Carnival Run 2013

I know I swear I will not do another 5km race. Or for that matter, another marathon. But then again, never say never. The last time I did a short race was way back in 2008 when I did the Inter Con and then the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. Such short races are no good for old fogey like me and best left to the young but what possess me to sign up for not one but 2 so far this year?

The first one in February was a fun run so I guess that don't really count but on Saturday I did the Aljunied pro-PAP organised Carnival Run at Bedok Reservoir. Distance was 5km. So why did I sign up for it? One word: cheapskeate. From last year experience at the other grassroot organised event, we knew that such events are usually small scale, fairly well organised, cheap as in low registration fee and best of all, comes with a solid goodie bag.

And so for the goodie, I sacrifice my integrity and signed up for the 5km Carnival Run. For $18.00, this was what I got:

So I found myself at Bedok Reservoir on a cool breezy Saturday evening with the kid and the sidekick and thousand of others like minded people. I wasn't intending to run fast but when I saw the crowd at the teeny weeny start line, I figured I better get to the front so that I don't get block by all the walkers and plodders. So we managed to creep all the way to the first quarter of the starting block before the race was flagged off by Mayor Teo Ser Luck.

I managed to run at a fairly comfortable pace. At one point, I was running next to this lady whom in my other guise as a photographer, I was forever taking her photo. This time instead of taking her photo, I ran beside her. Not too sure whether she knows me because we didn't say hi to each other. Somewhere after the canoe centre, I gave up and decide to jog along at my own pace. That was the last I saw of her.

Photo by Tan Kim Lai

Further down the reservoir came across 2 'paparazzi'. So finally I got myself on the other side of the lens! Beside the paparazzi, there was another lady just in front of me, Mrs IMD. She too seems to be taking it easy because I am sure she runs much faster than the current pace that we were doing.

Photo by Taz

So I ran alongside her for a while until somewhere towards the finish line before she zoomed past me to cross the finish line first. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the timer clock showing 25mins +. I was sure I was doing much slower than that and true enough my watch shows 26+ which I must admit wasn't really too bad after all!

So maybe I look out for more of such race. Where else can I get so much goodie for so little cash?

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.

Real Run 2013 is back at Sentosa!

The Real Run is back at Sentosa! After a break of 7 years, it has moved back to Sentosa, its home ground since it first started 18 years ago. The Real Run has always has a very special place in my heart. Back then when I first started running, it was one of the few races in Singapore and probably the most unique race around. The 10km route on Sentosa covers road, trail and sand was one hell of a race for the average runner and I remember it as the only race where I threw up after completion. That was also the race where I finally get to meet a great bunch of runners from the Sgrunners forum, many of whom has now come to be good friends and frequent running buddies.

The Real Run had to leave Sentosa when construction work started for the Resort World and moved to the Changi Exhibition Centre. Now, it is back at Senotsa, ironically, forced to move due to construction work at the CEC!

Together with friends from Punggol Runners, I was happy to be invited to test run the new route for this year edition of the Real Run. Azman, the Chairman for the Real Run Committee briefed us that he hoped to make this the "toughest" 10km race in Singapore. Certainly with so many races every month in Singapore, making this something special is always going to be tough but to make it the toughest?

I still remember the old route where we started on the road just after the causeway and ran up a steep hill to the satellite station before hitting the beach and the sun and then wrapping it up with a "trail" run. I also remembered how in 2006 I was stuck in heavy traffic and had to watch the runners start the race while still in my car and by the time I managed to find a parking space, the race was already over! 

Bad Hair Day

The sidekick usually wears a cap when she runs. Me, I only wear a hat when I think it is going to be hot. For me, the cap serves as a protection from the hot sun but for the sidekick, it is more than that. She said the purpose of the cap is to keep the hair from flying all over the places. I don't really understand that since she has short hair until after the Venus Run when processing the photos.

No offence to the ladies featured here. This is what I mean:

So ladies, may be it will be a good idea to wear a cap or tie up the hair the next time you run?

Once again my apologies to the ladies featured here but I meant no harm and disrespect.