Running 101 for Newbies Part 2

Continuing from previous post

The competitive world of running is divided into 3 main type of races - track & field, road runs and trail running. As the name implies, track & field refers to events that are held on a track, more specifically a stadium running track. Events are mainly the shorter distances like the 100 metres to 800 metres race, relays like the 4 x 100 metres or 4 x 400 metres or hurdles and decathlon. These sort of events are held at competitive level in schools and for major meets like SEA Games, Asian Games and Olympics Games. Generally, here in Singapore, it is generally safe to say that once out of school, people do not participate in such races unless they are elites and representing running clubs and country. Most recreational runners will not be able to meet the qualifying times to even get on the starting block.

The most popular type of running races is the road race. These are generally held in public areas like parks and public roads and distances varies from 5 km to a full marathon. Generally the most common distances for a road race are

5 Km Race - Locally there are very few 5 km road races. Most are fun events as the logistical cost of organising a short race is equal to that of a longer distance races so I figure organiser probably find it more beneficial to their pockets to have 5 km races as fun events where every Ah Ter and Ah Kor can take part. Some clubs do organise occasional 5 km time trials for their members but if you are wondering how to take part in such time trials, likely you have not acquire enough running experience and contacts to qualify for one.

10 Km Race - First thing first. A 10 Km race is not a 1/4 marathon! A marathon is 42.195 km. 4 quarters of a 10 Km race is 40 Km. 2.195 km short of a full marathon. So please do not go round saying you ran a 1/4 marathon. There is no such thing.  10 km road race is the most common road race here and dare I say the whole world. In term of challenge, the distance is sufficiently long enough to make it a good workout and yet short enough for almost every runner wannabe to take part in. A person can walk the whole 10 km and still finish in a decent time of say 2 hours. So if you are a new running convert, this should be the first race distance for you to try before stepping up to the next level.

Half Marathon - A half marathon is half the distance of a full marathon i.e. 21.0975 km. In term of level of difficulty, it is consider an endurance race but it is an achievable distance for most runners. Running a half marathon takes an average runner about 2 hours or so. Walking a half marathon (not encouraged) will probably take 5 hours. So take part in this only if you has sufficient training and is able to run 10 km or more distances comfortably. People have died from trying too hard in a half marathon even here in Singapore so do not do this unless you have trained sufficiently and got used to our hot and humid weather.

Full Marathon - A full marathon of 42.195 km is the ultimate road race for most runner. It is the holy grail of running something to check off the bucket list. The average runner in Singapore will takes more than 5 hours to run/jog/walk the full distance. A full marathon is not for newbie. It is an endurance race and only those who have trained sufficiently should do this. In theory, a runner needs to do an average weekly mileage of 60 km with long runs of up to 30 km before he/she can do a full marathon. People who thinks it is a walk in the park as in, that they can simply walk the full distance will be in for a rude shock. Walking 42.195 km is not akin to walking 8 hours in the shopping mall where you have air condition, coffee breaks. In our hot humid weather, walking the full marathon 100% of the way will most likely take more than 10 hours. Those who do a slow jog/walk will need to take at least 7 - 8 hours if not more by which time, the water station may have ran out of water, the sun is high up in the sky and one can easily get cramps, dehydration and heat stroke. Do this only if you have at least 1 year of running experience and is able to complete a half marathon comfortably in under 3 hours. Most prudent and responsible race organisers will set qualifying time, checkpoint and race cut off times to weed out the unfit and reduce their logistic nightmare of catering to the mass of marathon souvenir collectors wannabes.

Ultra Marathon -  Officially, any distance that is more than a full marathon is considered an Ultra marathon but most people recognise ultras event at certain regular distances like 50 km, 84 km, 100 km, 100 miles, 160 miles and so on. Ultras are not for the faint hearted. It can take anything from 5 hours to complete a 50 km ultra to more than 36 hours or even days to complete longer distances. For this reason, most ultra organiser will require participants to provide evidence that they have completed certain distances in a certified race before they can sign up. So if you have never run a half or a full marathon, don't even dream of doing an ultra. 

Of course in between all the above, there are the quirky distances like 15 km, 32 km and so on. These distances races are good and useful for those training for the half and full marathon and can serve as good training races.

Trail Races - Trail races are the equivalent of road races except that it is held mainly on trails in forests and jungles. Here the level of difficulty rises due to the different terrains, ground surface, inevitable hills and climbs. Special equipment like trail shoes, hydration bags, torches, headlamps will be required for longer distances. For those who are new to running, trail races should only be done after familiarising oneself with the trail and getting the feel and hang of it. If you do not like mud, uneven surfaces and is worried about snakes bites, bees and other creepy crawlies, trail running is not for you. And if running in the dark alone in the forest at night is not your idea of a night out, forget about running a 50 km or even a 42 km trail race. 

There you have it. Running 101 for the newbies. See where you fit in and join the correct races. That will help you to improve your running competency, reduce your chances of getting injury and provide a good experience and a chance to shout out that you ran all the way without walking!

