So just 3 days after completing the Full Marathon at OSIM Sundown, I was ‘scheduled’ to run the PCCW (Pacific Century CyberWorks) Global Charity Run.  This is a 5 km race, a unique one as it is one of those rare few events that are held on a weekday.  I joined last year’s as I thought it was a great idea to contribute back to charity through my new found passion.

This year is the third in the series, but my second since I started running seriously.  The venue is at Silver Leaf, Gardens by the Bay, as was last year’s.

PCCW Global, the sponsor for this event, is an international operating division of HKT, Hong Kong’s premier telecommunications service provider.   $50,000 was raised and the cheque handed over to the Singapore Cancer Society during the start of the race event in a simple ceremony.  The Singapore Cancer Society is a community-based voluntary welfare organization dedicated to minimizing the impact of cancer through public education, screening, patient services, financial assistance, research and advocacy.

With a limp yesterday, I was carrying some cartons for delivery as a medley of jobs that I took on recently, I was wondering if I could actually run on race day.   But a runner’s honor must be kept and I got the bib and singlet ready in the evening.  (Race Entry Pack collection had been a breeze held at Keypower Sports Outlet at Velocity.  Though the free gifts were less than the usual, it was after all for charity and very much value for money already.)

In the morning, my son also had to make a small sacrifice to wake up extra early so that I have adequate time to send him before leaving for my race.  I put on a plaster on one of the big fat blister that appeared at the bottom of one of my toes.  I was wondering to prick it so that I could run actually.  Decided not to, also after being advised by friend SY.  And I put on the Injinji socks to try out for the race too.  I didn’t dare to try something too different for the marathon itself but after the race, I think I should have worn them for Sundown.  The blisters would have been avoided.

The socks were very comfortable and for some miraculous reasons, or just my prayers answered, I didn’t feel any pain for the duration of the race.  I ran in the Newton shoes.  I was able to run and not walk or limp.   It was still, a short course, 5 km.  There was one hydration point but as it was a simple looping route, you could easily just grab a drink again if you need.

I finished in about 33 minutes according to the big timer at the finishing point, even stopping to snap one picture, carrying the phone in my hand.  I had thought I might have to walk and taking pictures would be a better utilization of the extra time.  As it was, I enjoyed the race and then quickly collected the medal and Tee, took some pictures and left for home as some assignments awaited me.  It was also a bonus to run today as it is Global Running Day.  Just too bad to miss my friend SY who also ran with an injury at the race.  I take a much needed rest now and will run my favorite these days, the 10 km towards end of the month.

The Sundown Marathon is Singapore’s first night race. With its humble beginnings back in 2008, starting with only 6000 participants, it has since become the largest night marathon in Asia today with a figure of over 25,000 participants this year. Sundown Marathon has firmly established itself as one of the highlights of the Singapore running calendar.

The Sundown Marathon is definitely not for the faint-hearted, as participants are faced with the additional challenge of running through the wee hours, with categories such as the full marathon flagging off past midnight.

REGISTRATION

Kelsey and I are usually really early sleepers, and we often feel sleepy even when it’s just 10pm… so we have absolutely no idea why we signed up for this event haha. We knew that it was going to be a torture to stay awake and run and yet we still decided to sign up for it.  The idea of being part of this grand event probably just robbed us into signing up for the half marathon category.

RACE PACK COLLECTION

The race pack collection was held over a span of three days on the weekend before the actual event at the Suntec Expo. Besides Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore, Sundown Marathon is probably the only other running event that has a large scale race expo in Singapore. You can find booths from most of the well-known sports outlets, including Key Power Sports, Runninglab etc.

We collected our race packs in the afternoon on the second day of collection and it was a smooth process. There were no queues at that timing and we simply walk straight through the counters. Next up, it’s shopping time! There were some really good deals going on and our advice to runners, stock up your gears only during the expo. You really do save quite a fair bit.

We stocked up on our GU energy chews because it was going at only $2.50 per packet, which is a decent discount from the U.P of $3.50 or so. We also got ourselves 3 pairs of Injinji socks at a deal of 3 for $39, which again is a great discount from the U.P of $19.90 each pair. Injinji is one of our favourite brands for socks because the individual slots for each toe really help to prevent blisters for long distance running. It really works! So check it out if you are having issues with blisters. I do remember that the socks were going at an even crazier deal of 3 for $30 during the 2015 expo, but I guess its inflation at work.

There were also freebies going around during the expo too. 42race was giving out free bandanas with just a simple email subscription to their website and Gymboxx was giving out vouchers with free 1-day gym pass.

Overall, it was an eventful expo and while many runners may find that the expos are pretty much similar every year, we still get really excited to browse through the booths.

RACE DAY

We made our way to the race site via the MRT and alighting at promenade station, which was just a short walk away.

Interestingly, when we reach the race site, the first thing we saw was this huge cage where teams are pitting against each other in a game of dodgeball. Apparently, this was part of the new initiative known as the Sundown sports zone, to spice up the atmosphere in the race village. It is a competition where teams sign up and compete for the top prizes. Interesting concept, but we are a little skeptical if that was what runners really want. After all, there wasn’t much crowd of runners attracted to it. The sports zone was located far away from the main race village so it felt more like a segregated event. We thought it would probably be a better idea to let the runners be the participants of this sports zone for free as a post race fringe event.

Since we had some time to spare before our category flag off, we decided to walk around the race village. Soh Rui Yong, one of Singapore’s top marathoner, was the ambassador for this year’s event and his face was spam all over the race village. A huge pity that he wasn’t present at the event though! Otherwise, poor Kelsey wouldn’t have to take a photo with just the poster.

There were many booths selling food for the hungry runners as their post race meals and boy were we so tempted to get some of it even before we ran. There were lots of varieties, ranging from Japanese food such as rice ball and udon, to western cuisines such as wraps. We held ourselves back and promised to come back to the booths as a post-race reward!

After a tour of the race village, we went ahead to deposit our bags at the baggage deposit located just beneath the F1 pit building. The efficiency of the bag deposit was pretty impressive, considering that there were some runners collecting while others depositing their bags at the same time. This is the first race we have seen, that is held at the F1 pit building, which utilises the building for baggage deposit rather than the usual makeshift tentages. Thumbs up for that!

Lastly, it was time for our pre-race ritual – Visiting the portaloos. (because we love to poop. just kidding) Another great experience with the portaloos as it was well spread out around different areas of the race sites. There were 3 sections of loos with about 20 loos in each section – An abundance of loos.

