So after recovering from the viral fever and missing out on the previous weekend’s (24th July) race (refer to my previous blog), I went on the next weekend’s Tri-Factor Series, RunSwim category, a new category created this year.  It consisted of a 6 km run, followed by 500 m swim in the sea and another 6 km run.  I signed up for this early this year, as I intended to get ready  for my ‘initiation’ into a triathlon race in 2017/18.  After all, I’m already 53 and starting to run at late 51, it didn’t seem like a good idea to rush into a triathlon race, so I thought I would start with longer distance aquathlons this year.

But looking back, I had been in a hurry somewhat.  After only 4 months of regular running,  I went for my first half marathon race, then another half marathon 2 months after that, and then 3 months later my first full marathon.  Since then, I had gone on to do fairly regular races at my own pace, and since I was a beginner, the fastest I did in those categories last year became my PB.  After completing 24 races last year, this would be my 17th competitive race for this year.  Would have been 18th if not for running a fever over a duration of 4-5 days.  42 races in 19 months.

So that weekend 24th, it was with a fever that I went to collect my race pack.  The swimming cap was red color this time vs the blue that I got from Blueseventy’s.  The pack was ‘minimalist’ in my opinion.  Anyway, I was not feeling too good so after collection, I tried to rest and will myself back to recovery.    The doctor’s advice had been that if my fever didn’t go away by Monday, I would have to go back and test for dengue infection.  I was quite sure it wasn’t dengue but that I had caught the virus from the hospital somehow the week earlier.

I was actually mulling quite a bit over my DNS on top of my extended feverish suffering. In fact that week, I was also joking with my friend that I had lost something, perhaps my ‘mojo’.  So I had to find it back soon.  I won’t tell you how my friend responded.  But it was also good for me that I heed the doctor’s advice first time that I had better not run that weekend.  I did find my mojo back in the most surprising manner, in the deep waters, okay, not so deep.  On that later…

Anyway, luckily, by Monday, my fever subsided, and there was just the cough and a bit of running nose.  I was anxious to get ready so I went for a short 3.6 km run and then the next day, feeling better, I did another 7.1 km run, all at slower pace.  Then I rested and got ready for race day.  I also swam a short distance on one of the days in the small pool downstairs.

Race Day: I was as ready as I could get, given my ‘condition’ at that time.  I drove to the venue early in the morning and parked at car park D1 which was free.  This was a mistake as I realized later that I had to walk close to 2 km to the venue.  I treated it as a somewhat longer than required warm-up.  Still I was early and so on reaching, I  queued up to get tattooed with the bib number.  I then tied the ankle tag, placed my bag and laid out my swim cap, goggles, fresh pair of socks, towel in front of my bag, in the space allocated in the transition area.  I stayed there for a while and then walked around.  I came back to the transition area to check out again.  I was getting ready to go, when the volunteer suddenly told me that I should put my bag with the baggage section.  I thought of protesting because I saw that others had their bags with them.  But I assumed she was going to tell the others as well, so I deposited my bag.  Then I walked to the starting area.  There, I realized I had left my energy gel in my bag.  Well, I’ll have to do without the gel since I didn’t have adequate time to retrieve.

When the race was flagged off, I tried to pace at a steady comfortable race.  In my mind I had to reserve energy for the swim.  I did more swimming in my undergraduate days but it was non-competitive and I swam the breast stroke, learning the stroke by observation.  Out of the three activities, I enjoyed swimming the most in the past.  These days, I prefer running.  Cycling was second but I realized cycling requires much more than just cycling with the legs casually.   It’s probably the most expensive of the 3 disciplines and I’ll leave that to the last.  So for now, run and swim…

So I tried to pace myself in the first 6 km run.  But probably because I had just recovered, I was panting by the time I completed the first 3 km.  Later I did realize from the timing split that I was running quite fast for my condition.  Anyway, after I turned into the transition area, I just pulled my shoes off, knowing I would have to fumble with the double knots later but figured I could use some time to ‘rest’ from the swimming as well.  (My shoe laces liked to free themselves so I had tied another one knot extra tight !)