Running 101 for Newbies Part 1

Came across this article in the press recently. And saw this little bit.

I must admit I do get a little bit peeved when people use the wrong words but most them if they are not runners and get the terminology all wrong, I just shrug it off but when people who are doing it gets it all wrong, I go grrrr...........

So I guess it time for a little refresher in layman terms:

JOG - This is my pet peeve. I absolutely hate it when people asked me whether I am going for  a jog. Yeah its an ego thing but I don't jog. I run. A jog is when you put on a pair of running shoe, go downstairs or walk to the neighbourhood park and do a slow slow run of not more 20 minutes. It is done at an easy pace where you don't break into a sweat, you can talk and laugh and noticed all the little things like the chio bu doing her stretches. And some people can walk faster than your jog. And after you finish the jog, you can just sit at the park bench and chill or hop straight into the car and drive home. No need to change or cool down because you never break a sweat.

RUN - I run. I don't jog. At least not yet. Maybe when I hit 60 and the joints and bones start protesting louder. Meantime, when I put on a pair of running shoes, it is to run. A run is when you break into a sweat. You try to run faster than the previous time and you wish the traffic lights will be in your favour every time you need to cross a ppedestrianised crossing. And when you see a runner in front of you, your thought automatically turns into whether you can outrun that fella. You don't notice the kingfisher in the trees, heck when you in the mood to run, you don't even notice your friend on the other side waving to you. When you finished, you all sweaty and smelly and you need to cool down. Not hop straight into the car and drive home. 

And running can be more complicated than science. Ha ha ha. There are easy run, tempo run, fartleks (no its not something you do silently in the elevator although most runners are prone to it), intervals, long distance run. An if you don't know what these are, it simply means you are not yet a hardcore runners. No worries. You will learn soon enough. And then we have pace. We measure how hard we run by the pace we ran which can get pretty complicated. Your hard pace can be the easy pace of someone else, your long distance run can be a short run for another person and a climb for you is just a gentle incline for somebody else. For a totally non-scientific analysis of pace read here. And all these don't apply if you just jogging.

That is the difference between a jog and a run.

Of course, once you get hooked into running, you will want to join events. And nowadays, events are a dime a dozen. And there are so many events of different distances and themes that you go all blur blur. Here are a run down of some of the main characteristics of each event and what it is meant for.

FUN RUN - This is usually a short distance "running event" of not more than 5 km although there are some which are longer at 10 km. Generally, participants are welcome to walk, jog or run. There are no prizes to the top few finishers and no completion timing will be given. There are also no "Finisher Tee" although some events may give event tee, certificate of participation and a medal. Fun Run are usually organised to raise funds for charities, promote a cause or as a side attraction to a main run to attract more participation. Fun runs are suitable for everybody from children to senior citizen of all shape, sizes and fitness.

COMPETITIVE RUN - As the word implies, this is a competitive run. Prizes are given to the top finishers (usually top 3 or in some cases up to top 10). Runner's timing are captured through timing devices attached to shoes or bibs and read by sensors at strategic points along the route. Serious runners who takes part in these runs to i) win prizes ii) get a good time and ranking iii) get a personal best (PB). Not so serious runners join to measure how they fare against other runners or mostly to assess their own standard of fitness. Most organiser will give an event tee or singlet, a medal, a certificate with the timing printed on it and for some events, a finisher tee. Competitive run are suitable for people who have put in efforts to train for it. Of course, there is nothing to stop fun runners and those who never train to take part in competitive run but the experience for them will be much better if they train for it.

Competitive run comes in various distance though and runners should learn to sign up for the appropriate distances according to their ability.

To be cont'd

An Officer and a Gentleman - Terence Yeo

I first got to know Terence early this year when he joined a group of us trekked up to Gunung Nuang in Malaysia.

Terence in the middle of the group photo at the summit of Gunung Nuang

Back then, I only knew he was in a school and I thought he was a school teacher. It was only later that I found out he was in fact a vice-principal at a secondary school.  Why did I mentioned this? Because he was not your typical school principal. In my mind, school principals are mostly bookish and boorish and very serious. But Terence was not. He was fun, loud at times and very down to earth. During our trek, he constantly stayed behind to help the weaker climbers even though he was probably one of the fittest having completed many marathons and ultras.

From that trip, we got to know each other better and Terence strikes me as a most helpful and humble guy. He joins us on crazy escapades like the Prawn Mee Makanathon, made time to have dinner with us despite his busy schedules and join in our whatsapp chat; something that I certainly do not expect from somebody so senior in the hierarchy in the Civil service.

Terence at the Prawn Mee Makanathon

Terence at one of our dinner outing

Sadly, on 27 November 2014, at the young age of 40, he passed away leaving behind his wife May and 3 beautiful kids. It seems he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage after climbing Mount Kinabalu with his students. 