So far so good, all was well, until the moment when the starting pen was opened to runners.

Unsuspicious of anything, we went ahead to what seemed like an opening to the starting pen where a large crowd of runners was funneling through a small entry.

As we moved further in, we were alarmed to see that there were barricades all around us to prevent us from moving further ahead to the starting line which was around 200m in front! Across where we were standing, we could see another group of people streaming into the 200m of empty area that separated us from the starting line. It turns out that there was more than one starting pen and we had unknowingly entered the one catered for runners running above 3hours!

OH.MY.GOSH. ?

So basically, we were stuck together with this whole group at back of the starting line probably fated to be in the last wave (faints), as people on the other side of the barricade continued to stream in to fill up the space at the front… There were alot of people in this group obviously upset with this situation. All of us had came early to the starting pen but we were now stuck at the back! There was a lack of information being passed down to the participants regarding this and how on earth were the organisers supposed to know who are the 3hours and above runners with no indication on our bibs?!? Many runners were angry at the security, but of course, we do understand that they were just carrying out the instructions given by the organisers.

Some runners attempted to climb over the barricades and many were warned and scolded by the security. Things got really out of hand when one frustrated participant just slam open the barricade and charged out the front of the starting pen. The opening between the barricades allowed many others to follow suit and we were lucky to sneak out of it too ? . But you could tell that the security was so pissed off and he was barging through to fix the barricade as to prevent any more participants from slipping out.  It was quite a chaotic scene to be honest. I really do hope that the organizers can take such issues seriously in the future and if starting pens separated by timings were to be implemented, information has to be well disseminated to the participants way beforehand.

Anyway, we were lucky to get to the nearer starting pen eventually and we set off in wave 2. We would probably have been in wave 1000 if we were still stuck behind the barricades.

As usual, I accompanied Kelsey throughout the half marathon running at her pace. The Sundown crowd was really huge in numbers and there was little space to run in the first km. There were even short moments initially where everyone had to stop because the crowd was simply too large for the narrow routes. The crowd eventually spread out as we meet with a steep long upslope up a bridge soon after the first km.

We turned into East Coast Park (ECP) after 3.5km on the bridge and began another 3.5km stretch along ECP before U-turning out. It was a cooling stretch and the portion of ECP in the route was just about right (not as long as the FM where they spent almost 20km inside ECP). I enjoyed this stretch because it was just a straightforward flat path. However, we did encounter some issues with other participants here. There were some who just recklessly stop in front of us, and I had to brake awkwardly in order not to knock into them. It got a little frustrating because it was so dangerous for everyone!

Soon, we got out of ECP and reached Gardens by the Bay where the real problem struck us. Around 16km, Kelsey suffered really badly from the lack of long distance training which was accompanied by the sleepy bug. She began feeling nauseous and couldn’t carry on running no matter how hard she tried. It was really disappointing for us because we were only a short 5km away from the finishing point and she had a good chance to better all her HM timings previously. She decided ultimately that it was too uncomfortable to carry on running so she slowed to a stop. We walked on for the next 2km, but things didn’t seem to get better for her. Just as she was about to begin running again, comes the marina barrage slope.

It wasn’t a good idea to run up the slope in her conditions, especially with some 2km left to the finishing point, so we cleared marina barrage by walking. Following which, she gathered whatever energy she had left and ran as much as possible, with some walking in between. Finally, her dreadful night came to an end when we crossed the finishing line in a timing of 2hrs 45minutes. It was quite a surprise because we thought that it was definitely going to take more than 3 hours with all the walking. Nevertheless, she pushed on as best as she could and I’m proud of her.

Kelsey was still feeling all unwell and nauseous after the HM and we had to cut short our night at the race site so that she could get home to rest. Oh well, despite all the delicious looking food at the booths, we didn’t get any of it.

That’s it! Our Sundown Marathon 2016 came to an end. It was a mixed experience for us in terms of the race organisation, with some really good set up at the race village, to the huge deal breaker at the starting pen. I would also love to see more focus and investments into runners’ benefits and experience rather than churning out more unnecessary stuffs. The race pack is getting barer every year while the fees had continued to stay high.

Overall, it was still a good event but there is definitely room for improvements.

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A whopping 25 children from the Team Costa crew participated in Sunday’s Cold Storage Kids Run.

In it’s 9th year the Cold Storage run was held at Gardens by the Bay comprising of 1.6k and 800m distances, multiple age categories in both competitive and non-competitive versions. I’m fairly certain that with our turnout we participated in all but 2 categories.

Whilst the course itself was well organised, getting the kids into the starting pen was not. The start line announcer and the pen announcer were too close in proximity making the announcements difficult to understand. Parents were jostling and pushing their kids into the pens, inadvertently distressing many of the younger kids.

Much of this overcrowding was largely caused by the small space the village area was established in, making it challenging to weave through the crowds from the start to the finish line. Kinda like a square split in half with one side neat and orderly and the other side chaos.

Putting that aside, the kids however, had a ball. Many of them were in the same age category and able to run together. Some of the competitive sprinters did quite well. Justin placed 5th and Dylan 15th out of 232 in their category of 9-10 years old. Terrific effort on their part.

My girl on the other hand was much more interested in holding hands with her friend than running her race coming in 107/168. I guess she missed the idea that it’s “competitive”.

The finisher medal seemed a little flimsy when compared to other kids races such as the Safari Zoo, Standard Chartered or Trifactor Series. As an annual sellout event with numerous sponsors and focused on kids only, I think more consideration can be given towards the design of the medal.

With the 10th year anniversary in 2017, hopefully they’ll step-up the organisation for the crowds, a better medal and turning it into a memorable event for both kids and their parents.

We wrapped up the event with a meet-up on the grassy knoll for an epic group picture of Team Costa and their Little League members, with stunning Marina Bay Sands as a backdrop.

I’m sure we’ll be back next year for its 10th year anniversary. The crowds may have been insufferable to me as a parent but Trini had a great time. Hopefully she’ll remember to compete next time.

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Cheers

To run or not to run, that was the question which hounded me for a bit in Sundown Marathon.  Well, just a wee bit, because I was dead set on running the marathon.  A little doubt arose, primarily due to me getting an injury about a month or so before the OSIM Sundown.  I had Plantar Fasciitis (PF) years ago when I was working and suffered for 2 years, and the reason seemed to be the working office shoes that I was wearing.  Back in April this year again, I experienced the pain akin to that, coming on in the morning, feeling better after I stretch my calves in the morning.  On reflection (and research too), it was probably due to me switching my running shoes too quickly, with too high a difference in the heel drops and also my attempt to change my foot strike too quickly.  This was one of probable causes of PF.  Which is good learning for me, but the hard way too.  What if this turned into a stress fracture or something?

