An Apology - Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2014

In my previous post, I made a claim that some people were taking a shorter route during the SCMS and included in the post were photographs of some individuals and their timing results. That post has attracted a lot of attention including calls from reporter and even a lawyer purporting to act for one of the individual in the post.

Since then, it has came to light that these individuals may have been diverted by the race organiser to take the shorter route. Below is the full statement from the SCMS. The link can be found here.

Public announcement about SCMS 2014 results

Spectrum Worldwide is aware of the online article referencing marathon (42.195km) runners who were photographed at Gardens By The Bay East during Sunday’s Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore.

To clarify, a number of diversion points were positioned along the marathon route. If any runners had not passed a diversion point by a specified time, they were diverted on to a shorter route towards the finish line. The diversion points were planned with the safety of runners in mind, as the closed roads had to be re-opened at a specific time in accordance with the requests of the authorities.

One of these diversion points was located at approximately the 13km mark of the marathon. From 7.30am, all marathon runners who had not crossed this point were diverted (removing the entire stretch of East Coast Park) and had their race distance reduced by approximately 17km. This diversion allowed them to comfortably reach Marina Barrage (35km) by about 8.15am where some may have been photographed in the referenced online article.

As highlighted on the official event website and handbook prior to the event, all participants who were diverted are still entitled to receive the Finisher’s T-shirt and Finisher’s Medal upon crossing the finish line. However, they will not receive the Finisher’s Certificate and their official race timings will not be recorded.

One of the reason why I wrote the earlier post is that as a regular runner in the local running scene, it irk me a lot to see runners who are totally not prepared attempting the full marathon. And everywhere there will be many people who do so just for the finisher tee and medal like the infamous incident last year. My intention was to highlight these incidents and hope that the running community as a whole can come together to condemn such behaviour and build a better running environment and community. In penning the post, never in my wildest dream would I ever think that the SCMS itself, the organiser of a Gold Label race will actually ask participants to take a "shorter" route. The correct practice adopted internationally I believe, is for participants who failed to meet the cut off to board the sweeper bus and not be allowed to take a shorter route to the finish line! I will address this again in a separate more detailed post in due course.

In any event, it appears that because of this, I have jumped to the wrong conclusion and wrongly accused these people. I know no words can take back what has been done but still I would like to offer my sincere apologies if the post has caused any one of these individuals any embarrassment. Nevertheless I have decided that the original post shall remain but with some amendments and the deletion of the photos and names. Hopefully, the post will generate more discussion on this issue and if it serves as a wake up call to running community at large to tackle this problem, the post will not be in vain.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2014

Note: When I penned the below post last night, it was without the knowledge that the organiser of the SCMS had actually asked runners who failed to meet certain unspecified time at unannounced designated points, to be diverted to run a "shorter route". Since the publication of my post and following media queries,  the organiser has made a public announcement on this here.

I would therefore like to offer my sincere apologies to the individuals who were included in the post below for any embarrassment that I have caused to them. While I have decided to keep the post, I have deleted the photos and any references to the identity of the individuals. I know no apologies or words can right whatever that has been done but once again I would like to tender my apology.

Well I was at the Garden by the Bay East on Sunday taking photos of the runners doing the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore. (SCMS). This was roughly at the 35 km part of the race. The first runners came by around 7 am roughly 2 hours after the flag off. Those were the elites. A rough back of the envelope calculation - the average 4 hours runners will reach this area around 8.20 am and indeed the 4 hours pacers came pass me at 8.19 am.

But way before that I had already noticed a very unique hi usual thing. As a regular runner and active photographer for the past years, I can recognise a fair number of the local runners who can do sub-4 and there aren't really a lot of them here in Singapore. And even if I don't recognise them, I can tell by the way they run that they are seasoned runners and used to that type of timing. But what was interesting this time was that I could see many unfamiliar faces and people who pardoned my saying so, do not look like runners who are capable of doing this type of timing. Now I know looks can be deceiving but it is kinda difficult to believe that these following people can run sub 4 marathon.

And more over as I came to find out later, runner with orange bib are self declared sub 5 hours runner and starts in a much later wave. So they couldn't have been so fast to reach 35 km in just over 3 hours!

And true enough, my instinct was right. A quick search at the event site and these are their race splits. Looks like all of them skipped the distance between the 10 km checkpoint and the 30 km checkpoint slashing a cool 20 km off the total distance. 

