Let your heart set the pace – I love this slogan. This is my third time running 2XU half marathon and also the most crowded one. Just for 21.1KM category alone, there were 6042 women and 12357 men. So that add up to a total of 18399 runners! There were also 5KM men and women and 10KM men and women categories too. Imagine!

The main reason could be the additional Polo T-shirt that they were giving as part of joining the race in addition to the usual race singlet. So people who signed up for any category will get 2 shirts and half marathon finishers will get the 3rd one.

REPC

Race pack collection venue was at Marina Square Central Atrium from 24 – 26 March 2017. I went on Friday late afternoon and was shocked to see the extreme long queue. I was told by one of the staff to come another time instead if I don’t want to queue. There were another collection the following week too at Novena Square. But I decided to just join the queue since I made special arrangement to come and didn’t want to waste my trip. Though the queue was long but it was moving at a reasonable speed. I was able to collect my race pack in exactly one hour.

Some friends who came after work had to queue for 2.5 hours. This was the first time I experienced such a long queue for a REPC. It obviously was due to the tremendous increase in the number of runners this year especially for the half marathon category. However, people who went on Saturday and Sunday experienced a breeze collection because most have already collected on Friday. There was a T-shirt exchange bulletin board near the collection counter for runners to exchange their shirt size with each other if the size doesn’t fit. People could just write down their messages on the post-it notes provided and paste it on the board and whoever could find an exact match would contact the person to do the exchange. It seemed that many people needed an exchange because the sizing was slightly bigger than previous years. However for myself, the size was right, I didn’t need to change.

Race Day

Woke up at 2:30AM and ate some light breakfast before heading to take the shuttle bus at Ang Mo Kio MRT pick up point. Reached there at around 3:12AM and saw 2 buses had left. So boarded the 3rd bus and there were still buses behind. I reached F1 pit at about 3:40AM and there were already many people doing warm up and waiting for friends. The portaloos were also having long queues. Avoid drinking too much water in the morning before a race but drink lots of water few days before a race to hydrate your body first. I couldn’t comment on the bag deposit as I didn’t make use of it but there were queues. 

Flag off time was 4:30AM for half marathon which was very early but the good thing is, even slow runners can complete the race before the sun gets hotter ☺. I walked to the start pen holding area and managed to position myself at wave 1. I heard from my friends that wave 2 and 3 were horribly crowded and they had a hard time squeezing through. There were 8 waves needed to separate the runners to avoid serious congestion.  I think if you take part in this kind of popular races, you have to expect this kind of masses. But it makes the event engaging and creates an upbeat atmosphere of running as a big community.

Flag off happened at around 4:30AM for wave 1 and we were off running our half marathons and hoping to beat our own Personal Bests (PBs). The running route was good with not much bottleneck issues. The run from Marina East Dr through ECP Park Connector, U-turn at PA Water Venture and back was cooling with little drizzles. Lightning flashes in the sky felt like it was taking our running shots. Saw many fast runners were already running back before I even reached the U-turn point.

Hydration along the route was plentiful. Runners could grab cups after cups of Pocari Sweat or water. However, throwing so many of these cups on the floor became a hazard for many. I noticed a lot of people just threw the cups (even bottles) anywhere they like and not be very considerate to throw into the rubbish bags provided. So we had to be careful and not step onto any of the rubbish.

I passed the 2:30 hour pacers at first and was running at a steady pace. At around 5 or 6 KM, I still didn’t see the pacers around and was wondering if they have passed me without me noticing? How could I miss them carrying so many purple balloons? Until at about 8 KM, I felt balloons were touching my head from behind and finally saw the pacers catching up and running by my side. So I knew I was running too fast and eventually I couldn’t sustain my pace anymore and had to watch the pacers running off far ahead of me and I couldn’t catch up. Took my energy gel at 12KM mark and continued running non stop. Many runners were strong and fit and did not take walk breaks at all. Though I was having plantar fasciitis on my right foot (pain on the heel bone and area around it), but with the support from my running shoe, I was still able to run without much of a problem.

Though this was my 7th half marathon thus far, seeing the finish line was still the best feeling ever. Crossed the line at 2 hour 41 minutes and it was a humble PB ☺. Congratulations to my brother who had achieved his PB too at 2 hour 21 minutes! Well done!

This race has been one of the most famous running events in Singapore and many avid runners would join without question. One of my favourites too because it is well organised and hydration provided is Pocari Sweat instead of some other types of isotonic drinks! Organiser would make prompt announcement in regards to waiting time to collect your race pack and weather condition prior to race day. Well done and can’t wait for next year!

