After the Performance Series II at Jurong Lake I was signed up my 14th race of this year, the Singtel-Singapore Cancer Society Race Against Cancer (RAC).   The event held at Angsana Green (East Coast Park) was in its 8th year, consisting of 5, 10 and 15 km races.  RAC is a race to save lives, aiming to raise funds for cancer treatment subsidies, welfare assistance, cancer rehabilitation, hospice care, free cancer screenings, research and public education initiatives.

No one should fight cancer alone – this event invites people of all walks of life to join in the fight and run alongside those who are impacted by cancer.  In some ways, this was a special run to me, as I believe in this fight against cancer.  Last year’s race was cancelled due to haze, but I donned the Tee-shirt and logged 15 km at the park nearby (the purple shirt). I am sure like myself, many do have friends or dear ones who had suffered or fighting against cancer somehow.   After collecting the race pack, I also wrote a small note of encouragement to the folks and family of patients to be pasted on the board provided.  ‘Carry on fighting, never give up, you are not alone.’

I reached Angsana Green early.  The race started a couple of minutes after 7.15 am.  I was in wave 1.  Minister Grace Fu again graced the occasion (as in previous week’s) but this time round she didn’t join in the race.  Some little superheroes were also on stage to start off the wave.  The route was straight forward and volunteers were enthusiastic.  There was only a minor mishap when a cyclist rode fast into the wave of runners from the opposite direction, tyres screeching to a halt.  I was close by and like others paused to check and then carried on when we saw no one was hurt.

Hydration points were spaced about 2 km apart and both water and energy drinks were provided.  I stopped only at a couple of them, trying to test my limits in hydration frequency.  I did consume an energy gel at mid point as I knew I would be running for more than an hour under the hot weather.   The weather was hot but everyone in first wave was fairly energetic.  But probably none beat Ah Siao (Gerrard Lin) who was running again with his tire.

I didn’t experience any pain in my feet during the run itself.   The condition of Plantar Fasciitis still haunted me as I woke up with slightly more pain this morning (day after), but pain was manageable still.

At finishing point, the finisher medal was given with a friendship bracelet made by patients/friends, water, energy drink and Yakult too.

Race results were released early this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised that I achieved my PB in 15 km this round (1:50:28), beating last year’s by about 10 minutes.  This was not fast by any standards but encouraging for an amateur ‘old’ runner.

Overall, another nice run, one for the Cancer patients, fighters and hope to run many more to come.  For improvements, I only wish that the race will start earlier given the hot weather we have in Singapore this time of the year, in future.  The other distances were flagged off after this, so you could imagine the heat of the sun as they finished the races.  Anyway, I’ll be doing another 10 km next Sunday – don’t know when I can recover enough to achieve my PB in 10 km.  Stay tuned…

Photo Credits are due to Tony Ton Ton Fun Shots for the nice race photos.

The second run of The Performance Series was held on 26 June 2016 at Jurong Lake. This will be the last run before the area closes for renovation.

Due to the large number of participants in this race, the 10 km race flag off was divided into 3 different slots. I picked the 8 am slot, which is also the latest, for my run (mainly because I live in the East and I wanted more time to sleep).

I reached the race village about 20 mins before my flag off time to give me plenty of time to warm up. Walking around the race village gave me the feels of trying to walk through a ‘landmine’ (ok, I am exaggerating a bit here) because the fields were rather muddy and this is the first time my running shoes hit mud. The white base was totally coated with mud by the end of the event and I almost slip and fall in the mud puddle. Thank God I managed to stabilise myself before my butt hits the ground.

At the time of my run, the sun is starting to get a bit hot but that didn’t dampen the moods of all the runners. We were all eager to start off the race. As for me, I am eager to explore the area as the run brings us through both the Chinese Garden and the Japanese Garden.

Running Route:
The route was very scenic I must say. But running 10 km brings us 2 rounds around Jurong Lake. Not that it is a very bad thing but the thought of having to go for another round after 5 km is a bit sian (or boring)

Hydration:
The organiser really did well in this aspect! There were ample hydration points along the route (4 hydration points). Definitely an improvement from the previous race.

Medal and Finisher Tee:
The medal looks more like gold this time round for the 10 km runners (and I heard they are finally adding the run distance in the medal starting from the 3rd race onwards! YAY!). The design of the finisher tee is the same as the previous race but with a different colour combination. A word of caution for the ladies is to check that the sizing of the shirt is correct because there will be an indication that if it is a women size. I got an S size but for males and hence looks rather big on me.

