  So I continued with the run.  There were narrow stretches along the bridge but probably because I was near the front of the wave 1, I didn’t encounter any stoppages.  But as I was running back in the loop, I did notice the narrowness of the route as I saw the oncoming crowd from the later waves.

There were a few more signs that seemed a bit out but I wasn’t depending on the mileage sign anymore as I looked more at my Garmin for this race.  That aside, the run experience while it lasted for me, was still probably fairly ‘routine’ as in other races.  Perhaps I have little expectation too.   I noticed too there were more than the usual photographers too on this race.

So suddenly, when I made a turn, it seemed like the route was ending.  It was just only 6 plus km ?!  6.94 km, my Garmin read as I suddenly saw the familiar scene of a finishing line and the counters.  If it was 9.64 km, I would still probably think I was cheated of a 10 km race though more acceptable.  6.94 km was definitely a disappointing turn of events.  Sudden Death, I termed it.  I thought maybe there was an incident or something and runners were diverted.  But everyone seemed calm and the volunteers were just handing out the medals as usual.  I commented to another runner, the distance is only around 7 km ?  Yeah, and most folks were just shaking their heads.

I took my hydration (Lucozade Sports and I believed there was Ribena too though I skipped that) then and walked off to cool down.  That was when I saw a solitary figure behind the building, my friend Chris.  We chatted and I would spare you the frustration we vented.  We also talked about my recent races and some of his next year’s focus.  So it was a pretty good chat amidst all the unpleasantness.  I had to take a walk to Swissotel Stamford to collect the race pack for the Vertical Marathon since I didn’t want to take the long journey back again after going home.  It was still early.  I decided then I would just run the rest of the 10 km race and did another 3.5 km, also as part of the challenge I was still doing.  After that, I walked back to the car park to take some hydration before I walked off again to Swissotel Stamford to collect the race pack.

I read all the ventings and the attempt to explain also by the organizer.  I thought perhaps if there was time to cool down and have clearer explanation of what happened to cause the major delay of the half marathon, and the severe shortage of the distance meant for 10 km, it would perhaps put the ‘fiasco’ in the right perspective.  It had its merits in its lofty vision though it might have somehow gone a bit wilder with its expansion into the ‘performance’ goal.  I messaged the organizer on FB and emailed too, after being told that I should email instead.  After waiting for a week and not receiving a follow-through response, I decided that I would just leave things as they were.

An explanation had been given about an external consultant giving the instruction to divert the route.  I am guessing the consultant would have been given authority to make such decisions in the event of a ‘crisis’.  It didn’t seem to be clear what the crisis situation was.  The organizer needed more time to investigate probably too.  Hopefully some lessons could be learnt from this situation still.

So the race pack collection, the handling and logistics of the ladies’ apparels, the queue management, the reported shortage of cups at hydration stops,  the delay in the start time of the different categories and the unexpected diversion of the route for 10 km race, resulting in a severe gap from the planned distance would have contributed to a unsatisfactory rating for this race.  And unclear accounting on the failures made it worse.

For runners, perhaps this was one of those ‘expect the unexpected’ race.  I chose to run off the frustration that day to make up the shortage of distance.  It was my way of handling my own frustration.  After that, I would not let this mar my day.  The running while we didn’t know that it was going to end at 7 km, had been the usual ‘experience’ for me.  I was lucky to be in the front and not get caught up in the bottleneck and also not in the half marathon race.  Everyone’s experience would be different and there would be different ways of handling the situation.  Running parallels the life situation even as shown in such races.  The organizer would need to resolve the crisis satisfactorily or hope perhaps with time, memory fades somehow.  Still, lessons would and should be learnt.

YOLO (the phrase) extorts you to live your precious life wisely.  That comes with all your perceptions of the different situation you had been through and how you want to live it.  So make the wise decisions.  Still, run safe and run happy in all situations.  (Disclaimer: I have paid for all three years’ race entries and I’m not related to the organizer.)