Oh yes, forgot to mention that the medal this year is stunning. Love it! ❤

[Race Entry Pack Collection]

Almost couldn’t make it to REPC luckily a friend reminded me at nearly 6pm that REPC is only till 7pm and quickly took a Grab down and reach Marina Square, the REPC venue at 6.30pm. It’s the last day of the first REPC and there is no queue at all 😍

Lucky me. Heard from friends that the first few days of collection the queue is crazily long but at least they are not queueing in the rain or queueing under the sun to collect the REPC just like Sundown Most importantly, the queue is moving. What the organisers did good is the REPC is not very last minute, that it is held 1 week in advance before the race and there is also a second REPC a few days before race day 😊

(Photo Credits: Eugene Tan)

Though many runners complained about the size of the race singlet but it was already stated beforehand of the cutting and there’s size chart when we do size selection for the singlet. But what’s nice is that there is a bulletin board prepared for the participants to leave down their contact details to exchange the singlet of shirt size. I love the singlet though the armpit hole area is quite big, I like the material of the singlet, its soft and light weight. What’s more is that I love the rose gold colour! 😍 Great that 2XU manufactures their own race singlets as I had enough of Compressports race tees and singlets, so many of my singlets and finisher tees of many runs is Compressports 😅

I liked 2XU’s compression tights and I will always wear it for my long distance runs. My legs is usually fine after the long distance runs when I’m wearing it. I have only 2 pieces of 2XU compression thights which both I bought during sale at 50% off. Once is during SG50, online sale by Key Power International and another time, when a shop is closing down in Queensway shopping centre I got it for 50% off too. I don’t think I will buy unless it’s at discount. It’s expensive for a pair of tights will be ranged from SGD199 to SGD249 but I think it is really worth this kind of money because it’s really good and your legs don’t suffer after long distances 😊

Just to add in a little more of Sundown. Really kns, say simi free photos for us, I rarely see any of their Photographers around After one week still tagging photos? See whether got my photo or not. Last year not free photos got many photos but this year many of my friends and I got kosong photo But luckily we got photos from Running Shots and from other professional Photographers such as from WoW2WoW photography and etc at Facebook. Thank you! 😊 Many people ran shorter distance for FM route, think some were misled and no marshals to guide 😑 Wrong timing 😑Some no timing and their results show disqualified 😑 Some people photos not theirs 😑

[Race Day]

There is the half marathon category, 10km and 5km and I ran the half marathon category. On race day morning, my friends, Willis and I reach the race venue at about 3.45am as we wanted to be in the first wave which is flag off at 4.30am. Start early to end early and chop chop go back rest and avoid the ☀️ I like the way the Organisers stated clearly in their website, flag off is by waves and first come first serve To be exact there were 8 waves and more than 20,000 runners the last wave is flag off at 5.40am. Once we reach the race venue we thought hoseh liao! 😱 So many people, wonder will there be bottlenecks in the run?

We queued straight away for the start pen as we wanted to be in the first wave as the pacers are only in the first wave. Though I don’t like to follow pacers as I always am stress and failed at following them but I started using the pacers as a rough guide to know when I am going to end at the run.

Their social media, Facebook page is very updated and informed us about what happened if there is rain beforehand and it will be cancelled if there is rain. Luckily there isn’t any rain and the race are held as per usual and flag us off at 4.30am sharp 😊 We are in the first wave and we are very near to the front of start line and the stage. I like the emcee, he’s really funny and I was laughing a lot Really not a lot of emcee is as good as he is! 😆

Willis and I had planned to run together the entire 21km to encourage and support each other. And we did run together the entire distance 😘 Though we didn’t talk much during the run as I’m trying to regulate my breathing but it’s really the companionship that matters a lot. Thank you Willis I’m really more motivated to run with him beside me and unexpectedly we both got our personal best timing! 😍

There is hydration points at about every 2km along the route and I just took a few glance at the hydration points, some have just cold water and some just Pocari Sweat, some with both and some with bananas. The route is the usual scenic route and what I really appreciate Is that there were big boards to warn us of the steps and slopes ahead and the volunteers is all very nice and doing a good job to tell us to be careful of the steps and run safely 😊

There were quite a few small gentle slopes throughout the entire route and thank you my dear Willis for supporting me to make my running upslopes so much easy by giving me gentle push and at all the slopes and every few while check with me if I’m alright. Our pace is quite constant, we are constantly slowing down but we were running between the 2 hours and the 2hours10minutes pacers and I just keep telling myself try not to let the 2 hours10minutes pacers overtake us and just keep on running. The is no bottleneck for us and its a good run for us.

It’s actually the time of the month for me and I really sian 1/2. From aiming to break my personal best timing at last month’s Marina Run finishing a half marathon in 2 hours 13 minutes to just aiming to complete because I close two eyes and no need to think I will also know I will definitely have cramps. I pop down 2 ibuprofen(pain killers) pills before the run. This is first time I took pain killers and run (is it considered doping?) Kena the pain at Standard Chartered last year, I really suffered a lot in that run and finished in about 3 hours because I walk a lot and frequent the toilet I’m glad that I don’t have any cramps or pain at all throughout this entire run.

After we end the run, we collected our finisher entitlements, the super chio rose gold finisher tee, bottle of 500ml Pocari Sweat, banana and the cold and wet towel. The towel is definitely the best part after the run as it’s really very refreshing after all the sweat to clean up a little.

The race carnival site had some food and beverage booths, a massage tent which offers post-race massage for runners but I only visited the hydration point there for more water and the Instagram printing booth which we hashtag #2xucompressionrunsg (which is so long to type) in Instagram we can get our photo printed on a card. The card is so nice! Love it!

There is a super huge Pocari can which I recognised from the Pocari run last year, everywhere in the race carnival is like a photo spot to take pictures to keep as memories. Runners are also graciously queuing up patiently and orderly to take pictures and there is also a yoga/workout conducted.