And everyone seems to be doing it. Not just the not so athletic looking people but the young folks like this guy

And foreigners as well

And even the very athletic looking guys are doing it. The type that looks perfectly capable of doing this sort of timing but look at the splits

And there are more, too many for me to list them all here.

Looking at the splits, almost all of them turn off after the 10 km checkpoint which is somewhere around the  Sports Hub. I believe after coming out from that area, instead of going towards Fort Road and East Coast Park, they simply turned right on Tanjong Rhu to Garden by the Bay East and continue on from there. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they got lost but I really really doubt it is the case. 

And again I like to think that the weather was too hot for them and they decided not to continue on but turned back. But they should then do the right thing and not cross the finish line but in all cases they did which leaves me with only one conclusion - they just want the finisher tee, medal and the bragging rights that come along with it and are not interested at all in completing the distance!

Me think it is high time race organiser takes steps to weed out these sort of behaviour. It is not good for a "gold class" event and a waste of resources and hinder the genuine runners. For starter, I think event organiser should stop giving away finisher tees at the finish line like  what many overseas races do. I am very sure that the event won't be so attractive to the non-runners if there is no finisher tee for them to wear around town to show off. Race organiser should also ensure strict compliance of race rules and barriers and marshals should be deployed at vulnerable junctions and points along the routes to reduce such inAnd last but not least, get the timing system working properly so that their status is stated as DSQ and not "Finished".http://runeatgossip.com/2014/12/standard-chartered-marathon-singapore-2014.html/

Race Etiquette

Some cool tips from Dr Jia Jia for runners for this year SCMS. But hey it can applies to all races as well.

Puma Night Run 2014

The last time I did a road race in Singapore was March this year. And that is despite a running calendar that averages 2 races a week. And the last time I did a 10 km road race in Singapore was way back in 2012. So it was quite like a new experience to me to find myself at the starting line, well almost the starting line, of a 10 km road race on Saturday.

I have no intention of doing a 10 km road run in Singapore especially when more often than not, it is either at the Marina Bay or East Coast Park which is kinda boring. But this time round it was slightly different. Firstly it was to be at Sentosa, a place that I don't get to run on very often and more importantly I don't have to pay any registration fee as I was given a complimentary slot by the people from Puma Singapore.

So on Saturday night I found myself about 30 metres behind the Start Line.

Which remind me of another reason why I no longer want to do road races in Singapore. You see, more often than not, to maximise profits, the organiser tends to allow for too many participants but our narrow roads simply cannot cater for these huge numbers. Just like here where the runners are crammed into a 2 cars width road adjacent to the beach. 

After the flag off where I had to weave and pushed myself through the horde of walking couples, strolling and jogging groupies, I remember another reason why I don't want to do local races. The participants simply lack race etiquettes and do not bother to place themselves appropriately in the correct start pen. Of course, organiser would have help by encouraging runners to sort themselves out but I suppose that will be like asking for the moon.

Walkers barely 1 km away from the start line

Fortunately for the Puma Night Run people, the organiser was sensible enough to start the 3000 runners in 2 waves alleviating the problem a little bit. After about 2 km, the path was finally clear enough to start running properly.

The thing about Sentosa is that it is a very small island and so there were many u-turns along the route. But kudos to the organiser, there was proper segregation of the 2 directions and the path was fully cordoned off so that no other people would wander into it. There were security officers at junctions and marshals at  every turn. Water points with isotonic drink and water were located approximately 3 km apart and I could see 2 ambulances on standby along the route. The route itself was fairly interesting. Starting from the Siloso Beach, we ran to the end at Tanjong Beach, made an u-turn and went up Allanbrook Road. This was where many people started to walk. Then we went up to the Satellite station! I was like wow! The last time I ran up here was in the Real Run in 2005 and since then I understand the road has been closed to public. What a surprise! We also ran into an area that was unknown to me. It was quite dark though and rather narrow and only 2 runners could run on the pavement at a time. Nevertheless, I quite like the route as it is definitely more challenging than the usual flat ground of Marina Bay or East Coast Park. The slight blemish was that on certain sections, we had to run on the pavement and that is simply too narrow to accommodate more runners. Nevertheless  I feel that is was one of the best managed route in all the races that I have done so far.

Unfortunately the ending point wasn't as well organised. After crossing the finish line, each participant gets a medal, a bottle of mineral water and banana. No isotonic drinks. And then the runners have to walk to the Wave House which is where the Event Village was to participate in the free activities. However, there were not many signs to indicate what is where and I had to ask around before finding out that the collection of the free towel was on the 3rd level of some building.