I ran across the sand and went into the water.  Wow, the moment I hit the water, I just loved the warmth and the near weightlessness – it was a nice switch from the pounding of feet earlier.  I started to swim.  I kept a fairly steady pace, though I was using breast stroke most of the times.  I was enjoying the swim.  The only unpleasantness might have been the mixture of seawater salty taste and the strong smell of petrol pollutants further out to the sea.   The distance behind the swimmer in front was about constant though he was doing the free style.  Stroke after stroke, I was feeling fairly comfortable and thought I could maintain my pace and maybe catch up.

This was my second 500 metres in the sea (the first time in the sea was in the Nila Aquathlon).  Thoughts about that first swim came floating back, and I felt surprisingly strong.  Then I had to make the left turn.  I had kept quite a distance from the border rope and noticed front swimmer getting into the border by mistake.  Some folks on the boat nearby were shouting for him to get out.

It was an inverted triangle to the shore, first 150 metres, then 200 metres horizontally and 150 metres back.  I switched to free style now and then, just to get the feel and rest different muscles of my arms and legs.  The 200 metres were a bit tougher because the sun was shining right into my eyes when I tried to look at where I was going.  But it was still good, as I really enjoyed the near weightlessness of the water.  I tried to get nearer to the rope to reduce the distance I had to swim.

Now  the last 150 metres.  I was still feeling comfortable though I felt some strain when I had switched to the free style.  Then it happened.  I felt a very sharp tight pull on my left calf muscles suddenly, cramping me up.  I was still about 100 metres away.  This was not good.  I tried to calm down.   My left leg couldn’t move.  I digged harder with my arms and tried to get my right leg to kick harder.  I struggled for a few minutes, swimming painfully and slowly.  There were some shouts but I presumed they were not about me.  Oh man, did I have to give up ?  Surely, no.  I would not do a DNF.  DNS was already a bad experience.  I will never give up !  I calmed myself, told myself to take deep breaths.  I was going to finish this.  And I think that moment, I got my ‘mojo’ back.  Sometimes in your deepest struggle, you would find victory.

I lost precious minutes but somehow the left leg then started to function again, though painfully slow.  Kicked, breathed, swam.  My legs touched sand.    I stood up, walked up the shore and moved as fast as I could to the transition area, remembering to take off my goggles and cap.  I wiped my feet, put on my fresh pair of socks and then struggled with the double knots of my left shoe for more than necessary, the darned knots refused to come out easily, I had pulled too tightly.  The time splits later showed I took 2 minutes at this transition !

I then put on my running singlet and ran towards the exit and onto the last 6 km route.  Luckily, somehow I managed to run still, felt a dull pain in the calf, but managed and completed the last 6 km which was in the opposite direction from the first route, towards Changi Airport.  It was quite strange and miraculous that I still maintained a reasonable pace though this was slower than the first 6 km.  This time too, I did stop to take the Lucozade offered.  No gel but I felt almost alright still.  Towards the end stretch, the kids’ race route overlapped with ours.  I tried to run beside a fast running, very young kid.  A man, presumably her father, was running and encouraging her.  Not sure if she was getting tired or shy, but she slowed down a bit.  I looked to the front and tried to overtake the runner in front, picking up pace a bit.

At the finishing point we collected the Lucozade and finisher medal.  A banana or two would have been nice, I thought.

The medal looked simple in design.  It just said ‘The Tri-Factor Run’, Finisher, 31.07.16 on one side.  On the obverse side it said swim/bike/run series.  Wished that it had been more specific for the category and with a swimmer/runner design somehow.  Still, this would probably be one of my more valued challenge medals at this point.

I had targeted for 1:54 finish, but I managed to do it in 1:48:43.6.  Not fast by any standard, I’m sure.  But this was good enough for me.  (The results were released on the same day, so that was a plus plus point.)

In life, knowing when is enough in that moment, is also critical.  And what’s important is to carry on another day, push your limits and keep on challenging yourself.  Don’t give up, pick yourself up after a fall.  The day you give up, then probably that’s the end too.  Nothing is impossible, but you have to pay the right price.

