The HomeTeamNS REAL (Regular Exercise, Active Lifestyle) Run has gained exponential popularity over the past two decades and established itself as the multi-terrain run of choice for Home Team NSmen and the public.
The combination of Road, Trail and Sand will excite running enthusiasts who are looking for an extra challenge through winding trails, asphalt and energy-sapping sand.
Dedicated to provide an “Ultimate Running Experience”, the REAL Run was incepted in 1996 by then Singapore Police Association for NSmen (SPANS) with the aim of promoting healthy lifestyle among the SPF National Servicemen through exercise. Over time, HomeTeamNS REAL Run expanded internationally to embrace like-minded athletes from various countries.
In 2015, age and fitness level will not be a barrier! With the latest HERO Trail (5km, 10km), 3-NS Generation Run, and Kids’ Beach Dash categories, this home-grown event is well-received by many families, and you can definitely look forward to a day of fun at Sentosa! Presenting the ONLY run in Singapore organised by NSmen for NSmen. So don’t wait any more and take part in this year’s edition of REAL Run!
2003 – Runners
2004 – Flag Off!
2005 – Cutting The Tape
2006 – Warming Up
2007 – President Challenge
2008 – Warming Up
2010 – Cutting The Tape
2011 – Flag Off!
2012 – Off we go!
2013 – Flag Off!
2014 – Starting Pen
Key facts
28 August 2005
6,600 participants from 32 countries take parts at The New Balance REAL (Regular Exercise, Active Lifestyle) Run at Sentosa
28 October 2007 – New Balance REAL Run
Sum of $500,000 was raised and donated to the President’s Challenge 2007.
Race was moved from Sentosa to Changi Exhibition Centre to cater to more participants.
President SR Nathan flagged off participants for 10km and 15km races.
Less than eight weeks to go before Singapore hosts the SEA Games 2015! Our marathon representatives for this year Ashley Liew and Soh Rui Yong have both embarked on incredible journeys in preparation for the race, and JustRunLah! does a quick check-in to see how our boys are doing…
JRL:You’re currently back at the Kenya High Altitude Training Centre. How will this contribute towards your preparations for performing at the SEA Games?
Ashley Liew: I have finally reached Iten after a 24 hour travel from South Carolina to Nairobi, a 1 hour domestic flight from Nairobi to Eldoret, and a 1.5 hour drive with chaotic downtown traffic from Eldoret to Iten. My time in Kenya will push my lungs on the hills (“The Hills are Alive” from The Sound of Music comes to mind), boost my physiology via the altitude, but most of all immerse me in the mindset of what it takes to be a successful runner. This “Home of Champions” is a place where I can focus on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual conditioning. If my previous 20-day stint was significant enough to break all my personal bests from the 5K distance onwards, I am excited for what this 42-day stint might behold.
JRL: You’ve been training in Flagstaff, Arizona for the last few weeks now. How will this contribute towards your preparations for performing at the SEA Games?
Soh Rui Yong: I’m actually back at sea level now! In Flagstaff, there was 35% less oxygen in the air, making workouts and hills especially tough. I really learned to hurt, and as a marathoner, being able to hurt is a very useful skill over the 42.195km distance.
Rui Yong with David Crownunder at Buffalo Park (photo credit: Kelsi Clotter)
JRL: In preparing for the Games, what’s the toughest training you’ve done/are about to do?
AL: I will not reinvent the wheel on that one. I plan to see what the Kenyan group plans to do for that particular workout and I will go from there, adapting it if necessary. My local friend Mike already publicly commented on Facebook that they are welcoming me for “hard training” so there is no turning back now! It will involve plenty of steady runs, which were key for me in my lead-up to the 2h32m12s PB at the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.
SRY: I wouldn’t single out any particular session, but in general, churning out week after week of 160km is pretty tough!
JRL: Soh Rui Yong – contender or ally?
AL: He is an ally. I have a lot of respect for his capabilities and am excited by his potential. It will be a partnership of synergy on the day. If either one of us momentarily falls into a rough patch, we can spur each other on.
JRL: Ashley Liew – contender or ally?