But anyway, I’ve already worked my way through my two big goals of this year : two half marathons within the week in April and the Spartan Super race in early May, and I wasn’t going to miss the Sundown this round.  (Moreover, I also agreed to help support run the Marathon with SimplyGiving though at race finish, I had garnered zero dollars for my effort !) So I forced myself to stop running daily and took time to recover.  From a high of 166 km in January, to a low of 92.5 km in April, and now about 45 km before the Sundown in month of May.   I had covered about 600 km through training/races since the last Marathon.  I tried to do other forms of exercises to keep myself fit though they were rather half-hearted as I still preferred running to push-ups, chin-ups, planks, bridges and the occasional cycling at the gym, plus swimming. I found myself gaining weight (also due to carbo load to some extent) and felt the urge to run.

Two days before Sundown,  I went for a 3.5 km primer run after last Sunday’s Straits Times Run in the City, 10 km race where I did a modest 1:12 hr.   And then found I was in a dilemma over the running shoes.  The Newton shoes had worn out pretty fast and my alternative New Balance shoes had gone through muddy water in Spartan Super, both were uncomfortable for the long haul of a marathon.  Should I get a new pair, but so terribly near the race?  I decided to stick with the familiar, so I just patched the eroded soles with some more black rubber.  I honestly too didn’t take into account the fact that I would have worn out so many shoes just through running – about 4 pairs already.   I ran another 1 km in the evening to ensure the patches were intact.  Now, I was more or less set for the big day.  Or was I ?

After my first full marathon (also Sundown) back in July last year, I had attempted the next full marathon Standard Chartered Marathon.  I slided from 6:12 to 6:28 timing, probably due to fatigue of races done in second half of last year.  This round with injury, was I going to make it?  A friend (SY), another avid runner,  jokingly told me I would complete in 7 hours knowing my pace and injury.   He also ominously told me that runners could die from marathon races… well, if they are not well prepared.  I didn’t really think so much of 7 hours as a goal (or conking out so soon).  I still hoped to finish faster because I thought I had learnt from the past two marathons and all the 34 races done in past 1 year 5 months.  Despite my conscious efforts to reduce my races this year, I was still doing about two races per month for past half year, continuing the trend for last year.

The day before race, I took out the bib and recalled that the collection about a week ago, was a breeze.  As was usual with the big races, after collection, we passed through the many running exhibit stalls including JustRunLah, OnCloud shoes, KeyPower International.

That day, I took a picture of the Sundown from my home, beautiful start – I thought.  I picked the same singlet that I had been racing in for most races this year, placing my cap, towel, shorts for changing etc into the bag.  This time, I took four packets of energy gel along with a small recycled bottle for hydration.

The race was to start at 12.30 am Sunday for wave 1 competitors.  I saw the live telecasts on facebook of the 5 km, 10 km races where my running friends were participating in.  Then I set off before 10.30 pm using public transport this time.  Got there early but the crowd was just amazing.  Managed to deposit bag quite quickly though.  My friend, Francis,  had completed his 10 km race and kindly passed the energy patch for me to try.  He left soon after giving me the instructions on where to put the two strips on the body.  I held onto them till just about 10 minutes before the race began and stuck them on.  I soon forgot about the patches on my body.  I kept to my plan of consuming the energy gel every 9 km or so.

So after all the reading/research, I told myself to pace myself properly this race.  Which meant I was wearing the Soleus GPS Mini that I won in a lucky draw which explained the color choice (young sea green).  Actually, I was also wearing the compression socks (shocking red) ‘free’ from the compressport rail run, and ‘free’ 2XU compression tights from my early queueing for the OCBC Cycling Event a number of weeks ago.  No sponsors for old and slow male runners like us, but hopefully I continued to get lucky for some of these draws.  It would get too costly to sustain all the races I was signing up for.

I looked at my watch every now and then for the first 10 km trying to maintain below 9 min pace.   At the beginning, it was still quite alright, but we hit a slight incline.  Slowed my pace down further and continued on.  I got sleepy too despite the gel with caffein.  Night was warm with little wind.  Day before it had rained quite heavily, and there was a drizzle in the morning back home in the West.   I felt more keenly the impact of the surface of the road on my soles and suspected that the sole rubber had eroded much, especially so on left side, due to the pronation on my left foot.  I didn’t bother to check as it would not help me.  I put the thought away and focused on completing the first 10 km.

The second 10 km was a bit more challenging, but it passed by too as expected.  The half marathon races had helped.  Still, I started to feel the strain of the injury after 20 km.   When I bent down to tie my shoelace which had come loose,  I felt the tightness as I stood up.   I was getting hungry somehow too.  I started to focus my thoughts on just running.  Follow the front folks who were running.  After 22 km or so, I started to count every 1 km, and looking forward to the next hydration point.  I had  carried  the recycled water bottle in my left hand most of the time which I tried to fill with the 100Plus or water.   Good thing was I don’t feel any chafing hurts which I had suffered in the past.  But my feet were hurting badly, like broken into two halves, the left foot especially.  I decided to put my backup plan to work.  Walk briskly every 60 seconds or so, and run every 180 counts or longer.  It worked to some extent.

After I took my third packet of gel at 28 km, I was wondering could I last another 14 km plus.  I told myself, I had come this far, sure can make it and will make it.  I was talking to myself in the head more and also to stay alert.  I had skipped taking the banana at one of the stops because I thought it was too early and starting to regret it.  I continued to walk and run, varying the counts depending on whether I was panting too much.  I also tried to remember whatever I had read, like Chi running.  Breathe through the diaphragm, take smaller steps, shuffling but trying to keep the cadence, and even curling the body somewhat as you get more exhausted.  But I tried to straighten again and felt better and so I continued to run a bit longer, walk for shorter duration.  I had stopped looking at my watch as regularly because I found myself too preoccupied with pace and it wasn’t helping at that stretch. I was more used to running without any gadget and hated to carry anything extra.  Soon, 29 and then past 30 km.  I gave a silent prayer as I didn’t hit the wall at all thus far, and had no leg cramps, just the feet hurting which I managed to ignore to large extent. 31 kilometres, was I glad to get over it.  My feet was hurting badly but I tried to tell myself that the sooner I reached, the better off for my feet.

