The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon was held on the 2-3 December 2017. This is my first time joining Standard Chartered Singapore marathon and also my first ever half-marathon. The new running routes and the famous iconic landmarks of Singapore along the route motivated me to try running this half-marathon. The half-marathon route is much more appealing than the 10km one, for me. Authorities had come to close major roads for this run, since it’s the largest and most well-know event in Singapore. No wonder about 50000 runners from around the world took part in this race.

Pre-race preparation

The longest race I have taken part in is 12km puma night run 2017. I trained by running a few long training runs of up to 14km once a month and a few short runs a month in addition to swimming ? once a week as usual. After all, I took the courage and signed up for my first ever half marathon 3 weeks before the race.

Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC)

Race Entry Pack Collection (REPC) was held at Marina Bay Sands Expo from 30th Nov to 2 Dec 2017. There were little runners queuing when I came in to collect my race pack on 30th Nov. This is my first time seeing so many exhibition booths after walking pass the collection counter. Bought some shotz energy gels and crampfix at the REPC Expo. I Tried taking a packet of energy gel and it seems suitable for me. Normally, I never take any gels for 10km runs and other short runs. For this half-marathon, I decided to take energy gels along the way to ensure that I don’t run on empty.

Before The race – getting there

I took grab taxi to SCAPE because I want to deposit my bag at there. Things didn’t turn out as planned. There’s no way my taxi could get to SCAPE because of the road closures and traffic congestion around Orchard area. So, I alighted near Paragon Shopping Center at 4:20am and made my way to another baggage deposit area at Anguilla Car park near Wisma Atria because the volunteers directed me there.

Before The race – bag deposit

When I arrived at the baggage deposit area, I saw a queue about few hundred meters long. It was disappointing to see this especially when the organiser do not allow runners into the start pen after 5:20am as stated in the website. I decided to stay in the queue until I deposited my bag at 5:50am. Waited for about 70mins to get by bag deposited. There were runners expressing their frustration with the baggage deposit service online. While waiting, I contacted my 2 colleagues who signed up for the race and none of them turned up. So, I was left alone throughout the entire race. ?

During the race

Because the start point is so far away from the baggage deposit area, I need to travel another 1 km on foot before I start my Half-marathon! By the time, I crossed the start line, it’s about 6am!

Thankfully, me and the other late runners were allowed to cross the start line. While running along Orchard Road, I saw that the road is partially opened to the traffic already.

Somewhere along Victoria street, at the 3km mark, the road are going to be reopened by the road Marshall. By right, me and the other late runners will be disqualified. Thankfully, the road Marshall is lenient and let us proceed.

Before reaching the 9km mark, I saw a water point and slowed down by walking. Then I felt a discomfort in my stomach that makes me want to puke. Just drank a cup of water and continued running until the discomfort is gone. There were energy gels provided near 9km mark, I just took one and kept it in my pocket. Shorty after, I Took 1 banana and slowly ate along the way. Tried to maintain pace by running at the speed of 8.5km/h throughout until I reached 15km marker which was near Marina Bay Sands. From there, I saw an uphill slope along Shears bridge. So I run-walk my way up but at a slower pace than before, trying to go slow and keep my heart rate down.

1. From the descend of Shears Bridge at 16km mark, I tried to maintain running speed of 8.5km. By the time I reached the last kilometer, I slowed down again due to fatigue and cramping legs. I took crampfix (that I brought along) and endured to the end with the determination to finish the race.

At the finishing point

The crowd who stationed near the finish line kept cheering all the runners on. Medal collection was smooth and they provided towel dipped in icy cold water. Apples, bananas, bottled water and 100 plus were provided as well.

Post race thoughts

There were sufficient hydration points offering both water and 100 plus. Waited 5 mins for the collection of my baggage. Overall, it’s well organized except for baggage deposit where there’s room for improvement.

Personal accomplishment

Felt the great sense of accomplishment that I’m a half-marathon finisher. I had never thought that I’m able to do so. Had been praying for this race and thankfully, God brought me through till I finished the race in 2hours 36mins 42sec. Hoping to recover from my muscle soreness fast and also hoping to do more half-marathons next year.

This marquee event, aptly called by some the ‘Race of the Year’, took place from 2 Dec to 3 Dec. The running routes encompassed going through the many iconic heritage places we are familiar with.