Overall, 2XU Compression Run is a great organized run which I also ran last year and I can say that I will definitely participate in this run again

It’s been a long time since I run a 10 km race and I’ve decided to start running again with 2XU. I chose 2XU mainly because I’ve never tried it before and it seems like a popular run. I mean… if it’s popular, there must be something about it that appeals to runners right?

I joined the run today at its flag off time of 6.45 am for the 10 km race. The sky was just starting to brighten up and so was my mood when I listened to the heart-pumping songs blasting loudly at the start pen. Everyone was ready for the run and at 6.45, we were flagged off!

The routes for this race were wide for most parts with only some narrow parts here and there (I think about the 6 km mark?). But I had a rule for myself, which is to keep running if I’m on narrow roads so I don’t block up the road. I only allow myself to walk when the road widens up. And fortunately/unfortunately for this race, the narrow parts happened to be at the areas where I felt tired and wanted to walk. But thinking that it would not be nice for me to walk and slow down other runners, I kept my pace and continued on. And maybe that is why I did better this race! Although it’s not my personal best, but my pace was pretty close 🙂 But that’s not a reason to have more narrow roads during races though! Just to be clear about this. I love the route planned out by 2XU though. I love it because the routes were not planned in a loop as with some other races where the U-turn was rather sharp and you had to run back the way you came. In this race, the U-turn requires us to cross a bridge to the other side of the river and so the view is rather different! And not to mention that the view at Singapore River is so scenic that I might actually be biased.

Anyways, the race went off smoothly without any problems. There were ample hydration points (I think there’s 4) but there’s not enough volunteers at the hydration point at Marina Barrage. Runners had to stop and queue for their drinks… That’s the only hydration point I encountered that required queuing. The rest were fine!

The last 1 km felt rather long though… like it was longer than 1 km. My Nike+ Run App indicated that too… But nonetheless, I kept going while I strain my neck to find where is the finishing point. It got my mind off running for sometime and when I saw the Finishing line, I was so happy! The performance with the drums at the side kept me going and I quicken my pace. The atmosphere near the finishing line was so awesome!

But things started to slow down while we queued for our finisher medal. There wasn’t really any queue but everyone was patient as we waited. I didn’t have to wait very long though. The volunteers cleared very fast and off we go to the race village!

Ok, I actually didn’t stay in the race village because I’m tired of queuing again. I saw the Instagram photo print out while I was on the way. I really love races that provides this service. It’s like letting us have our own personal momento! But like I said… I was tired and didn’t feel like queuing HAHAHA so I left.

All in all, I am really satisfied with this race. It’s honestly the best race I’ve ever joined and I didn’t regret signing up for 2XU! I think they’ve probably got themselves a loyal runner! Hope that they would keep this up!

PS. I only realized this run is pronounced as 2-times-u today at the start pen from the emcee. The ‘times’ was meant as a human performance multiplier (as seen from their banner). Sorry for the times that I kept calling it 2-X-U HAHAHA

Pardon me for the lengthy post because I’m literally very free, spending hours in the car and a hour plus in the plane 😆 All parts of the posts are type in advance only the [Race day] and [Singaporean] portion 😂 Ok, fine. I’m actually very free even if I’m not in the car or on plane 😅 But if got the extra time and nothing to do, this article is free to read anyway. LOL 😂

[Race Day]

Air Asia boleh, I got flight delay. While I was waiting for my flight, I spotted Singapore’s MediaCorp artist Shaun Chen!😍

My flight should be 9.05pm and I can reach Singapore by 10.25pm but my flight departs at 10.25pm 😱 By the time I reached Singapore and clear immigration, it’s already 11.50pm and I took Grab to the race venue and immediately chiong to the deposit my bag, luckily got no queue. Its 12.40pm and I’m at wave 2.

(Photo Credits: Ming Ham (W2W Photography)

I’m in super good mood while waiting for flag off, music is good but the blue lights is irritating that I can’t really see and emcee is entertaining. The entire route have ample hydration points and especially love the super cold hundred plus! 😍 Luckily at least the drinks never disappoint me！My pace was good, I’m running faster than usual and ahead of the 2hr 15mins pacers but at 12km I got a very bad stomachache. Luckily I can still tahan till the toilet at Marina Barrage. Must be the Air Itam famous Penang Laksa I had in the afternoon 😭 Or was it the beer I had while I was caught up in the flight delay? 😅

The diarrhoea is horrible. For the rest of the distance, it’s run walk run walk. The route ok, running pass familiar places but the on and off stomachache quite irritating 😂 I know I should try to avoid spicy food before runs but it’s the authentic Air Itam Penang Laksa how can I say no to it? 😅

I guess I loss the 2hr15mins pacers while I was in the toilet. because I never saw them. There were parts where some of the routes is muddy, such as a point where we round back to F1 pit building once before we finished the run, it would be good if there were volunteers there to tell us to watch our steps as the place is quite dark and it’s quite slippery. During the last part of the run is a crazy slope. But I love the slope actually, with all the running of slopes recently I thought I can overcome it with all but thanks but no thanks my stomachaches 😭 Serve me right! But for the laksa? I will say it’s worth it! 😂 During the last km I just let my legs bring me forward as it’s a shiok downslopes and Teo hundred metres before the finishing line I sprint with all I have! And I heard the volunteers shouted “That’s the way!” 😊 I think I actually may be saving some energy for the upcoming 2XU next weekend? I am also running the half marathon 😆

