Mr n Mrs Run The Town: December 2022

Sunday, 11 December 2022

I participated in the Salomon Rail Forest Run on November 5th, 2020 as a lead-up training to better prepare myself for the Singapore Marathon, which will be held on the first Sunday of December 2022. I underestimated the run, as the weather and terrain were tough, especially since I had not logged enough running mileage in the past few months. Additionally, I was unfamiliar with the route as it was the first time I had ever run on the entire rail corridor. Despite these challenges, I managed to complete the 25km run, although I had an embarrassing positioning of 80 percentile (188 out of 237 participants, and 148 out of 185 males).

I have to give a shout out to the volunteers who were very supportive and helpful throughout the run! When I spoke to some of them, they had been there as early as 3:30am and their spirits were not broken by the weather! Ultimately, this run did prepare me better for the Singapore Marathon in 2022, rain or shine.

You can watch the video to get a feel for my running experience on that day (pun intended).

References:

http://railforestrun.com/

https://time.raceya.fit/leaderboard/salomonrailforestrun2/25km-Challenge

Thursday, 8 December 2022

I participated in the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2022 (SCSM 2022) on 4 December 2022. This is my longest run since the start of the pandemic in 2020 and I was very excited to participate in the event. But my target was to complete the run by 6:30 hour. I have never been a good runner and the longest distance I had ran this year was 25 km only.

Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) from 1 to 3 Dec 22

I visited REPC on the first day and collected my race entry pack without any fuss. i.e. to say, the collection process were simple and smooth! It has been some time I have visited REPC/Race Expo. I took the opportunity to shop for sports apparels to replace my ageing items. I was tempted to purchase other merchandise/gadgets but I only purchased a pair of tights that I needed.

Preparations on 3 Dec (Sat)

It is common ritual for runners to carbo load and lay our their running equipment a day before an event. I am not indifferent and did the same ritual. i.e. All my items were laid out, and I had pizzas for dinner. Also I went to bed at 9 pm but spend a few hours tossing before I manage to catch some sleep.

Singapore Marathon 2022 on 4 Dec 2022 (Sun)

My phone was set to wake me up at 2am on Sunday, but I manage to wake up by myself at 1:50am. I went for a quick shower, prepared myself and kissed my wife goodbye before I make my way to the race village.

I arrived at race village at at 3:30am, went for a final pee and went to the starting point (Pen G)

The run was delayed due to the sudden downpour just when we were about to flag off. The flag time was delayed for several times. Thankfully, the event organiser decided to proceed on with the event after an hour. Pen A was flagged off at 5:30am, Pen B at 5:31, Pen C onwards was a "rolling flag off".

Besides the rain, there were nothing unexpected from running a Singapore Marathon. i.e. overcrowding due to sharing of route for marathoners and half-marathoners, hot weather in the late morning and the run up Benjamín shears bridge. Somehow, I was feeling kinda happy as I was able to run alongside with other runners, enjoying the street performers/cheer groups and was soaked in positivity from the volunteers.

I was happy that I completed the run before 6 hour net timing. This was despite the fact that I was suffering from a dizzy spell due to the heat after 30km mark but I managed to recover from it.

After thoughts

Looking back, my stats for this run was rather unimpressive and my placing for this event was 3,649 out of 5,771.

I am an untalented runner who could never run any faster, but I love to run. So, if my time permits, I will still sign up and go for the next marathon run again.

So I would like to wish you to have a great running journey ahead, and always remember my mantra - "To Complete, and not Compete!"

See you in my next blog posting! :)