Singapore Bay Run/Army Half Marathon 2013 - Screw Up of a Race!

The Army Half Marathon was the first race that I took part in back in 2004. So I always have fond memories of it. Over the years, I signed up for it 7 times, ran 5 of it and did not start 2 due to injuries. The last was in 2010. Since then I have stopped doing it, disappointed by the sheer size of it and the consequential poor race experience.

This year, however, seduced by the super low registration fee of $12.00 for NS man and the promise of 3 event apparel comprising a race singlet, an event tee and a finisher tee, I signed up for it. I also thought that this could be a perfect way to test my race fitness for the upcoming biggie. Big mistake!

First was - there was no event tee. Okay maybe I did not read the fine print that it was either a singlet or tee. That I could accept. But the race day itself.... it was a huge huge disappointment.

The flag off time was 5.15am. I never understand why they need to start a short 21km race so early. So I had to get up at 3.30 am to make it there. As it turned out, due to the heavy traffic from Orchard Rd to Bras Basah, we reached at 5am. By the time we walked to the start bay, the race had been flagged off. But even then there was still a big crowd at the bay. We took 10 minutes to reach the start off before we could start jogging.

First foul up. With 30000+ half marathoners, why didn't they start the race in waves? Even smaller races like the 2XU and the Run350 starts their races in several waves to ease the congestion. I estimated we were somewhere in the last quarter of the pack. Fortunately, Robinson Road was wide enough and I could run at a steady pace but overtaking was really impossible and rather pointless. There were 3 mini bottlenecks at Maxwell Rd/Shenton Way junction; Shenton Way/Marina Boulevard junction and Marina Boulevard/Marina Bay waterfront. At all these junctions, runners on the vehicular roads which were 4 lanes wide were forced into a 2 metre wide lane. Bottlenecks built up but thankfully these were short stretches and while we had to walk through, it was still passable.

From the Marina Bay waterfront onward to Garden by the Bay East, was the second foul up. The place was in semi darkness with minimal light from the buildings and park light. There were also many structures outside Marina Bay Sands Shoppes. With the poor lighting, while I did not see anybody fell, there were subsequent posting of runners who tripped especially at the staircase leading to the Helix Bridge. Again it makes me wonder. Did anybody from SAFRA or the event organiser note these type of details? Why didn't they put up portable lights along the way instead of throwing a few light stick on the ground? This was not touted to be a night race and runner safety should always be a priority but somehow some people seem to think that runners have night vision goggles and can see through all that darkness.

Muar Cross Country Run 2013

Have heard a fair bit about the famed food of Muar so when we had the chance, we decided to go up there. The fact that there was a trail race was a bonus. So a group of us led by the Incredibly Macho Dude and his petite little wife hopped onto the coach and off we went for a weekend of makathon! Sadly, the famed food turned out to be a big disappointment. Hopefully the race will make up for it. 

We were staying in Muar town, I think and to get to the race site where the race pack collection was held, we had to walk there. We took directions from the locals and I think, down there nobody walk or cycle and we were directed all over the places and ended up walking 2.5km in hazy and hot weather before we reached the Chung Hwa High School. There were only a few people there. The race pack collection was short and sharp. Unfortunately, the sidekick discovered that she had been wrongly placed under the Men’s category even though from whatever angle I see her, she still looks like a woman to me! Oh well. Since we were there for the run and she wasn’t podium material, we left it at that. Just run!

We woke up at 4.45am the next morning. By now, we have found a shorter route to the site, thanks to the wonder of modern technology – the GPS. So we were supposed to do a warm up run there but all of us ended up walking the 1.8km distance there through a dark neighborhood. The stillness and quiet of the morning was broken only by the occasional vehicles and the loud call to prayer from the nearby mosque.

We reached there Chung Hwa High School again. There were probably only about 1000+ participants from what we could see. There was a big group of Safra runners complete with Safra and Singapore flags as well. In fact, we met many more Singapore runners friends there including the omnipresent Mohan. I believe Singapore based runners accounted for more than 10% of the total runners and form the 2nd largest contingent after the Malaysians. 