In the short time that I have known him, I could sense that he was a very special person - the type who will go out of his way to help friends and probably strangers as well and the type who will probably give his life for another person if he has to. And the testimony and tributes that has floored his facebook page demonstrated this wonderful traits clearly in the way that he has touched and helped and inspired so many people.

He will be sadly missed but never forgotten. RIP Terence. Your time here may be over but you will always be loved and remembered by your loved ones, friends and students.

Ultra Women

I always think people who runs ultra are a bit crazy up there. But then again I have many friends who runs ultra and I know that they are certainly not crazy and most of them are very nice humble people. And over the course of the past weeks, my opinion and respect for them went up many many notches especially for these 2 lady fiends of mine.

Over the just concluded weekend, Singapore sees it second ultra event for this year - a super duper ultra event for only the hard core die hard ultra marathoners. Spanning a maximum distance of 168 km between Bukit Timah Hill and Mount Faber, the event is a real test of endurance. Runners can choose to do a shorter 108 km but that still involves doing 5.5 loops of 8 km per loop at Bukit Timah Hill before running 17 km to Mt Faber and doing another 4 loops of 8 km before running the 17 km back to Bukit Timah Dairy Farm. And that comes with total elevation of 3500 metres! To put the distance in perspective, from Changi Point in the east of Singapore to Causeway Point in Woolands is just 36 km!

Our first Ultrawoman, Mel, prior to completing in the 108 km distance has only a 50km trail race to her name. Yet I don't know what drove this little lady to celebrate her birthday by running 108 km and that on the actual day too! Anyway, what this plucky lady lacked in physique and experience, she more than made up for in pure grit, determination and completed the gruelling 108 km in just over 26 hours. A few of us were honoured to be invited by her to share in her journey across Singapore and I must say that I am deeply humbled by her courage and strong resolve to finish it despite not sleeping, no food for the 26 hours and blisters and painful heel. 

Photo credit Rosemary Chan

Of course she swear after completing this that she will not compete in another ultra event but I wouldn't be surprised if the next thing I know of, she had went and sign for an event like the Badwater 135 Ultra Marathon which is what our next ultra lady did.

The Badwater 135 is billed as the world toughest foot race and rightfully so since it span 135 miles which is 217 km to us un-initiated in the Imperial system of measurement. And that is not all. Day time temperatures can go up to 55 degree Celsius! Only 97 crazy nuts started this race and 83 finished it. Out of the 83, one of them was Kelly, arguably the most hard core and prolific ultra runner in Singapore having completed countless ultras and marathons all over the world. 

But even by her own standard, the Badwater was probably one of the toughest race of her life and yet she breezed through in just over 46 hours! Read more about her adventure at the Badwater 135 on her blog here.

Photo Credit Andre Blumberg

So what possess these people to take on this type of challenge where the distance they run is longer than the distance they take to go to/from work everyday and their battered bodies cry out for relief, for protection from all the abuses they put it through while completing in such events?

I seriously don't know but whatever it is, I take my hand and legs and whatever off to them and can only salute their grit and determination.

Well done ladies!

IPPT

I find it weird that Mindef has seemed it fit to respond to all the cry father cry mother about the IPPT and after a review, took such a drastic step of dropping the standing board jump, shuttle run, pull up and replacing it with a push up. Only the sit up and 2.4km remain untouched.

I know many people cannot do the standing board jump (SBJ) and the pull up and that is the single biggest cause of the high rate of failure.  When I did my NS more than 30 years ago, I couldn't even do 1 single pull up. As a result, we had to do pull up before and after every meal. Over the course of the BMT, most of us eventually manage to do the minimum 6. SBJ was a different ball game altogether. It was not something that we could train for everyday. For me, I was lucky that I usually managed to scrap through. However, for many others, even though they excel in all the other stations, a failure at the SBJ means they failed the entire IPPT.

So after so many years, I guess Mindef has finally decided to listen to the complaints and did a review and removed the 2 biggest bugbear of the soldiers. Or maybe the current commanders cannot stomach a high failure rate and decided to get rid of the problem the easy way.

The IPPT was modelled after the international NAPFA test. Each station was supposed to test different aspect of one fitness like pull up for upper body strength, sit up for core muscle, SBJ for agility and so on. Personally I don't see the relevance of the SBJ for a soldier's fitness. Likewise, the shuttle run, the sit up and the 2.4km run. These are measures of a person fitness in a mainly sports environment. Not for a soldier and definitely not for a soldier engaged in a war. As it is, our soldiers are already quite a big softie with so much pampering compared to the bad old days. Probably the toughest test for the soldier right now is the route march but even then, the distance has been shorten considerably.

If Mindef is really serious about ensuring that its soldiers are combat fit, I would suggest that they seriously reconsider the whole idea of the IPPT. Why have a half pass 6 type of standards? Soldier don't just run 2.4 km in a war. Being able to run 2.4 km under 10 minutes is not going to make anybody a great soldier. Likewise being able to do 20 pull up or push up or 40 sit up. What has that got to do with one fitness?

