Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2012 Race Review

Jogging track in Fermont, San Francisco. It was cold & raining during my visit. Didn't run, but took a picture. 

I came back from a US trip on the 26 Nov, visited San Francisco & Las Vegas. The Standard Chartered run falls on the 2 Dec, without training during the last two weeks, it was going to be tough.

As usual the 10km run within Sentosa is quite tough, but i'm ready for it as this is the 2nd time running this course. The part i hated most is running at the sentosa underground carpark (about 1km+), with the car engines running, i'm kind of out of breath, hoping to get out as soon as possible.

Overall it was a challenging course, i do not want to run the same course again next year.

 medal for this year

the race result is out within a day.

A total of 7462 finished the race, at 2:27 it is considered slow (due to the tough course), however this time is within the top 20%.

Runs for 2012, sundown, safra army half marathon, adidas kings of the roads and finally standard chartered

 completed 10 years of distance running, i'm taking a break from standard chartered as i intend to run overseas.

Adidas King of the Road Singapore Race Review 2012

Last Sunday 28 Oct, I took part in the adidas King of the Road, with the final leg in Singapore. The race tag is kind of refreshing with the "is all in" behind my name. KOTR is a running championship held across Southeast Asia, held in five countries across the region and organised in city areas - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. The race distance is 16.8km.

On the Race 

KOTR is a very well organised race, adidas has very good experiences in running such big events, however i had a few points to make and hope they can change and improve on.

The race starts at 7:15 am, it is kind of late in my opinion, with the morning sun at around 8 plus am, it is going to be quite tough, it will be better if they can bring the time forward by 30 mins to 1 hr. We had to walk around 1km to the start line, well i have no complaints of that, just treat that 1km as a warm-up, plus runners can chit-chat with friends. At the start line there was a water point!! Well this is really good, I'm surprised by this welcoming sight, this is the first time i saw a water point right before the start line, runners can take a quick slip before the run. Do keep up with this!

The route itself is challenging with plenty of uphill, with 3 timing check points. adidas can look into the road block itself and make sure it is secure. At the 14km mark, 2 ladies (well i'm polite to call them ladies, kind of mid-age aunties), just cut across in front of me. They cheated!! from 6-7km and jump to 14km! Because there isn't any proper road block, it will never happen in Standard Chartered race. They are not runners, cheating themselves and the rest of runners who put in the effort. This is a disgrace! For participants who signed up for any race, please respect the distance and the route. Else don't sign up for the run in the 1st place.

Along the route, the water-points are sufficient. At around the 15km mark, 2-3 water point volunteers even gave out water by crossing to the other side of the road (when runners are really suffering in the heat), they show sometime beyond their duty. Of all my years of running, this is the 1st time i saw this, i salute the volunteers for being so helpful and kind. This make the race stand up, and they are doing it with a difference. Keep up the good work!

adidas should had runpix for this race, so runners can review their race! Just showing the timing at the 3 check point is not enough. I finished in Rank 579, i doubt i'm that fast, how accurate is this, my timing is not fantastic, my friend who is 8 mins faster than me, was in 554. As runners we would like to know the total number of runners on the field. Before the race, the DJ announced that there are 12,000 runners. Well it don't look that big, i would put it at less than 10k runners. It will be unknown, how many runners started, and how many finished the race.

Overall race experience, i would give a score of 8/10. Good work! 

Just start the race 30 mins earlier, DJ speech can improve at the start of the race, play some nicer music and have runpix, then it will be 9/10!

the blue running singlet and the finisher medal 

I had took part in a few races after last year Standard Chartered Marathon 2011, it had been quite sometime and it seems that I had forgot about this blog. Ran in the Sundown Half Marathon 2012 and the Army Half Marathon 2012, the next coming race with be a half marathon for Standard Chartered in Dec.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011 Race Review

in my 9 years of running, this is the toughest half marathon (with the slowest timing), partly due to the hilly terrain

First of all, this race is an unfortunate one. We lost a young man, Malcom Sng, 22 years old collasped upon crossing the finishing line during the half marathon. He passed away in the hospital an hour later.