Overall, the race was really well done, a great improvement from the previous one. Although I had to wash off the mud from my shoes after the race, but all is well now as it looks as good as new. Will definitely look forward to the third race which will be held at Gardens by the Bay on 7 Aug 2016. Come join us!

Hello JustRunLah Readers!

I am Gerlyn, the main blogger of Ger’z World Blog which basically shares about travelling, and running events mostly for these few years. Just to share, my blogging style over here will be more formal than what you read on www.gerzworld.com reason being is this blog will be submitted to Just Run Lah! team for review whereas Ger’z World need not, so I can’t be too singlish.

See an example of writing style.

GER’Z WORLD VERSION: SERIOUS? LIDDAT ONE MEH? ZHUN BO…

JUST RUN LAH! VERSION: I AM SURE THINGS ARE NOT DONE THIS WAY. ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS?

Anyway, what started me running is basically because of this race above.

Last year my husband won a return air ticket to California (Los Angeles) from Eva Air and he loved running a lot hence I research on the runs in California and runDisney popped out in the usual search engine results.

As someone who hardly passed her NAPFA test 2.4km run in Secondary School, the last run I did before signing up for this is the Hello Kitty Run in 2014 which claims to be 5km! I think maybe about 3km only for that particular year because it’s exceptionally short.

For full grandmother story on how to register, please visit my blog. It’s too lengthy because there is too much drama during the registration.

EXPO

Now I will start reviewing the race pack collection.

The expo is located at the convention center of the Disneyland Hotel. Race pack collection is called Packet Pick up over here. The one thing about runDisney races is that they do not allow others to pick it up for you hence you must be here personally.

When I picked up my racing bib I got a total shock. Why? There is very little people and technically no queue. runDisney is very organised, each group of number to one booth and one booth has one volunteer.

E.g: Bib no. 7600 to 7700 to one booth.

But another shock I have is that the bib is the only thing I could collect here.

What about the other merchandise such as running tees? They must be collected somewhere else. 
I particularly like this friendly volunteer. He is extremely helpful with directions and gave us a warm welcome to California and of course Disneyland.

I will be doing 2 races this weekend the Never Land 5km and Half Marathon. Boon Hee will be doing 10km and Half Marathon which is also known as the Pixie Dust Challenge. 

Okay. Now we need to proceed one level up to get our merchandise. The volunteers here will tear out the upper portion of slip from your bib in exchange for the official t-shirt. 

Next up is shopping time! The best part of this race is shopping! I got myself tons of nice merchandise which is expensive, probably leaving there to collect dust but you know it’s worth it! Ahhh, never mind, the husband will foot the bill you know?

The best thing about this race is meeting my running Idol, Mr Jeff Galloway. He is an olympian runner and he is the founder of the RUN-WALK-RUN training method which allows me to run a half marathon in a short span of 2months. I started training on 26th February 2016 for my half marathon and 2XU Compression Run Singapore, was on the 3rd April 2016 and I completed it with a timing of 3hrs 30mins 11secs which I think is quite good for someone who fails her 2.4km run!

I am proud of myself. HAHAHAHA! 

NEVER LAND 5KM

This is my OOTD, Tutu, T-Shirt and Wings from Sweetest Princess Tutu DIY (non-sponsored). It cost about $80-$90 in total. I ordered them last year hence I can’t remember the price.

I am located at Corral C when I arrived inside Disneyland and I am super lucky to stand right in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle and able to see Tinker Bell fly above the castle. It’s a very touching moment.

For this 5km run I took almost 1hr 45mins to complete it reason being is that I dropped my Tinker Bell Half Marathon Headband and I actually ran back 1km to find it. But eventually stopped by the security guard as it’s too dangerous to run against the human traffic.

I was pretty upset but a helpful online friend went back to the expo and bought the exact same one for me. So I am happy again!

Official characters I met on course are the Lost Boys from the Never Land which is Wendy’s brothers and Peter Pan’s friends.

Character queues are always this long, this is the shortest queue I have seen. I will recommend not to queue for the timed race because you will spend a lot of time and at risk of being sweep.

*Sweep* means you will not get your medal and being ask to take a bus back.