On May 24th of 2015, the year which I got rather active physically – where I attempted them all: half marathons to full, aquathlons, Spartan races, OCBC Cycle, I also did my first official vertical marathon (National Vertical Marathon it was called then,  63 storeys) because I wanted to accompany my son.  But it turned out that as we were in different category, we had very different starting times – a couple of hours’ differences.  As memory faded, I forgot how hard it was to run up vs the usual horizontal plane and also mistook that I had climbed 40 plus storeys !

Recently again, on the last day of early bird, I signed up for the Swissotel Vertical Marathon (SVM2017).  I did this partially because I had to skip the Spartan Beast Race due to my back injury.  And I felt there was a vacuum.   The other motivation was that I thought I would really like to see the Sunrise from the rooftop and dedicate this marathon to my father who would have turned 82 years old just 3 days before this event.  As it was, by coincidence, I also dedicated the 2015 vertical marathon in his memory because he had left us 4 years then on that very date, 24th May.

Overview of Event before I dive into a narrative of sorts. 

1.  Seize the Day, Catch the Sunrise is the theme.  Catchy and attractive, but disappointing when due to reported lightning alerts for some of the first category and most of the veteran men’s at least, we didn’t get to the top – read below for more.
2. Personally, I was surprised that the non-competitive group was the first category to start off so maybe the focus was to let those who wish to take a more relaxed climb and enjoy the sunrise for a premium ?
3. Race was well organized – not much waiting time and collection was conveniently at one of the rooms in Swissotel itself.
4. Race Pack was ‘attractive’ in my opinion.  The backpack with the Swissotel building was a nice change from the usual running race drawstring bags and the tee was of a nice bright red color with interesting design.
5. Race started on time, a bit earlier for men’s veterans but nobody was complaining because there were early birds like myself.  Unfortunate thing was the false alarm of the lightning alert because seriously I didn’t see any signs of bad weather.  Still, for the safety of all runners, I have to accept this.
6. Hydration was sponsored by both Polar and Pocari Sweat, provided at the start and finishing point.  More than adequate.
7. Volunteers were cheering at almost every few levels, and very helpful, providing hand held fan when they saw some of us sweating and fanning with some big ‘cardboards’ or something similar.
8. Overall Rating, I would rate it 7.5/10 still.  And onto the narrative …

Race collection was pretty much a breeze – took a few minutes especially in contrast to YOLO run then, the week before.  I have yet to blog on YOLO Run because I was awaiting some information back from the organizer – will follow up later.  In fact, that day, I finished the YOLO Run very early, and I decided to stick around the area till about 10 am to collect the race pack from Swissotel itself.  I walked from the race site to the hotel and sat in the lounge there for the volunteers to get ready.

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One volunteer suddenly talked to me.  Turned out that she was an ex-colleague.  Somehow she had seen me several times during race pack collection and recognized me from my old working place.  She made the observation that I was not active in running while working there.  I told her she was right.  I didn’t even like running then actually.  She was soon called to man the ‘counters’ and after waiting for a few minutes, I joined the queue for the race pack.  After collecting the race pack, I waved to the lady and left, thinking I do have a lot of volunteer friends from the races these days.

I thought the back pack and the bright red tee from CompressSport was rather attractive in this race pack.

I woke up at 5.00 am, attempting to sleep earlier the night before.  As usual I wasn’t very successful.  Still, I think I was getting used to race day routine.  Looking at my schedule, for every weekend since October 7th, it was always a race day except for one week where I took a break and first week where there were two races.

I reached the venue early and the first category was getting ready for flag off at 6:15 am.  The first group was non-competitive and meant for those who wanted to go up to catch the sunrise.  The second category was the Veteran Men (ie my cat), to be flagged off at 6:50 am.  So I thought it was good that they were giving priority to veteran to have a go at catching the much harped upon sight at the rooftop.

After almost 3/4 of the first cat had gone off (in waves of 4 and subsequently bigger groups), the DJ said due to lightning warning, there was a possibility that the race would end on the 69th storey instead.  I had heard no thunder nor saw any lightning nor any dark clouds nor experienced droplets of rain falling on my head.  She also said, just a maybe so perhaps it would still be clear.  I didn’t think too much of it because the weather was pretty good.