On the bright side, participate gets to enjoy "surfing" at the Wave House plus entertainment by local bands.

Overall despite some shortcoming like the lack of directional signs at the main event ground and the narrow pavement, this has been one of the best organised race I taken part in. Crowd numbers were kept to a manageable size, adequate security and marshals, a fairly value for money race pack comprising of an event top, a sling bag, a waist belt and the towel and some value for money discount voucher for Puma products. Runners looking for something different should try this race next year.

Hello Kitty Run Singapore

So the claws are out - for the poor organiser of the 1st ever Hello Kitty Run in Singapore. Social media and rather surprisingly, even the main stream media has exploded on the so called "chaos" that erupted during the race.

The unhappiness stems from 2 main areas - the rain and the medal distribution.

First the rain. The organiser, Pink Apple (PA) is being blamed for the rain, the lack of wet weather plan, the lack of shelters, the lack of poncho and generally everything that is associated with the rain. But are they being fair?

How can anyone blame the organiser for the rain? That is something that is beyond even the PAP government control so how do people possibly expect  PA to ensure good weather? No wet weather plan? Actually all good event organiser will have one and in this case, PA do have. It is very simple. If heavy rain falls before flag off, postpone the start of the run. If  after postponing for a reasonable period of time and the rain does not stop, cancel the run. This has happened in several races previously but I can imagine if PA has really cancel the run and the rain stopped after say 30 minutes. I am sure the will be braying for the blood of everyone in PA.

Next some people went on to suggest PA should have provide poncho for the participant. And how do these people expect PA to do that? Put a poncho inside each race pack? Let be honest to ourselves. If they do that, how many will actually bring the poncho to the event? I dare say very few will do so. And distribute poncho on the ground? Do these people really expect PA to have 17000 to 18000 ponchos available at the site? And then if it rain after flag off like what happened on Saturday, how do they expect the PA to get the ponchos to the people that is already out on the route? And if they are under shelter, they don't need poncho do they?

Some people even suggested PA put up shelters along the route. How many shelters do they expect PA to put up? And enough to shelter 17000 just in case it rains? That must be the most ridiculous self centred suggestions ever. If anything, Sentosa is probably the best place to run in the event of rain because there are buildings practically everywhere and especially along the beach with the many pubs, restaurants, rest rooms and other attractions. The people could have easily seek shelter at any one of these. Do they seriously expect PA to put up tents along the narrow roads of Sentosa!

So I think there is nothing that PA can do when it started to rain. After the first 2 waves were flagged off and it rained, they held back the next 3 waves and that was the best they could do. What else do the participants want?

Now on to the medals. According to the complaints, the distribution was chaotic. There was not enough medals for everyone and people collected multiple medals. And this to me was a big surprise. PA is a very experienced event organiser having organised many races with many on a bigger scale than this Hello Kitty. Usually, after the participants crossed the finish line, they will be directed to a chute where they collect the drinks, medal and finisher tees from volunteers. To ensure that people do not collect the medal more than once, it is usual for the volunteer to put a tick on the race bib. So exactly what happened?

I believe the rain was the main problem. Because of the rain, everybody squeezed into the Pavilion which was where the medals were being distributed. The number of people overwhelmed the volunteers and likely, just helped themselves to the medals on the table with the poor student volunteers being unable to stop them. Staff who raised their voices at the participants were labelled as being rude but how do you control an unruly crowd without being loud and firm?  The same thing happened a few years ago at the Shape Run where the people just grabbed the medals that were placed neatly on the table. Some people went behind the table and took medals from the boxes that were lying on the floor!

One of the criticism that were levelled was that PA should have marked off the bib. PA has informed that they had choose not to do so to avoid defacing the bib as most people would likely want to keep the bib as a souvenir. So a kind thought and gesture misfired. On hindsight, PA should have put a small box on the bib to check off or added a tear off tab at the bottom of the bib to exchange for the medal. 

So people took more medals than they were entitled to resulting in medals running out for those who came late. So whose fault it is? PA or the cheapskate participants who took more than they are entitled to?

Some other  criticism that were levelled at PA - the route was not 5 km. There was congestion at the bus station at the Siloso Beach end and people had to wait long period before they can get out of the island. Well, I don't think any serious runners actually signed up for this to run 5 km. It is a fun run and most people I am very sure signed up more for the limited edition Hello Kitty plush and other memorabilia rather than for the run. And on their website, there is a statement that the distance was actually 4.2 km and not 5 km. For marketing purposes, obviously it is nicer to call it a 5 km run rather than 4.2 km run. 