In my blog post you will frequently see the word “sweep” because slow runners like me always will meet “sweepers” along the race course once or maybe twice. They are like my BFF!

Finally my patience paid off when I saw Wendy and Peter Pan.

I think you must be wondering how these nice running photos were taken. It was taken by the photopass photographer. They were station in green tentage in various spots within the parks. Photos are available @ $39 USD per day / per race. You can choose to view and not to buy but it will have watermarks on them. I think $39 USD is kinda pricey when most race in Malaysia and Singapore are giving photos for free on Facebook Albums.

But well, this is how runDisney makes money! For the entire race registration, we spent about $900 USD for both me and Boon Hee so $39 USD will seems very little to this big amount. I wonder how many blogging assignments I have to take to recoup this amount back. HAHAHAHA!

I will say it’s worth it because Money can always be earned but if you miss this opportunity, when is the next time we get to fly to Disney and do this run? Even we get to do it when we saved enough, the experience I have now will never be the same as what I will experience in the future. At least I am sure that the medals will definitely look different! – gerlyn ,01.07.16

The very nice and awesome husband, actually stood here and waited for me near the Mile 3 marker. He waited for almost an hour for me to complete. This action really touched my heart because it’s my first solo run alone, then I also lost my stuff, feeling upset and depressed but you know someone is there waiting for you. 

Casper did not realised that I lost my headband and I told him my story and then I cried again. Just angry with myself how come I am so careless and don’t even know I dropped my stuff and how come I can’t even look after my own stuff. But supportive husband went back to EXPO and even Disneyland Lost & Found to find it but no news of my missing items.

#BestHubbyAward should be given to him!

Crossed the finish line! Proud of myself not because of the timing but because I completed it alone and even though I am upset. It took me 2 days to snap out of this incident because I am someone whom I consider very careful and always take good care of my stuff and hence I kept blaming myself when such things happen. Maybe when you are reading this blogpost you will be thinking, “This girl keeps talking about her headband non-stop.” I apologise for keep harping on this but for the whole 5km, all I think about is my missing headband which is true. I want to share my most genuine feelings with all my readers. That’s my aim for blogging all these while.

This guy who hang my medal for me is also a volunteer and my online friend. When he saw me he was like, “I followed all your posting on the Facebook group.”

Collected my runner’s refreshment pack, consist of Chips, Cheese, Gogo Apple Sauce, Oreo, wet wipes and a Chocolate Energy bar.

Official finisher photos taken by the Photopass Photographer this is part of the $39 spent for the photos. 

Whatever’s on the bed cost $90 USD. Finisher T-shirt not inclusive, which is $26.90 USD if I remember correctly. The medal is a plastic medal too. My first plastic medal and the most expensive plastic medal I ever owned! $90 USD for a 5km run is expensive but remember… You get to enter Disneyland, run in Disneyland without an $100 USD admission ticket!!!

Tinker Bell 10km

Review is done personally by Casper on my blog so I don’t think is very nice to copy and paste it here. But he does not have time to write something new hence……

WE WILL SKIP THIS!

TINKER BELL HALF MARATHON

Gerlyn’s Tinker Bell OOTD

Basically is the same as 5km but I wore a Brooks capri pants to avoid abrasion between my thigh and the TUTU.

Casper’s Peter Pan OOTD

We are the only Singaporean in the run and the first Singaporean in the entire Tinker Bell Half Marathon History.

It’s only when you are away from home then you feel those sense of pride as a Singaporean.

We are in Corral E.

We are allocated to Corral E because we did not submit any proof of timing to request for a nearer Corral. Corral E is the second last corral the benefits on being in an earlier corral is that you are further away from the “sweeper” as the sweeper will start 5mins after the last runner in Corral F. Sweeper will maintain a speed of 16mins/mile (aprox. 9mins 56secs/km) and if you lag behind then goodbye to you.

What I really liked about runDisney is the amounts of toilets they have is just too much!

There isn’t really a queue and it’s very clean.

Almost every mile has a toilet which is good for pregnant ladies. Did I mentioned there is a lot of pregnant ladies in the run? I would totally runDisney if I were pregnant too!

You don’t have to worry about toilet and there is medics and volunteers around you. Water points are also very close to each other. Everyone is very helpful. No need to talk about running etiquette because everyone is so courteous and nice and friendly which makes you automatically blend into the good running culture.