I had brought a pair of old gloves to protect my hands because I had injured my hand while pulling on the rails of the stairs.  Looking back, I had only trained by climbing stairs 5 times before this actual race.  The first 4 times were between 10 to 22 storeys, and the 5th was up to 44 storeys and this was over a span of about 4 weeks from mid October, so about once or twice a week at most.  Most of the activities the last 43 days had been spent on running.

I was in the 6th row of 4 persons when our category were flagged off.  Blare, the trumpet went off.  I ran a short stretch and then up the first flight of stairs.  I used my hands to pull myself up as I covered two steps at a time.  Think on the 7th storey or thereabouts, we ran a very short landing and then up the stairs again.  Reached 10th storey, climbed, climbed then I saw 20th storey. 30th storey, I was feeling the heavy thumping of the heart against the rib cage.  Breathe..breathe.. then I looked up and it was only 34th storey, not 40th.  Continue to go up, breathe, move, breathe, move.  40th storey, 45th…

Suddenly it was 60th storey… but I was already almost bent over, and breathing very hard, though I was sensing that the finish is close by and getting ready to ‘sprint’ with last efforts.  63rd, 65th… then I thought I was just at 68 or 69th, and the volunteers were standing on the stairs leading up and pointing to their left.  So I started to walk quickly and then bang again.. (almost like YOLO 7 km for 10 km race).  Finish at 69th storey – sudden death !  Lightning alert so race stopped at 69th storey.  No rooftop.  I had carried my smartphone in vain.  BIG Disappointment in an otherwise well organized race.   A volunteer hung the medal over my neck.  I forgot to stop my watch so I pressed the button too.

I joined the small crowd which was there and walked around briskly to look for the window views.  Didn’t look like it was raining out there.  Anyway, I took a few photos and then caught my breath again.  I took the Pocari Sweat and finished a bottle.  I took another one after walking briskly again.  Then it was time to take the lift and go down.

Then I heard a young man saying to an old man:’Wah, if you can do it, then we have to be able to do it too.’  The old man asked ‘Why ?’.  There was an uncomfortable pause.  They were behind me so I didn’t turn around.  The old man answered himself, ‘Oh, because of my age ?’.  I walked into the lift and turned around to look.  Guessed the young man was probably mid 30s.  He said, ‘Yes, you are a good example so the young should follow.’  Okay, at least recovered a bit with that.

I thought to myself, sometimes there is an art to a conversation and you can’t just blurt out whatever you think of first hand.  Anyway, somehow it ended up I was walking with the older man down the escalators.  He asked me if it was my first time so I said it was first time for Swissotel and he said he had done it a number of times.  He seemed to be someone who exercised very actively.  He was 81 years old, proudly saying he was born in 1936.  That was one year after my father’s.  I just said so.  After he asked how is my father, I explained my father had passed away already.  Oh, sorry.. it’s ok.

We then continued to talk about ways of keeping active.  I asked if there was a chance that he was the oldest in this race.  He said he wasn’t sure.  He was eager to check his results and I told him that it was announced that the results would be available within 2 days.  We saw the information counter on the ground floor, and I suggested that he might want to check with them too.  The volunteer told him that it would be available within a day.

We parted and I left for home.  I thought it was still early so I went for another 2 km run.  But realized that the climb did end up with me quite spent as I wasn’t able to keep my usual pace.  So in my ongoing challenge to complete running 500 km in 86 days for charity as a SCS athlete, I’m currently at 239.25 km on the 44th day.  Running slightly behind in terms of average per day if I were to run every day.  Will catch up later as I still have two more races to go, the last one being the full marathon in December.

(Afternote :  I had looked up my ‘records’ of the last vertical marathon after the race.  Somehow at the back of my mind, I thought I had done only 40+ storeys in the National Vertical Marathon at One Raffles Place Building – it was in fact 63 storeys and I had done that in more than 18 minutes.  This time round it was 69 storeys and I had done it in 16:32 min, unofficial record for now ! So it is possible to improve even as you get older each year if you put your heart to it.  Would have been nice to be able to say a belated ‘Happy Birthday’ to my dad if he was around still !)