SRY: Both! Ashley has been in the marathon for far longer than I have. I believe he came out of nowhere to finish as 2nd Singaporean at the 2009 Stanchart Marathon, so he has been in the marathon for at least 5 years now, whereas I only ran my first one last December. His experience and never-say-die attitude will make him a contender for sure. Being countrymen, I certainly hope we can be allies out there when the going gets tough. In a sense, marathoners are often allies for the first 32km of a race. You have to tackle the distance first before worrying about beating anyone else!
JRL: What shoes will you wear for the Games?
AL: ASICS Sortie Magic RP, my model of choice which worked brilliantly at New Orleans. This one is red and white, just like the Singapore flag.
SRY: I am deciding between the Nike LunarSpider LT 4+ and the Zoom Streak 5. The Zoom Streak 5 is newer and lighter, but the LunarSpider LT4+ is what I train in and raced my first marathon in, which brought a good result. I will decide closer to the date.
Please finish this sentence: I am running the SEA Games Marathon for…
AL: My mother who would have loved supporting me for such a big race on home ground but would have been proud simply knowing I fought the good fight.
Ashley with Mike Rono’s neighbours kids while visiting
SRY: My family, my friends, my coach, Singapore Athletics, my sponsors (Nike SG, Garmin SG, Opticalance), and anyone who has supported me in one way or another. No man is an island, and the people around me have all played vital roles in making me the athlete I am today.
Rui Yong on the trails with best friend and training partner Alexi Pappas.
JustRunLah! wishes you both all the best, Rui Yong and Ashley!
With the weather being colder and wetter than in previous years, the 2015 edition of the Boston Marathon was nonetheless a resounding success, with 27, 156 runners toeing the starting line. Thousands of runners huddled in thermal blankets to keep warm pre-race, dodged puddles en route, and triumphantly crossing the finish line, some long after the race clock at the finish line had been taken down.
The title of the 119th Boston Marathon was claimed by Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa, who finished in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 17 seconds. This is his second Boston victory; his first was in 2013, but with the bombings that year, his victory was short-lived. Caroline Rotich from Kenya won the women’s category in 2:24:55.
Two years on, the memories of the attacks are still palpable; security was unobtrusive but still visible. Nonetheless, the 1 million spectators who showed up to support and celebrate Boston Strong despite the foul weather was a testament to the enduring legacy of the race.
The biggest challenge that participants faced this year was the uncooperative weather. With temperatures hovering around 7⁰C and wind speeds of 15 to 30kph, conditions were less than ideal for a marathon. Medical tents were at 90% capacity, with 1,310 runners being treated in the medical tents and 36 transported to area hospitals, with the main medical issue of the day being hypothermia.
Singaporean Runners Results
Singapore was represented by 32 runners in the Boston Marathon this year. The top three men and women from Singapore are as follows:
Men
Brad James 2:53:44
Andrew J. Zakaluzny 2:57:56
Lor Chun Kiat 3:00:22
Women
Hilda Stoney 3:20:51
Rachel See 3:26:17
Tan Yi Zhen 3:32:53
JustRunLah! congratulates all runners who have qualified for, and participated in the Boston Marathon 2015.
It’s going to be a tough competition for athletes seeking to make the cut in the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro.
Single Entry Standards for Rio 2016
Of notable interest is the change from ‘A’ and ‘B’ standards from previous years to single entry standards for each gender. Announced at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Council meeting in Monaco last November, this new unified qualification system, set “a little below old A category but above B category”, is argued to improve the overall quality of the event, but may result in some countries struggling to field a wide range of competitors.
For the field of athletics, the Game entry standards are as follows:
The standards have been approved by the IAAF at the world governing body’s 198th council meeting in Beijing.
However, simply meeting the entry standards may not be enough to qualify for a spot in the Games. Back in 2013, it was announced that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has capped the figure at 2,000, down from the 2231 who participated in the 2012 London Olympics. Athletics is the only sport to have its numbers scaled back for Rio 2016. Vice president of IAAF Sebastian Coe maintained that athletics remains the number one Olympic sport, despite aquatics and gymnastics being promoted to the top tier alongside athletics in the Olympics.
Given the limited number of spots available, athletes will have to push harder, to get into Rio 2016.
Morning Finals
At the request of the Rio local organising committee and the Olympic Broadcasting Service, supported by the International Olympic Committee, the finals for the men and women’s marathons, the men and women’s 20km race walking and the 50km men’s race walking will be held in the morning. The decision was made to ensure the events receive maximum visibility for athletics at the Olympics across all time zones.