After we left the Disneyland premises, I was a little down but very soon I was really shocked by the members of public! School band actually performed to cheer us and cheerleaders were there to encourage runners. It’s something I never experienced before.

A friendly lady even gave all runners FREE LIQUORICE to perk us up! It’s my first time eating liquorice and I am surprised that it taste pretty awesome!

A fellow Mommy runner got her husband to bring along her child to sprinkle free pixie dust because all fairies are powered by Pixie Dust. I feel so much warmth in this lovely country. My future kids is so gonna do this too!

We have reached the finishing line. But first let me take a selfie!

Together we crossed the finishing line! It’s so cool to be running with your love ones!

Successfully gotten our long awaited medal. This year’s medal is the 5th anniversary medal and it’s beautifully painted with colours. Running from 2012 to 2016, 5th Anniversary for Tinker Bell Half Marathon!
Casper also successfully gotten his Pixie Dust Challenge Medal too!

This photo was missing from my photo package and then the Photopass team actually spent some time to recover this photo for me. I suspect is the border actually blocked my bib number hence they did not tag this photo to my bib.

It is pretty amazing that we completed my First Overseas Half Marathon together. I am glad to be running with you.

I shall share with you our very beautiful e-certificate!

This pretty much sums up my experience for the Disney’s Tinker Bell Half Marathon!

Let me know on Facebook “Ger’z World” if you like my writing or you think there is room for improvement. I am very much open to suggestion.

Till then we shall run again!

#GerzKeepRunning

For funny conversation and grandmother story, please see here.

Jurong Lake run. The 2nd run in The Performance Series. Consisting of a series of 5 races. This is the one run that combines medals from 5 individual races into a complete Singapore map. The one run powered by passion card. The one run that will help you perform better. Well, I suppose after 5 runs, you would have better performance right? Speaking of performance, how well did I do? Let’s find out then.

The route for the Jurong Lake run is very straight forward. One round is 5km. Those doing 5km, one round for you. Those doing 10km? Well, help yourself with another round. As such, it made a lot of sense to get the 10km runners started first before the 5km runners. To reduce congestion, there were 3 waves of 10km runners. The first wave will start off at 6.30am followed by 7.15am while yours truly joined the last wave at 8.00am. Why choose such a late timing? Well, the wife will be joining her ex-colleagues for their 5km at 8.45am. Since we are all running around in circles, there is a possibility of meeting them during my 2nd round.

However, going to the start point wasn’t that straightforward. Instead of following the arrow at the MRT station and moving straight ahead, I should have gone left instead. Why? What greeted us between the race village and the start point was a field. A very muddy field. Before I knew it, my shoes were muddy and wet. Not the best way to start the day nor the best way to get the best performance.

When I reached the start point slightly over 8am, everyone else who was doing the 10km had already flagged off. Something was consistent in my performance for these series of races. Always starting way behind.

Slightly over 40 years old, the Chinese and Japanese Garden is sort of being in a odd place. It doesn’t have a particularly rich history compared with the Botanic gardens and it doesn’t have a newness factor to it compared with other parks. So what then? Time to give the old gardens a face lift. Which explains the hoardings and construction vehicles around. According to some sources, the rejuvenation works will only be completed by 2020.

I managed to spot my wife when she was just starting her 5km. How did I manage to spot her in that sea of pink t-shirts? She’s my wife, of course I could spot her. I did however had a little help from the hat she was wearing. It was one of those heavy duty gardening head gear, capable of keeping out even the most brutal sun. Catching up with her however? Not so simple. Remember those movies where the main characters had locked their eyes before being separated by a horde of people? This was slightly different. After spotting her from a good 50 meters away, it took me about 10 to 15 minutes before I managed to catch up. There were simply too many walkers and the running path was rather narrow at times. Why were there so many walkers? Well, the heat from the 9am sun was rather merciless. Would wearing a big epic looking hat helped? I don’t think so. The nice view of the lake however, did gave a small respite in this incredible heat.

As we made our way back to the start/end point, the all familiar turn left to finish and turn right to continue another round sign appeared. Since it was already past 9am, the volunteers were funneling everyone in one direction. The direction of the finish point.