About the congestion - Sentosa is always congested on weekends and long wait for the limited number of buses is expected as Sentosa do not allow private hire buses to ply on the island. So people should just have continue to enjoy the sights on Sentosa instead of leaving straight after the run. Isn't that the purpose of travelling all the way to Sentosa for?

Of course, there are something that PA could have done better like being aware that Sentosa with its narrow roads cannot accommodate 17000 people at one good and kept the number to a more manageable size. Communicate with the volunteers could have been better so that the volunteers can inform the participants of updates instead of just relying on social media.

Ultimately, I think PA do not deserve all the flaks they are getting in the local media and social media. If anything, it is the ugly participants, the greedy one who took more medals than they should, the self centred one who think only of their own comfort and not think of how their ludicrous suggestion can not possibly be implemented and the spoilt brats who are asking for refunds for the "bad" experience but who have conveniently forgotten that their $65 or $75 already gave them an exclusive t-shirt, an exclusive plush toy and an unique personalised race bib which collectively is, I am very sure worth more than $75.00!

Fantasy Island 50

I know and I swear many times that I will no longer do any long races and yet when we decided to tag along with the Princess when she flys in Scotland to begin her studies, the first thing I did was to look for a race to run in - and not any race but an ultra. And almost as soon as I signed up, I begin to regret the decision cause I hated every second of the long runs that I have to do leading up to it. I hated having to wake up at ungodly hours, hated plugging away for 4 to 5 hours almost every weekend in the hot sun and most of all, hated that feeling when I feel so weak, tired and helpless as I attempted to shuffle my way to the end of each training run.

Yet when I finally found ourselves at the start line of the Michael Mover's Fantasy Island 50 in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae somewhere in Scotland, there was only excitement and this expectation that I was finally going to break the duck and complete my first ultra distance run.

This was not a competitive race if it could be called that. In fact, it was more like a fun run. The format of the run was pretty straight forward. Each runner can run up to a maximum of 5 rounds round the island each round being approximately 10 miles (16 km). There was no prize for those who finish the most rounds neither was there any prizes for those who do the fastest single round or anything of that sort. In fact anybody who runs pay the same registration fee, gets the same thing, a medal, a t-shirt and lots of tlc from the organisers. The run starts at 8 am for those doing 3 rounds and more and 11 am for those who wanted only to do 2 rounds or less. The gungho 2 of us decided to try for 4 rounds ie a total of 40 miles or 64 km. 

There were probably about less than 100 runners in total and when the race director started announcing which participants were doing how many rounds, the reality of what we were going to do sink in and the pressure built up especially when it turns out that we were the only 2 foreigners not from UK there and she kept referring to us as "International Runners". So paiseh :} The run was flagged off at 8+ after a warm up.

The few fellas doing 5 rounds promptly shot off with those doing 1 round also going off at a fast pace. During training, I had planned for us to complete each round in 2 hours but the sidekick caught up in the excitement and nice cooling weather went ahead. I tagged along about 200 metres behind to look at the scenery. And there were plenty of scenery - from beaches, beautiful bay, rolling hills, farmlands, monuments to all sort of water birds and animals. But careful to pace myself, I restricted my photo taking, promising to take more photos in the later rounds when the feet gets more tired and more time will be spent walking and thus photo taking.

Weather was nice initially. Not too cold probably around 16 degree C. There were 2 water points - at 3 miles and 7 miles serving orange juice and water. Because there were so few runners, it soon became a lonely run with the ocassional vehicle and cyclist passing up and every now and then, the runners catch up, got caught up and played "musical chairs". Still I managed to complete my first round in a pretty decent timing of 1 hour 45 minutes. The sidekick had finished her first round earlier and was waiting for me. I decided then to put on my hydration belt as I felt the water points were too far apart for me especially as the sun was coming up. Took about 10 minutes to rest before resuming. The sidekick had went off already and I could see her running with a pack of runners about 200 metres in front. When I came out from a toilet along the promenade, the whole lot of them had disappeared from sight. :{

I decided that I wasn't going to try to catch up. Instead I adjusted my pace to about 7 mins pace and started taking photos as well.  

A rare shot of the sidekick(in pick top)

Even then I managed to complete the 2nd round in less than 2 hours which means I was now ahead of my target pace by almost 20 minutes. But by now, it was getting hot - actually very hot and I was starting to feel unmotivated. The sidekick had already gone far off so far that I couldn't see her at all. But I knew I had to finish this and come out with something. So off I went again. I soon caught up with a gentleman, Paul whom I had overtook just before finishing the 2nd round and who I noticed had continued straight on to his 3 laps without stopping.