Finishing in a net time of 2hrs30mins according to the results uploaded but it’s not the final result which is very efficient uploaded the next day. According to my Garmin, I ran 2hrs 32mins still not bad as not somewhere near my personal worst timing which is more that 3hours at SCMS2016 😆 After finishing my 21km, I collected my medal, banana and 100plus and looked for Sabrina and YiHeng, so happy that they stayed around and waited for me 😊

After a while I went to the 38km point and waited for Willis because I wanted to run the last 4km with him as I know that the last few km are the really challenging part and I want to be there with him. But it was cold, I’m all wet and drenched with my sweat. My shoes and socks are all wet with sweat, I can feel both my foot wrinkled. My legs were tired already after the 21km. I should have brought and extra pair of shoes and socks and a fresh set of clothes to change into, it will be comfortable. Walked slowly from F1 pit building till I saw the 38km signboard and I thought it’s so near the finishing line and walked further up to wait for Willis. While waiting for him, cheered for some running friends, though I don’t have any eye sight problem but I think I still can’t recognise some running friends 😂 I peeled off my timing chip while because I thought that the timing will be affected if I cross the finishing line twice. Then I realised the 38km distance board is placed at the in a misleading place. I waited at the 41km instead. Seriously the 38km distance board is placed at the opposite of the road which is actually just a few hundred metres before the finishing line 😑

Due to the misleading signboard, ends up I only ran the last km with Willis 😭 But shouldn’t blame the signboard, they already give so much errors during REPC I should have know it! Opps 😂 I should have check the route properly before hand lah. Tsk! Only myself to blame 😭 While I was offered a medal again as I went through the finishing line once more, I did not take anymore of the entitlements, no matter what, because we just have to do the right things 😊 I’m so prideful of Willis, he ran his first ever 42km, and he finished it in 4hours 56minutes! 😍 Wow! The sweetest part is that he said he runs fast because he knows that I’m there waiting for him ❤️ I

[2 weeks before Sundown]

By right I will not be running Sundown. By right I will still be in Penang holidaying after the Qing Ming but due to an important thing on 26th March, whereby I only received a letter about 2 weeks before Sundown and get to know that it is compulsory for me to be in Singapore for it. So, I bought air tickets to fly back on Saturday night. Just in time after some “tomb sweeping” and some yummy Penang food, touch down back at 10.20pm in Singapore just hours before flag off, I will need to rush to the race venue. Thank you JustRunLah! for the race slot! Just nice when I know I need to be in Singapore, and that I will be able to run Sundown I was given a race slot! from JustRunLah!, “Santa Claus” does not comes only in Christmas 😍

It’s quite a last minute decision to run, I think it is wiser to run the half marathon instead of the full marathon though I had wanted to do the 42km as Willis, my boyfriend is doing his first ever 42km. I thought I can run with him as his number one supporter. But it will be super rushing as flag off is at 11.59pm and I will be rushing like Cinderella to F1 Pit Building from Changi Airport. Not to mentioned that it’s a freaking 42km and the usual Qing Ming routine I need to wake up at 4am and its a day of visiting 8 tombs at a few different places, I really cannot 😂 Quite a pity that I am not showing full support to Willis by running the full distance, that not being physically there by his side the full distance but my heart and mind is always with him 😊 The plan is that after running my 21km, I will wait for him at the 38km mark after ECP in the full marathon route to wait for him, and run the last 4km with him.

[Race Pack Collection]

I’m sure many people have things to say about the race pack collection. Sompa this is my worst and most miserable race pack collection ever and I’m sure it is too for many other runners 😭 Just see how they voice their frustrations in the official Facebook page. I can seriously munch on popcorns and potato chips while I read the comments, some comments are hilarious and entertaining to the highest level of sarcasm which I think I can burn a lot of calories just by laughing 😆

Went to the collection in the first day of REPC after work with Willis and it’s really disastrous 😰 Hopefully those who are collecting their race pack on the second day onwards had a smooth collection. Is not I kiasu must die die go collect the race pack on the first day of REPC but Wednesday onwards I will not be in Singapore as I will be heading in Malaysia for Qing Ming already. First of all the race venue is so out of the way at F1 pit building, venue cost is obviously much cheaper than at Expo or Suntec, must be organisers want to save cost? 🙄 Much worst is that there it is outdoor and no shelter and everyone is complaining. My friend went to collect at 5pm and tio burnt by Sun, I went there at about 6pm and tio drenched by Rain till sibeh jialat even though Willis got umbrella and let me stand under his umbrella 😆 See lah! Cut cost also not like that right 😅 Pardon me my craziness, its because of the almost 15 hours at least in the car this entire trip 😆

(Spending time making my photo cute because I’m really bored in the car 😂) So happy to spot my photo being featured on the event board! 😍

This is one of the largest running event in Singapore. Last year REPC still alright but this year is really jialat for the REPC, hopefully that race day everything is alright. Tsktsktsk! Sure many people will start boycotting but I’m not yet to say that I will boycott Sundown because I like to go to running events

(Picture Credits: Sundown Facebook Page) It seems like they got no plan B and not well prepared at all. Want to implement something new also have to test before and make sure it works. The apology not sincere enough, if they had bravely admit and say “Sorry, we “Gei Kiang”, next time won’t make such mess again” will pacify people more 😆 The numbers of participants registered can already agak estimate the amount of runners running, it’s thousands of runners and not just two or three small cats, want to implement something new is good because want to make improvement but must make sure it works lah 😂 Somemore people pay so much lwee for the race slots leh!