The setup at the start line was rather basic. It was just a banner with the word Start and a safety tape as the start tape. And oh yes, there was a group of young ladies doing some sort of energetic warm up which in most events could attract a lot of attention but in the darkness, nobody could see them well and they were generally ignored with most of the people focusing on a video wall which was playing the race from last year.

We were “flagged off” at 6.30 am sharp. We ran along this seemingly never ending Jalan Junid. It was still pitch dark when we were flagged off and as we ran along the road; we passed by many nice beautiful houses. The scenery changes with the light and as it grew brighter, the houses changes to shophouses and with dawn breaking, into kampong houses and forest along the side. 

Bali Marathon 2012

My very first race of the year and it almost didn't got off the ground. 1 week before, I caught a bug. Okay it wasn't a big bad bug but a teeny weeny little cold. But I was scare it was going to become full blown. Added to that, I had 4 ulcers in my mouth. And the medical report last week... M was adamant that either I don't run or if I do, not to push. Sighed.... Anyway, when we reached Bali, the cold had disappeared. Thank goodness. The ulcers were still there but getting better but to my horror, I discovered I had a pain in my jaw and couldn't open my mouth fully! What a bad bad way to start the holiday!

But life still has to go on. And so we collected our race pack at the beautiful Sanur Beach Hotel. Nothing much inside except an event tee which was too big for M, a cap, a box of corn flakes and plenty of vouchers. 

We had dinner that night at a local warung near the hotel and bummed into a group of Kenyans. The Kenyans seems to be everywhere probably because the prize money for this is pretty generous!

M with the Kenyan ladies. Who are they?

We woke up bright and early at 2pm and took a taxi to the bus pick up point where there were lots of Singaporean waiting for the bus as well. The bus took us to the race site outside the Bali Safari Park.

We were doing the half marathon so we waited while the full marathon people got flagged off first. Then our turn came.

The first part of the race was done in darkness. At 5.30 am, it was still dark and some part of the streets had no street lamps and were lit up by people with live torches. The first water point was at about 2km and I skipped that. The next water point was around the 4km mark and I took a sip. Luckily I did that. 

Dawn

We u-turned somewhere after the 5km and ran past the waterpoint which I skipped to my big regret. From there, we turned into the villages instead of running on the highway.

Just like in Angkor Wat, the scenery was beautiful and crowd support were fantastic. The route wind through the villages with many up and down. I wouldn't call them slopes since most were only about 10 - 20 metres long but I can imagine for those used to our flat ground at ECP, it should be a nightmare.

Angkor Wat International Half Marathon

This was supposed to be my 6th and final race of the year but instead it was just the 3rd race. But what a great race it turned out to be!

Held in the beautiful Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, this is a half marathon organised as a fund raising project for the underprivileged and poor people in Cambodia. The race is popular with Caucasians from all over the world and the Japanese.  

Flags of all the countries of the participants

It was a small race by Singapore standard though - just over 8000 participants but that means it was never going to be a congested course for the runners unlike a certain race held in Singapore on the same day. On top of that, even though there were 4 categories (the half, the 10km and the 3km and a wheelchair event), the routes were designed such that there were minimum overlap even with 10 minutes difference between each event's start time.

Runners waiting for the flag off

The support for the race by the locals were fantastic. Even though we were running in the temple complex, the villagers staying there all turned up to support. All the darling little kids were there, either to give out the water or pick up the bottles or just to cheer and high 5 the runners. I had such a wonderful time just looking at the smile on the kids' faces.

Children high fiving the runners

Macau Galaxy International Marathon 2010

The last race of the year for me. One last chance for me to get the elusive sub 2 which has been eluding me the whole year. Okay I said I wasn't going to be obsessed over it but somehow it is what pushes me to continue to run. Guess without a goal, running will be just be like a headless chicken running round and round in circle.

Race Pack Collection at the Olympic Stadium

So to make doubly sure that I can get the sub 2, we packed ourselves off to cool Macau while our poor friends endure the heat in hot humid Singapore. Since we were there to holiday as well and in line with our resolve not to run the full marathon, we had signed up only for the comfortable half marathon which means we could spend the days prior and after the race to shop, shop, shop. The weather in Macau was a breezy 17 - 20 degrees with low humidity. It is our first time in Macau and our first time running in temperature that did not exceed 23 degrees.