To measure a soldier's true fitness, I will suggest that Mindef bring back the full battle order obstacle course test. That is definitely a more intense measure of a soldier's fitness and strength cum ability to manoeuvre, dodge and climb obstacles. But that is only for a short assault. To test a soldier's endurance during war, make every runner runs a half marathon in Standard Battle Order not PT kit. After all, when a soldier goes to war, he is not going to wear running attire and sport shoes. If a soldier can pass the obstacle course test and the SBO half marathon test, I believe he should be fit enough to fight a war even if he can't run 2.4 km in the required time or jump 251cm.

Have a Break

Not literally though. Race season is now in full stream and there is at least 1 race per week. Some weekends there are 2 or even 3. And it is interesting to see some of my running acquaintances signing up for each and every races. Some did back to back races as in ran the Real Run last Sunday at Sentosa and then went over to Tanjong Pagar for the Green Corridor Run. And it is because of support like this from the running community that there are races sprouting all over.

There are now on top of the established races, many new races like the Green Corridor, ST Run in the Park, City Chase and then there are theme runs like the recently concluded Foam Run, the upcoming run like Garfield Run and the Electric Run....

But despite the popularity of races, there have been casualty. The theme run from US the Heroes Run has been cancelled due to poor response, the Punggol Waterway half marathon has been postponed indefinitely and some races are not coming back or at least there are no news of them yet - like the Mizuno Mt Faber Race but for every race that got canned, 2 pop out to replace it.

I am impressed at the continued support shown by the local running community.Despite complaining day in day out about the high cost of the registration fee and the lousy goodie bag, they still continue to sign up. But I think that a lot of runners especially the newbie are putting themselves at a higher risk of injury by running too much too soon. Maybe our runners should all take a break and relax and skip some of the more expensive and poorly organised races. That will send a clear message to the event owners to take a long hard look at how they should organise races and hopefully we will have less but better organised and more appropriately priced races.

Vibram Five Fingers

The biggest running news this past week must be the news of Vibram  Five Fingers being ordered by an American Court to pay $3.75m in a class action suit filed by a disgruntled lady who claimed that the VFF did not live up to its claim of improving foot health namely:

(1) Strengthen muscles in the feet and lower legs 

(2) Improve range of motion in the ankles, feet, and toes

(3) Stimulate neural function important to balance and agility

(4) Eliminate heel lift to align the spine and improve posture

(5) Allow the foot and body to move naturally

Of course the ruling has got people on both side of the camp arguing their point with those anti-VFF and anti-barefoot lambasting the VFF and barefoot camp. The VFF and barefoot camp naturally is arguing that wearer of VFF has to phase in the running gradually and not jump straight into it.

I have not worn a pair of VFF before. The only reason is because I don't like the design but I have dabbled in barefoot running and minimalist running. I got injured as a result but I don't blame the barefoot running. Me think there is a place for everything and every type of foot wear. The suit in US was not so much about the effectiveness of the shoe but more about the stupidness of the US law system and its jury system and also the stupidness of VFF to make claims in their sales pitch without doing the very necessary research to substantiate their claims.

I have a number of runner friends who swear by their VFF. The only runner I knew who complained about his VFF was a guy who bought in online at a dirt cheap price and which even he suspected is an imitation. Anyway I like to think that the VFF and the minimalist/barefoot movement is here to stay and will be an integrated part of the running scene together with the traditional running shoes from the mainstream companies like Nike, Adidas, New Balance and the Reebok etc

Lesson Learnt?

At the recent NTUC Run350, together with tons of runners caught in the rain, we were stuck in the medical tent. While there, I had the chance to observe the set up and I think the organiser have learnt well the lesson from the 2XU incident.

I counted at least 8 ambulances and at least 4 mobile medic on bicycles and 2 on motorcycles. I asked one of the mobile medic and he confirmed that he has a AED with him. I must said that the organiser seems to be very well prepared for all sort of emergency. And all these for a race of 21km and 10 km with a combine running strength of only 16,000.

One of the mobile medics on bike

Good that race organiser are now not taking chance with the safety of the runners. Let hope the other organiser, especially those for the longer distance, will follow suit.

Protectionism

Recently, Running Shots, the photography group that I shoot with got a message from an event organiser. That is nothing new considering that nowadays we get a lot of request from event organisers to take photos of their events. But this latest request was not a request to take photos. It was rather different. In fact, it was a request for Running Shots not to upload the photos of their events immediately after the event but to delay the upload for a month. The reason?

Let me reproduce part of the message here:

"We respectfully request that you do not post photos of our events on your site for at least one month following our events in order to allow these photographers time to receive the benefits for which they are employed. We fear that the posting of photos too soon will hurt the profession as a whole as we believe this talent and service should be provided first and foremost for a fee to ensure local photographers can continue to be paid for their work"

We were stumped. This was a first and we have no idea whether to agree or not to agree to the request. But here again we see an element of protectionism creeping in. Just like the saga after the Commando Challenge late last year. And this got me pissed off. Let look at the reasons behind the request.