Personally, I think this is also one of the very few races where the authorities allow the closure of major roads to facilitate the run. It is little wonder then many serious runners opt to run in this race, with participation from runners around the world. This is one reason I decided to try my first half marathon in SCSM!

Pre-Race Preparation

I do runs once every 4 days, one longer run during weekday and a shorter recovery run during weekends. To give my body enough rest before SCSM, I stopped doing any physical training one over week before the race day. This was also to create the ‘hunger’ to run.

Race Pack Collection (REPC)

Runners can retrieve their race kits from 30 Nov to 1st Dec at MBS – a 3 days period before the ‘Kids Dash’ event started on the 2nd. Though I believe this arrangement of collecting the race kits just before the race itself is probably to maintain the ‘hype’, personally I would prefer to collect the race kits at least one week in advance. The reason is because I like to try out the event tee for a final preparation run before the race – either to have a feel of the tee or to exchange to another size with other fellow runners. Well, this is only my perception.

There were many counters for the race packs collection. There wasn’t much of a queue when I collected on Friday at around 11 am.

One thing I like during the race pack collection is you were able to deposit your bag right away. I think this will save a lot of time queuing for bag deposit on the actual day. Things may simply get dis-organised or ‘rowdy’ when you have so many participants!

The REPC itself was like a mini market of sorts, with the sponsors and partners marketing their products. This must be one of the largest of its kind in local races, apart from the OCBC Cycle where merchandisers market on cycling products.

There weren’t too many people, so I managed to get a photo shot after a relatively short queue! I think this is the advantage of collecting during weekdays?

Night before Race Day

I tried to give myself at least 5 hrs of sleep before waking up at 1.15 am. But ended up didn’t sleep a wink, perhaps due to the ‘excitement’ of the race couple of hours away. Also, not used to sleeping so early. So far, only the duathlon and spartan race had given me sleepless nights (Lol)!

Race Day – Going to Venue

I opted to take the shuttle service. Pickup location was at Bedok Interchange at 3 am. It was nice to see runners gathering at the stated time to go together, even though we may not know each other. Well, there was this ‘sense of common purpose’.

At the Venue

The atmosphere was good. People were chatting, taking group photos, doing warm-up exercises etc. I proceed to search for the available restrooms to use, but some volunteers whom I asked did not know where they were located. Until I headed towards Mandarin Hotel where the staff (Lol) directed me to ‘Scape’. It was also then I realised that was where the bag deposit areas were as well as the mobile restrooms – just outside Scape.

The baggage queues were really long. Fortunately, I had decided not to bring any bag as I believe the queues could be long. I had this bad experience in another race where the queue was long and after depositing my bag, I did not have the time to queue to use the restrooms (Lol). Lesson learned, I guess.

The Race

I entered Pen ‘D’, which I guessed was for runners with the same projected finish times (which we indicated during registration). Everyone was full of expectation waiting for the gun to go off.  After kicking off a number of waves, my turn started off at around 5.10 am.

It was a very hot and humid morning. I had hoped for a rainy saturday and followed by a cooling sunday morning (Lol)! The event tee was not dri-fit, so the perspiration really took a toll on me. Really not comfortable to run when your shirt was ‘sticking’ on you.

Fortunately there were sufficient hydration points along the route. Both plain water and 100 plus were provided, which I think was good, giving runners options to choose. Not only did I drink up, but also pour some water on myself to cool off to prevent heat exhaustion.

My knees started to hurt quite badly and ‘locked’ when I reached around 16 km mark. The rest of the run wasn’t easy then, as I started to walk, hop (Lol) and jog. Each stoppage I needed to do squats and stretching to relieve the pain before continuing to run along at a very slow pace. I controlled each stop to 1 min or 2 min, as I know anything longer than that my heart rate will slow down and cause ongoing running even more difficult as momentum was lost. I certainly did not want to DNF for my first half marathon!

The run up Esplanade Drive was excruciating, as I need to endure knee pain and at same time, tried to hurry along to pass the Finish Point under 3 hr, a personal target.

At the Finishing Point

The crowd was good. I believe many had come to cheer for their friends. There were  tourists too, some of whom encouraged runners to endure the last few metres to the finishing point.

Medal collection was smooth and each runner was given a hand towel dipped in ice cold water. Apples, bananas, bottled water and 100 plus were provided as well.

