Rain rain stay away were the few words that I could ran through my mind of as the minutes drew closer to 17:00 hrs on Friday (18/11/2016) evening! The weather had been really unpredictable the past few days and my colleagues and I were unsure whether we could even make it to the SGX Bull Charge. We were checking the weather forecast sooo frequently like how we would refresh a webpage to see whether the exam result is being released already. The weather forecast didn’t look promising at all. Would this be another run event that didn’t take place just because it poured heavily?

[Tweet from @NEAsg saying that there will be passing showers]

There was a tweet from @NEAsg at 17:00 hrs saying that there would be light rain clearing in the evening, at least it’s not going to be heavy & thundery showers. I soooo hope I won’t wet my new pair of shoes! Taking the chance, my colleagues and I finally made the decision to go change into the event tees and workout gear even though we saw the dark clouds looming over the CBD area. We took a quick look out of the window and we could see that the dark clouds were slowly moving away.

[Group photo of my colleagues and I]

We all gathered downstairs of our office building to take some group photos before heading to the event site. As we were walking to the event site, we could feel slight intermittent drizzles of rain drops. I was praying so hard that it won’t rain. All of us were excited but nervous at the same time because we didn’t want to be caught in the situation where it starts to rain and had to find for shelter.

[Race village]

[START Line]

We reached the event site 30 mins before the 3 km Chief Challenge flagged off. At the at time, the START pen had just opened and made our way inside. The weather was holding up and the skies seemed clearer! We were much more optimistic that it won’t pour. Though it was still early, there were lots of activities going on at the race village which had a carnival going on. There were American style food stalls and lots of exciting games and you could see participants enjoying those activities.

Soon the call to enter the START pen was soon made by the emcee over the PA system. The participants from the race village started streaming in. Since we were already inside, we had found a comfortable spot inside and started doing some warm up stretches. Very soon, the emcess went on stage and invited the Guest of Honour, Ms Indranee Rajah to flag-off the  km Chief Challenge first. After all the participants for that category were flagged off, a short 10 mins warm up session was conducted by 3 Fitness First instructors for the 5km Mass Run participants.

[Group photo inside START Pen]

Just as the warm up was about to finish, it started to drizzle quite heavily! Luckily it was time for the 5 km Mass Run to be flagged off. As soon we could beginning I started off was a faster pace than usual. Moving helps you avoid those rain drops but it was still drizzling quite heavily up to the 1km mark then it slowly start to stop. I won’t deny I was worried when it started it drizzle but thankfully it was only passing showers.

[Map Route – SGX Bull Charge Website]

It was a really nice weather to workout as there was no heat  from the sun. At the same time, there was a cooling breeze blowing too. Being a CBD run event on a weekday during peak period, the routes were definitely narrower than those on a weekend. There was no bottlenecks but along the way but it definitely felt congested because of the cars. One thing that I didn’t like was that with weekday peak periods, the car fumes on the road were quite strong especially for the first 2 kms. Overall, the route was a pretty flat one except for the slope up the bridge at the last kilometer, the were distance marks were all placed very well, hydration stations were well manned and stocked, volunteers were enthusiastic. Though I’ve ran this route a few time, I always like it.

[History of SGX Bull Charge Events]

I finished the race with my usual timing of 35 mins. As I checked my history on my Endomondo app, I noticed that this was my fastest time clocked among all my past SGX Bull Charge past events. I’m definitely happy with my improvement. After the race, I collected my runner entitlements which included a goodie bag with the various sponsors stuff, a bottle of water and a can of 100 plus. Check out the picture below, pretty good stuff inside the bag.

[SGX Goodie Bag]

As I walked passed the race village to head to the MRT station, I could see the sponsors handing out food to the participants to enjoy! I didn’t stay to explore the race village as much as I wanted to, I had a dinner appointment which meant I had to rush off immediately. There will always be next year!

Overall, I was glad that I managed to complete the event and the rain didn’t ruin this event.Till my next race review, have an enjoyable weekend and let’s all continue our fit journey!