IAAF competitions director Paul Hardy felt that leading distance runners “often have competitions throughout the year in the morning, such as road or cross country races, and so will be accustomed to this timing”, and will most likely “welcome this change to the athletics programme at the Olympics”.
Athletics action at the next Olympics will take place from Friday 12 to Sunday 21 August 2016.
After months of anticipation, the Singapore Athletics has finally announced this last weekend the names of the 41 male and 33 female track and field athletes who will be representing Singapore in the 28th SEA Games, held in Singapore from 6 to 12 June this year.
Said Singapore Athletes President Mr Tang Weng Fei in an interview, “together with our colleagues at SNOC, we are pleased to announce the list of 74 athletes that will do their very best in bringing glory to Singapore in the Track &Field arena. I am confident that our athletes have prepared well and come June,we will all be one as Team Singapore to compete, encourage and do our nation proud.”
Running for Singapore
In the men’s category, Singapore will be represented by Jeevaneesh S/O Sounararajah and Melvin Wong Yao Han for the 5000m event.
Melvin will also be running in the 10000m event, alongside Soh Rui Yong, who is Singapore’s current national record holder for this distance.
Soh Rui Yong will also race in the marathon event, alongside compatriot Ashley Liew Wei Yen. Both athletes have recently taken leave from their academic commitments to train for the SEA Games marathon in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Iten, Kenya, respectively.
In the women’s category, Renuka Satianathan and Ethel Lin Zhi Yun will be running for Singapore in the 5000m event.
Ethel will also be running in the 10000m event, with fellow representative Mok Ying Rong.
Rounding up for the women’s marathon event are runners Neo Jie Shi and Rachel See.
Here is the full list of athletes who will be representing Singapore in the SEA Games 2015.
We wish our Singaporean runners and athletes all the very best for the SEA Games 2015!
Fellow Singaporean runners, you have undoubtedly noticed by now, the mercury soaring over the last several days. According to the National Environment Agency, afternoon temperatures will hit 34 degrees Celsius on several days over the last two weeks of April due to sunny skies and light wind conditions. The only relief will come in the form of afternoon showers with thunderstorms, so with all these in mind, the following advice, here’s how to plan for your runs over the next few weeks.
Hydration, hydration
You’ve probably heard your mother or spouse nagging you on this one, but we will repeat it anyway. Drink plenty of water! As the weather gets warmer, not only do you perspire more, the risk of heat stress during a run increases. Drinking water before and during your run helps prevent dehydration, and serves to cool you down as well. Post-run, continue to drink up, and consider salt tablets to replace the electrolytes lost in your perspiration. Increase your intake of fresh fruits; with their high water content, vitamins and minerals, they make the perfect post-run snack.
Dress for the heat
Unless you’re immune to the pain of chafing, you shouldn’t be wearing cotton T-shirts and shorts during a run, but more so than ever in the heat, it is ideal to be wearing technical fabrics that wick away your perspiration. These dri-fit fabrics are light and breathable, helping you stay cool while you run. Consider a cap or better still, a visor, to cover your face from the sun.
A quick word on caring for your running clothes: it is best to wash your running outfits as soon as possible with cold water and fragrance-free detergent, as bacteria in your perspiration breeds very quickly in the heat, breaking down the technical fibres. If you cannot wash your clothes immediately, hang them out to dry, before putting them in the wash, as this helps to extend the life of your running clothes.
Shield yourself
Ideally, the best time to run would be early in the morning, or late in the evening, when the temperatures are cooler and the sun has yet to come up, or has already gone down. If you tend to run in the middle of the day, consider wearing clothing such as sleeves and long pants that protect your skin from direct exposure to the sun.
If wearing long sleeves in the sun isn’t quite your thing, the minimum you should be doing is to apply sunscreen to protect yourself from the harmful UV rays. Re-apply once every 4 hours, and don’t forget to wear sunglasses, as UV rays can damage your eyes, leading to cataracts and other ocular maladies later in life.
Adjust your expectations
Finally, running in the heat is incredibly stressful for the body, and this isn’t the time to be pushing too hard with high intensity runs, especially in the middle of the day. Understand that your performance may be compromised, but that it’s a reflection of environmental circumstances, rather than a true measure of your fitness levels. Continue to train according to feel and effort, and above all, listen to your body! If something doesn’t feel right, slow down and stop if necessary.