Thank you Sabrina for helping me to queue at the self check in but ends up I have problem with the checking in and end up being directed to queue AGAIN at the information counter when it started drizzling. Public relations fail, never fast track us since is their system error that dosen’t allow us to register for queue. That’s when we heard that no more of self check-ins and to start queueing at the counters with the usual normal collection system 😑 Just nice, rain stopped and everyone dashed to the counters while Willis went to check out and I continued queueing at the information counter but when the queue is not moving at all I went to check out the counters too when I heard that counters 1 to 8 are for those who’ve already checked in, counter 9 and 10 for those that have not checked in and I queued at counter 10, with a super long queue when Willis is at counter 5 and it’s his turn soon. We have not checked in and I tell him to remain in his queue to checked whether he can still collect the racepack for us as we have not check in yet while I queue at counter 10. When it suddenly starts pouring heavily and everyone chiong into the shelter and there is no queue anymore 😨

Many people came after work, and is hungry. Hungry people are angry people, at least I think I am angry when I’m hungry 👿 But everything is so much more tolerable when boyfriend is with me though it’s like a “war zone” there. Luckily I’m still on the “awesome” and “dating” mood because like what people say “honeymoon period”, everywhere is rainbows and butterflies to me 😆 Poor volunteers, many people are giving them a difficult time by complaining to them and demanding their race packs but it’s not their fault! It’s super chaotic and the participants just pass whatever they can even their phones (they just pass their thousand dollars phone like giving out sweets pleading the volunteers to take their phone), identity card (which is so no privacy and confidentiality) and registration confirmation slip to the volunteers. Luckily a kind lady in the front of me helped me to pass my confirmation slips to the volunteers if not I don’t know need to wait till how long to get my race pack collected as I was at the back. Thank you! 😁 The going to faint part is they pack the race packs on the spot. OMG! And print the race bibs on the spot. Another OMG! 😑 Like this I can predict and confirm will have many errors such as given wrong bib and etc or worst is no bib given at all, I’m so interested to know if such things happened or not 😏 The “dating” and REPC mood is dampened definitely not by the rain, we didn’t even want to explore and check out what is available around the “expo” and left immediately after we collected our race pack. Though I wanted to take photo with Jasmine Goh my running idol at the RUNsg magazine’s container booth but she’s not around the first day of REPC to take pictures and give autogrphs (Its ok, I already have many pictures with my running idol at various runs, cannot greedy 😆) Still lucky to consider that we waited about one and a half hours as I heard that those who came later waited more than 2 hours or were even asked to come back the next day to collect their race packs. There’s seriously many things we can do with 2 hours, some would have already finished a half marathon with this timing already, or like Mark Zuckerberg, can earn millions of dollars in 2 hours. Luckily they got sort of do some “service recovery” at the last one day before race, announcing that all runners will get free race photos 😍 Luckily they got so many major sponsors like Osim, WWF and Shengshiong to provide them support.

Though there is other alternative ways to collect the race pack, such as collecting from dispensing machine in the shopping mall, maybe I shall try that next time as I only know of it after the collection of the race pack. But also heard that there is limited stocks and some runners are not able to collect from the dispensing machine. Jialat hor? Maybe can provide live updates online on the stocks at the various dispensing machines so that it will not be a wasted trip down. In the end they even ceased the operations of the dispensing machines 🙄

Overall runners are nice people (at least the runners that I know who really loves running are all nice people) only a few nasty people who loves to make others life a little difficult and miserable. And many of them are just volunteers. Most of us will grumble a little, say something like “I will boycott Sundown from now on”, but ends up you will still see us in the races 😆 At least for just REPC I will not boycott a race but for some, once reputation so rotten, not many are willing to give it another shot. Let’s see if there’s any chaos or not for race day 😏

[Penang]

Hours before the race, I do some sight seeing alone in Penang after Qing Ming with family. As long as I have data plan and Google maps. I feel safe. Everything seems cheap because the conversion rate from Singapore to Ringgit makes money so good to spend over there. Visited the Kek Lok Si Temple after eating the famous Penang Laka nearby took Grab to George Town which is only Rm10 about 8km away to see the street arts and visited the clan jetties 😍 After that, took Grab to the airport 😊

I will try to go back every year for the tomb sweeping if I can. Since I can remember, every year my dad will drive to Penang with all the incense papers, fruits and stuffs needed for praying but now dad is getting older and it’s tiring to drive such a long distance so my sister’s boyfriend drives instead. Now with all the highway, Penang is only about 6 hours drives from Singapore. LOL! 😂 No, it’s not only 6 hours drive, it’s not easy to drive 6 hours. Because I don’t drive so I just eat and sleep in the car like a shiok only, but the tiring one is my sister’s boyfriend who is the driver for the entire trip 😆 Over the years we include some holidaying along the way together with Qing Ming. Since I could remember my dad always drives in the midnight, but now he choose to go in the day as it’s much safer on the road. We dropped by in Ipoh for lunch to eat their famous Chicken Rice with bean sprouts and eat Soya bean curd and continued to Penang. We stayed in an apartment for the night which cost just SGD90 with 3 rooms. We decided to walk to find dinner but as I felt sinful with eating so much food, so in the same route I ran while my family walk

Ate at their hawker and once and for all, I think in one meal we ordered all the “must eat” Penang food such as Penang laksa, prawn mee, char kway teow, rojak, satay, chendol and ice kachang. Some food is quite disappointing not as nice as some eaten elsewhere before but I’m not a very picky eater so it’s still fine.