Wow! What an amazing race! This year’s GEWR is definitely my most enjoyable run to date – in the 18 short months I’ve been running.  This is the second year I’ve participated in GEWR.  Last year was my first half-marathon (and my second ever race), which I completed with friends. This year, I decided to have another bash at the 21.1km and see if I could improve on my time, which would mean a PB for me.

The Great Eastern Women’s Run is Asia’s biggest women-only running event, comprising of the half marathon and 10km competitive categories, as well as a 5km Fun Run and the popular Princess Dash.  The $65,000 raised will go to The Breast Cancer Foundation and The Women’s Health Research & Education Fund, two very deserving causes.

Although I had all my running gear laid out the night before, I still set my alarm for the unearthly hour of 3.00am.  I barely slept a wink anyway, between the excitement and the nerves! I arrived at the Flyer super early and there were quite a few ladies there waiting for the race pen to open.  To my absolute horror, the portaloos were locked! Only two of them were open and there was quite a long line for each one. Thankfully, after a few panic-stricken minutes, the toilets were opened and near crisis was averted.

The race pen opened at 4.45am, so I made my way in and was lucky enough to get close enough to the start line, where we could see the Elite runners shoot off at 5.15am.  Wave 1 of the open category flagged off a few minutes later.  I was aiming for a 2:15 finish, hoping to shave 30 minutes off last year’s time.  The weather was lovely and cool too.

I often find it difficult to pace myself on race day.  It’s easy to get caught up in the crowds and go ‘all out’ in the first couple of kilometers.  Not this time. My plan of action was to try and keep up with the 2:15 Pacers. So with eyes on the prize; in my case the mint green balloons, we set off.

The balloon-wielding lovelies that I had the pleasure of running with were Judy, Sally and Xue Yu.  These gorgeous ladies supported and motivated us runners throughout the entire race.

I am familiar with the route and so found the first half of the run fairly comfortable and even enjoyable. When we hit 12km, I started to struggle.  I felt like I needed to slow down and walk for a while but I remembered a meme that a friend had sent me the day before which made me smile and keep going. “Run like there’s a hot guy in front of you and a creepy guy behind you!” At 16km, my playlist was starting to irritate me so I took out my earbuds and listened to my own laboured breathing instead.

There were planty of hydration points along the route – I especially loved the ice cold 100 Plus.  Divine!

I couldn’t quite believe it when we reached the 19km marker. My calves were screaming and I really, really wanted to stop, but with only 2km to the finish line and my target time within touching distance, I clung on to the Pacers for dear life.

The last km is a bit of a blur but with about 500m to go, I pushed forward for an attempt at a sprint finish – delighted to see my husband and daughter cheering me on as I approached the finish line.  I came in with the unofficial time of 2:11, which I am over the moon with!

Collected my race medal and finisher’s tee – which I love – and met with my husband and daughter in the race village. The place was buzzing and we had muffins and ice-cream and lots of photos.

Overall, it was another fantastic GEWR race experience and so well organised.  I can’t wait to do it again next year!  Massive shout out to all the fantastic pacers, especially to my three beauts for helping me achieve a new PB, and well done to each and every runner who took part!  #LiveGreat

LOL! Why didn’t I learn ballet when I was still a kid? At first I didn’t want to run a half marathon in tutu as I thought will be quite “irritating” to run 21km in it but I survived a half marathon in a tutu perfectly fine ? About a week or more before the race day, I tried on the tutu for the first time my entire life, and I think it really look super cute and started to be a little narcissistic in front of the mirror.

Then I asked Justina and Sabrina to wear tutu with me to the run on the race day and at first I thought they wouldn’t want to but they are ok to wear it ?