Keep running through the heatwave, but run happy and run safe!
It’s mid-April, and we’re halfway into Project Love Sneakers V. Project Love Sneaker takes the old pairs of running shoes that are languishing in the corner of your shoerack, and gives them a second life by giving them to the needy. The objective this year is to collect 2000 pairs of shoes to help as many poverty and disaster-stricken people in the Philippines with the assistance of the appointed beneficiary ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc. (ALKFI).
To date, Project Love Sneakers has collected about 800 pairs of shoes at the three various Running Lab outlets. Our most generous donor was 10 pairs of shoes from one individual! We knew you runners had a Sneaker Museum at home!
If you haven’t already done so, there is still time to donate your used running shoes in clean and re-usable condition. As a token of gratitude, you will receive a $50 voucher, which can be used to purchase a new pair of shoes.
Call for Volunteers
If you have already donated your old running shoes and feel passionately about supporting victims of natural disasters in our neighbouring countries, there are other ways you can help. First of all, thank you very much for donating, you kind person, you.
You could help by spreading the word, and getting your friends and family to donate their old running shoes too. Use the hashtag #ProjectLoveSneakerV and share the joy of giving!
Want to go the extra mile? Roll up your sleeves and get ready to accumulate good karma – Running Lab is looking for 6 to 8 helpful individuals to pack the shoes at their warehouse for shipment to Manila. It should take at most 2 days for the packing.
When all is said and done, we are a blessed and privileged lot in Singapore. In the pursuit of improving our performance, we have the means to change our running shoes every 6 to 8 months, or even buy multiple pairs to rotate them. Yet not everyone in Asia has the privilege to own a pair of shoes, let alone a pair of running shoes. So runners, please show your kindness and support towards this campaign.
JustRunLah! in cooperation with Sabah Tourism Board is happy to bring you another amazing gift! Two of our readers will get to enjoy a free 3D2N stay in a Superior Room at Ming Garden Hotel, with breakfast, and one buffet dinner at Golden Dew Bistro for 2 persons at Sabah, Malaysia!
Contemporary and refined, Ming Garden Hotel & Residences is a vibrant new hotel where modernization, conceptual, food, arts and music meet your essential needs. A novelty wing soaring beneath the Land below the Wind, Ming Garden Hotel & Residences charms the heart of travelers and local visitors alike to their warm sanctuary and pleasant hospitality in the pulse of Kota Kinabalu City. Whether traveling for business or pleasure, our hotel is a refreshing mix of technology and glitz uptown living. No matter what inspires you, Ming Garden Hotel & Residences indulges your passion.
Fastest Race: Jurong Lake Run 10km, 21 Jun 14, 47mins 48secs, 4mins 47secs per km
Overall Reflection:
The year did not started well with Marina Run, if I base on the trend set in 2013, my results will deteriorate towards the end of the year. However, things took a turn, my results did not deteriorate, and improve from strength to strength. For Half Marathon races, I almost had PB every other race, even in difficult race like Army Half Marathon and Standard Chartered (challenging route and over crowded), I still manage to maintain a consistent pace. 2014 was a very good running year for me, it made me believe that as long as sufficient efforts and time are invested, performance will improve.
My review for the year concluded that tough training is the key to success. Hence in 2015, it is still JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
As stated in my blog, the whole intent and purpose of starting a running blog for myself is to serve as a mean for archiving my race records. Here goes my Personal Performance Review for 2013.
Fastest Race: CSC Run by the Bay 15km, 15 Aug 13, 1hr 17mins 39secs, 5mins 8secs per km
Overall Reflection:
The year started well, with good enough timing in U Run and Run 350. However, there wasn’t any break through for Half Marathon, despite the improvements in 15km races. And towards the end of the year, the results deteriorated quite substantially. When I look back in 2013, the year was kind of wasted in terms of running, no consistency, and I was kind of disappointed.
Did a review on the training that was done throughout the year, concluded that I may not have run sufficiently during training, and may not have pace myself appropriately during training. So nothing could be done, except for JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
Back for its second year, the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants is organising the ISCA Run on Saturday, 30 May 2015 from 6.30am to 10.30am at the Playground at Big Splash, East Coast Park. With a line-up of activities for a fun-filled morning, the event aims to promote healthy living, family bonding, and corporate social responsibility.