- to allow these photographers time to receive the benefits for which they are employed.

- posting the photos too soon will hurt the profession ......... this talent and service should be provided first and foremost for a fee to ensure local photographer can continue to be paid for their work

There it is again. - benefits / pay. What utter baloney!

This is a free world. Where in the world nowadays can one company ask competitors not to compete with them so that they can make money? I thought protectionism exists only at the country level but it seems this isn't so. Seems like the paid photographers expect to be handled a golden platter to make money without competition. The argument is seductive. Hurt the profession = No more support from these photographer = no more photos. But is this really true?

The impact of such a policy will simply mean that the interest of a small group of people (ie the paid photographers) is protected and deemed more important than the interest of the majority (ie the participants in an event). Let me quote from this article by Murray N. Rothbard in 1988: "Invariably, we will find that the protectionists are out to cripple, exploit, and impose severe losses not only on foreign consumers but especially on Americans. And since each and every one of us is a consumer, this means that protectionism is out to mulct all of us for the benefit of a specially privileged, subsidized few—and an inefficient few at that: people who cannot make it in a free and unhampered market." This was written in the context of the Japanese flooding the American market with their products in the eighties but it is as relevant now to this current situation as it was then. To apply it to the current request - this is what they the event organiser is saying to participants."Don't take the free photographs from the volunteers. Pay big bucks to our paid photographers for your photos instead" Does that sound fair? I suppose yes if you are the one selling the photos and definitely no, if you are the one who have to cough up the money for it!

I said before and I said again, the paid sports photography market is going the way of the dodo bird. With over prized photos, quality that are not much better than what amateurs like us are taking, there is simply no way for such a business model to continue to be viable. With cheap and good quality dslr readily available nowadays, anybody can take a fairly decent photo. And most people nowadays do not print hard copy of their photos. Most are just happy to have a soft copy residing on their pc, tablet or phone which can easily bring around to show their friends instead of having to lug heavy photo albums. 

But instead of reducing prices or coming out with more innovative way to sell the photos, they resort to trying to block volunteer photographers from competing with them. But is that going to work? Mass events are public events and they cannot possibly shut out the public or stop anybody from taking photographs of the events and subsequently uploading them to social media or photo sharing sites. Even if Running Shots agree to their request, there will still be other groups out there like Running Kakis, Chasing Shots, Run Mo Cap etc around. Are they going to try to block everybody? And if they succeed, who benefits? The participants or the paid photographer?

No wonder a friend I met in Tokyo commented that Singapore event organiser do not have the interest of the participants and are only interested in making money off them and which is why he no longer participates in local event. Judging from the request of this particular event organiser, he is not far off the mark in his appraisal. And it will be a sad day for the local sport scene if volunteer photographers are sidelined so that the paid photographers can cream off the participants.

NB: the views expressed here are my personal opinion and do not represent the view of Running Shots and my colleagues there.

Medical Aids at Races

At the recently concluded 2XU Marathon, a runner collapsed during the race and despite efforts by fellow runners and subsequently medical personnel, he passed away at the hospital. After this, there was a lot of kpkb over the lack of medical aids from the event proper. According to press reports and postings  in social media, the runner collapse somewhere around the 11km distance along the Geylang Bahru PCN. Fellow runners were not able to locate the event medical personnel and there was no emergency contact number of the race organiser to call. In the end, other runners provided cpr and called the SCDF. Unfortunately, they were not able to provide the exact location and consequently the SCDF ambulance took longer than expected to reach. Meanwhile, the race director was none the wiser about the event. Runners told umbrage at the lack of medical personnel, the inability to contact the race organiser/director and the simply inertia of the race organiser.

But to be fair to the race organiser, I think they have done what is expected of them. Looking at the race map, there are medical points spread out all over the race course. However, most of the medical points were along the second half of the route as to be expected of a full marathon where most of the injuries and problems are likely to occur later rather than so early as in this case. And there is no precedent for an emergency contact number of the event organiser in most race although I noted that this is now printed on the City Race race bib. Lesson learnt! And it is not realistic to expect medical personnel to be stationed at every 1 km. As I understand, most big races will have at least 3 civil ambulances during a race stationed along the race course and first aiders (usually from the Red Cross or St John) stationed along the routes. What happened is really unexpected and beyond the control of the race organiser and they have done what is required of them. But that is of course not to say that these cannot be improved on.

For a start, we could all learn from the Tokyo Marathon. I noticed that apart from the usual medics stationed at various points throughout the race course, in addition, there were medics on bicycle. Not only that, there were doctors who were running with the runners.