While I was sitting in the last row of the MPV, I can seriously feel my tummy bouncing up and down and vibrating so much that I keep staring at my tummy. And I was thinking that maybe if the bouncing of the fats works like the Osim waist belt which I have at home. I have two, which is now collecting dust and maybe even growing spider web 😂 I wonder is it both in working condition as I’ve never used them for too long. I think I really eat too much that I worry I might even have difficulties squeezing into my compression tights for Sundown 😂

Blood is thicker than water. I love to listen to stories of my grandparents and my parents stories when they are still young and how they met. My parents love story is a love story better than Twillight 😆 Being the youngest in the family, it seems like everything happened before I was born or I was too young to remember anything 😭

Qing ming is a period which I don’t understand why I will get very emotional, though my parents are still around and though I have never met before my father’s parents as they were already not around when my father is still a little boy and my mother’s parents passed away when I am still young. But this is a period I was always reminded that my parents are aging day by day, I love them a lot but showing love don’t wait till Qing Ming. I’m not good at expressing my love for them and I can only give them companionship, which I hope is enough to them. I’ve learnt to that spending time with your family is the most priceless things and hopefully one day many years later, there will be no regrets.

Other than Chinese New Year, weddings, passing of relatives and Qing Ming is the only period I see my relatives. I can sense the respect and love they have for my father in small ways always. Take this trip for example, by right after qing ming I will be going on a small holiday to one of the island in Malaysia with my relatives and family which my father told my siblings and I that my aunt want to go and we said ok, anything. But turns up according to my cousin, he said that my father said before he didn’t go before and my dad seems interested so my aunt said to go that place, so sweet right?

[Singaporean]

Main thing is I received a letter stating it is “compulsory” for me to be in Singapore for the “shake hand” ceremony to get my pink identity card and citizenship certificate. Which so coincidently falls on this Qing Ming period and Sundown marathon.

I love Malaysia too but sadly I have to part with it because I thought about my future and can only think that I can better survive in Singapore. I first breath of air is in a hospital in Singapore but I was a Malaysian. But I can say I’m more Singaporean than many Singaporeans, I sang 11 years of Marikita and said 11 years of pledge in my primary school and secondary school years. I went to many places in Singapore which many Singaporeans dosen’t even go to or know of. I lived here my entire life unless I go overseas for holidays. I know more of Singapore than of Malaysia. Though all these does not means “national identity” 😊 Is paying tax considered? I got heard before people demanding priority in healthcare and other government sectors saying “I’m Singaporean” and “I got pay tax one hor?” LOL! 😂

I can’t think of much things I do as a Malaysian. Last year I ran SCKLM as a Malaysian, a few years back I voted before which sadly to say I didn’t really know much about the political issues in Malaysia. And many said that many Malaysian women are beautiful 😚 The proudest moment I have as a Malaysian is when I went to Pulau Redang years ago, its really beautiful! But many corals are destroyed now, I even thought I can survived with just minimal food and swim there everyday with the sea turtle and beautiful corals if I were leave everything behind and do that till I die. I was a Malaysian but I can’t speak Malay if Nasi Lemak, Mee Siam and Goreng Pisang is considered as literacy in Melayu 😆 and was even reprimanded by a counter staff when I was 12 years old making my IC because I don’t know how to fill up the form which is in Melayu. It had actually quite a big impact on me because I was never treated so fiercely and poorly before.

But over all, no matter what citizenship am I, I considered myself just an Earthling, temporary spending some time on Earth 😊 One day I may be on of of the undiscovered planet many light years away when I pass on when science does not gives us immortality potion. Ahhh, these explains my white hair, been thinking too much 😅 There is such thing as “free trade”, wonder one day whether will there be something like “free world” when we can go anywhere we want on Earth if there is peace. Boomz! 😆

“Unforgettable…. That’s what you are…” Sounds familiar? Those are the lyrics from Nat King Cole’s Unforgettable. Being unforgettable can be both good and bad, and for this year’s Sundown Marathon, it’s exactly that but I’m leaning more towards the bad because of my torturous 2.5 hours wait during the Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) which I would touch on in a bit.

“Sleep Can Wait” is this year’s OSIM Sundown Marathon tagline! Back for its 10^th edition, this run event challenges it’s participants to sacrifice sleep and run through the night and beat the sunrise. Well, perhaps that is true for the longer distances like 21 KM and 42 KM categories but for me I’m participating in the 10 KM category and this was going to be one of the build-up runs to my 21 KM at the end of April! There is also a 5 KM category for this year too!