Post Race Thoughts

The closure of major roads allow the runners to run in relatively wide roads. I feel this was good as it gave faster runners a wider berth to run without having to ‘zigzag’ through front runners. The routes were relatively flat, except for the slopes we (half marathoners) encountered at the Sheares Ave and Esplanade Drive.

I also feel the event was well organised, considering the huge number of participants, though there were some feedback regarding the bags deposit and road closures affecting some residents/businesses in Chinatown. Well, the event organizer and authorities will have to think of ways to improve this for next year’s run.

Personal Achievement

I have set to complete the race within 3 hr. My official net time was 2:58:39, just 1.5 min shy of the 3 hr mark. I knew I would probably finish beyond 2:45 when the ‘2:45 min pacer’ ran past me.

On hindsight, I believe this timing could be improve if I increased my training activities before the race, and of course, my knees gave lesser problems. I had expected to finish between 2:30 to 2:45 hr, so the result was a bit disappointing even though it is a ‘sub 3’ (Lol).

Targets for Next Year

I don’t aim for specific PB, but having said that, I do hope to improve my timings. I will probably take part in another 2 half marathons, which events I have more or less identified.

Lastly, congratulations to all runners who completed their races and got their well deserved finisher medals.

For now, run safe. Run happy!

I joined the Mizuno Wave Run for the first time last Sunday morning at Clarke Quay Central.  It had been a staple event in the last 11 years but I guessed it differs from the other local races in its simplicity and in its uniqueness of venues.  There was only one category 10 km race and it started off in front for Clarke Quay Central Mall.

This year’s theme revolved around the colours of the rainbow. To celebrate love and to celebrate Mizuno Iconic shoe, Wave Rider 21 years. It also represents Mizuno commitment in continuously providing a sound & healthy sport scene for the people in Singapore.

Race pack collection was a breeze at Velocity@Novena Square.  The race pack had quite a variety of goodies.  I got this slot free, thanks to JustRunLah (Mr Peter Tan).  I had thought one of my running buddies was going but he had some other commitments.  But it was fine as I always enjoy the ‘lone wolf’ run as my friends called it, own pace, own time.

I reached the venue early and walked around the sidewalk, enjoying the view.  Despite it starting off at 7.30 am, one of the latest start time  for 10 km races, the weather was very kind – cool and breezy.  The emcee was a young man who looked athletic, again, not like the usual you get in other races.  The race was flagged off punctually without too much fanfare.

It started off and finished in front of Clarke Quay Central Mall. The 10 km route included a different sight of the Boat Quay, The Helix Bridge, Marina Bay Sands and Marina Promontory before making a turn back to an almost parallel route (not to mention past Floating Platform, go through tunnels),  then detoured to Robertson Quay before finishing at the mall.  Although the sidewalks we ran along was at times narrow, even at the start, there somehow wasn’t any big squeeze like most runs.  Perhaps due to the numbers, perhaps because I was able to get nearer the front before we started off.  There were stairs too to climb, both up and down, but again, I felt light and I heard no complaints from anyone.  For me, perhaps it was because leg muscles had memory of the 69 storeys climbed last week !

There were the usual hydration stops but I only stopped at one so I didn’t really count them (probably at least two).  The volunteers were cheerful and a couple of the road marshals were just amazing.  They were just cheering loudly and encouraging.  When I gave a thumbs up to one of them, a lady, I could see she appreciated it as she stepped up her encouraging cheers.

I saw a few photographers including my new FB friend, Mr Tan Kim Lai.   It was a very enjoyable run for me as I rated it top for its different sights, light atmosphere, cheery volunteers, varied route – you don’t just get the long stretches of same old mundane paths.  And to top it off, it was a very fine breezy weather even up to 9.30 am or thereabouts.

I was a bit surprised to find no finisher medal queues.  The medals would be sent to runners instead.  Collected the Lucozade Sports drinks from the cheerful volunteers.  I stayed back for the lucky draw but didn’t win any.  Chatted briefly for the first time with Kim Lai in person too, since our interaction has been mainly virtual.  The results were released on Tuesday morning, earlier than the 2 pm which was announced if I didn’t hear wrongly then.

This should be the 10 km finale race for the year for me and the grand finale race would be the full marathon at Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon the coming weekend.  Till then run happy, run safe!