Sundown Marathon

Like thousand of others, I stayed up for more than 6 hours for the Sundown Marathon. The only difference is that for the many thousand of runners, they were running from Changi to Fort Road and back while I was stucked in an almost ulu stretch of the ECP for 6 hours.

Together with M, I had made a almost last minute decision to go down and support friends who were doing this race. We parked ourselves at 31km and waited for the runners to come by. Unlike the previous 2 years, it was a much smaller affair with only the 2 of us; since it was a last minute affair and I couldn't get helps at such last minute. We had a few bottles of coke, hot coffee, deep heat for the runners and sand flies and mosquitoes for us:). I also tried taking photos but the few test shots turned up horribly bad due to the darkness and so I gave up. Sorry guys, no pictures this time round!

We had reached at around 11 pm and was just in time to see the 1st runner of the ultra marathon zipping by!  That was the 30km which means he had completed 60km in 5 hours! Big big salute! We then walked towards the NSRCC as Team Pegasus support table was already at the 30km and I didn't see the point of being so near them as we shared many common friends and acquaintances.

Running Lab Great Singapore Sale

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Jump Start your Race

So I been analyzing last Saturday's Passion Run. What went well and what went wrong. The 'went wrong' part is easy. Just blame it on the lack of mileage, lack of long distance run, and lack of running. Ha ha ha. With just 2 lsd of 20km between January 2009 till this race, and weekly mileage of 30km +, it is no surprise that I choked. But then again it could have been worse.

And I think that's where the 'went well' part came in. My use of the magic portion! Oops, wrong! Portion is to ingest. This one is to apply. Tadah..... introducing the Jump Start Instant Energy Cream!

The Jump Start Instant Energy Cream, by Lynk Biotech, is an ointment which is applied externally on the body. It is supposed to provide 'instant' energy to boost speed, strength and endurance. It contains Ribose, a substance which the muscles are supposedly able to tap on to work harder and longer. It also contains creatine, caffeine and carnitine and according to the label, no banned substances. According to information gleaned from the web, Ribose is supposed to increase endurance, reduce fatigue and helps muscle recovery. Carnitine is an amino acid. All these together are delivered directly via Lynk's transdermal delivery system directly to the required area avoiding the metabolisation if it has been ingested orally.

Kids Run the City

Had an enjoyable time at the Cold Storage Kids Run. My kids are already teens so why am I there and earlier than most people? Cos the company is one of the sponsor and me is the guy in charge. The fall guy if things go wrong. But fortunately, everything went perfectly.

Every year we have an unique gift and this year was no different.

Tadah! A fuel belt lookalike. It was so popular that we ran out fast and some kids cried when they couldn't get it and one bladdy foreigner even banished money in front of my colleague and demanded that she be given one even though she had already collected 2 earlier on.

But what I enjoyed more was watching the kids run. It is a real joy seeing their energy and the way they ran.

And if my hearing didn't served me wrong, the top kids finished the 1.4km in just over 5 mins.

And then we also sponsored some children from the Spastic Children Association of Singapore. Boy, these kids despite their handicap are so determined that it left me humbled.

And the best part of the Cold Storage Kids Run is that unlike the races for us adults, this one really had a wonderful carnival atmosphere. The color, the sounds and the buzz. It's just terrific.

More pictures here

100Plus Passion Run 2010

The first long race above 20km for me since December 2008. Didn't even realised that I done not done any half marathon or above for the whole of 2009. That shows how slacked I had become and of course as a result, I paid the price for this race.

I didn't really know how I will fare for this. A niggling knee problem 3 weeks ago had me worried a bit and hence the last 2 weeks build up was drastically reduced and I didn't get to do the last 2 long runs to prep for this.  So I wasn't really mentally prepared for this. I told myself to just take this as a training run for next month KL Marathon but still I wanted to see how I fare and I was targeting a conservative 2:30 finish. As insurance, I resurrected my Cho-pat knee strap, slap on T-Max on the knees and finally, my magic portion from the people at Lynk Biotech. Will this be enough to see me through the race?

It was raining the whole day and the sky looks cool and inviting until 4pm when the sun finally peeked out. There goes the cool weather but thankfully, it wasn't as hot as expected and with a light sea breeze and patches of shades along the beach, it was ideal weather for a nice run.

There was supposed to be 3 waves but we wasn't so clear what was going on and decided to start with the first wave as I didn't want to be caught behind all the walkers. I was running with M in the 50km Duo but we have agreed we will run separately and not together.

The first part was normal stuck behind a big group of runners until about 2 km later where the crowd thins out a bit. Distance markers seem very accurate and I was clocking a fairly consistent 6 minutes pace and I was hopeful of achieving my 2:30. The knee was okay but my tight left calf was reminding me to take it easy. At 5km, I was spot on at 30 minutes. Reached the water point after Big Splash and the Princess was there with her classmates serving drinks. M was probably about 50 metres behind at that point in time. Managed to maintain the pace despite the left calf complaining with every step. Time at 10km was 1:00:16 which cheered me up a lot.