What greeted us after the finishing line was more mud. The final obstacle between me and my medal. Instead of stepping onto the squishy ground, a footpath consisting of a series of wooden boards was placed on the ground. Not that it really mattered since my shoes were already muddy. Did I care about those shoes? Well, those shoes may be less than 6 months old but they looked pretty worn out. The good thing? Time to get new shoes soon.

This blog post and other adventures can be found at
http://iamspartan6318.blogspot.sg/

Just one day after the 7km event at treetop walk, we are here again for another fitness activity. The Faire Un Voyage. We have signed up for this event a while back. Total costs? $50 for 2 adults and 2 kids. Comes with a grand total of 4x t-shirts, 2x$10 carnival tickets, 4x drawstring bag and even 2 goodie bags on the actual day. How epic is that? Only thing missing, race medals. But who cares about that since there are so many things to do for the kids? Not to mention the freebies.

The name of the race maybe a little unpronounceable to non-French speaking natives like ourselves. However, there was nothing complicated about the run. This was one of the shortest race routes we have taken part so far at only 2.7km. Which is the exact distance of one round around Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park. Before you scoff this off as an amateur running event, this race is also designed to cater to the serious marathoner. Unlike other races which defines the end of the race via the end point, this one only ends when it reaches 7.30pm. That’s right, this is a race based on time. So for 3.5 hours, you can go as many rounds as you like. For every round you make, the main sponsor will donate $2.70 to the Children’s charity.

While it is possible for a marathoner to donate $40+ to the children’s charity during that time, my wife and helper only contributed a measly $2.70×2=$5.40. The kids? They were exhausted from the previous day event. First thing my boy said to the first volunteer he saw? “Sorry, I am not doing any running today”. And with that he happily proceed with his sister to entertain himself with all the games at the carnival.

Other than those carnival games, you could also get a cutie mark. Don’t know what’s cutie mark? Simply tune in to one episode of My Little Pony. Well, you are not a pony right? So the mark goes on your hand instead of your butt.

Since I wasn’t able to make it for the event. The only thing I could do was to take photo of the goodie bags in all it’s glory. If we happen to go back there again, there would be more photo featuring the glory of the park instead. Until then, it is goodie bag/coupon sorting time.

This blog post and other adventures can also be found at
http://iamspartan6318.blogspot.sg/

I wasn’t sure if I was able to make it for this run. After all, it was only a couple of days after my first half-marathon and this event was happening on a weekday. What’s my motivation for signing up? Well, as explained in my earlier post, this is actually a donation. That means 100% of the amount you paid goes directly to the Singapore Cancer Society and 250% of this is tax deductible. Furthermore, you get a singlet and even a finisher medal and t-shirt after the event. All these at a low price of $30. How not to sign up?

On a side note, should this be called the Singapore Cancer Society run instead? I may be wrong here but here’s what I can deduce how the entire thing works. PCCW Global is a company looking to increase their brand awareness. What better way to sponsor an entire event. You give the participants apparel which they will continue to wear after the event. You give them medals which they put up on social media. They and their friends may not know about PCCW Global but after today they do now. The charity on the other hand is simply great news to both participants and the beneficiaries. This is a scenario where everyone wins. Hopefully, we get more of these races in the future.

I was rather surprised that my leg muscles were no longer sore on Monday morning after my Sundown half-marathon. Am I now at a different fitness level? I think so. I was also pleasantly surprised that my sleep cycle went back to normal fairly quickly. Should I attempt another race at an insane hour? Maybe. But today’s race takes place at a much saner time. 7.15am to be exact. Since it was only a 5km, it is possible to finish it, take a shower and get to work by 9am. On hindsight, I should have informed those guys at the office. Maybe the boss will find this an excellent idea, get everyone down and even sponsor the event!

It has been a while since I visited Gardens by the Bay. The location of the start point? Silver garden near the dragonfly lake. Did I spot any dragonflies? Nope, I did spot a giant steel version and some runners though.

During the wait at the start pen before the flag off, the MC spotted a runner without any shoes on. He was one of those runners who were right up front and raring to go. How do you run without any shoes on? What happens when you accidentally step on a piece of glass along the way? I cannot imagine myself doing that. But the savings of not wearing any socks and shoes? Imagine that I can.

The route for the 5km was scenic and beautiful. It may be a short run, but that run covered everything you need to see in the city centre. From the silver garden, we made out way pass the flower domes towards Marina Barrage before u-turning back again.