ISCA Run 2015 Event Details
The event offers two main racing distances – 5km and 10km, and is open to adults age 19 and above. Runners can sign up as individuals, or in groups of four for the corporate challenge. There is also a Youth category for ages 13 to 18, and Seniors category for age 65 and above. Don’t leave the children at home! The young ones can participate in the 750m Kids Dash.
Prizes are available for the Top 3 men and women of both 5km and 10km. All participants who finish will also receive a medal.
Fundraising for MINDS and SPD
This year, the ISCA will also be leveraging the ISCA Run as a platform to create greater awareness of the two selected charities – Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) and SPD, which was formally known as the Society for the Physically Disabled.
With the goal of providing equal opportunities for children with intellectual disabilities to receive education and later, to be integrated as contributing and responsible citizens in Singapore, MINDS offers educational, social, vocational and psychological needs for both intellectually disabled children and adults.
With programmes that encompass early intevention, rehabilitation, employment support, training, education, consultation and assessment technology, day care, and social service support, SPD aims to help people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities become self-reliant and independent.
The ISCA strongly believe that every one of us can help make a difference to the lives of many children and adults who are intellectually and physically disabled. JustRunLah! shares this vision with ISCA, and supports this run. As such, JustRunLah! is partnering up with the event as the Official Running Portal for the ISCA Run 2015.
Readers can show their support by registering for this event, or making a financial contribution. No donation is too small. Every donation will go a long way towards helping people with disabilities achieve independence and self-reliance through the provision of education.
To register for the event, please click here.
Alternatively, you can make a direct donation to MINDS or SPD.
Together, we can help make Singapore a society in which everyone can belong.
JustRunLah! is the Official Running Portal of ISCA Run 2015
Admit it, sometimes we sign up to races because the medals look awesome.
We are lucky that some organizers take interest in designing medals for runners so they can show it off after they have earned it despite blood, sweat and tears. We look at our medal collection and we have a story to tell. Here are some medals and cute dolls that Hana Harun has collected over the years ranging from 10km to 100km races in road and trail running, and cycling and duathlon events.
Special Medals
Cuttest Award – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2015 3rd Place
Cuttest Award – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2013 Winner
Best Design Medal – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2015
Hardest To Earn Medal – The Most Beautiful Thing Ultra 100k
Most ‘Are We There Yet?’ Medal – Climbathlon 2012
Best Duathlon Course – Powerman Asian Championship 2013
Hottest Race Medal – Beaufort Ultra 60k 2012
Turned Me Into A Beast Medal – The Most Beautiful Thing Ultra 55k
Most Cherished Trophy – Vibram Hong Kong 100 2014 Bronze Trophy
I had been running Army Half Marathon (AHM) since 2003, and had completed my first Standard Chartered Marathon in 2006, however they were done without much proper training. In 2013, I started to participate races regularly (almost every month), and also started to train regularly to prepare myself for the races.
Back in 2013, my 21.1km timing was 2.00.44, done in Run 350 (7 Apr 13). And my personal best is 1.43.10 done in the recent Run 350 (5 Apr 15). Though I had a official 21.1km of 1.34.23 done in North East Compressport Run (15 Mar 15), I won’t count it as I know the distance was much shorter than 21.1km, at max 20km or even lesser.
So taking my personal best as 1.43.10, what had I done over the 2 years that allow me to cut 17 mins for 21.1km. Training, tough training and tougher training…
Since 2013, I had run almost everyday, minimum of 30mins per session. And from Oct 14 onwards, I had embark on a 40km per week mileage target after reading from ‘Runner Worlds’ that Half Marathon runner minimally need to clock mileage of 25miles per week, I will normally run 8km per session, alternating my pace between under 5.30 and under 6.30 for alternate session. Apart from the runs, I had also started to do 5 sets of 30 push ups and sit ups daily since Jan 15, I believe this will help to build my core muscles for better maintaining of running posture. And only last week, I had started speed training with a friend of mine, we promise to do it every Saturday.
My next Half Marathon will be Sundown on 4 Jul 15 (though I had Energizer Night Run 18km from now till then, but trail run is very different from normal road run), let’s see if my below listed regime can help me achieve Personal Best.