Took the shuttle bus there and reached The race venue very early at 4.15am. So after baggage deposit I head directly to the start pen with Sabrina and Justina. Baggage deposit and baggage collection is great as have no queues at all at least for me ? The elites category were flag off a few minutes later than the actual 5.15am and the rest of us were flag off about five minutes after that. The prizes for the podium winners are always good for these type of big races. First prize for the elite open category is USD8000! Wow! And congrats to Jasmine for coming in first in the closed elite category! Speaking of which now then I remember the first time I met her is also in GEWR. It’s last year when we were both walking to catch the shuttle bus to the race venue and started talking. So race day morning, met Jasmine at the bus stop again also taking the shuttle bus to the race venue, she said my shoe tag is different from hers, but there’s no shoe tag for timing only race bib, it’s the shoe tag for Newton Challenge I have yet to remove ? Yup, only the elites category have shoe tag for timing.

Before the flag off, the emcee was saying something like this is a all female run, so ladies will feel comfortable with no men around to see how sweaty we are. But I love my sweat and I think ladies who sweat are way much hotter than those who don’t sweat at all. I’ve known ladies who don’t “exercise” at all. Anyway, just a additional information on something I read a few weeks back that doing house chores is not considered as exercising. Details I forgotten but sorry ladies, doing house chores is not exercising. And all along I am also very ok with races with men and some more sometimes got eye candy around to ogle at. LOL! ? But this time the guys are so sweet to be around to show support to their mum, wife, girlfriend, someone special but not girlfriend (now then I know some people can have relationships that can be so complicated) and simply friend.

Like I’m cheered up a lot and really happy to see Eugene somewhere before 10km at a hydration point when I just went to the toilet earlier on because of a tummy upset, not just my tummy is upset I’m upset too that my tummy is upset ?

The route of the half marathon is the usual route same as many of the other runs which I think Organisers really can’t do much changes to make the route more interesting because Singapore is just so small ? And the 100 Plus available at the hydration points is really cold! Love it! And maybe because it’s a all ladies run, I noticed the hydration points are so much “cleaner” than those runs with men. Meow, not trying to imply amything ? But there is really lesser cups thrown on the floor, most ladies will throw their cups properly at the hydration points.

 I didn’t go to explore the race village at all after the run but just took some photos around and leave for breakfast after that as I’m too slow and Sabrina and Justina have already waited really quite some time for me. As Justina and Sabrina is so much faster than many runners, it’s really fun for them at the race village to take photos at the photo booth and enjoy the food like ice cream and yogurt available for the runners as there is no queue because most runners are still running ?

 This is really a bad run for me, did my slowest half marathon ever. I should have Did Not Show instead as I am still recovering from flu and cough but I thought it’s not serious enough for me to do poorly but I was wrong. Just after a few km into the run I start to feel a little giddy and started walking or maybe it’s just that my mental strength is too weak.

Somehow the more you look forward or have expectations to some things, the more disappointed you will get when the goal is not reached. Was actually looking forward to this run since months ago and I actually hope I could get a PB because Newton Challenge gave me hope that I can do it. It’s really ok as I think I did what I could and there is always other upcoming runs.

I just hope nobody will think that I look very unfriendly today because I’m literally “dying” during the run. Turns out that I’m very smiley in the photos at least. I’m struggling to finish the run and I feel like I was drifting myself to the finish line and now I really wonder how did I manage to finish the run. But I did. Still a bad run is not the end of the world ?

[More than 1 week before race]