Run Safe, Run Happy.

“An escape from the stopwatch tyranny of PBs and split times, this (the book) is a reminder of how to run for sheer joy.” – Runner’s World

This was the quote that ended my last blog in 2016 and for the whole of 2017 I stayed dormant mainly due to injury and re-injury. There was nothing to report but ‘bad’ news and more ‘bad’ news. So, I decided to give blogging a break and focus on my rehab for a possible comeback end of 2017. What I did for the large part of the year was slow and short runs and only tried out a couple of short 5k races. Although it was uneventful, I was able to just run for the joy of it and took time to do other stuff, e.g. strengthening and rehabilitative therapy.

In August, sensing that I may be on the mend from my injury, I decided to write in to JustRunLah to see if I can get a promo code to sign up for the last of the Performance Series 2 at Changi. This race on a new route was scheduled to take place in early November, giving me ample time to prepare for the race. I was grateful that they gave me a slot at a good discount and that gave me motivation to really focus on coming back strong.

Race Pack Collection

This was one of the fastest race pack collection I ever had. Although it was a small counter but I was in and out of the place (located at One Raffles Place) on a Saturday afternoon within 5 minutes. There was absolutely no queue at all. The goodie bag was no frills which to me was good. I rather organisers spend the money on the logistics for the smooth running of the race than providing freebies that do not contribute to a good running experience.

Pre-race Preparation

To get myself geared up for the race, I debated with myself if I should attempt a trial 10km run prior to the actual race to see how my body and recovering injury responded to the distance. I thought long and hard over this and finally succumbed to my heart to do a relatively slower 10km two weeks before the actual race. As it turned out, my plantar fasciitis did not worsen, neither did my legs and body fatigued too much. Happy with the trial, I went on to gear up with shorter runs below 8km.

Race Day

Sleeping fitfully the night before the race, I woke up early at 5am to prep myself. The usual one toast, one banana and one coffee – my essential trinity breakfast, was what I needed to get ready for the race. Weather forecast the night before predicted rain but it turned out to be fairer than expected. I took a ride from a fellow running friend, Mike and arrive at the race village about 30mins before flag off time. There was surprisingly ample parking space at the start line. This was really helpful for those who drove; no hassle whatsoever. The organizer also housed the information counters and sponsor booths in one of the warehouses next to the Changi Exhibition Centre. I supposed this was where they intend to hold future air shows in Singapore.  Mike and his sons went on to the start pen while I had to pay my routine visit to the toilet before the race.  I only saw him later at the medal collection point.

The Race

Morning light began to dawn on the runners preparing at the start pen. With music blaring away, and a few more diehard ones stretching away, I made my way to the front. I wanted to get into Wave One to avoid the crowd in later waves. I was told that one side of the road would be closed for the race so this meant there would be sufficient room for all runners to maneuver in either directions.

The road stretched out long as far as my eyes could see. It reminded me of my NS days at SAFTI when I used to run the 10km route along Pioneer Road. It was a DNF then, but not today. I hoped I could better my timing from my test run two weeks earlier. I breathed a grateful prayer: “Lord, thank you for such beautiful weather this morning and a completely flat course for my comeback race.”

As the 10k runners prepared to be flag off, we welcomed and applauded the winner of the 21km category coming in under 80mins. Incredibly fast. Of course, these are elite runners whose bodies are toned and streamlined for running. Some of us who are slower will probably take that amount of time to finish a 10km course! Nevertheless, as amateur runners, it is always silly to compare and compete with others. I snapped back to reality from my runaway thoughts when the emcee started the countdown.