The Grand Lisboa Casino

The start and finish was the Olympic Sport Stadium at Taipa. There were only about 4000 plus participants for the race which comprises the full marathon, the half marathon and a mini race of 6.5km. And everybody were flagged off together! No separate start but because of the small crowd, it wasn't too difficult to run. The start was a bit boring though going through some roads with constructions alongside but soon we came to the bridge - a massive 1 km bridge that links Taipa to Macau island. Going up wasn't too bad but on the way down the other end of the bridge, my heart sunk in fear when I saw the horribly steep upslope on the other side of the bridge. Soon we hit the 10km mark and the start of a stretch of run that took us through the casinos' heartland. If only we were running in the night, then the place would be beautiful with all the glittering flashing light but it was daytime and the buildings looked so ordinary. The bright spark was that most of the hotels along the route had their staff out in full force supporting the runners. There were all sort of dancers, cheer leaders and the run through was so much more enjoyable because of that.

I took my SIS gel at the 11km mark in preparation for the coming assault on the upslope of the bridge. Fortunately, the climb was not as bad as it look and I managed to conquer it without losing much speed. At 15km, I was about 1 hr 22 mins into the race. Another 6 km to go to get my sub 2. At this point, I even entertained thoughts of trying for a PB but quickly gave up the idea. I was here to enjoy myself not to suffer and I was just going to do enough to get back my sub 2. I was on target and no point rocking the boat. At 18km, I took the Kick Butt energy sweet for a last charge. I knew the sub-2 was in the bag but still.... At the final stretch, turning towards the stadium, our travel mate, wonder-woman and ultra marathoner extraordinaire, Kelly was there taking photo. She had earlier completed in the mini-marathon, gone back to the hotel to bath and came back to take our photos. A final 200 metres run into the stadium yes after a one year break, I got back my sub-2! M got a PB but did not hit sub-2, something I had expected her to achieve. In fact, I thought she should have finish ahead of me since she has been doing rather well for the longer runs recently but I guess we were not really there for the run but for the holiday so running was a lower priority.

The towel given after the race 

Overall, I like the race route - not crowded and sufficiently challenging. I like the start and finish at the stadium - makes one feel so 'pro'. Results were up almost instantly there was a big electronic board inside the indoor stadium where runners can check their timing. The full marathoner has a finisher tee but us half marathoner only got a medal and a beach towel. There was an earlier waist pouch which was given out during the race pack collection. These were the pluses. On the other hand, notwithstandng the small crowd, I felt the organiser should have segregated the start time for the 3 catergories, maybe 10 minutes apart. There were also no full road closure along most of the route and the fumes from the passing vehicles was a spoiler in the cool crisp air. Also, no isotonic drinks were served throughout the route. There were only plain water and sponge station. But on the whole, I enjoyed the experience especially running in this sort of weather. If only we can get this type of weather in Singapore. But I won't be back though. I will continue to go for 1 race each country and not do any repeat so that I can sight see at the same time.

KL Marathon 2010

Woke up to find that it had rained and weather was great! Hopefully it will last throughout the run. The cough was still there, the legs were a bit sore from the past 2 days of walking throughout KL but spirit was high. No tourist runner today. It was going to be a serious run. Applied the Jump Start, the T-Max and for good measure – a new weapon in my run SBO – put on a pair of Zoots Compression Calf Sleeve and away we went.

Met up with 2 sgrunners, Mahesh and Irene at the hotel lobby, proceeded to Winsin Hotel to met up with Taz and Shut and we reached the start ground a good 30 minutes before the start. The crowd wasn’t so big and so we were able to walk up to about 30 metres before the start line before we stopped. Not elite no need to squeeze to the front.

Start off cautiously. In fact too cautious. Took over 7 minutes to cover the 1st Km. The idea was to run a paced race and hopefully finish in under 2 hours. The weather continues to hold. It was cooling, chilling at some points but the route itself was hell.