We got to chatting. He was attempting his first 3 rounds of this event. Previous year he had completed 2 rounds and now was back for more. But like me he was tiring fast under the hot sun and soon we were walking instead of running. We chatted a lot, walked a lot and run very little. I found out he had not completed a full marathon yet and so when we hit 42km, I congratulated him on achieving his first marathon distance. We talked so much that we walked the rest of the way until we reached Millport. That was when we decided to save some face and ran the last 1 mile back.

That me with Paul

The sidekick had finished about half an hour earlier and was waiting for me. I was surprised that she had not gone on for the 4th round. She said she noticed that the organisers were packing up their stuff and she felt bad if she had to make them wait for her to finish another round. So that was it then? Well not quite. Actually during my last round, I had also decided not to go for the 4th round. It was simply too hot and nothing could be achieved by completing it. But I had 1 unfinished business. 

When I crossed the half century mark 2 years ago, I had decided to do a 50 km run to commemorate the occasion but I left it too late and couldn't find a suitable race. Last year, I signed up for the TMBT 50km race as that falls in September which was my birthday month but sadly I dnf that. So this time, I decided that even thought I couldn't finish the 4 rounds which we had set out to do, I have to do at least 52 km to mark my 52nd birthday which was just a week ago. And so like a crazy fella, I went off for another short run and returned to clock exactly 52 km! It took me nearly 7 hours to do this but I am happy that finally I have done minimally a 50 km distance and in such a beautiful place too with wonderful support from the organisers, Maria, Angela and the many other ladies those names I failed to catch. Thank you very much especially for the delicious chocolate cake.

Here are more photos of the lovely little Isle of Cumbrae taken by the Princess who had tagged along, the sidekick and me.

Photos of the lovely coastline

 Rolling hills and farmlands

Rock formation that couldn't look out of place in Stonehenge

One of many memorials for the islanders of Cumbrae who fought for the country in the past with some dating back to the days of the Viking!

The beautiful town of Millport looking like time had stand still here

And plenty of birds and animals

All in a worthwhile experience in a beautiful place. But will I come back for this again? I said again and I will said it again, no more long races. And someone please remind me of this the next time I sign up for something crazy like this again:)

Puma Night Run

Themed run are popular here in Singapore and it seems apparel sponsored races are just as popular if not more. Ever  since Mizuno kicked off its Mizuno Wave Run, the other apparels have jumped on the bandwagon. There was Nike with its Nike We Run and Nike Women Run, Adidas with its King of the Road Series, Newton Challenge, Brooks Happy Run and now the latest to join the club Puma with its inaugural Puma Night Run. 

To kick off its first race in Singapore, Puma has seen it fit to have it at Sentosa instead of the usual Marina Promenade. It promises a challenging route with a portion of the route that is normally not opened to the public and a prize money of up to $9,000.00. On top of that, participants can get to party at the Sentosa Wavehouse with performances by local acts plus go wave surfing of course.

On top of the unique race experience, for those wondering what their $59 registration fee will get them, there is a Puma tee, Puma shoe bag and a Puma towel. Plus of course the usual medal and other sponsored gifts and vouchers.

To ensure there is no over-crowding and participants get to enjoy the experience, entry is limited to only 3000 participants. Registration closes 14 September 2014 so for those looking for a different running experience in a different setting, this could be it. 

For more details, go to the Puma Night Run website here. 

Nathan Singapore City Race 2014

Last year was the first time I took part in this race. And I enjoyed it a lot despite that being one of the longest race I did. So when this year edition came back with a new apparel sponsor, I roped together last year kakis and signed up for it. The goal was to emulate or even better last year's feat when we covered the race in 38 km 2 km short of the actual distance of 40 km.

So on Sunday morning, together with 2 new team mates and an original member who "bandit" for the fun of it, we found ourselves at the start line at Marina Barrage. 

That us. Forest 6 + 1

The format of the race was similar to last year i.e run either as a solo participant or in a team of up to 6 members. There were 4 categories to choose from - mini, short, mid and long. Each categories has 5 checkpoints except for the long distance which has 6. Of course, we being "itchy backside" has to go for the long distance which has 6 checkpoints and a total distance of 45 km provided the runner run correctly.  For us our goal was to see whether we can take "shortcuts" and this is one race where shortcuts are allowed! In fact the more the merrier.