He is a respected runner, from the news, this is his second half marathon. He had signed up for the army half marathon in Sept. When he crossed the finishing time, the clock was 1 hr 53 mins. For a new runner it is not easy to run at this speed.

Race Review

The race starts at 6:30am on Sentosa island. I moved towards the front with my running mate Roland, about 100m from the start line. Before the start, i'm not as excited as it used to be (mainly because i had achieved my target of running a half marathon under 2 hrs, back in Sept this year). Having recovered from a cough this week, plus an ongoing knee problem together with the lack of training, i don't intend to push too hard during the run. The longest training run was just 2.8km x 4, around 11.2km (i had to walk in the last 2km because of slight pain in the right knee)

Before the run, was informed of the 8 uphills in Sentosa island itself, and i'm ready for it, after 3-4km into the race i'm starting to feel slight strain. This course is challenging indeed. The worst part was towards the 8-9km mark, we were running into an underground bus interchange, it was hard to breath inside, lack of oxygen, that stretch was around 1.5km. With the bus engines running.. it was hard, there was a driver standing beside the road, smoking! When i ran pass him, i had to inhale his 2nd hand smoke...! I just wanted to get out of this tunnel.

For the 10km within Sentosa, i took around 1 hr. Then my speed started to drop. For the remaining 11km to the finish, i had to stop, stretch & walk (due to my knee). Finally crossing the finish line in 2hrs 25 mins. The slowest time for a half marathon, 12% for the overall finishers (which i was quite amazed), i was really slow in this run.

In the reports, it mentioned there are 19,700 runners in the half marathon. The official results are out, 13,862 finished the half. That's only 70%.

We do not have 5km and kids dash numbers.

From official site: marathonsingapore.com

Finishers

Full Marathon	15,343
Half Marathon	13,862
10km	12,047
10km Wheelchair	6
Ekiden	722

20,000 signed up for full, and 19,700 for half.

the 3 half marathon medals, Sundown Marathon (May), SAFRA Army Half (Sept) and the Standard Chartered Half (Dec)

Safra Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon 2011 Review

Joined the men's open, the field as compared to Sundown half marathon runners are much faster & stronger. Sundown half marathon runners are more recreational i guess.

A great day, I had finally acheived the goal of running a half marathon in under 2 hrs. Well 1hr 59 mins! Since 2004 when i did a half marathon, it had been 7 years! A happy day indeed.

the 20th year, 70k runners signed up for the race

The race flag off at 5:15am. My goal was to run within 2 hrs 10mins. I didn't really put in much effort before the race, the most i did in a training run was around 10km, we are supposed to do 2 sets of 5.6km (11.2km total) but it was cancelled on both occasion because of rain. Knowing there was an uphill at Fort Canning Road, the race course is much more challenging than Sundown Marathon. I didn't have much expectation, RELAX, just here to enjoy the run, once the race started i stick with my running mate Hong (he was having slight flu), a better runner than me, my goal was to keep in pace with him. His endurance and stamina drop slightly as he didn't really prepared for this race.

At 6km mark the time was 34mins, within the 6mins pace (what we usually did in training). At 7km it was 40mins. I checked my watch again at 9km, it was 51 mins. At 10km mark the time was 57 mins. After which i didn't check my watch that often, at around 13-14km, i stopped and stretch my right leg for around 20-30 sec. There was slight strain in my right knee again (the usual problem). The weather helps, it was still early in the morning and there was no heat. Looking in front of me, there are really a lot of superb runners in Singapore, only experience runners with certain mileage in training can run under a 6 mins pace, i was trying to keep up with this group of runners.

We carried on running, at 18 km mark it was 1 hr 40 mins. At 19km, i took a cool water sponge and wet my neck & shoulders, it kind of lower down my body temperature. I knew i can make it within 2hrs, today is the day! 20 mins to cover 3km, that's not too difficult. Slight pain in my right knee again, but i just pick up pace and forget about the pain (when you don't think about it, hopefully it will go away). In the last 3.1km, i was running at 4 min 28 sec per km.