(Let me digress a bit to the scenery around the runners.  The early morning scenery was quite nice where you can catch the skyline with the morning sun and trees, otherwise it was mostly just darkness with the occasional stars in the skies.  The only complaint I had was along the beach route, where surprisingly in the late night to early morning hours, besides us runners, there seemed to be a lot of smokers around polluting the air.  There was also a stretch where the familiar rubbish dump smell permeated the air.  It was a staple unfortunately as long as you have to run a marathon along that route.)

Strangely at 32 km, I felt a resurge of energy and told myself, only 10 km left, forget the past, treat this like many of the 10 km races I had done in the past half year.   So I psyched myself up, and I picked up on my paces, overtaking more than two dozen runners as most were walking somehow at that stretch.  I continued for about 2 km.  I must have hit a running high somehow in the midst of this race.    I stopped to take the drinks, didn’t take the bananas again, as I felt full somehow, perhaps the effect of gel and the patch on hindsight ?  But a short distance away, another volunteer offered a small banana which I took.  Only 8 km to go, can I maintain the pace, can I better my last PB ?

If only I could maintain the same pace but I found myself slowing down again, though not to a walk but slowing down after the hydration point.   Perhaps I had taken too much drinks and the body was trying to divert some energy to digesting ? The last 5 km saw another incline, up Marina Barrage and down.   If I ran at 9 min pace, it would take another 45 minutes, so I started calculating in my mind, pushing myself.

Then 3 km to go and it started to drizzle a bit and I looked forward to the downpour.  But it kind of fizzled out too.  Then last 1 km, when I thought I could finally get a breather, we have to go first half of it up the bridge.  (That’s what happened in life too, isn’t it.  Sometimes you think you have done all you could, and everything was finally going to settle, then a turn of events seemed to make it more challenging.  You just have to battle on, if you give up, that’s the end, if you continue, you could still succeed.)

By then, I was just running without pausing anymore , and willing the pain away from my feet.  In some sense, PF had won, but I had also beaten the odds of finishing with an injury and no, I didn’t get a PB, though I did beat my friend’s friendly target.  I completed in 6:41:13 adding another 13 minutes to last Marathon unfortunately.  I didn’t feel as tired in my legs (which meant that I was doing something right too) but my feet were killing me when I finally stopped after the finish line.  I collected the finisher medal, Tee-shirt, banana, 100Plus and sat for a few short minutes this time before collecting my bag.  I took the picture of the hard-earned medal, took off my socks and realized that my two big toe nails which were recovering from bad black toenails were bleeding again.  My left foot felt like broken into half.  And my shoes, worn out with rubber layers gone on left foot as suspected.

After putting on some foot powder and wearing back the shoes, I walked gingerly off to the MRT and made the long way home back west, feeling tired but satisfied that I had beaten the third monster that I chose to battle.  Mind over body, to run another day, another race… Limitless indeed is the mind if you put your heart to it.  Steely determination sees one through most adversities.

And that Sunday’s Sundown was even more beautiful.  Yes, I believe there are more runs in me, and I will better my first PB.  Now, I just need time to recover from my toes and my feet. And that’s the story of how a 53 year old runner with two years of running experience got his third full marathon done in span of 10 months.

I’ve never thought I would strike a full marathon off my bucket list into my second year of running!

Signing Up

Flashback, I signed up for Sundown Marathon at the race expo of Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2015. The race entry fee was at an attractive price of 85 bucks. Payment on the spot wrapped up pretty quickly and the sign up entitled me a past year race singlet. The deal is sealed and the clock starts ticking!

Carbs, Carbs and more Carbs

Fast forward, slightly less than a week before the big night, friends and I were happily sharing their Instagram-worthy of carbs-driven breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper; some have learned to eat a much bigger portion than usual, while some struggled with the fear of not being able to burn them off, and of course, some took this as an excuse to indulge and unleash the gluttony inside 🙂

Race Night

The team began counting down “10 hours to go…” “6 hours to go” (a member turned panicky who started spamming “gan cheong gan cheong over Whatsapp!”) I can totally relate to her mild breakdown lol! With this being my first and also her first 42km run, I was very afraid of what’s in store for us, it felt almost like we are running towards oblivion! Serene – a special shout out to you; if you can read this, I just want to say that I am happy for you, you’ve got yourself into completing the grueling run!

4 Hours before Race

About 4 hours before the flag off, we had our final carbs-loading session plus chin chye catch-up that consists of traditional and criss-cut fries at Carl’s Junior, Marina Square. We were happily exploring the wrist bands that were obtained at race venue and jokingly discussed if some of us are going to use the pace/km as a baseline for us to run beautiful but fast enough to meet the cut off. The pre-race jitters were pretty much taken care of as we have been joking around and chatting about other happy things in life.

1 Hour before Race

We met up with more friends that we’ve known through various social media platforms and of course we had to do a group shot! And before long, we headed into the start pen! I handed out Haribo gummybears to some of us and it has proven to be a popular pre-race chewy among us. The 5cm by 5cm pack soon went empty by 7km lol!

Flag Off –

1 to 4 km – It was a happy go lucky mood for us, Serene started her power walk while Kelvin and Thomas were still near. Eugene and Si Ling went missing in action and probably have rocketed off. It wasn’t a hearing problem for me but I definitely heard Fiqah calling me out in the tunnel! It was great to see her for the first time, after exchanging multiple words of congrats and encouragement over Instagram and Facebook.

5 – 6 km – Eugene and Si Ling continues to rocket out (in other words, MIA), we had to conquer the first elevation up the expressway. Someone alerted us of a cameraman ahead! While we were prepping for a shot (20 meters away before we believe he could get a good focus), the cameraman decided to take a break! *crap!*

7 – 33 km – My nightmare at East Coast Park began. We made an unspoken agreement to regroup at almost each water point. I’m so happy that they offered 100 plus isotonic at most of the water points! At this point, my gummy bears were officially out of stock but there were bananas given! I realized there could a potential shortage of volunteers at some water points. I hope other bloggers could bring out this point.

Serene’s power walk sometimes surpassed us guys but we managed to keep up most of the time. We caught the 5.30 hr pacers and I gave the pitiful look to Thomas and Serene. They know what I want and gave me their blessings to go after the yellow balloons. After 2 km, I stopped and realized I wanted to do this with them so I waited at a water point for the trio. As this is my first time doing a 42km, I started feeling discouraged due to the soaring thighs and hurtful soles. Kelvin was so kind to keep watching my back from in front. It was a good time Serene went for a lady break that I did some quick stretching before we ran again.