Members of the Medical Response team at the Tokyo Marathon

Photo from http://www.newshome.us/news-6341487-Tokyo-Marathon-medical-rescue-drill-to-improve-anti-terrorism-Level.html

Medical personnel with AED along the race route at the Tokyo Marathon

Photo from Tokyo Marathon website

These doctors wear distinctive red vest with the words "Medical" and they ran together with the runners

Photo from https://www.flickr.com/groups/627262@N25/

Perhaps doctors who are runners can volunteer their services and run together with participants in races. Race director should also make available mobile medics with AED and other relevant medical aids.

However, all these measures will not prevent somebody from dying if that is his fate but hopefully it will be sufficient to reduce or prevent more cases

Stop Running Part 2 - What comes next

Ok finally time to write part 2. But first you gonna read all the disclaimer in Part 1. Done? Then you can carry on.

Stop Running! Part 1 - Get a Life!

There I got your attention. Didn't I?

But before I go on. Please note the following:

1. I am going to give unsolicited advice. If you do not like unsolicited advice - please do not continue reading.

2. I may offend certain people. In particular, those who are single. If you are easily offended and single, please do not continue reading.

3. If you are the type who takes blog posting so seriously and think it is mainstream news and influential enough to make changes to your life, you can continue reading just remember points 1 & 2 above. But if you think blog postings and in particular this blogger's posts are crap and good for a laugh, by all means continue reading. But remember points 1 & 2 above.

4. If you consider yourself a serious runner and think that this old man who can't even run faster than your grandmother is a big fake and quake, you will most likely be insulted or offended by what I am going to write, so please do not continue reading.

You have been warned! Although me think the caveat above is not going to stop anybody from reading and getting offended but me being me and a big kaypoh, I don't care. Actually I love the attention and the increase in readership!

Ok now to the main story.

Goodbye 2013 Hello 2014

2013 has been a most interesting year. In fact I would said it has been the best year ever.

Started the year with a very enjoyable race in Thailand

This was followed by another race in Muar.

In between, did 2 fun runs and 1 local race; the inagural TNF City Race as part of a team.

Also went over to do a fun trail run in Malaysia where we had our first encounter with leeches!

August decide to do the Army half marathon which turned out to be a big mistake.

Went to Kota Kinabalu to challenge the mountain there but expectedly failed miserably.

Then instead of running the local TNF 100, we did something different and it was another wonderful experience.

And that about it for the year. Of course, in between the races, shot thousand and thousand of photos as part of Running Shots and made lots of friends.

Certainly a most fulfilling year.

Come 2014, have already committed to one hike, 1 local and 1 oversea race and looking for more. Perhaps a climb up to the highest mountain in South East Asia and a trail race somewhere cool and nice?

Have a blessed prosperous and healthy new year, everybody!

Great Eastern Women's Run 2013 - the men have it too!

This year at the Great Eastern Women's Race, I saw a fair number of guys running alongside their wife or girl friends or partners. Later on on Facebook, some ladies was visibly angry at these guys for gatecrashing their party. But I think the guys who ran the GE run obviously don't see it that way. 

These guys who were running are what is known in races as bandit runners. That is, runners who do not register for a race but still run in it. In the West, this is a big no no. But what is the big fuss? Those who bandited will argue? After all, they do not take the drinks, the gels, the banana and there are so few of them they are not likely to cause any obstructions. And beside, most will know enough to run to the side and not cross the finish line. So their argument will be that nobody has suffered an disadvantage because of them. And of course the line that everybody use. It is a public place and everybody can run in these place.

Not true. The other camp will argue. Most bandit runners will still take the drinks. And if everybody think like them and many more turn up, they will be an obstruction. And beside, what if they collapse during the run. The race people will still have to divert resources to them notwithstanding that they are not registered. And it is unfair to those who paid to run......

And so the arguments goes on. I am actually surprised that the GE organiser do not have bandit catchers. I saw the bandit catchers first hand at the previous years' Shape Run and Nike Run and I was pretty impressed at the power of the security although I didn't think they could outrun the bandits:) Maybe next time round I can volunteer to be a bandit catcher. Anybody want to join me?

But seriously, while I think the bandit runners are not correct to run without registering in the race, I think the guys in the GE Race had good reason to do so and that is to support their loved ones. I can understand why they do it since I am always running side by side with the sidekick although I have never bandit a race with her before. My support if they can be counted on as support is to drive her there, take her photo and drive her home. And beside, if I run with her, I will in most cases end up as the pacee and she the pacer.

But back to the bandit pacer. I think there is good reasons for races to have this category. The Malaysia Women Marathon this year had this. The Craze Ultra had this and many oversea Women races actually allows men registration. So if the problem can't be resolved, maybe next year GE, Shape and even the Venus Run might want to create a new category for male pacers. Charge them a fee to run but no freebees except whatever is given to the ladies and no prizes. Then the bandit pacers will have no excuses to be bandit and the organiser - they might as well make a buck from it. After all, if you can't beat em - might as well let them come it and have it too! 