Final personal thoughts for that weekend : My first 12 km run plus 500 m swimming, longest aquathlon I did.  So I have completed some of my bigger challenges this year, two half marathons within two Sundays, Spartan Super and this aquathlon.  One is still out of my reach, sub-60 10 km race… but I’ll nail it, just haven’t paid my dues yet.  Performance Series III 10 km was on the week after, 7th August.  Till then… happy running (and swimming) !

(Important Note : Credits are due for the beautiful action pictures to Tri-Factor Series and extracted from their FB Albums. I used some of the swimming action scenes from other categories too, as there were a number of events going on at the same time. Featured photo, thanks to Lucozade Singapore.)

3 down 2 more to go! Sounds like I’m counting down to something. No it’s not Pokemon… but it’s the 3rd race out of the 5 races from The Performance Series (TPS). Race 3 was a city race held in conjunction with our Nation’s 51st Birthday celebrations. What better way to celebrate Singapore’s birthday than with a run in the city showcasing our beautiful skyline which attracted close to 5500 runners.

REPC

Race 3 was slightly different from the 1st and 2nd instalments. Not only was it a city race (different location, past 2 races were within the heartlands), but the Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) location was different. The race pack collection was held over the weekend of 30 and 31 July 2016 at the Singapore Sports Hub Library. I welcomed the change in race pack collection location as I was growing bored of heading over to City Square Mall. I’ve been there like 3 consecutive times to collect my race packs for different events. The advantages of having the REPC at the Singapore Sports Hub Library was because it was a convenient and accessible location. It was also big enough to accommodate if there were lots of people collecting at the same time.

Together with my friend, Serene, we went on a Saturday evening to collect the race entry pack. There was no queue at all and it was not crowded at the collection area and we loved the feeling of not having to leave the place immediately just to get away from the crowd. We took our time to visit the booths that were being setup and took photos around the collection area. What I noticed during collection was that the organiser had pasted a note on the collection table informing the participants that there would be additional items in the race pack. These items were sponsored GetActive! Singapore in conjunction with our Nation’s 51st Birthday which included a Shoe-bag and Snack pack.

After collecting my race entry pack, I headed over to get the shuttle bus service ticket. With my past experience from Race 2, I have learnt that purchasing the shuttle bus tickets is important. Most of the race event sites are really quite inaccessible and having this shuttle bus service really helps a lot. I have to commend the organisers for providing shuttle bus services. It really makes travelling to the race site easier and more economical! I hope for Race 4 the organisers would have shuttle bus services planned because it’s going to be at Bedok Reservoir and getting there early in the morning would be extremely difficult and expensive if there isn’t any shuttle bus service.

RACE DAY

Having taken the shuttle bus service which departs at Yishun MRT Station at 05:45hrs, I arrived about 45 minutes early which gave me ample time to queue for the toilets and take photos around the event site. It was a breezy but humid morning and it was still dark at the Gardens By the Bay (GBTB) East , you could still see the city lights from the Singapore Skyline. We made our way into the START pen as soon as it opened for the participants of WAVE 2.

We did our warm up exercises and and took more photos inside the START pen. As we were waiting for flag-off, the first runner from WAVE 1 completed the race by crossing the FINISH line together with the other race runner ups. There was upbeat music playing in the background and the emcee was cheering on the finishers and warming up 2nd wave. She was doing a good job, however, I don’t want to sound mean but I think she was a little too excited and she kept going woo-hoo even when there’s no runners coming in which was kinda of repetitive and annoying at times, but it’s all good… I zoned out after a while… The race was promptly flagged off at 07:15hrs promptly!

RACE ROUTE

[Above Map from The Performance Series Website]

Having done the past 2 races of the Performance Series, I must say that today’s route had the most slopes and it was really challenging. The up slopes that we had to overcome were:

• Just shortly after your 1.5km mark, there’s a slight slope up the link bridge from (GBTB) East, once you cross this link bridge,
• At the 2km mark, comes the most challenging slope which going up the Marina Barrage
• At the 4km mark, a slight slope where you are turning left and heading towards Marina Bay Sands, The Shoppes
• And lastly, at the 8km mark when you are heading back via the link bridge back to (GBTB) East

Thankfully we didn’t need to scale the Marina Barrage slope again when returning! On my way back at the 7.5km mark (just slightly after the Cloud Forest Dome), I happened to catch a glimpse of the Marina Bay Otters! The whole family was out and about and boy you could hear them!! They were soooo cute and definitely a nice welcome sight along the route! It was definitely one of the highlights of the race for me! Too bad I didn’t take any pictures of them but I could feel myself smiling and having that extra motivation to push and finish the race.