1. 40km per week, with under 5.30 and under 6.30 for alternate session.
2. 5 sets of 30 push ups and sit ups daily.
3. Once per week of speed training,
*P.S. As my username suggested, I am an Amateur Runner, apart from running out of passion, I had never been through any corporate or institutional training. Hence pardon me if my method do not work or if there are more effective and efficient ways to train, do feel free to share with me. IF NOT, JUSTRUNLAH… 😛
Over the last decade, the popularity of mud runs and obstacle course challenges have met with international success. Clearly, runners thirst for a bigger challenge, and greater adventure, than the monotony of simply running. Among the most successful events out there is the Spartan Race.
The Spartan Race is not for the faint of heart. It all started back in 2004 upon a philosophy of the necessity of pain and suffering for happiness and success. No stranger to suffering himself, founder Joe De Sena’s personal life story of growing up poor and overcoming hardships to his eventual success becomes a sort of blueprint for the Spartan Race.
Obstacles are inevitable in life, and learning to avoid them is hardly the answer. It is only by overcoming them can we move forward and grow, and it is this sense of accomplishment that brings happiness.
So what’s a Spartan Race like?
A lot of mud, primarily. Spartan Race offers 3 different events, the Sprint, which includes 15 obstacles over 5km, the Super with 20 obstacles over 13km, and the Beast presenting 25 obstacles over 20km.
The race will have you crawling under barbed wires, leaping over fire pits, plunging into mud pools and scaling greased walls. It is an extremely physical challenge, and you will be covered in filth by the time you complete. You will also feel like a Spartan.
Prepare Yourself
Unlike a fun run, a Spartan race is not an event where you can show up unprepared. It requires an all-rounded athletic ability for completion. The race is also more than simply running, so consider swapping out one or two of your weekly training runs for cross-training.
You will need to ensure you’ve got a rotation of endurance and strength training on top of your cardio conditioning, in order to tackle the obstacles. Ideally, you should be
To help you prepare, the organisers of the Spartan Race have provided a 30-day training plan, which is accessible here.
Spartan Sprint Singapore
Perhaps the esprit of Spartan Race has spoken to you. You’re not put off by the promise of pain, and you’re ready to embrace pushing your limits. You’re ready to push yourself, to work harder, to become better.
Spartan Race is bringing the Spartan Sprint to Singapore in November 2015. More information will be unveiled over the following weeks. You can pre-register for the event to access exclusive early bird rates, and join the Lion City Spartans Group on Facebook.
I have never been a fan of running in a gym on a treadmill. Why will you want to stare at the same landscape (or a video drama) for a hour or so, when there are tons of beautiful places around the world to experience and enjoy while out on the streets?
One of the key differentiating factor between SG Unfit Runners and other running blogs is the sheer number of pictures taken along the running route, to help runners have a better idea the kind of landscape that they will encounter during the run. I have often been asked how I take such beautiful pictures of Singapore while running. Enhancing your running photography is easier than ever with advanced tools like a photo AI generator, which can help refine and stylize your images effortlessly.
All the above pictures are taken on the same day on the morning of 12th April 2015 and here is my route:
Here are the 5 tips to take beautiful pictures while running.
Tip 1: Be Fit
There is no way that you can enjoy the scenery or even think of taking photos if you are struggling to put one foot in front of another. I often take the fewest numbers of pictures when I tried to embark on a run that pushes me past my normal distance limit and I am often too tired to take any pictures at the last leg of the run. You must be able to run in a relax pace while scanning the environment around you and every now and then, you will be thinking, “Wow, this scene will make a perfect picture” and your instinct will normally be correct.
Tip 2: Pay No Heed to Pace Timings
Many runners pay too much attention to their pace and their timing that they failed to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them. Runners who are trying to improve their timings are also often running at their optimal speed and probably will not have the spare energy to think of picture composition while running. If you want to take beautiful photographs, you will need to stop, position and snap. Sometimes I even had to back peddle or lie down in order to get the optimal shot. There is no way to take sharp pictures using a typical camera phone while on a move, so standing still for at least 30 seconds is essential. Once you get the hang of taking photos while running, your pace will barely be affected after a while. My average pace for a run is around 7:20 mins/km and looking at my running map, you can see that I paused to take pictures at a number of occasion and my pace is still decent at 7:40 mins/km. 20 secs per km is a pretty decent trade-off for the beautiful pictures I get to snap.