Broken Vows

I swear many times that I will not run a full marathon again. Not because I think I cannot do it but because I am too lazy to train for it. Then in a stupid moment of bravado, I went and signed up for a 50km trail race. And after countless hours and hours of training, I failed to finish the trail race. Which should tell me to be smart and stay off long distance running. But hell no...

I have a full marathon coming up next year. I don't know whether to celebrate or cry. Celebrate because this is the Tokyo Marathon, one of the major marathon in the year and which everybody tell me is a must do. Unlike the Boston or New York marathon, there is no qualifying time but a lucky draw. And just for a lark, the sidekick and I went to apply and I got in! But not the poor sidekick who was more interested in it than me. So I should be celebrating right?

But I think of the long runs that I going to have to do and I am so depressed that I want to cry. I remembered how it was when the sidekick was training for the Sundown Marathon this year and I was accompanying her. I suffered through most of it and had the ignominy of dropping out less than half way into one of the long runs and taking a bus ride home. And now I got to do it all over again! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

But running changes people and is like a mind monster. I haven't even start training for the Tokyo Marathon and I know I gonna hate the training but I am thinking of doing an ultra trail race. Yes it going to suck big time - the training - but I can't get the DNF at the TMBT out of my mind and I think I will have to break my vow and ............

Expect the Unexpected

In another 2 days time, I will be doing my longest race ever. For most runners nowadays, 50km is probably no big deal but for someone like me whose last full marathon was back in December 2008, this is going to be hell. And to add to what is already going to be a long haul which will foreseeably take me up to 15 hours to complete, throw in Mother Nature and I going to have an epic struggle coming up.

So how did I find myself in this situation. I turned 50 last year and i wanted to commemorate the occasion by doing a 50 km race. But I left it late and couldn't find any suitable race in the end. Fast forward to early this year. When the date for The Most Beautiful Thing, a ultra trail race in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah was announced, a light bulb went "ding". It is on 14 September and just 2 days after I turn 51. And the distance was actually not 50 km but 51.3 km which fit in even more nicely with my 51st birthday! So how can I not sign up for this?

But since I started training for it, I have been having loads and loads of regret. First, I actually hate the super long slow run in the trails that span up to 7 hours. It got so bad that I began to dread the sessions. But those are behind me and now all I have left is to fly to Kota Kinabalu and ......

The million dollar question is - will I be able to complete. My friend thinks I can do it in about 12 hours against the cut off time of 15 hours. 15 hours for a 50 km race? I can only imagine the event organiser set such a generous cut off is because the race is going to be super tough. And if that is an understatement, like here in Singapore, it has been pouring over in Kota Kinabalu and the first consequence of the race is that there has been landslide and the original route had to be rerouted. And the result of the rerouting is that the overall elevation gain has jumped from 2910 m to a whooping 4000 m! Throw in the foreseeable muddy conditions and I am really having the jitters now.

Maybe I should pray for more heavy rain so that the race gets canned and I get a nice holiday in the rain? Whatever it is, I really don't know what to expect. The only thing I am sure I can expect is the unexpected!

Wish me luck, won't ya?

Run Climb Pray

2 weeks ago, I achieved my  highest climb ever. Not to mention the highest weekly mileage in my whole entire running life.

I climbed up to a maximum altitude of 404 metres and if I add them all together, I hit a total of 1898 metres.  The joy was short-lived though! The elevation map for TMBT was released and gulped - the total elevation gain is 2910 metres. And that is over 50km in one go whilst my 1898 metres was done over 4 runs + walk spread out over 7 days! 

That was also the week when I hit my highest mileage in my entire running life of 7 years. And it was a grand total of 72km! This was with a run/walk on Saturday of 38km and another hike of 10km on Sunday plus the two weekdays evening run.

I guess all the climbing and running that I have been doing are not really going to help much. I so gonna suffer big time over there but may be, just may be, there will be a miracle and by the time I go over there next month, somebody will have build a cable car up to the peak! So the next phase of the training will be? Pray of course!

The 3 Cardinal Sins of Trail Running

Last week a cyclist died. By itself that is no longer a big news since cyclists are being run down by motorists so frequently that people are kinda used to it. But this cyclist was not killed by a car. In fact, he was not knocked down by any vehicle on or died on any road. He was found dead at Gangsa Trail.

Gangsa Trail, as most seasoned trail runners will know, is a favourite haunt of mountain bikers and trail runners. It is fairly straight and rather easy to run or cycle on. There are no cars, motorbikes and the only danger are probably tripping over roots or hitting overhanging branches. So how exactly this poor chap died is a mystery but one thing for sure - he committed 2 out of the 3 great cardinal sins of going into a trail or forest:

1) Never run alone

2) Be prepared for emergency. Bring safety gear along

3) Bring hydration.

Apparently, he was cycling alone and not wearing a helmet. So the likely cause was he fell and knocked himself against a rock and it being a weekday, there was nobody there to come to his aid and he died alone just like the great Micah True. 2 out of 3 sins - alone and no helmet. 