There were no bottle necks along the route and like all TPS races, the race organisers did a fantastic job in having water points strategically placed and well stocked with both well chilled isotonic drinks and water!

POST RACE

I completed the race in 1hr 13mins (unofficial timing). No personal bests but I think this was my best timing so far among all the TPS races. I collect my medal, Finisher Tee and bottle of Lucazade. Always nice to have a cold bottle of Lucazade to re-hydrate yourself after a race! The Finisher Tee for Race 3 is definitely one of my favourites! Dark Navy blue with Yellow wordings! The medal on the hand, was not a little bit of a let down. It would have been nicer if the organisers have opted for a shinier gold coating and maybe some colour to highlight the letters SG which was printed on it. After all this was a race that was held in conjunction withe National Day. But still good job on the organisers on taking in feedback from the participants and printing the distances on the medals.

The post race event space is one of the most spacious. It was easy to find a spot to cool down and meetup with friends as it didn’t have that crowded feeling. As usual, we would take some post race welfies before going off! As this race was at (GBTB) East, the organisers shuttle bus services running from 7am to 10.30am between (GBTB) East and Stadium MRT Station. Within this time frame, runners of waves #1 and #2 who finished their race can use the free buses to be transported back to Stadium MRT station.

Overall, it was an enjoyable run event and kudos to the race organisers on doing a fantastic job as always! I’m definitely looking forward to Race 4 which is at Bedok Reservoir! Hope you enjoyed reading this comprehensive review and Happy National Day everyone! Enjoy the holiday 🙂

Photo credit: MY Runners (500m to finish but I was walking till I saw Photographers, must act as if I’m finishing strong ?)

[Race Day]
It’s 3am, I don’t want to wake up ? But I have to, came all the way to Kuala Lumpur already of course cannot DNS right? At first I would want to see the flag off, but when I find myself can’t sleep at 10 plus even though I’ve been trying to sleep since 8 plus, I think I’ll need the extra time to sleep ? I remembered for Sundown marathon I was running and yawning ?

(Facebook Credit: I <3 to run)
I must be more insane since there’s no wine and for SCKLM half marathon there’s no finisher tee ?

The flag off time for the full marathon category is 4am. By the time I’m done preparing, it’s 3.58am when I waited for the lift. Lucky me the race site is just 200 metres away from the hotel that I’m staying. Thanks Yi Heng for researching for the hotels ? (p.s. To my future husband [if I’m ever gonna have one]: I stay in the hotel ALONE. But well, it’s the Lunar 7th month so I hope I was alone at least ?)

Just nice when I’m reaching the race site, I heard the emcee counting down to the flag off and I rush there wanting to catch at least some part of the the flag off. The pacers are in the start pen according to timing which is good unlike scms last year, the pacers were all quite in front of the start line. The pacers for this year scklm had only one balloon tied to them but it’s a super massive balloon, wonder is it heavy or not (though its only air but for me when running carrying even 1g of extra weight is heavy so I want to lose weight!) ? Huge ballon is good, those who wants to follow the pacers can easily spot them and follow them/aim to catch up with them. The 7 hour pacers is kinda cute suddenly stop there at the start line, maybe waiting for the last runners? ?

It was from Yi Heng then I know that the cut off time for full marathon is only 7 hours, so any runner slower than them is kinda risky and might end up in the sweeper bus if they couldn’t reach the cut off time at some checkpoints ? I really didn’t do much read up about the race ?

[Photo taken after the full marathon runners were flagged off ?］

As the half marathon category will only be flag off at 5am, I explored the race village a little. It’s a little lonely because most of my friends are doing the perfomance series back in Singapore. Somehow after a while I began to feel thirsty. But theres no hydration to be seen ? But I can’t possibly just walk back to the hotel and get water right because the start pen is opening soon? ?

Then I spot familiar runners from Singapore ? And congratulations to Nakamura San on coming in 1st in the half marathon category!