Tip 3: 7am and 630pm
Every expert photographer will tell you that the best time to take photos is during dusk and dawn. In Singapore, this works out to be around 7am and 630pm. The skies will have a myriad colors and shades with the soft sunlight giving a glow to everything it touches. That is the reason why SG Unfit Runners gather at 7am every Saturday or Sunday to run. Running after 8am will increase the risk of runners getting heat problems, especially in tropical Singapore and running in the evening will simply kill our camera phones which cannot handle low light conditions.
Tip 4: Small Portable Phone with Great Camera
I personally uses iPhone 5 and I try to avoid using bigger sized phone. Reason being, the phone must be easy to handle as you whip the phone out from your pocket/pouch/belt like a professional gun slinger using minimal amount of time… and not dropping your phone. A bigger phone often requires two hands to take a picture and the bigger size also increases the probability of dropping your phone. A good rubber casing for the phone is also important as your palm will get very wet during the run, and the rubber will enhance your grip when your palm becomes slick and slippery due to the sweat. With the introduction of camera mounted smart watches, these problems might go away but the camera quality on these watches are still inferior to the camera phones.
Tip 5: Filters
With the introduction of photos enhancement mobile app, it becomes possible to enhance an already beautiful picture. I am currently using Photoshop Express and Pro Edit (FotoRus) to apply many of the enhancements that you see here. These are some examples:
Original PictureFilter AppliedOriginal PictureFilter On!
These days, I often plan a morning runs in all of my overseas trip and to my delight, some of the best pictures I took were during those runs using my relatively inferior camera phone as compared to the rest of my professional photographic equipment. There is a saying that “running clears your mind” and I realize that a clear mind will often result you being to appreciate the small nuances of the environment around you better. That is when the best photos are taken.
Try it and you will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of pictures that you can take.
Visit SG Unfit Runners for more routes for absolutely unfit people. Don’t visit us if you are very fit and do ultramarathons without breaking a sweat! SG Unfit Runners is a finalist at the Singapore Blog Awards.
Running. One of the simplest, most pleasurable acts in life, that not many of us runners need to find a reason to do it. We do it because we want to, and because we can. But like so many things in life, sometimes we take this freedom to move for granted. Sometimes we lose motivation, create excuses, and complain. Sometimes, to remind ourselves why we run, we need to run for those who can’t.
The Wings for Life is a race like no other. A global race that kicks off simultaneously all around the world, it’s a charity race in support of spinal cord injury. Whether it’s a race against the world, or a race against yourself, it’s the only race in the world where the finish line catches you.
This week, JustRunLah! speaks with ultramarathon runner Paviter Singh, who will be representing Singapore in Yilan, Taiwan, for this remarkable event. Paviter shares with us how he got into the wild and fascinating world of ultramarathon running, the mental fortitude required to tackle challenges of such scale, how running ultramarathons has changed him, and how he’s preparing for Wings for Life on May 3 2015.
Paviter Singh, to represent Singapore at Wings for Life 2015.
JustRunLah!: Tell us a bit about how you got into running.
Paviter: I think running was ingrained in me since I was young. I was a fan of Carl Lewis (American track and field Olympic champion) as a kid, and my dad introduced me to the mountains at a really young age; I think I was about four years old when I first went up to about 3000m.
In school, I was in the track and field team, I was in the cross-country team as well, but the real running started happening when I was in the army. I started doing half marathons in 2004, and eventually marathons and ultramarathons.
JRL: What inspired the transition to doing ultras?
Paviter: I’d done a couple of marathons, and actually got a bit bored of them because I found them a bit monotonous. I felt myself stagnating a bit, and I needed a new challenge. I needed to seek a new pursuit, a new form of adventure, and I felt that just doing a road marathon again simply wouldn’t do enough for me, and I needed to do something a bit more. I think I was at a stage where I wanted to change something in my life, and I found this to be a catalyst. I thought I might as well give it a go, and see what happened. So that’s how I came about doing ultras.
To celebrate my 30th birthday in 2011, I decided to try a bit of a longer run in Kinabalu. I had a bit of free time, I started looking around for extreme running, and came across the one that was closest to Singapore, and I thought yeah well, I think I’m going to give this a go. I did that run and I was quite exhilarated by the experience, the learnings that I had, the people I met, the terrain especially, because it’s different from running on road. So since then, it’s just been ultra-running.