I know of a lot of trail runners ignore all or most of these 3 pointers. It is fine I think if one is just running in MacRitchie where there are always people around but in more ulu places like Butterfly, Woodcutters, Gangsa? I can imagine if a runner fell in Butterfly trail on a weekday and is immobile and without any means of getting help. In all likelihood, the earliest somebody might discover him would be the nearest weekend since that is really a quiet place. By then, he may have died from loss of blood, snake bite or thirst!

But having said that, I am also often time guilty of these 3 sins. In fact, on Hari Raya morning itself, I ran alone at the Tampines Mountain Bike trail. Throughout the run, except for some workers at the trail head, I did not bum into any other persons. If I had fell and injure myself or got bitten by a snake and there are snakes there, nobody will know. Of course, I tell myself nothing is gonna happen since it was a short run of just 6km; the trail was fairly easy to run and I know the place like the back of my hand. Of course, because it was supposed to be a short run of total 10km, I did not bring my phone or any hydration as well.

On hindsight, it was rather foolish. If I had fall or trip and hurt myself, even if I don't die, I have no means of getting help until somebody chance upon me which might be at the earliest in the afternoon. And I thought I know the place well enough but I discovered a new trail which led to a puddle and another and then another. Initially I had fun splashing through the puddles of water, testing out my new shoes but as the puddle become "ponding", I decided I could not go forward and had to u-turn which eventually  meant I ran an extra 2km. By then I was fairly thirsty. There were water everywhere - on the grounds :) but I was left dry because yes I didn't bring any out! Again, what if something had happened and I was stuck somewhere out there without water? I could get dehydrated in our hot weather and .............. My consolation was that the sidekick knew where I was running and could get help if I didn't return within a reasonable time. But I was exploring the new trail, so would she have found me?

When death strikes...

There has always been death in the running community. It is so common to hear of people dropping dead from a 2.4km run or after participating in a race. Most time, when we hear of such news, we check the identity and if it is not a known name, shrug and said “too bad” and we move on to the next topic of interest.

But 2 recent deaths in as many weeks brought the matter closer to home as these 2 gentlemen were better known to the Singapore Running Community at large. I myself, while I do not know them well, count them as my acquaintances as I had the honor and pleasure of meeting them over the course of the past years. So while I wasn’t really close to them, their death hit me rather hard especially since they are also around my age group.

Anyway, much has been written about them on Facebook and social media so I shall not go into that. But their death sent me scrambling to do something – check my insurance coverage. As a family man, although the kids are now grown up, still when death strikes, the one to suffer most is always the family since I figure the dead can’t suffer any more unless there really is really a hell or a 地狱.  

After reviewing my policies and taking into consideration the age of the children, I think I have prepared enough but have you?

If you are running or swimming or biking or whatever and drop dead today – how will your family cope? Apart from the emotional and mental stress, will they still have to figure out where to get money for the funeral expenses, where their next meal is going to come from now that the sole/main breadwinner is gone? Do they have to rely on the goodwill of newspaper readers for donations and charities and social welfare agencies for handouts?

So for those of us still running around, engaging in ultras, diving, biking and activities that are more prone to accidents, maybe it is good to pause a bit, take stock of what we have and whether we have prepared and made adequate provisions for the family before  continuing with our current lifestyle.

PS: I am not an insurance agent, financial consultants or advisor and do not promote any insurance companies or their products but if anyone out there need an intro to a financial advisor, I be happy to do so.

2012 to 2013

A super bad flu kept me off running for the whole of the last week of 2012 and the year ended quietly for me. No big last race like the MR 25 Ultra or anything spectacular. In fact,unlike the past 2 years, there was no race for me at all in December.

For 2012, I had decided to run less and I thought I quite succeeded in that with less races, less long trail runs and even the weekdays runs were reduced. Yet after reviewing my logs, I was surprised that in fact mileage for the year was still higher than previous years. For the whole of 2012, I clocked a total of 1,502km which works out to roughly 29km a week. For 2011, it was 1,328/26; 2010: 1665/32.  

In 2012, I took part in 5 races. In 2011, it was just 3 in 2011 but a whooping 9 in 2009 and 2010.

2012 actually has been a good year for me. Other than the sprained ankle at the TNF 100 in October, I had no major injuries unlike in 2011 when I had the metatarsal stress fracture which probably accounted for the less than desired mileage then.

So what does all this figures imply? And why am I running less? Have I lost my zeal for running? Or am I getting too old for this shit?  The truth is - neither. Or at least I hope so. I am taking it easy on the advice of my doctors and friends so that I do not pick up unnecessary injuries. 

That said, 2013 is going to be a brand new exciting new year. I have already committed to 3 races, all increasingly longer in distance one of which will be my very first ultra! After photographing and admiring all these ultra runners I have decided it's time to do one myself abide even if it is the shortest ultra distance available. 

Have a blessed healthy 2012. Keep on running!