Finally 1hr 59 mins! I joined the under 2 hrs group after 8 years and on the 7 attempt!
2004 SCSM at 2 hrs 9 mins, 2006 SCSM at 2 hrs 13 mins, 2008 SCSM at 2 hrs 13 mins,
2009 Safra at 2 hrs 18 mins, 2010 Sundown at 2:06 mins, 2011 recent Sundown at 2:06 mins

Running towards the line at the gun time of 2 hrs, i'm at the most right behind (half covered), this is the only picture. These guys running within 2hrs are all good runners.
Photo by runevent shots

results from runpix, comparing with sundown runpix, the experience & serious runners are mostly here :)

increased my pace in the last 3 km, overtook almost 150 runners (learning from the earlier sundown experience, i need to run faster in the last few kilometers in order to get under 2 hrs)


Overall it was very well orgainized (the army guys always did a good job). Each water point was having sufficent guys (mend by each combat unit). The cheering, local bands, belly dancers gave the much needed motiviation and inspiration. The only thing to note on the aid stations was that they should use deep heat instead of having the spraying stuff (like those used in soccer match, not much use for me).

The last time i ran in the army half was back in 2009, comparing it with the Sunday run, they had made a huge improvement in overall logistic, race route (less uphill) and support, and the best is i got a PB :)

Sundown Ultramarathon 100km Finisher Medal

Sundown Ultramarathon Finisher medal, 1ookm
Ultramaraton Runner

OFFICIAL RESULTS ON RUNPIX

Of the 488 who finished, 12% were Women and 88% were Men.

As mentioned in the earlier post, i met up with my running friend James for dinner on Sunday. He brought along his finisher medal. Right now, i guess this is the only picture avaliable on the net, didn't manage to find one. Sealed in a self-made plastic cover for protection, there was reflection when the picture was taken, precious medal! Nevertheless we can still view it :) When each runner crossed the finish line, the organizer volunteer will putting the medal over your head.

He ran till 70km, didn't rest or take a break apart from the water point. From 70km to 100km, it was run & walk to finish.

Result
13 hrs 50 mins 57 sec. Men's open 67th place with 235 finishers behind.

If you are walking like a penguin, then you have to stop, there's no point walking towards the finish line in a limp, the distance is just too great (there is a cut off time for the race). By pushing through the pain barrier, there might be more harm to your body. This is the advise given by James after the race, and the organizer had mentioned this before the race. He saw a lot of runners who had to give up at around 50km, there was a bus to fetch these guys.

I'm glad to play my part in helping him to draw out the training plan, yesterday he thanked me for it. Although i have not attempt an ultramarathon before but more or less i did read on how people train for such races. As each runner is different, the most important factor was to know the person well, based on his running experience, looking at the physical and mental aspect, how he can adapt to the training program over the months. Important things to look out for over this training period, more critical in the last month or so. Understanding how the body react during the training, and finally the 1 week rest needed before the race day (tapering).

In return, the challenge he thrown me was to participate in the race next year, now that he had completed the one and only ultra. 100km??? I knew my limit, and the distance i can cover, 100km is simply too much.

Before i ended this post, here is something i would like to share with all (there will be a separate post on more of the specially selected quotation from the book).Finished reading a book on Extreme Running by Kym McConnell & Dave Horsley over the weekend.

The only true wisdom lives far from mankind, out in the great loneliness, and can be reached only through suffering.
- Igjugarjuk, Caribou Eskimo Shaman

Marathon Update

Received a call from James last night.

After finishing Sundown 100km, he went to get an extended MC (medical certificate), from the doctor, he will probably need to rest for a week. On the phone he mentioned that he ran from the first km to around 70km! He told me his thoughts during the race, and after. We had a good conversation, will be meeting up for dinner this Sunday.