34 – 40 km – Tummy feels weird. Something was coming. I wanted to give up. I had an emotional and mental meltdown inside. I regretted that I did not ask Serene for cab fare (she offered me tissue though :)) We finally made it out to Bay East and saw the public loo which is approximately 50 meters away but the road leading to it was in the opposite direction which is after a long u-turn into the car park. I splattered, literally.

40 km – Finish – I let out my first verbal curse when i saw the “500 Meters To Go” marker and Kelvin was like “Huh? That’s all ah?”. Serene and Thomas waited for us, After regrouping, we were pacing and syncing up to cross the finish line together. We seemed to have been photobombed by a fellow runner flashing his underarm hair when the camera flashed lol. None of us cried when we ran past finished line – although we predicted someone in our group will 🙂

Post-Race

I’m happy I did it and the proudest thing is probably the honor of being able to do this with a group of passionate runners. We started and ended together, leaving no man/woman behind. I could not have survived the mental torture at 26 km if not for them. No matter how fast the pace and speed differs between one and another, be it completing before sunrise or under it in full burning force, every runner at Sundown Marathon 42km did almost the same amount of distance, had our teeth-biting moments; and if there is any extra takeaway, it is the companionship which I deemed to be the most valuable.

The night was young, the race carnival filled with people, runners and volunteers of the event. The atmosphere was all vibrant and filled with enthusiasm as runners warm up in prepare for their long distance run. Cheering voices could be heard in the distance as players engage in games such as dodgeball and basketball in the makeshift court outside the F1 pit building where the actual race would be held.

Race pen:

The race pen opens at 9.30 pm for the runner of the 10 km race. There was some simple light stretching exercises before runners were flagged off. The level of enthusiasm was high during the first wave, but slowly dropped again as we waited to be flagged off (I didn’t know I was in the third wave as I inched my way forward to the start line with the crowd). As soon as we know that we were about to be flagged off, we got all excited and eager again. Bring on the night race!

Actual race:

Roads were cordoned off for the runners and the road was relatively wide. The running route was not congested and it was a really pleasant run. The night breeze was enjoyable and it was a refreshing race without the scorching sun. The race itself required some running up slope, down slope at the helix bridge and also some stairs climbing near Marina Bay Sands.

Hydration points:

There were about 3 hydration points along the 10 km route. It wasn’t enough in my opinion. It might be because of the warmer weather these days but I’ve since learnt to take 2 cups every time I pass the hydration point. 1 cup of water is not enough. 2 cups of 100 plus left me feeling thirsty and dry mouthed. So the best combination for me was 1 cup of 100 plus first then 1 cup of water.

The overall event was enjoyable. Finishers were given their medal and some refreshments at the end of the race. There were even movie screenings at the race village for everyone to enjoy. The volunteers of this event were also friendly and encouraging.

The OSIM Sundown Marathon is one of the biggest night races in Singapore and this year more than 27,600 participants took part in this year event! For me, this was my 2nd Sundown event. I had previously participated in 2014 in the 10km individual category. This year, I signed up for the Team of 4 (10 km) Category and was running along with team mates who were doing their first night race.

Race Day

We were all super excited for the race and wanted to see how we would perform during night runs. Most of our trainings were done in the early mornings and evening but never after 8pm. We got to the race site early as we wanted to start in the first wave.

We got to the F1 Pit Building around 21:10hrs. As soon as we got there, we could see lots of participants and were wowed by the sheer numbers! It was a  different feel for night run events as compared to morning run events! There were lots of pre-race events happening at the race site like dodge ball competitions, mass zumba workouts etc. As usual, we took our mandatory wefies to remember the fun moments! These photos are definitely something I know I would look back and remember!

As time was fast approaching for the 10km START pen to be opened, we quickly made our way to it’s entry point. We wanted to be in the 1st wave as we wanted to catch the last train back from promenade MRT Station. If we were to start off in any of the later waves, we would have missed it! The START pen opened promptly at 21:30hrs and all the 10km runners made their way to the front of the starting line.

I must say the half an hour wait in the START pen was not a boring one. The emcees were really entertaining and the music that was played was really upbeat and it does get you pumped!

Flag-Off 

The time for flag-off finally came! The flag-off party for the 10km event which included Minister Baey Yam Keng and Founder of OSIM Interenational Ron Sim went up on stage to sound the horns! But before that happen, I was really impressed with the laser light show that the organizers had put on at the pit building. You can check out the video by clicking here.

My only impression was that light show was sooooo cooool!!!! After that impressive light show, we were promptly flagged off at 22:00hrs!

Route

The 10km route was a bit of a challenge. We  had a few slopes to overcome, they included a slight incline after the pit building heading to the floating platform, the gentle slope around the Youth Olympic Park to the Double helix bridge, the slight incline at the double helix bridge and not forgetting the last slope at the 9km mark up the bridge back to the F1 pit building. It was hard work but I’m glad all of us conquered them.

[Map courtesy of Sundown Marathon]

Traffic was pretty smooth except for a bit of a hiccup after 200m exiting the pit building, slight bottleneck but that cleared pretty fast. It was pretty scenic especially the part where we were running past the Marina Bay Sands Open area, you can just see the Singapore skyline brightly lit up. Hydration points were sufficient though I felt that the first one could be placed after the 3km mark and not after 2km which was a bit too early for drinks. Volunteers also deserve a mention here as they did a good job cheering the runners on and prepping the drinks!

Race Finish

I completed the Sundown Marathon 10km Category in 1hr 16mins (Official Timing). Collection of medal and post race snacks (banana & 100Plus) was really smooth. I was so glad to complete the race and just catch a breather before finding for my team. We didn’t stay long at the race site to check out the post race events as we had to rush off to catch the last train back.

Overall, all of us enjoyed the race. Check out our happy faces as we were waiting for our train back. To run in the night and not have that heat factor does really help. You don’t feel soo drained like after a morning race. In fact the ironic thing was that all of us were super awake and afraid that we would not be able to sleep later because we were high from the adrenaline. Would I run for next year Sundown event? Well, that’s a very high chance I would return but we well see how it goes next year.

Till my next race review! Happy reading friends 🙂

We are LIMITLESS!

The theme for this year’s OSIM Sundown Marathon sounds inviting – LIMITLESS.