They are all super fast and ran sub 2 hours, I don’t know if I can ever achieve the impressive sub 2 hours ever for a half marathon in my life time. First thing first, other than the fun runs coming up, Army half marathon is what I look forward to after this. Noah and Wyman is the pacers for AHM, Noah is pacing for 2hrs20mins. Maybe I can follow him. But I don’t dare to place much hope either since I’m getting slower for half marathons timing.

Somehow I’m actually glad that there’s no pacer for the half marathon. Following pacers can be quite stressful and I failed many times in following pacers and it can be quite depressing. Thank you Noah for reminding me not to chiong at start. Everyone else is chionging and we will tend to somehow follow the flow.

The route is a hilly one, no scenery as its mostly expressway and CBD area. The weather is good, not humid and is quite cooling. However the air is not good, quite smoky. Every 2km after the first 4km there’s hydration point but can’t expect that water to be cold as its a big event with many runners, the water is prepared way ahead to ensure that runners do not need to wait for water. I like how sponges soaked in ice cold water is available for the runners at 2 points in the half marathon route. It’s really so shiok! ? And makes me a happy runner as the last two kilometres I was holding the sponge on top of my head then squeezing out the ice cold water bit by bit on me. And there was a part where there is water shower where runners can run through to get soaked by water. Of course I ran through it ?

When running long distance, I can think of many bo liao stuff. Dunno how about other runners or is it just me. During the run, I dedicate part of the run to a road kill, a mynah flat and dried on the road. Makes me feel grateful to be alive. And somehow words on other runners past run finisher tee is quite motivating too: Show up and never give up. Though I sort of give up at the last few kms but the last few kms is really very hilly. All of the upslopes I walked ?

First ever highest amount of elevation in a run ? When it comes to downslope, I feel like walking too, but too wasteful to walked as running is more effortless when going downslope. Seeing other runners walk is so tempting for me to walk too ?

Finally completed the run and wanted to have a picture printed by Seiko which prints the time we completed the run on the photo but the queue is too long!

? Motivation: Run faster because no queues for runners who ended their run early ?

Ice creams and packets of towel is also distributed to the runners. The towel is sealed up, I think is because for runners to use at ease because of hygiene purpose and the towel is cold, so nice!

It’s amazing how running gets us new friends. I met this friendly pretty lady from Kota Kinabala for 3 times in two days! Such coincidence! ? First we met in the gym in our hotel. I was there for a while doing a “hamster run” then we started a conversation, saw her again when I was heading out for dinner and then met her again in after race! ?

And lastly congratulations to Yi Heng for achieving PB for full marathon! Sub 4 hours and he really trained very hard for it! Now I felt embarrassed with myself that I’m really lazy and the lack of trainings ? Though I didn’t complete within the timing I aimed for, but the run is still good. Don’t have the usual abrasions and body aches. Didn’t have the “run die me” feel and this is the first time my bib still look so fresh after a long run ?

[Before race]
I wonder this should be considered as my first overseas race or first local race. In a simpler meaning, I’m a product of Malaysia made in Singapore. And happy birthday Singapore! ?

This was supposed to be my first solo trip. I have never been anywhere further than Johor alone. But still, I haven’t been to anywhere further than Johor alone ? Yi Heng asked if he can come with me. Of course I don’t mind and is actually super glad I have a friend to accompany me. Also because of safety reasons, it is still better not to travel alone ?

This is also a runcation but seriously I didn’t do any planning for this trip. It’s Kuala Lumpur, a place I’ve been to a couple of times. What I did was only to buy air tickets. I chose SCKLM2016 as my first race away from Singapore is maybe because I want to start with somewhere nearer and familiar as I thought I will be going alone. So maybe next time I will try somewhere else. Tokyo? Australia? Taiwan? HongKong? (Super want to go a marathon in Hong Kong because I want to go jump off Macau Tower at the mean time during the trip) Thailand? China?(Running the Great Wall of China is very attractive but the steps kills ?) But first I’ve already registered for Penang Bridge Marathon in Novemver. Just registered for the slot but nothing else was planned yet too ?