Penang Bridge Marathon 2007

2.55 am. Went to the hotel lobby. Taxi not here yet.
3.00 am. No sight of taxi
3.05 am. Ask the hotel to call and check what happened. Taxi driver says he come at 3.30am. What the ^&%#! He's supposed to come at 3 am and bring us there by 3.30!
3.15 am. Taxi turned up.
3.40 am. Reached the USM. Road closed. Had to get down and walk. Taxi driver say only 1km. 1km my foot! Took us 15 mins to walk there! Sweating like hell. Registration close at 4.15am. Will we be on time!
4.00 am. Finally located the place where they are distributing the wrist band. Why can't they issue it at the number tag collection? M is asked to go to another site to collect hers so we split from there. Followed the crowd and walked across the Padang
through a housing estate and back onto the main road. Sigh, why can't they site the start point nearer? Took me almost 10 mins to walk there. Maybe this is the organiser's way of getting the runners to warm up?

We are doing the half marathon. This is my first major race for the year. I am not aiming for a PB. I just wanted to use this race to assess myself and see whether I am back to full fitness. So far the signs have not been good. The past few runs I have took 2.30 hours or more to complete 20km. In fact, the last 22km run was completed in almost 2.45 hours!

The crowd was huge. From the registration list we saw on Friday, the largest turnout was for the half. There are only about a 1000 runners for the full (in all categories) compared to almost 5000 for the men's half. Most of the runners were wearing the event's tees and a lot of them looks very young - in their late teens and most of them are in groups. I am stuck about 50 metres from the start line. I have a bad feeling!

4.30am. The race is on! Er what race - everybody was still walking. Struggled to go to the front but the crowd is too massive. 1.20 minutes it took me to cross the start line and even than couldn't run. About 10 minutes into the race and there are many walkers all over especially the young teens. They are walking across the width of the road. It's going to be a long run.

Finally up the bridge. At least a little bit of space to run. More and more walkers now. Than there are those kamikaze's runners - chiong for 20metres than walk than chiong and they criss cross the width of the road without regards for anybody.

First waterpoint. There is no more water! I couldn't believe it! So early in the race and they ran out of water? Luckily it was still early and I was okay without the water. The weather wasn't so good. I had expected a crisp cool weather, being so early but unfortunately it was just like another night in Singapore, hot and humid.

Didn't recognise anybody. Than saw this guy wearing a World Harmony Run t-shirt. Went nearer to him. He was listening to the ipod and damn - running with his eyes closed. Was he sleeprunning? Decided to 'wake' him up from his 'sleep'. Told him he damn good - can run with eyes closed! He opened his eyes to stared angrily at me. Gave a shout 'Singapore' to him and quickly dashed off before he hatam me.

The bridge seems to stretch on and on. There are no distance markers except some weird distance markers for the full marathon. Even those didn't make sense to me the way they are spread out. Saw some full marathon runners on the other side of the road. Started looking for familiar faces again. Finally saw IMD and Teelee running together. Shouted a loud 'hi' to them. Now managed to past a few woman running the full marathon. In fact, they are all walking. I estimated the distance for them should at most be about 18km. Walking at such early stage?

Finally I reached the uturn. Time taken about 1:08 hours. Is it 10km or 11 km already? Really had no idea. Managed to get 2 cups of water. Decided to take a pack of the powergel and leave the jelly beans. The return trip is just the same monotonous run. Continued to run at the same constant speed maybe 7min pace. Am overtaking more and more full marathon runners. I am very surprised. They started 1 hour earlier and most should have cleared this sector by now.


Picked up the pace a little bit but soon ran smacked into a big crowd. It's the 10k fun runners and the kids are everywhere. They had started their run 1 hour later and are now doing the return leg. Sign :( how to run like that! Anyway, that's mean I am near the end.

Finally, saw a sign that said '1km to go' on the way down the bridge. My watch shows 2:03 so that could be my 21km timing I supposed. Reached the end and was given a medal and a blank certificate. Total time taken 2:09:07 hours. Quite surprise. Based on the pace I was running at, I had expected to finish in about 2:20 but anyway am very satisfied with the time since it translated into a less than 6min pace for the 22.3km distance (if it is actually 22.3km)!

The organisation at the end was just as bad. The drinks soon ran out and by the time M came back, there was no more drinks. She completed the run in 2:18:04 hours which was a PB for her as it was better than her last year SCSM half marathon which was shorter.