There are two ways to look at this.  If you are a non-runner, the future is limitless once you take the first step to run your first race.  For the seasoned or elite runner, there are the ultra, SEA Games, Olympics or Boston or Chicago Marathons lying in wait.  What about the those who injured themselves and faced an uncertain future of running.  Will LIMITLESS apply to them?  Read on to find out more.

For those who are runners, you will agree with me that running is akin to life.  The emotions and experiences that you get from running, you also get in life.  There are many firsts in running; first race, first medal, first finisher tee, first PB, first FM, including first injury.  After almost two years of running, I encountered my first injury.  However, this post is mainly to review the OSIM Sundown Marathon 5km fun run more than to tell you about my injury.

The decision to do this race was conceived more than two months ago when my son, Austin and I talked about a night run.  We were toying between 5km or 10km because at that time the HM or FM were out of my contention. We landed on the 5km for a few reasons; less cost, early start (no need to rush with the other runners) and can get home by midnight.  We also just wanted to enjoy a cool, night run as father and son.

Race Pack Collection – 21 May 2016

REPC was scheduled on the weekend of 20-22 May at Suntec Convention Centre.  We arrived at about 11.30am on Saturday morning and were pleasantly surprised that there was no queue at all categories.  We whisked through the collection counter quickly. I must say that the organisers had the whole REPC experience well thought out.  The runners were enticed with running merchandise that tempted many to part with some cash and bring home more goodies than just the race pack goodie bag.  We had to snake through all the sponsors and other commercial booths hawking their wares to the runners.  As we walked through the ‘maze’, we felt like some ‘IT or PC show’ where there were more salesmen or promoters than runners.  I suppose we were early hence the crowd had not swelled up yet. Discounts were aplenty and many varieties of sports wear, gears and accessories to choose from.  We walked past #justrunlah booth and saw Yvonne peeping from behind the backdrop; don’t know if she was too shy to come out.  Wanted to take some photos with her and July (the new JRL and Mizuno ambassador) but no chance.  Better luck next time. Right at the end of the maze, we picked up a free bandana each.  Ain’t it cool?!

Race Day – 28 May 2016

We both realised that a night race gave us the time to have a proper meal before the start of the race, albeit early dinner for us.  After a quick home-prepared meal, we trained down to Promenade, the nearest MRT station to the F1 Pit where the race village is.  On the way, we only saw a few runners until we reach our intended station.  Runners from all Singapore began to converge at Promenade station and make their way to the starting pen.  We arrived very early and took some photos before the skies got too dark for a decent photo.

It was only a 5km run so we didn’t bother to do too much warm-up.  Once the start pen opened at 7.45pm, all the eager runners started to surge forward.  It was the first time I saw some many runners of different ages, sizes and heights. I spotted this angmoh who must be close to 1.9m tall; it would probably be a 2.5km run for him since his stride was going to be twice as much haha.)  They were also many children of all ages at the starting line up together with the adults.  Although the kids were accompanied by adults, I thought it would be safer for them to have a different timing or path as some runners (although it was a fun run) really dashed ahead at the start; causing them to avoid the kids precariously.

So we were off at precisely at 8pm.  I told my son to go ahead and get a good timing (no timing device were given for 5km runners meh) while I took my own time to enjoy the run. I was still nursing my knee injury and decided to take it slow even at the start.  The initial 500m stretch was pretty narrow and there was overcrowding as most were not very fast runners.  So even at my low pace, I was somewhat impeded by the human traffic. Runners started to space out at the 1km mark and I still had not felt any pain on my knee.  Good sign, I thought to myself.  So up the helix bridge I went, at a tortoise pace of 8-9min/km and just taking in the Marina Bay night scene.  As I closed in to the 2km mark, I felt the ominous pain on my right knee returning.  I trudged on.  I slowed to almost a brisk walk at about 2.5km mark and could jog no more.  The hydration at mid point helped to perk up my mood a bit.  My son passed me on the return lane and waved at me.  I returned with a weak smile; as I was already in pain.

Half limping, half walking, I made my way towards the U-turn.  Many runners, male and female, even kids, whisked past me.  For the first time in many races, I felt that I may ended up as the last runner.  Feelings of sadness and self-pity threatened to well up in me but I fought back.  I am a runner; I am in a LIMITLESS race; I cannot give up.  So after walking for 1km, I started to walk/jog from the 3.5km mark onwards.  Gardens by the Bay was on my left, and the Bay was on my right.  The night lights from the Singapore skyline seemed to be egging me on; but my knee just won’t listen – a case of the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  At the 4km, I decided that I will brisk walk at a faster pace.  I tried to activate my glutes and hamstrings more to assist in my strides so that I didn’t stress my knee too much.  As I made my way up the Esplanade Bridge; I felt the need to finish strong at the last 500m stretch.

As I turned into last stretch, I could still feel the pain gnawing at my knee.  Having trained myself to ignore pain (yes, I do listen to my body most of the time), I picked up my stride and pushed myself into a sprinting mode.  As I raced past the finishing arch as the cameras flashed away, I heaved a sigh of relief.  I did not even bother to post for the photographers.  I did it.  I finished my first race; still nursing an injury.  I checked my GPS watch – 45 mins.  It’s a far cry from my sub30 for 5km.  I had planned to run 35-40mins but it turned out to be more than I expected.  But I was still thankful that I made it.

Post Race

I picked up my banana, a 100Plus and the pretty finisher medal.  After cooling down and having done some stretching, I went looking for my son; which I later found out that he finished in under 30mins.  He told me that it could have been faster if not for the bottlenecks at the starting point.  There were plenty of booths for runners to browse after the race.  The massage booths were still not open; only for the HM and FM runners. Music continued to blast to maintain a carnival atmosphere within the race village. I was sure many would stay to party and the after race events will be a draw for the longer distance runners.  For me, I rather go home and sleep.  So, we took the usual post run photo and then made our way home; me still spotting a slight, painful limp.

As we walked to Promenade, we saw a huge group of runners, presumably the 10km contenders, spilling out from the station.  I was sure that there were some who were doing the 21km or Full Marathon among them. On one hand, I wished I could join their ranks to run from Saturday to Sunday; on the other hand, I was happy that I was done with the run and going home for my much needed sleep.  As I sat in the train, I reflected on my running journey thus far.  Although I had come a long way from my first race in 2014, I did not imagine that I would sustain my first injury that would ground me for a while.  There was much more that I wanted to do as I eased towards the next decade of my life.  Would I be able to run a full marathon, or let alone get back to 10km or HM – that is still a big question.