Milestone Anniversary…

Like most run events, the 10^th edition is a milestone and the organisers have introduced some new elements and features to differentiate it from the rest of the previous years.   Here are just a few new initiatives by the Sundown Marathon organisers, HiVelocity:

Disappointing Sundown Night Festival…

Whilst these changes look impressive and promising, the execution and planning did not go according to planned. This was largely seen through Facebook posts by frustrated participants who were collected their race packs on the first and second day at the REPC.

Wait time in queues were as long as 2 hours or longer. To make things worse, it rained on both the first and second day of the REPC and the organisers did not have wet weather plans till the second day. In response to the long wait times, HiVelocity Managing Director did post an announcement via the Official Sundown Marathon Singapore Page apologizing and explaining why there were long waiting times and why these changes were introduced.

I got to experience the horrendous queue first hand when I collected my race pack with my colleague, Ian on Thursday evening which was the third day of race pack collections. We headed straight to the REPC site after our Thursday workout without dinner and arrived around 20:00 hrs. It’s here that the waiting game begins!

Endless Queues…

We thought the situation would be better after the first 2 days of fiery comments via Facebook to the organisers but there was no improvement despite the an announcement stating the changes they implemented. Waiting time is as follows at the various sections:

• 1^st holding area (F1 Pit Building Garage) –> 1 hr 30 mins

All participants were to join the main queue but at least the place was well ventilated. Crew at REPC were making announcements over loudspeakers to call out for 21 KM and 42 KM participants to a separate queue after they joined the main queue. It was really noisy because there were on-going performance at the main stage and hearing those announcements can be a challenge.

An improvement area would be to filter the participants into the respective race categories instead of them joining the main queue; this would be more organised and not so chaotic. If the wait is going to be longer than half an hour, hydration should be provided. I had to buy a can of 100plus because I was sooo thirsty and there wasn’t any water fountain around.

2^nd holding area (After Garage, streaming to the different categories queue) –> 30 mins

• Shorter queue that separated the participants into the various race categories. By this time I was already starving, luckily the good people from AMGD (ahhmahgawd!) had some free sandwiches for the participants there.

 3^rd hold area (Right in front of the collection tent) –> 30 mins

• Final section where you can see the collection counters. By this time, I was soo wishing there was a chair because my legs were aching from standing and my workout! The only silver lining was that there were some volunteers from World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) walking around offering gummies to the participants in queue.

When it finally came for our turn to collect we thought everything should be smooth sailing but we realised that the crew who were also exhausted, were making mistakes in handing out the race bibs and event tees. Though the race bibs have been pre-printed but it was chaotic as the volunteers struggled to find our tags. We spent a few minutes at the counter making sure that we had the necessary things required before we left. We both were hungry and exhausted and just want to get home to rest. We walked past the deserted Night Festival and it was now pretty much like a ghost town. I would have loved to check out the festivities and offers but that was not an option.

The contents of the race pack were pretty much barren except for the event tee, race tag and a copy of RUN magazine. Some participants noted there was an OSIM voucher and a Salonpas Rub in the pack but I guess the volunteers did not pass it to us. Super disappointing…

Though the organisers managed to cut down the queue time for the fourth and fifth day of the REPC, I felt it was a tad too little too late but I have to applaud them for their efforts in wanting to cut down their carbon footprint in their part to save the earth. They will just have to think very carefully before they introduce any new initiative for a big run event like Sundown Marathon in the future.

Race Day and it’s queuing AGAIN….

Event day was no different from the REPC. Flag-off for the 10 KM category was scheduled for 21:35 hrs and holding pen opened at 21:00hrs. I reached the race site at around 21:10 hrs and had problems entering. There was only a small entry point that said START Pen and participants were entering through that small opening.

[Entering to the race site]

My friends and I was super frustrated when I had to squeeze our way through. It was so chaotic! Crowd control was so bad. This did not happen at all last year. We finally managed to get into the Start pen and met up with some friends. Comparing last year flag-off to this year, 2017 pales in comparison to last years where there was a light show on the F1 Pit Building wall before flag-off and there was none this year. We started off in the 2nd wave.

Race Route…

The 10 KM route was a challenging one but very scenic at the same time! Running past our Singapore skyline just makes your workout not boring, plus the weather was great that evening because of the rain earlier. The challenging part of the route were:

• Slopes Galore – Slopes were encountered in your 1^st and 3^rd km via the bridge near the Marina Bay Sands. The much dreaded underground tunnel near Crawford Street at the 8km.
•  Narrow paths – Bottlenecks only cleared halfway through the 3km mark which is after the U-turn Point at Gardens by the Bay.

What I thought the organisers did well along the route were placing light reflectors and blinking lights along the paths which were darker. This really helped as they alerted participants to stay within the marked route. They also converted the places which had stairs into slopes so that participants won’t lose their momentum when running. Hydration points were well spaced out, placed at strategic positions and well stocked.

[10 KM Route from the Sundown Marathon website]

Post race…

 I completed the race in 1 hr 15 mins (unofficial timing according to my Garmin). I collect my Finisher entitlement and goodies which comprised of a my medal, banana, a can of 100 Plus.  Collection was a breeze.

Met up with my friends to take some quick photos of our happy but tired and sweaty faces! We had to rush off in order not to miss the last train. Exiting the race site was definitely a challenge too. We were directed to exit by that small exit that we entered from and it was terrible! The same situation like when we entered the race site. It was super congested but eventually we managed to exit. I would somewhat consider the exit area to be a safety hazard  as participants had to avoid a power generator on the way out.