Crossed over to the other field and it was better - free milo, corn fakes, fruit juice, coffee, yakult but the queues were very long. The goodie bag collection was in a separate building. After that went to find the 3 ex VRP girls before going back to the hotel.

Ing Temple Run

2.15 am. Took a cab to the Amarie Watergate hotel.

2.45 am. Ate a sponge cake and a banana before going into the hotel lobby. They serving coffee and tea for the runners! Wondered whether I will bump into Runwihme?

3.00 am. Boarded Bus no 5. Collected my breakfast pack. Got a sandwich, banana, an apple, an orange juice, a packet of orange juice and a bottle of mineral water. Those people staying at the Amarie Watergate got a even bigger breakfast pack! Wonder what's inside?

3.30 am. Ate the sandwich and drank the orange juice. Tried to get some sleep thereafter but couldn't. Too excited - mahchiam like a schoolboy going on his first excursion.

4.45 am. Reached. Hell - still got to transfer to a pick up truck to reach race site. Walked around looking at the stalls. Bought 2 running t-s for 260 baht each.

5.30 am. The full marathon starts. Went to take a leak.

6.00 am. Another leak! Why so much pee?

6.30 am. The race starts! The race plan is to go for a PB (anything below 2.02 2004 AHM timing). Decided to start slow - 1st 2 km at 6.00 min pace and thereafter at 5.30 pace.

1st km - 6.15 min. 2nd km - 11.45 mins within target. Decided to continue at this pace for the first 5 km. The scenery is nice - plenty of fruit trees along the way. Longan, lychees and pomelos. Will take photos on the return leg. Alamak, need to piss again! No toilet in sight. Continued running. The road is generally flat with some crossing over the klongs. It's just like running in Lim Chu Kang during the NS days. No dirt road. All proper tar road. The villagers are out in full force. They livened up the route by playing traditional Thai music, peforming puppet show. Missed the 8km marker. A lot of people are overtaking me. A little girl probably about 10 years is already running back. Reached the 10 km point about 55m. 11 more km to go.

Then I decided instead of just going for a PB why not try breaking my first target for this year? - complete the race in below 1:50! Which means I have to finish the next 11 km in 55 minutes or less. Should be achievable! Picked up speed. Shit, still need to pee. Where is the toilet? Overtook the little girl and a lot of other people - the sexy angmoh, the guy taking photographs, the beared ang moh... 15 km: Time so far 1:17 - 6 more to go in 33 minutes. The sun is out now and it's blazing hot. There is hardly any shade as all the trees on the side are fruit trees and not very tall. The legs are now screaming. Must be all the previous days of walking! 18 km - 3 more to go and its already 1:33. 3 km in 17 minutes? Possible. But the spirit is willing - the flesh is weak. Somehow couldn't summon enough energy to run at that faster pace. 2km left and it's already 1.41. 1 more km to go 1:47. There goes my target! Tried to go all out but it's tough. Ha the end point at last. 200metres to go. 1.51 on my watch. The timer at the end point shows 2:53:03. Chiong the last 50 minutes and it's over - my first overseas race! Check my watch - arrgh it's still running! Must have forgot to switch it off! Press again. Shows some funny figures. Press clear - Holy cowbunga - deleted the whole damm timing. Shit! Anyway, the Chip Time is 1:54:08 that what's the official results say!

Grab my finisher medal from the girl and than I surronded by 3 Thai girls. What's going on? Alamak, no hugs they just want my timing chip back and I thought it was traditional Thai welcome! Grab a cup of water. Went to look at what's food is available. Porridge, and noodles etc. Didn't feel like eating those. No enery drinks only some bottled white tea drink. Went to the massage booth and got my legs massaged by 2 aunites. Whoa, steady there. The right leg is still slightly swollen from the fall last week at the MRT station!

Then the SMS came - "have you finished? It says. Replied yes and than asked an angmoh lady to take a photo for me. Aw shucks. Forgot to take the photograhps on the running route back! Another SMS - "so you takin the first bus out?". Sigh - got to go. Got a Thai guy to take another photograph for me. Than saw the toilet - ha forget about that as well. Photos at Yahoo! photos

Met 3 Singaporeans while resting. They signed up locally and paid local rates. Big savings. They doing the KK Climbathon next. Invited them to join sgrunners before bidding goodbye.