Having covered a total distance of more than 2000km so far in two years, I realise that running comes with many surprises; pleasant and nasty ones.  OSIM Sundown Marathon 2016 has afforded me an opportunity to do a night run.  Thanks also to my friend Kenjoe; for giving a free slot for this run.  For all these I am grateful and feel thoroughly blessed. To be able to bond with my son over a run like this is indeed another blessing. He told me that when I recover, we should go for 10km races.  Brilliant idea; I would love to do that with him.  As for the knee injury, although it is a setback, I consider it as a valuable experience to teach me to run better in the future.

Till then, it’s downtime for me.  I shall return stronger. I can still be LIMITLESS!

Extremely Garang : 20 loops & beyond (100km & beyond)

*Note: The minimum requirement is 1 loop (5km)

Pre-Race :

• Arrived via taxi with personal cooler box
• collected bib, final preparations, photos with friends

Podium Finishers :

Loop 1 : Lap : 00:27:44 ; Nett : 00:27:44 ; Gender : 1 ; Overall : 1 ; Distance : 5k

I resisted the urge to stop for a sip at the Water-Only Support Station which was situated at the first of the 3 bus stops along this 1.5km stretch of Lornie Rd, found myself running in the company of Daniel Ong, Faith Tan, Ee Meng, and Muk Tuck Sang. I clocked in at 1st place at the end of this first loop. 27:44 mins which was to be my fastest of the day and the event’s too

Loop 2 : Lap : 00:28:52 ; Nett : 00:56:36 ; Gender : 1 ; Overall : 1 ; Distance : 10k

Loop 3 : Lap : 00:31:11 ; Nett : 01:27:47 ; Gender : 1 ; Overall : 2 ; Distance : 15k

Loop 4 : Lap : 00:31:59 ; Nett : 01:59:47 ; Gender : 1 ; Overall : 2 ; Distance : 20k

Loop 5 : Lap : 00:36:31 ; Nett : 02:36:19 ; Gender : 2 ; Overall : 4 ; Distance : 25k

Loop 6 : Lap : 00:49:56 ; Nett : 03:26:16 ; Gender : 7 ; Overall : 9 ; Distance : 30k

Loop 7 : Lap : 00:53:40 ; Nett : 04:19:56 ; Gender : 12 ; Overall : 16 ; Distance : 35k

Loop 8 : Lap : 00:38:21 ; Nett : 04:58:18 ; Gender : 8 ; Overall : 12 ; Distance : 40k

Loop 9 : Lap : 00:52:25 ; Nett : 05:50:43 ; Gender : 8 ; Overall : 12 ; Distance : 45k

Loop 10 : Lap : 00:52:14 ; Nett : 06:42:57 ; Gender : 8 ; Overall : 12 ; Distance : 50k

Loop 11 : Lap : 01:00:59 ; Nett : 07:43:57 ; Gender : 8 ; Overall : 11 ; Distance : 55k

Loop 12 : Lap : 00:52:27 ; Nett : 08:36:24 ; Gender : 6 ; Overall : 9 ; Distance : 60k

Loop 13 : Lap : 00:42:57 ; Nett : 09:19:22 ; Gender : 5 ; Overall : 7 ; Distance : 65k

Loop 14 : Lap : 00:38:24 ; Nett : 09:57:47 ; Gender : 5 ; Overall : 7 ; Distance : 70k

Loop 15 : Lap : 00:43:43 ; Nett : 10:41:30 ; Gender : 5 ; Overall : 7 ; Distance : 75k

Loop 16 : Lap : 00:47:00 ; Nett : 11:28:31 ; Gender : 5 ; Overall : 7 ; Distance : 80k

Race Summary :

• Ranked Men’s 5th in this inaugural Running Guild event ! and was pleasantly surprised of being considered a podium finisher as they had prepared prizes for 4th and 5th placed Finishers of both Men and Women categories as well !
• 1 runner truly stood out amongst all : The Overall Champ, the only one to do a 100 km (20 loops ! ) and be crowned “Extremely Garang” – Tobiaz Frenz from Germany !
• I was also proud of the fact that i was one of 2 true blue Singapore sons to be in the Men’s Top 5. The other being the 2nd placed Men’s Champion : Yong Yuen Cheng, a star name in the local Ultra running scene. He completed 18 loops (90k) !
• As for my friend Faith, she won the Women’s category – 17 loops, 85k in 11:11:27 and finishing 3rd Overall !
• There were many amongst us who not only took up this challenge, but the 50-Hour Run (Bedok Reservoir) as well. I wasn’t one of them, electing to focus my energy on this event only. Of those who did, some had ran 10 loops the day before, on this day itself … after completing x loops of this event and going there to run y loops, or run the day after this event

Results :

http://www.racetecresults.com/Results.aspx?CId=17036&RId=3009

Thanks :

• Daniel Ong – awesome and selfless pacing and companionship. He admitted afterwards he was running faster than he usually would. He was pacing me at my speed rather than his own, and perhaps that had been instrumental in him calling an end to his own race with much time left still. Thanks bro ! Much appreciated. My 5th placing would never have been possible without you ! 🙂
• Jian Hong – the desserts, and the pacing of my last loop. Thanks for walking, even though i sensed you were dying to have a run (with me) lol
• Fugitive Bob – for the ice !
• Muk Tuck Sang – for helping fill up my bottle with Coke. Saved me time
• Lily Bimmo – Thanks for everything (SOP already, no need to mention what or how you help … whole of SG also knows lol), and just being there to support us runners
• Photographers : Lawrence Ho (Project Happy Feet), Ming Ham (wow2wow), Running Shots Wheng, Run Shoot Repeat, Wilson Ong, EuGene Aw, Pris Chew, & any other overlooked. Humble apologies.
• Running Guild, volunteers, supporters, and fellow participants

Consumed :

Conclusion :

STATS :

Congratulations to all the runners who completed their run! Remember, no run is easy no matter whether it’s a 5km run or 42.195km run/death march. I remembered during my secondary school days running even just 2.4km is killing me. Respect all the runs ?

This is my second full marathon and although it is very disappointing that I took 6hrs and 10mins from gun time to complete it. But it should be expected, I didn’t train for it, I didn’t clock in enough mileage. By right I was only doing a half marathon until about 29 hours before the run. If you want to run, you will find a way ?

At first when the design of the finisher tee was out, I thought that it was ugly and luckily it is none of my business as there is no finisher tee for half marathoners. But now that I got this 42.195km finisher tee, I feel that it is sibeh chio because I use my sweat and tortured myself physically and mentally to get it!