The horn sounded and we were off. The elites sprinted off while the rest of us jostled our way through others to get ahead and find some space to run comfortably. Mindful not to get ahead of myself, I settled to a comfortable 6:15 pace and slowly worked myself towards each km marker. I wasn’t aware of my increasing faster pace until I glanced at my TomTom. Can I sustain this pace? I had not done this pace at this distance for more than 6 months and no basis to think I could. But I felt good so I decided to go with the flow.  I also met Kenjoe, one of the JRL bloggers, also running buddy, at round 2-3km mark.  As I passed him, I applauded him and gave him the thumbs-up.  We saw each other again when I did the return loop; it was good to see him keeping up a steady pace.  Waved at him and later caught up with him at the finish line (but no photos, sorry bro!)

Midway to the U-turn, I met the 21km pacers coming back on the return route. Some of my friends whom I met on Instagram who amongst the pacers. I called out to them when they passed me. Those who the 2:30 pacers. Seeing familiar faces put a spring in my strides and for a moment I was running faster. I quickly checked myself to conserve energy.

Frankly speaking, the route was boring, unlike the Farm route from the 2016 Performance Series. There was practically nothing to see, save some cycling enthusiasts and far away planes over our heads. It was just trees, lampposts and the road ahead of me. So, I started to notice the different runners that I overtook and thought what were the reasons that made them wake up early on a Sunday morning and drag their legs for a 10km run. What was their motivation? Could it be for fitness, fulfilling a dream or responding to a dare from a friend? Even as I was pondering over this question, the U turn came into view.
After the turnaround, time somehow began to speed up. I noticed myself picking up speed again without putting a strain on my strides. Soon, someone from the other side called out to me. It was Rebekah, a fellow blogger from JustRunLah! too. She was all decked out in her spiderman (or woman) attire, running under the Superheroes banner. Waved and smiled at her and making a mental note to catch up with her after the run.

Someone commented later that the water points were badly spaced out (I think it’s more for the 21km runners) because I did not use them until around the 8km mark. That pit stop for water cost me almost 1 min of my timing, but it’s okay. Looking at my watch, I knew I was averaging less than 6:10 which means that I had already met my target timing of 65mins. The road began to turn left which meant that the finish line was in sight. As I neared the finish, I realized that the distance was going to be 200-300m short of the intended 10km. As the runners went faster towards the finish, I did likewise. After passing the finish arch, I ran a bit more just to fulfill the 10km – haha.

Post Race Experience

For the first time in a race, the medal and finisher tee collection booths were at least 400m from the finish line, right inside the warehouse, right next to the stage. In a way, this was good. It was sheltered and away from the sun and any possible rain. However, as more runners finished and gathered inside the warehouse, the place was getting stuffy. Drinks were aplenty and there was even a queue for people who wanted a neck and shoulder massage (sorry no full body scrub down.)

After collecting my medal and finisher tee, I walked around, stretched a bit and cooled down. Then I decided to go look for the Superhero Rebekah and some of my pacer friends. Here are some photos with them.

At around 8.45, the sun was still hidden behind the clouds. There was a gentle breeze and overcast skies. No rain was imminent. All the finishers were enjoying catching with friends, taking wefie and boomerang jump shots. There was much celebration and mutual congratulatory messages were offered. As the curtains descended on this year’s Performance Series, many were be wondering if TPS would make a comeback again in 2018. Will it include a marathon category, which means a logistically humongous task to stage, let alone draw runners to participate? It is still anyone’s guess.

Closing Thoughts

There is still one more race in my bag before I close the year 2017. It has been a year of ups and downs and a very humbling experience for me. Injury will always humble a runner, whether professional or amateur. It has a way to cut us down to size and make us more humane when we thought we were invincible. And I am very thankful and grateful to God who gave me this humbling experience and also lifted me up again in His timing. TPS Changi was the race that He commissioned me back to racing. Now I am more convinced and persuaded that I run because He enables me, not because of my own training or fitness. And thus I dedicate this finisher medal and tee to the Lion of Judah.

In conclusion, let me share this quote from the www.ilovetorun.com. Runs and races will come to and end; but running does not.  Looking forward to my next sharing.  Meanwhile, run safe and run happy!

You may also follow me on Instagram @twtwriter for more updates on my running journey.