I told him to bring along his medal & wear his finisher T-shirt. ( i will post a picture of the 100km finisher medal on the blog), how often do we get to see such a medal & T-shirt! Around 500 runners completed the race in Singapore, around 200 did not finish and another 200 did not start.

The Official Sundown 100km Results

Men

1. Ahmad Lamchannak, 08:12:03.03
2. Sefli Ahar, 08:24:58.05
3. Ewin Teo, 09:12:53.06

Women

1. Sumiko Tan, 10:24:31.42
2. Tori Leckie, 12:39:35.11
3. Claire Robley, 12:41:27.77

I signed up for the standard chartered half marathon 2 days ago, do sign up Latest by Tonight for the early bird discount, else the fees is to increase 20%. The full marathon fees for those who ran last year will be at S$60. It is Jun now, one should plan for their marathon goal, i guess many of the runners will have the "sign up first & see later" mentality, it is the organizers who are making money, many runners don't turn out on race day.

We are going to see another record runners this year.

Sundown Ultramarathon 100km - A New Record in Singapore

It was a great day, my friend James Loo had completed the 100 km ultramaraton in 13 hrs 54 mins. Importantly he had gave his best and survived the course. And he had put his name in the Sundown Marathon Singapore Record book forever!!

Some 900 runners took off the gruelling 100km Sundown Marathon at 6pm yesterday(26 Jun) at the Marina Barrage.

Last year around 30% completed the 84km distance. It's much tougher in 100km. Will update the results shortly.

I will be meeting him next Sunday, and there will be a special interview, which i will post here for everyone.

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2011

The Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore is here again. It will be open for registration tomorrow 23 Jun. For those who intended to sign up, please do so and take advantage of the early bird. The early bird offer is valid from 23 Jun to 20 July 2011, last year, all the slots were taken during the early bird period.


Categories

Full Marathon early bird offer $75 (15% less for cardholders at $63.75)
Half Marathon $58 ($49.30)
10km Men/Women/Wheelchair $50 (42.50)
5km Fun Run $20 (N.A)
Kids Dash 750m $18 (15.30)
Ekiden -42.195km $300 ($255)

I'm surprised when i saw the fees for this year full marathon $75 (for early bird offer)! With standard chartered credit card (15% off), it will be $63.75.

Last year i paid $38.25 for the full marathon (using standard chartered credit card). An increase of 40%!! WOW. For me & my friends we will just sign up for the half. Kind of disappointed to see the increasing fees, a few years from now, i'm not surprise to see $100 for full marathon.

After last year run, I have decided not to run a full in SC. The 10km & half marathon runners merged at Sheares Bridge and basically you have to walk with them. It is frustrating if you have a time goal, having come so far to reach 37km ... and ended up walking with the rest. It was only in the last 2km, you get to run to the finish. Precious time were wasted :(

Last year 60k signed up (from the previous 50k) and this year they intended to get 70k participants.

Race Review for 2010 Full Marathon
SCMS Race Review 2010

This will be the 9th year since my first 10km in SCSM. My recommendation for those who are running full marathon:

1. Prepare yourself. Train in the heat. (last year the race starts at 5am and at around 10am the temperature was at 35C) . Can you run in the heat for the last stretch? It can be quite painful & stressful.

2. Are you aiming for a PB? If you intend to do a personal best, SCMS might not be suitable. You will probably be slowed down by others near the finishing. Last year, I have to walk for about 2km at around 37km mark. I finished in less under 5 hrs, it could be better.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Final Results

Last week, I checked on the Sundown results and was surprise to see a FINAL updated one. The earlier posted here was the provisional results. I'm happy to see the improvement in overall standings. Not bad, i think i can still improve.

The next event will be the SAFRA Army Half Marathon coming up in Sept, the last time i ran in this race was 2 years ago.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Half Marathon Review

I had finished the race, there isn't any personal best. Just how close it was? This year I finished in 2: 06: 16. Last year it was 2: 06 : 15. So the difference was 1 sec to my personal best.