I want to thank Nigel for pacing me. Always checking up whether I’m ok, giving me encouragements and reminds me to drink water and to go slow when I went a little faster. Till about 28km I really couldn’t catch up with him anymore and start walking. I walked a lot in this run. The back of my knees are tired. I was cursing because one of my thigh and calve is very spicy due to my pole class earlier on. See all our right thighs and calves ?

I should have worn compression tights for the run. I worn them during SCMS and Newton Challenge and my legs were pretty fine after the run. But today, I did not wear it and I feel literally like a penguin after the run and it feels as if my leg were jumped and stomped on a hundred times ?

When I exit ECP, I tell myself start running you can do it! And I start running again till I reach gardens by the bay east. It is really amazing that when you thought that your legs had already failed you but you can start running again. And for the entire run, there at that stretch is the best part of my run. I felt like a rock star because after ECP, it seems like everyone was walking and I’m still running. I felt tough because even the guys who looked so fit was walking and I’m still running, passing them. And then one runner ran pass me and said: Good Job! My eyes followed him to check if he is telling that to everyone but no, so I figure out because at that time I was still running, still looking strong while the whole place looks like a scene in the walking dead where everyone else is walking and looked like dying. Really thank him for the words because it allows me to carry on running for quite a while feeling good ? And I tried to spread his kind gestures to other runners too by telling them ‘jia you’.

Today I really forgot to run happy. I was so concern about getting a PB, even completing it one seconds faster and I am satisfied but I didn’t manage to. This is my second marathon with the first marathon last year at SCMS completed in a Net time of 5hrs50mins. I had a lot of walking. And I was so stress during the run that I think I looked back at least 50 times to check whether the 6hrs Pacers have caught up and hoping that they never caught up. But still, they caught up at the last 4km and I tell myself to follow them, but I went a little faster than them but after 2km I looked back and the balloons were gone and never passed me anymore. So what happened? Did they walked? And there was a part where the sprinklers were on, watering the plants and grasses I just feel jumping in front of it to get myself soak! It looks so shiok! But better not, people will think this one crazy already. I walked another 1.5km till I saw the “Last 500m” signboard and start running again. Sure a lot of cameras and indeed a lot of Photographers are camping there, just see the cameras flash ? At least for the pictures hopefully won’t catch me walking ?

Finally I completed the run and I feel like sleeping, can I camp there? I don’t want to move anymore, I can’t move anymore. Sundown marathon became a sunrise marathon for me ? And I feel so nauseous immediately after I stop running. I found myself hungry but no appetite. And the moment I found my friends who completed the run it rains and we seek shelter. I was actually hoping that it rained when I was still running. I was so smelly, so sweaty, and so oily. Drop dead tired already, didn’t want to walk a single step anymore to explore their race village ? Even call a cab home because I was feeling so unwell. When I reached home, I was too tired to go and bathe till I slept on the floor before I finally took a chair to the bathroom, bathe myself sitting down ?

Recap on the running routes, Marina Barrage and Shears bridge is crazy. Angry with some cheaters who cheat at the barrage ? I think I never saw anything at the barrage to scan our time so must be their friends who tell them can just siam running the slopes. Other than some part of the routes is very squeezy, the ECP seems very long and torturous.

Now I wonder would I dare to go for a 42.195 marathon again? Although already signed up but do I dare to go?

[Throwback 29 Hours before Sundown]

Omg! Omg! Omg! I’m so not prepared for this! I can’t believe myself! I just get myself ‘upgraded’ from running 21.1km to 42.2km! I must say because Kelvin and Thomas had did all the ‘poisoning’ me of running the 42.2km since weeks before the run and I was already very tempted to go but tell myself peace, remain at peace, don’t succumb to temptations but when Serene says not always can run together then I totally lose it and within minutes I find myself looking for ways to run the full marathon instead ?

But when I cool myself down. I asked myself what have I done? Where is my plan of running below 5 hours 30 mins for my next marathon? Can I do it this time? Should I follow the pacers? Should I just run easy and run happy with my friends who are doing super slow that they even thought of coming up with a 7 or 8 hours pacer group for themselves? A few days back I just signed up for Penang Bridge International Marathon and it is a bad idea because I am now using it as an excuse of to go full this Sundown to prepare myself. Last year I went for my first full marathon at SCMS, after completion I thought that a full marathon is like an item on a bucket list, complete once is enough. But I think I forgotten the super toughness of the 42km and now I find myself challenging it again.

[Throwback 2 Days before Sundown]

Don’t know what am I stress about. It’s the exact feeling I have when I was sitting for my exams when I’m studying. Anxious, nervous and worried. I don’t run fast, I am not a competitive runner nor running earns me a living. So stress simi? Actually I’m not a runner, define these words: Runner. Run. Running. What is run? Or maybe I’m a jogger? So did I run or jog all these time? ?

I guess the stress is partially because I’m aiming to get a personal best in this run. But it is only just another half marathon right? No. It is not only just a half marathon. It is my third half marathon! It is a freaking 21.1km, not simply just a half marathon!

I’m quite new to the running community in Singapore. For my first half marathon at GEWR last year, I did 2hrs and 24 mins, but this year I did 2hrs and 34 mins at 2XU. 10 minutes is not a lot, in 10 minutes I can only take a quick bath, 10 minutes in my bed every morning is like close my eyes and open my eyes 10 minutes gone. But for those racers, even 0.01 seconds matters a lot to them. Anyway, anything lesser than 2hrs 24mins and I’m happy already ? So, 2hrs 23mins and 59seconds can do!

People do intervals, hill trainings, fartleks, this and that but I simply run the way I like because running however way I want to run I’m at my comfort zone. Maybe I’m a weakling. But I’m still better than those who don’t run at all right? See, I am damn good at consoling myself ? Still, life is not about running. There is much more to life.

[Throwback Straits Times Run 2016]

Thank you Running Shots for this beautiful picture. Can see that we are truly enjoying ourselves and having fun during the run ?

The ‘beautiful beautiful pace’ that Serene, Kelvin and I goes at still landed me in the top 50% of the 18.45km women’s category ? Although the speed and timing cannot really make it which irritates me a lot but consider the almost did not show up, consider the drinking of alcohol before the run, consider the sleeping of a maximum of only 3 hours since I woke up on Friday morning, I think I did a great job just by showing up to run. And I think I was too hyper because of the alcohol and I keep on talking non stop. Hope they didn’t find me as a ‘noise pollution’ ?