We started late and so consequently got the map late. They only give us the map when all the members of the team are in the start chute and so 10 minutes after everybody else in our category had gone off, we got our map and we let out a collective groan. The furthest checkpoint was Old Ford Factory way up in Upper Bukit Timah Road. And there were 2 checkpoints which was neither here nor there. For me, the ideal route would be something that can be done in a loop like last year but this year route was different. On the map although it was obviously longer, there was less trail. The dilemma was which checkpoint to go in which sequence so that we don't run further than necessary.

The obvious choice was to go to the nearest checkpoint which happens to be Sultan Mosque and just a stone throw away. We start off at a nice easy pace down Garden by the Bay, cross the Helix Bridge, Rochor Road, Beach Road and 3 km later, we found ourselves in front of the beautiful Sultan Mosque, our first checkpoint!

Sultan Mosque. 

From here, we had a difficult choice to make. The next nearest check point was CP 6 at Shaw House in Orchard Rd. But that was going to be open only at 9 am and we were still early. If we go straight there, we will be too early. However, the other nearer checkpoint was  CP 10 at Alexandra Road. It doesn't make sense for us to go there first and then turn back to Orchard Rd. That would be going on a mini loop - a waste of energy. The other alternative was to go to CP 10, then to CP 8, 9 before going to CP 11, the Old Ford Factory and finally coming back to CP 6. The problem with this option was that we will have to climb Pepys Hill which was not something that I want to do and then we still have to run back from Bukit Timah to Orchard in the afternoon heat. In the end after some hesitation, we decided to go ahead to Shaw House and if we are early, we could grab something to eat while waiting for the CP to open. 

We ran along North Bridge Rd, Bra Basah Rd, Orchard Rd and along the way, took a lot of photos. Still we reach Shaw House well ahead of 9 am and so we sat outside Isetan to wait.

At Shaw House with a volunteer who accompanied us all the way from Dhoby Ghaut to Shaw House

From here, after another lengthy discussion, we made the decision to go straight to CP 11. The rationale was this was the shortest route there from whichever CP and this was also the most "hot" stretch and we should get it out of the way first. So in a repeat of last year's run, we ran from Orchard Rd to Tanglin Rd, Nassim Rd, Evans Road, Bukit Timah Rd, Jalan Anak Bukit and finally Upper Bukit Timah Road. We skipped the Green Corridor which was a good decision as there were big trees along the stretch of road outside the condominiums along Upper Bukit Timah Rd and those provided much welcomed shade from the by now blazing hot sun.

At Old Ford Factory

So far we have covered 19 km in a super slow time of over 3 hours. 3 checkpoints completed and half way done. We walked a fair bit, stopped to buy drinks, take pictures and enjoy the scenery. The return journey was a fairly straight forward route. Go back via the Green Corridor, exit Queensway - CP 10 then CP 9 then 9 and back to finish line. Should be a piece of cake. But we forgot the sun had melted the cake and there was no cake = no energy. It was a hot hot trudge down the freaking never ending former railway track with the sun blazing down mercilessly on us. Unlike last year, we met very few runners. Most of them were going towards Bukit Timah which means they have to tackle Bukit Timah Road later.  We walked a lot along this stretch. Of course, we also took a fair bit of photos:)

Doing this 10 km stretch took us 2 hours!

Finally after 2 hours of sauna, we exit the freaking railway track. Never mind that this was the only trail we were covering this year. A short run down Alexandra Road and we were at the Harley Davidson showroom, which was CP 10! Bladdy hell, the checkpoint has no isotonic drink. Only water. Thank goodness the water was cold. But the bestest was the aircondition inside the showroom.

The air con was so shiok that we spent easily half an hour there. The ladies of course were imagining that they were riding the big Harleys with some hunk whilst the guys were wishing... Oh well, never mind what we wished for! But all good things must come to an end and finally after a long long time, we finally dragged ourselves away to continue our journey. 

But we are smart people and just a stone throw away was this awesome place!

.

Hell yes, after an half hour break at Harley Davidson, and now barely 1 km later, we took another break - at the famous Alexandra Village Food Centre. We had sugar cane, soursoup, lemonade but no avocado and we were buying from the stall that made the Avocado shake famous! What goodnus!. We took another super long break here. Consequently, for the last 7 km, we took more than 1 and a half hour! Super super slow and super super slack! But what the hell, despite the heat, I think everybody was still having fun.