I gave my best, if i didn't stop at the last 2 water points, I am sure it can be around 30 sec faster. But anyway, I'm more determined to run a personal best again this year.


Race Review
This year Sundown orgainizer Hivelocity did a great job, after taking feedbacks & making adjustment to the overall race experience, there isn't any major issues. They received lots of complaints after last year race, as expected more people turn out for the race this year.

My friend Roland pick us up at around 5:30pm, reaching at around 6:15pm. Four of us running, last year it was 5. The race starts at 8pm, we were early and there are plenty of parking lots. Unlike last year, I didn't move to the very front of the start line.


Start of the race

When the gun went off, I just have to overtake the slower runners, kind of waste a bit of energy, need to get into good position, i overtook hundreds of people. At around 5km, I looked at my watch - 28mins. Good pace, however at around 8km, as usual the same old problem on my right knee, I slow down a bit, at around 10km, it was less than an hour on my watch. Just have to maintain this pace, i tell myself. The weather was humid, was totally wet from head to toes. At around 13km, i kind of feeling the strain, i'm running out much faster than i did in training, the only thing i knew was that i had done this before, all i have to do was to repeat it again.

From 13 km onwards, I stopped and took a slip at every water point, just to have light refreshment, it was a tough run. After 15km, the road was kind of empty in front of me, just half a dozen people, i was too tried by now to overtake any of them, just running at the intended pace.

At 19km mark, I looked at my watch, it was 1 hr 53 mins. I knew it will be quite close this time, so i just pick up speed towards the finish without looking at my watch again (when u look at your watch, you tend to slow down), the right knee problem was gone (or i just block it away), the final push to the finish line. As usual, i was familiar with the route, in the final stretch of around 2km it was total darkness, i was running towards the light at the finish line (the music gets louder as it was closer). When i crossed the finish line, i knew i had the same timing as last year 2hrs 6 mins.In the last 2.1km, i took 13 mins.

race results from runpix

I have a total of 7 pictures taken, i selected 2 of my favourite and post here :)

My friend Roland 59 years old, came in 2nd in his age group, Chin 54 years old, 3rd in his age group and Hong in 40-44 age group, he finished at 16 position. They are all superb runners and i can't keep up with them in training, i'm usually a step behind them.

Sundown Marathon 2011 Race pack collection (Fri)

Collection of race pack at Expo on Friday, an easy and fast collection.

Checking out the new NB running shoes, looks like a unisex running shoes.

lastest bike on display

Hivelocity started orgainizing Sundown Marathon in 2008 (first), in a few years it expanded to more than a dozen other races. Very good profit indeed, with race fees increasing every year.

2008 Sundown Marathon records, in the 4th year now

The event will on the coming Saturday, check the blog for more updates shortly.

Workers' Party Rally Serangoon Stadium 29 April

Hedgehog is never a political blog, but a snap shot of what is happening around me in Singapore. From the earlier post on YOG, the first hand pictures on the opening of the casino, the pride as a Singaporean when i attended the national day parade 2 years ago and when the local YOG soccer team brought us happiness and together as Singaporeans. This strong response was felt at the Serangoon Stadium rally last night. Here are the pictures i took last night.

I can felt the heartbeat of our people, when all of us came together after a hard day work, it doesn't matter who you are or what is your position in the society, it even doesn't matter if you are late, we gather at the stadium.

people continue to stream into the stadium even when i left after 1.5 hour, it's just too pack inside

how big is the crowd last night?

went up to the 11th floor of a HDB flat to snap this picture

workers, singaporeans on to their way to the stadium... 2 hrs after 7 pm

Nobody can belittle us, each and everyone of us is talented, by believing in yourself and removing the fear factor, we can achieve what we set out for. It doesn't mean we complain & keep complaining, but we find solutions to solve the problems, taking it as a challenge. What matters is the struggle we encounter in life, and by overcoming them, we made our lifes meaningful. The people can tell what is true & what is false, it's never emotional. When we vote, not only do we vote for ourselves, but we do so for our family and children, we will vote for a better Singapore.