One day, when I’m brave enough (The movie the hills have eyes and wolf creek freaks me out), when I have no more reasons to stay, I will leave. Explore, travel the world and live freely is what I’ve always dreamt and wish for. A life time is not enough to enjoy Earth. Run like Forest Gump.

The trip for the SCKLM is good since the start as I met runners I knew from Singapore while we catch our flight from Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur ?

When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur early morning of Friday, the 6 of us chartered a taxi to go to the venue to collect our race pack. Taking taxi is a better way, taxi is not expensive in Malaysia and it saves all the trouble transferring.

I was trying to find my name on the board then realised only the full marathon runners name will be there ? Hello? Running half marathon also not easy hor? Ok, even the 1km kids dash also not easy ?

Most the the time there is just finding food and load for the race. Just googled and follow the recommendations. But I seriously eat a lot! Hopefully the half marathon got burn them off!

Didn’t really do much sight seeing except to the Petronas Twin Tower. Thank you Yi Heng for helping to capture this beautifully taken photograph. He is lying flat on the floor to capture this picture ?

Few hours before the flag off, we also head to Dataran Merdeka, the race venue to look around first so on race day we will not get lost but then realise it’s so near actually. This place reminds me of Padang back in Singapore.

(Because everyone is crazy over Pokemon Go and just nice I saw this cute Pikachu singlet when shopping ? But I not playing because eat, sleep and run already not enough time ?).

Race #3 of TPS, a series of 5 races which brings runners through varied landscapes of Singapore, took place today, Sunday 7th August.

The theme of Race #3 was ‘City’, which I was delighted with!  I wimped out of Race #1 at Punggol Waterway / Coney Island having heard horror stories of snakes and monitor lizards lying in wait.  Anyone who knows me will know that anything to do with snakes has me running for the hills.  Shudder.

Anyway, I did pluck up the courage to run Race #2 at Jurong Lake in June, which took us around the stunning Chinese & Japanese Gardens.  Although I was relieved not to have encountered any cobras in my path, I managed to break my ear-phones just before flag-off. This left me with zero tunes and all I had to listen to was the sound of my own laboured breathing and the squelching of my mud-filled trainers.  Not fun.

Sooo… I genuinely fist-pumped the air when Race #3’s theme was announced as ‘City’. Chances of snakes and mud were pretty slim, right?

Race pack collection at the Sports Hub Library was fairly straightforward – no queues at all when my husband and I went to pick-up.  Unfortunately though, all carparks around Stadium / Kallang Mall were closed off for NDP rehearsals, so we ended up parking at Suntec City and taking the MRT to Stadium.

The goodie bag was better than the previous TPS race as it included a Get Active sports bag and a snack pack, as well as the race tee, which I love the colour of!

I entered Wave 1 of the 10km category and arrived at the start pen around 6.10am. Now I’m used to ‘late’ runners arriving and casually sidling past me to get nearer to the Start line and for the most part, this doesn’t bother me.  But this morning was something else; I was jostled and rudely pushed out of the way.. runners’ etiquette nowhere to be seen!

My feathers slightly ruffled, we were flagged off on time at 6.30am.  It was a gorgeous morning for running – cool weather and spectacular views all the way.

The 10km route took us down Gardens by the Bay (East), over the bridge and through Marina Barrage.  We then continued down along Gardens by the Bay (South), past Marina Bay Sands towards Collyer Quay, where we hit the 5km marker and turned back for the second half of the race.  It was a truly beautiful way to see this iconic landscape at first light.  It makes me feel so grateful to be able to live and run here.

There were 4 hydration points along the way and a brilliant volunteer / crew member at the 9km marker who cheered everyone past on the last leg of the journey home.

No PB for me today but I was happy with my <59 minutes finish as I continue to work on my pacing.

There was a great atmosphere in the race village afterwards, everyone proud of their medals and finishers’ tees.  One of the highlights for me was meeting Spiderman and Kudos to him for running in his Spidey-suit!

I thoroughly enjoyed running in Race #3 and I look forward to TPS Race #4 in October (snake-free landscape permitting)!

So having successfully “transcended myself” (kinda) in today’s race, it’s time for me to open that bottle of wine I’ve been eye-balling all week… Cheers to all!