Woohoo! The long awaited largest women’s run in Asia is finally here again! ? There’s the Princess Dash, 5km, 10km and half marathon category and I participated in the half marathon. Though the Princess Dash category have nothing to do with me, but its part of why I like this run too, after the little Princesses complete the run they get a finisher tiara! So cute right! ? It’s actually also quite meaningful as we can support by donating to the Breast Cancer Foundation and Women’s Health Research and Education Fund and also get a tutu. I don’t think I will wear the tutu and run a half marathon, can be quite hardcore so maybe save the tutu for any future fun runs that I may join, it should be quite cute to wear a tutu and run lah! ? Because its a run commissioned by Great Eastern, its good that we have free insurance covered on the race day as a part of the runner’s entitlement but hope that everyone can stay safe and no need to use the insurance for any claims. What I like best is the official apparels is Adidas again! ? But why is race tee and not race singlet? ? Or improvised, like YOLO Run, since this is a all ladies run, they can gives sports bra right? Imagine how nice it would be if we were given a Adidas sports bra as an entitlement instead! ? It will be good if we were given the option to choose whether we want a race tee or race singlet or let us vote about it at least, just like what Sundown Marathon is doing now is great, let us vote for the design of medal and race singlet ?? And LUCKILy, Compressport is the official Compression but the event tee is not Compressport but Adidas. I do not have any issues with Compressport just that I really have like A LOT of their race singlets already ? And honestly speaking before I started participating in running events just slightly more than a year ago I’ve really never heard of Compressport ? Anyway speaking of brand, how come there isn’t any more Nike run or Adidas run? Heard that few years back there is? Hope the running organisers will consider bringing these runs back. Maybe in future like 10000 years later there may also even be LV run, Coach run, Hermes run and etc? ?

Thank you Justina for helping me to collect the race pack! ? But turns out no matter what I still need to go to the REPC venue to collect the tutu because it was not given together in my race pack. The venue for REPC is at Marina Square and luckily I have a meeting there on Saturday so its not a trip purposely just to go all the way to Marina Square just to collect the tutu. And thank you Sabrina for accompanying me and friends really have some sort of “vibe” of attraction, coincidently we met Justina there and of course must take picturea together at their photo booth for the instant photo ?

The next day, the last day of REPC was just nice the day of Newton Challenge. The race venue is just nearby so after the run and having our breakfast at Marina Square’s Starbucks, we went and take photos together again at the photo booth but this time is with July and Sabrina ?

Nowadays many of the running events have photo booths available during the race day and during REPC, I always like these photo booths, they always have cute props uniquely made for the event and the photos can be kept as memories ? And they are really efficient, the soft copies of the pictures we’ve taken at the photo booth is uploaded into albums in their Facebook page, made available to us in just a few days. Really appreciate that! ?

It’s one of the runs with many freebies given in the race pack. And all the stuff is put inside the sling bag, the sling bag is also quite nice actually and I’m happy to receive it rather than getting the usual drawstring bag or a plastic bag from the other runs ?

Great Eastern Women’s Run (GEWR) is an annual run event which caters to female runners of all levels. It is one of the few ALL women run events in Singapore. I have joined the previous editions of the GEWR in 2013 and 2015 and enjoyed every moment of it.

[2015 GEWR fun moments and memories]

This year is the 11th GEWR event in Singapore and I signed up for the 5km category. Race day is always electric and I’ll write about that in a bit. Below are some of the things that attract me  to join this run event year after year:

[Photo courtesy from Great Eastern Womens Run Website]

Meaningful #RuntoLiveGreat Program – As with other years, this year is no different, the #RuntoLiveGreat Program is in its third year. Its main aim is to help first time runners to take their first step towards healthier and better living. What’s also interesting about this program is that its participant will receive an GEWR exclusive ‘#RuntoLiveGreat’ starter kit and a customised exercise plan. GEWR also organise various lead up training sessions which eventually will help them complete their run on race day.

Too bad I’m not a first time participant to GEWR and most of my friends have participated in this event before, but nonetheless, it is a good concept and it’s definitely a good stepping stone for first timers. Even if I don’t join this program, normal participants can still sign up for the various lead up run activities like kickboxing, training run sessions, cooking class etc. for a small fee.

Awesome Race Goodie Pack – This year race pack design is super cute! It’s a small sling shoe bag filled with goodies from the various sponsors! Check out my photo below! Now who wouldn’t be enticed!?

The only feedback that I have about this year race pack is the design of the race tee. It is really similar to last year memento tee with a few design tweeks like the 3 stripes at the top instead of the side and the material more breathable to allow air to flow through easier.

Don a Tutu for a good cause – There’s also a charity factor for the GEWR. This year the GEWR is privileged to support the Breast Cancer Foundation and Women’s Health Research and Education Fund. Participants can pledge a minimum donation of S$5 and receive a tutu. Participants are encouraged to wear their tutu on race day to support the charity of their choice and there are contests with attractive prizes to be won for the top 10 Most Creative Tutus. I did this last year but this year I did not.