T-Max Pain and Itch Relieving Cream

I generally do not use muscle rub especially the heat type being allergic to either the camphor or the menthol that is commonly found in them. So when I was given a sponsorship of T-Max (along with some other products) from Lynk Biotech, I was a bit apprehensive on how I was going to use them. Nevertheless, one should not look a gift horse in the mouth so bo piah, die die must try.

At the sponsorship presentation, a fellow runner shared how she used T-Max. She was a participant in an earlier trial. After her long runs, and just before going to bed, she would apply the T-Max on all the areas that was aching and when she wakes up the next morning, all the aches will be gone! To make it more effective, she said she even wrapped her blanket tightly around her leg to seal in the heat from the T-Max. Another person shared that she applies it to her arm and shoulder before swimming and it helps to reduce the ache.

According to Dr Lee Chee Wee, CEO of Lynk Biotech, the manufacturer of the T-Max, not only can T-Max be used as a muscle rub to relieve pain and itch, but it can also be used to treat knee pain as it contains anti-inflammation agents! Surely, good news for all those runners with runner's knee.

Looking Forward

Ha ha Dr Tekko was wrong in this diagnosis. What a relief! After a week of rest, managed to do a short run on Thursday without much problem and on Saturday completed a long run in one piece.

Maybe the massage helped or may be the visit to my favourite Chinese Sinseh helped too.

So now I am looking forward to next week Passion Run. And I got a 'magic portion' to test out for this! Look out for the review thereafter.

Sports Massage in the West

After enduring sore calves for quite some time and with the knee problem still not resolve, decided to treat myself to a session of massage. Dragged the MOHA to go along - this time instead of going to the usual spa or one in Bintan or Batam, decided to try out one posting from the forum.

We arrived late at the HDB based home spa in Bukit Batok. First impression was this people are strong believer in feng shui. There were feng shui items all over - on the table, floor and every which place you look. The treatment room itself was in the master bedroom on the 2nd floor of the maisonette. It was a cosy little room with a massage bed, attached bathroom, the usual soothing music and an aircon set at just the right temperature.

M was the first guinea pig. We had opted for the full body massage which was supposed to be for 90 minutes but I think it ran into almost 2 hours. My turn after that and similarly it took longer than 90 minutes. Diana later explained that she doesn't really watch the clock preferring to iron out all the problems rather than just going through the motion in the allocated time.

Barefoot Running

It's back to the good old fashion barefoot running as a few of us gingerly took our first steps toward reacquainting our bare feet with good old Mother Earth er more specifically the tarmac of the CCAB stadium.

Led by our very own barefoot guru, after a short and interesting talk on the development leading to the current trend of barefoot running, we tossed off our shoes and went around the tracks. Some of us were doing this for the very first time whilst some had some prior experience. There wasn't much hooha, no shouting of pain, no wild abandonment of joy of being free from the curse of the modern running shoes just silent plodding as we went through our paces round the stadium.  Actually, I am sure we were fodders of amusement for the other people there though. These people must be thinking that we were a bit not so okay up in the head running around the hot track in our barefoot.

All of us finished the short experiment in one piece safe for Uncle here with his baby soft foot which ended up with 2 blisters.

So will I be doing more runs shun shoes?  Hmmm let me sleep on it for a while more:)

Can it be the dread ...?

Have been a bit kiasu and decided to lay off running for the past 3 days. Went running last night but barely 1 km into the run, the problem came back. Another 1 km and I decided to call it quit for the rest of the evening.

By now the realisation is slowing hitting me. More research on the web and Dr Tekko have decided that it is the dread ITB Syndrome injury. The signs are all there. Tightness in the joints. More pronounced when going uphill/downhill. Pain slowly increasing in intensity.

Well, Dr Tekko has been wrong in his 'diagnosis' before as when he diagnosed thyroid problem for kidney problem and hopefully he is wrong this time as well and it is just a case of strained muscles. [x-fingers]

Saw this poster at RL. Just loves whatever is on it.

Something Weird

Since Tuesday, been experiencing something weird when I run. It wasn't so noticeable on Tuesday. I attributed it to the higher intensive workout that I was doing. I thought it was fatigue and didn't think too much.

Then on Thursday evening, had barely ran 50 metres when the right knee suddenly locked up! It was a strange feeling. I had to resort to running with a limp for a few steps before it unfreezed. But it came back every few steps so much so that in the end after 2 km, I gave up the run and headed back. The weird thing is there was no pain and an examination of the knee later shown no swelling or anything abnormal.

So I approached Saturday's morning with some apprehension. This time the jamming of the knee came much later, almost 2 km later and it became more pronounced whenever there was a change of terrain especially going upslope. Maybe it was strain left over from last week's F1 Nature run?

This evening run was better. The attack came only when I reached the Upp Pierce gate forcing me to a sudden stop. Thereafter, it only came back on the return leg and I had to literally limp up the various slopes.

A search on the net do not reveal anything so what the heck is it?