JRL: Describe your running highlights in the last 12 months.
Paviter: The last 12 months have been really exciting. I did the TNF100 Australia last year in May; this was the second time I was doing it. I was quite happy with the results as I finished it in 16 hours, which was 4 hours better than the year I did before. It’s a 100km run in the Blue Mountains and it’s a beautiful race. I would recommend anyone to do it; it’s very runnable with beautiful sights and you get amazing support as well, and you meet lots of good people.
Three weeks after that, I ran a race in the Beaufort 100km in Kinabalu. This was to raise awareness for autism. It’s probably one of the hardest 100km races I’ve ever done because it was a road race, and we were running in temperatures reaching up to 39 degrees (Celsius). It was really really hard. I hit some really low points during that race, but I had some really high points as well. I came in 5th in that race, which was really nice, although I did struggle a lot, and it took me a while to recover from that.
The main highlight for me last year was running in the UTMB CCC (Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix) race, which is a 101km race in the Mont Blanc trail. I needed 4 points to qualify for this race, which took me about 2 years, as I had a really bad year in 2013. I DNFed in one race, and I only ran in one other race.
I think coming from a place like Singapore, which is quite flat, to running in mountains in the French and Swiss Alps, this gave me a good reality check on the kind of mountains that are out there, because it was a really tough race!
To give you an example, I did a scale of the Swissotel in Singapore compared to our first climb, and the Swissotel is almost like one pixel compared to the first climb. We had 6000m of climbing in total. Apart from the race, I think the highlight was spending a whole week with a bunch of runners from Hong Kong. We all lived and stayed together, we trained together, and that community, that communal feel and the camaraderie, I think was more important than the race for me. We’re good friends now, and that’s lifelong.
Now I have enough points for the UTMB 100 miler, which I hope to get into next year, which is after my Ultra Trail Mount Fuji (UTMF) this year. So the UTMF will be my first ever 100 miler that I’m doing.
JRL!: What are the biggest factors that contribute to running an ultramarathon successfully?
Paviter: I think mental preparation is one. Having to prepare to deal with the lows in an ultra is really important, because the lows will come, and they get worse and worse the longer you go through the race.
Managing personal expectations is another thing, because sometimes, aiming for the stars is the worst idea in an ultra, the best is to stay focused and to stay present in a race rather than thinking too far ahead.
That’s the biggest lesson that I had, and the reason why I didn’t do well in the races in 2013, because I was thinking too far ahead, trying to go too hard, too fast, and things just fell apart pretty quickly.
JRL: Ultramarathon running is also a little bit different, in the sense that when you’re out on the road for hours on end, there are so many elements beyond your control, and there are certain things you can’t be completely prepared for.
Paviter: That’s right. The first one is weather. I’ve been through the rain for hours and hours, I’ve been through really hot sun, and these are things that you’ll never know when it would happen.
The second one is nutrition, where you get digestion issues. People start throwing up on the race, which is pretty common. Let’s say you’re running a 20-hour race and for eight or 10 hours, all you’re eating is bits of food here and there, and it’s quite natural to forget to eat sometimes, so the body starts rejecting food after a while. It’s not very pleasant when it happens, but it’s something that we have to work through somehow, which is not very nice.
The other thing we can’t do much about is terrain. I could run the same race every year, but it could be different because maybe there could have been a landslide on one hill, maybe another hill is more slippery than before. It’s so different from tarmac, which is completely predictable. So I think these are the key factors.
JRL: There is a huge mental component to running long distances. Do you have a mantra when the going gets tough?
Paviter: When the going gets tough, the tough get going, but if you’re going to run an ultra, you have to keep it in mind that it will be tough, so try not to think about it being tough at all. If you feel like it’s going to be hard, it will feel harder than it actually is.
I’d rather not think about that and just take it as a run. I never think of a 100km run as a 100km run. I break it up into 10km or 15km bits. I do a lot of planning. I make a lot of charts and draw a lot of graphs so I break up the 100km into the names of different hills that I’m going to climb, so that way I don’t think about the entire distance. I have x hills to climb and I’ll just do it one at a time.