Fun & Interesting Race Pack Collection – Though I had the help of my friend to collect my race pack on  my behalf, she told me that there were lots of photo booths with props and you can get your photo printed, every participant were given a sunflower, lots of vendors were there promoting their stuff etc. Most importantly, the queues moved fast and race packs were given out in a systematic manner.

There were also Facebook Contest being held in conjunction at the REPC for the participants who were collecting their race packs. These contest help make things more interesting! I gotta give the organiser for promoting this run event really well on social media platforms.

[Photo courtesy from Great Eastern Womens Run Facebook Account]

RACE DAY

I met my friends at City Hall MRT station and walked over to the float! We had all decided to meet by 06:45 hrs as that would give us ample time to walk to the race site and take photos around the race area. My friend, Cheng Yee & I had decided that we would not wear this year event tee but instead, we would wear our recently purchased “Don’t Quit”  tee just for the fun of it.  Being ladies, we just love the “matchy matchy” look  🙂

PRE-RACE

When we arrived at the race site, we were surprised to see sooo many ladies out in full force for this event! We could also see the gorgeous sunrise that is happening in the distance. We took photos around the area before using the toilets and depositing our bags. There were ample portable toilets around so there were no snaking queues or long waiting time. Bag deposit and retrieval was fast and efficient.

My group proceeded to the START pen area which was situated near the Singapore Flyer. We had to ask one of the volunteers there as we were not too sure where the START point would be. One feedback that I have would be for the organisers to place signage to guide the participants to the START pen area. Yes there was a map that showed us the layout of where the START & FINISH points are but signages help better with facilitation of direction.

One thing I liked about what the organisers did before the race start was placing a hydration point near the START Pen. This is helpful as sometimes you do feel thirsty and want to get a drink before starting.

RACE START

As mentioned earlier, this year, I signed up for the 5km category and the flag-off was at 07:30 hrs. We only managed to get flagged off in the 3rd wave but thankfully the weather was not hot which made the workout nice.

The route was a familiar but challenging one.  We ran past the F1 pit building towards Nicoll Highway, u-turned back via the Kallang Basin, passing the F1 pit building again before crossing the FINISH line. The difficult part was after Nicoll Highway somewhere after the 2km mark, there were these tunnels which had a very steep gradient which I had to scale not once but twice!! I could already feel myself getting tiring out and had to walk a bit before picking up my pace again. Distance markers were sufficient making it for us to know how long more we had left.

[Photo courtesy from Great Eastern Womens Run Website]

Hydration points were sufficiently place along the route but they were really packed with runners trying to get a drink. I guess maybe the length of the stations were not as long as other events. My friends CY & Kalsom said that they had to wait for sometime before getting their drinks as the drinks were not poured fast enough.

POST RACE

I managed to finish the race in  35 mins (Unofficial Timing). Collection of after race entitlements were good which included a can of 100 Plus, F&N Ice Mountain Sparkling Water infused with Grapefruit, banana and not forgetting my finishers medal! The collection area was very well-organised and clearly labelled so that participants know which lane to follow after they have crossed the FINISH line.

After I’ve collected my runner entitlements, I headed out to wait for my friends, it was really crowded. After everyone had returned, we had decided to check out the race site to check out the activities that were going on there. There were lots of vendors selling various products and offering some freebies like drinks, ice-cream etc. to entice the participants. There was also a mass Zumba session happening for the ladies. It was a very vibrant race village, just a tad too crowded.

Overall. I had a fun time at this year GEWR! It was super organised and well executed! Big thanks to the organisers on doing a fantastic job! I’m definitely looking forward to next years event and who knows I might actually sign up to do my first 21km then. Super love this year 21km Finishers Tee but till then, great job ladies!!! Congrats on finishing your race regardless which category! Let’s all #LearnToLiveGreat & #LearnToFeelGreat!