After we finally dragged our butt away from the stools at the food centre, we made our way to the Hort Park for what else but another 10 minutes break! This time it was a toilet break. Ha ha. The break was also to prepare us mentally for the short climb to Kent Ridge Park

"Climbing the slope of Kent Ridge"

Ok it wasn't much of a slope or a climb but when one is hot and tired, any teeny weeny slope is a hill! But fortunately for us, because we know the area here well, we were able to go straight to CP 9 Reflections at Bukit Chandu which is a war museum by the way and not the Reflections at Keppel! I think we would have love to go inside to enjoy the air con look at the exhibits but we were kinda running out of time. So after just a water and of course photo break, we were off to the last checkpoint.

CP 8 is at Labrador Park. By now I was hoping they make things easy for us and have the checkpoint at the MRT station entrance but sianz, no such luck, it was all the way in at the seaside. And of course to make thing worse, we went to the wrong side and that cost us another 500 metres :( On the way in, we had seen people making their way out so either they were going to CP 9 in which case they were going to be very late back or they didn't know the way well. We smart guys took the scenic route via the park connector.

The view from the Labrador Park

By now it was already after 3 pm. We have been out for more than 7 hours and although we have completed all the checkpoints and were on the home stretch, it was still a long long stretch back to Marina Barrage. And this time there was no respite from the sun. We were reduced to walking almost the entire stretch of  7 km along hot noisy dusty Keppel Road and then down hot quiet Robinson Rd. And of course, the ladies must still have their photos and the air con break at MBS no less!

Outside Harbourfront Centre

And after 8 hours 40 minutes, we jogged past the finish line at Marina Barrage! One of the longest timed run and distance I ever undertaken. We didn't managed to reduce the distance either. Our watches shows various distances ranging from 41 km (mine) to 47 km (sidekick). Brokie's watch was 45.2 km. I think the problem was the many buildings that we went into. So I think we shall take the middle distance which is 45.2 km which means we were spot on on the route! I think a lot of people took much longer distance.

Our finishing run (picture from Finisherpix)

And despite taking 8 hours 41 minutes, we place 15 out of 33 teams. Not bad eh? Frankly, I think if we had not stopped to cool ourselves down so often, we would probably have shaved off at least 2 hours. But timing or how far we ran was never an issue here. We were not doing this to win or race against the clock. If we had pushed ourselves hard, we would not be able to enjoy the race. There will be no photos, no water break at Alexandra Village, no imaginary ride on a Harley and no fun. We were there to have fun and despite the heat, the cramp, the cursing and swearing, I think we did managed to have fun. A lot of it. Although I will think twice about signing up next year unless.....

NE Passion Run 2014

I know I said I don't want to sign up for local races but when it is in my own backyard and cost just $20.00, I just couldn't resist. This is what I got for $20.00

But then again after signing up, I had my regrets when I found out the route. Like all races in Singapore nowadays, the race organiser do not reveal the exact route until much later and when I found out that the race route was 2 loops of Pasir Ris Park, I was like, what! I knew the park like the back of my hand, running there at least once a week. And when I found out the race closed within a short period, I was worried how crowded it was going to be and how difficult it was going to run through the crowd on the small park paths. I thought of doing a DNS for this but in the end, decided to just go and treat it like a weekly routine run.

The race was supposed to start in 3 waves - the Men's Open at 7 am, the Men's Veteran and Women's at 7.30 am and the 4km at 8 am. Each loop was 7 km and runners will have to run past the start line. The problem I foresee was that the first wave runners will run smack into the start of the 2nd wave and the 2nd wave into the 3rd. The running would become extremely unpleasant especially for the serious runners trying to do a good race. 

True enough, while we were waiting to flag off at 7.30 am, at about 7.25 am, the first lot of fast runners in the first wave ran past. Then there was a small gap before some more runners went past before we were flagged off. So the rest of the runners in the first wave touching 7 km in around 35 minutes or more would ran into the back of us lot. I wondered how they felt and I wondered how I was going to feel when it came to my turn later.

We started off quite fast.  I wanted to clear the crowd and decided to do a faster pace at the beginning. The sidekick was side by side with me in the first km. I managed to do that, keeping clear of the main pack of runners. The pace was around 5.30 per km and I knew it was not sustainable. Sighed that is really my fast pace! Please don't laugh. Fortunately for us, when we finished the first loop in about 35 minutes, the 4 km had not been flagged off yet and so I had a clear route to run as by now the runners had spread out.  But by 9 km I was struggling to maintain the pace and after stopping for a drink, the pace slowed. The sidekick was still about 500 metres behind me. I waited for her to catch up with me but I think she decided to stay behind me to not pressure herself. Eventually at the 13 km water point, I stopped and waited for her to catch up before we ran back to cross the finish line together.