Overall, the race experience was a disappointing one. It didn’t lift up to its hype like previous years or it’s marketing posts promoting it’s event on Facebook. The long tortuous wait at the REPC, the chaoticness on race day when entering and exiting the race site just spoiled the entire experience for me. If it wasn’t for the company that I had on race day, this event would not even be palatable! I don’t know about you all but I will think twice before signing up for another Sundown Marathon. Till my next write-up, have a great week everyone!

Thank you Evan Chee for the race slot! I am very happy to have won this race slot. I have never run at night before. But since I won it, I don’t mind trying to run at night and see how it goes, little did I expect that the flag off time was 1AM! I was expecting it to start around 11PM or something. I am not a night owl, I need my sleep.

Evan Chee is an elite runner and one of this year’s Sundown with Love ambassadors. He ran his Personal Best (PB) at Tokyo Marathon 2017 earlier in February at 2 Hour 45 Minutes! Amazing. Congratulations again!

REPC

It’s my first time taking part in Sundown Marathon and it’s their 10th Year Anniversary. However, their Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) was a disaster for the first 2 days. It was because the organiser wanted to try a new concept – Sundown Night Festival. So race pack collection hour started late afternoon at 4.30PM and ended at 10.30PM. They hoped people could enjoy their race pack collection experience and soak in the atmosphere of the night festival at the same time, but sadly it did not happen. Runners had to queue for long hours (2 – 3 hours) under the hot sun and race bibs were not printed beforehand because they wanted to minimise wastage.  Weather has been extremely hot and humid this month with rain shower in the late afternoon. Race bib was printed on demand, collection venue was outdoor without shelter. This was something foolish in my opinion because how could an outdoor event like this be without temporary canopy to prepare for rain and hot sun? Given Singapore’s extreme weather condition. I saw tons of complaints and negative comments on their FB page but situation improved on 3rd day of collection because counters increased from 10 to 28 eventually and sorted according to race categories and race bibs were printed in advance. I heard umbrellas were given out too.

I was lucky to be able to collect from the vending machine on Thursday at Novena Square. That was one day before they decided to shut down all machines due to overwhelming demand and machines were unable to cope. There were 2 people in front of me collecting theirs and they also showed me how to use the machine so I was able to get my singlet and bib in less than 5 minutes. Thank you so much!

I didn’t go to collect my goodie bag on race day because I heard that there were no goodies inside the big bag. Only Salonpas and Osim voucher? So forget about the goodie bag with no goodies. 

I read about the plantable medal. The medal can be planted in soil and it can grow into basil plant. Wow very interesting but will it biodegrade very fast?

Race Day

I reached the race village at around 11:30PM and waited for my brother. The place was really crowded with people who completed their 10K still hanging around and people who just arrived for their half marathons and full marathons.

I watched a little of the movie screening on the large screen. Personally I feel the movie screening idea was good. People could just relax there watching some movies and chatting with friends.

I have been carbo loading a lot for the past 3 days before race day. Ate quite big portion of rice and stuff. I think it was too much. My tummy felt a bit bloated and I regretted eating too much. I told myself I must run harder to burn off those calories. >_<

The race flagged off at 1.00AM sharp for Pen 1. I was in Pen 3 and it was flagged off around 1.14AM. Quite fast as I was expecting Pen 3 to flag off later than that considering the large number of participants.

The road was quite narrow in the beginning and it was hard to run without bumping into each other. It got better after a while and the running was quite smooth for me afterwards with no bottleneck. I was quite happy with sufficient hydration provided (100 Plus and Ice Mountain water) though I skipped some stations because I was feeling great. Thankful to the volunteers who helped out and passed the cups to us in an efficient manner.

I finally decided to take my energy gel at 17 KM because I had a feeling my energy was draining… I drank some water at the hydration point soon after and also poured some on my face to cool down because the weather was extremely hot and humid! Hot and humid in the middle of the night with not much wind.

Some complaint about merging with the full marathon runners at some points along the way and at 19 KM mark along Sheares Bridge but I didn’t have any problems with that. I love the Sheares Bridge experience especially the down slopes lol. I walked up the slope instead of running because the upslope was quite challenging at 19 KM with depleting energy… But when I reached the top and realised it was down slope now, I literally just let gravity pull me downwards and ran down the slope like flying… Love it!

When the finishing line was in sight, I was so thrilled! Some shouted really loud to express their excitement in reaching the finishing line. A bit exaggerating :P. When I crossed the line, I felt accomplished and overjoyed. Finally I have conquered the night! My maiden night race. 🙂

Collected my medal and a can of 100 Plus and went to look for my brother who had completed 10 minutes ahead of me. Heard some love proposals happening on stage too… interesting. We rested for a good 45 minutes before heading to look for my shuttle bus to go home. 

The shuttle bus was quite efficient. Many were already waiting in line. I looked for my bus route 5 and went to queue, the queue was short. The bus ride home was comfortable  and pleasant because it was so spacious with so little people on board the 3-seater by 2-seater coach. I was sitting at the 3-seater seat all by myself.

Well done everyone on completing your night race and rest well for 2XU next week! Another half marathon for me. 🙂