So I am glad I decided to run this race after all and did not do a DNS. Overall, there was great weather without the haze and sun. I managed to do an average pace of about 5.45 min/km something I have not done for a long long time.

Tokyo Marathon 2014

I got a bad memory. I can't remember the last time I did a full marathon and what was my best timing. I know it was about 5 years ago and my pb was about 4 hours 45 minutes. So I went into this marathon with full of trepidation. I think I trained pretty well for this. I think with good weather I may possibly hope to do a sub 4:30. But then the snow storm came and I got worried and the fears and doubts kicked in.

But the weather was amazingly great the morning of the race. It was probably around 7°C - 8°C. Friends who had done this race before warned me to keep warm especially while waiting for the flag off. So I heed their advices and worn a long tight, shorts, long sleeve top, another tee over it and a wind proof jacket. On top of that, I worn a beanie, gloves and took along a thermal blanket. Maybe because I was in Pen H, far behind the start line and there were so many people there that the body heat generated was so great, I didn't really feel the cold. Or it was the tension. In the end, the thermal blanket stayed in the pocket.

The crowd at Pen H

The race was flagged off at 9.10 am sharp after some speech. I could hear the speeches over the loud speakers but I couldn't see the flag off or even hear the horn. It took me almost 12 minutes plus to cross the start line! That was how far behind I was. The sidekick who had managed to secure a last minute bib was in Pen E far far ahead.

Despite the crowd, running was a breeze. There was full road closure throughout. Not like the race in Singapore where typically only 1 direction is close off and this will trickle down to 2 lanes and eventually park connectors. Over in Tokyo, the whole road in both direction was closed and there was plenty of space for the 32000 + runners. I started at what I thought was a good steady pace and was rather surprised when my watch showed my pace was 6:11 at the first km. The fastest I had done in my training was 6.30 pace and even then that was only for 15 km before slowing down. So I was in unknown territory and I keep telling myself to slow down. I was conservatively aiming for a 4 hours 45 minutes finish although if I feel good, I will try for 4:30. At 5 km, it was 31 minutes still too fast for my liking. I was fearful of the unknown. What if I choke after 30 km? But damn, the weather was great and I was perspiring under the tee and the jacket. The beanie had already come off and went into the jacket's pocket. I wanted to take off the jacket as well but it contained the blanket, the beanie, gels, camera and how was I going to carry it with all those stuff?

And I was having a great time. The crowd support was great. There were all sort of performers - traditional Japanese dance, drum performances, modern dances. The people lined the street from start to end giving out all sort of foods. A whole lot of workers from BMW was outside their showroom cheering away too! And the runners! Apart from the conventional running attire, there were many in all sort of costumes.  There was a guy in suit with a brief case, a couple in wedding garb, many fellas with weird head gears, people in all sort of costume including a Chinese Warrior, a robot, cartoon characters..... I took this photo of the Chinese Warrior before the race star. 

Wonder how he going to run 42 km in this outfit?

There was some sort of code requesting runners not to take photos during the run but I couldn't resist when I saw this character! Wow, running 42 km half naked and carrying a cross! 

I was doing great and quite happy. I saw the sidekick on the other side of the road somewhere along the  25 km mark whereas I was still at the 22 km distance. That was how far I was behind her. She looks good and running well and I knew she was going to get a PB. I was still feeling good after the 36 km which was also the longest distance I did for my training.  With another 6 km to go and about 35 minutes to go to hit 4:30, I was cautiously optimistic. But from here on I was on unknown territory. And of course there has to be a twist to it. The routes so far had been flat throughout but now the slopes start appearing. And right at the very first slope, I got a cramp - not on my calf but hamstring! It wasn't that bad but that shook me up a bit and I decided to walk it off.  But the momentum was gone. And I had to resort to a run/walk strategy to complete the last 6 km which took me 52 minutes. Sighed... so no 4:30.

The sidekick had already finished and was waiting for me at the finish line. She clocked a PB by a wide margin. Me - I did get a PB in the end, by a teeny weeny 2 seconds. Lol! 

Can you spot me in this photo? That's gun time by the way

But I had no regrets and no big disappointment. After all, this will probably be the only World Majors that I will ever have a chance to run in. And just being there for the experience would have been worth it.