Great Eastern Pacesetters 30km - 21 January 2007

This was my maiden overseas race and it was such a wonderful experience. Travelling with my fellow Sgrunners had been great fun, there was so much laughter, so much things to talk about… hmm.. my trip to KL was so memorable! We took a train to KL, it was a long ride (11 hours) but a happy ride nonetheless. The cabin was almost filled with Sgrunners, so when we gave Run3 that little surprise at midnight and sang her a birthday song, we kinda forgot the existence of the remaining passengers and perhaps had awaken one or two of them from their sleep :P.

It was about 9am when we reached KL, we deposited our bags at our hotel, The Coronade Hotel and went for brunch. After brunch, we went shopping and some of us decided to catch a movie. We watched Pathfinder, not a very nice movie.. t’was about Vikings trying to wipe out the entire population of red Indians. That evening, while we made our way to Chinatown for dinner, it started raining so we had our dinner at a small coffee shop instead, i had chicken nasi goreng and Al had naan. Quite a heavy rain it was, could see the water level on the road increasing and I was wondering whether the rain would continue throughout the night and the race would be postponed. After dinner, we took a cab to Sungei Wang Plaza, the shopping centre opposite hotel where we stayed. We had cheese cakes and brownies at Dome, so yummy! Hee.. can afford to chomp those sinful desserts coz next day will burn those calories off :P

The next morning, i woke up about 3.45am to take a shower and had breakfast. We took a shuttle bus to the start point (Lake Garden). I was a bit nervous when I lost Al and the rest after I came out from the toilet, very quickly I could spot sgrunners all over the place.. hee.. felt like I was in home ground.. sgrunners everywhere. I got another panic attack when I realized I forgot to take out my power gel from the bag which was on its way to the deposit counter.. I quickly ran towards the deposit counter and managed to spot Al in the queue.. phew (can’t do 30km without it you know.. I’m that weak!). The race started at 6am and the weather was cool, there weren’t street lights along some part of the road, it was quite dark and I was careful not to step on any toads crossing path or tripped over my own feet. I drank at every water stations which were quite far apart. There weren’t any distant markers along the way, felt like I had been running forever. There were many slopes, I mean it, so many many! Tried as I may to conquer all slopes that come my way, after running for more than 20km, I had to drag myself up slopes. The spirit of tiredness sets in and every km seems so long. Finally, I saw Shut near the end point, whoopee, finishing.. finishing.. I told myself, I ran faster, saw Kickjazz and the rests.. crossed the finishing line with a big smile.. yeah! Yoohoo! I got my medal!

There was a mini food fare at the end point, I had fruits and shared beehoon and nasi lemak with Al, ate chendol, conflakes, ice-cream.. hmm.. wonder if I’d put back what I burnt off in the run or not. That afternoon, we had steamboat @ Kooka for lunch, there was so much food, stuffed myself.. haiz.. definitely put back what I burnt off liao. After lunch, we headed back home to Singapore in a luxurious ‘sgrunners’ coach. Well, journey back was peaceful coz all sgrunners had gone racing in dreamland.

SHAPE RUN (16 July 2006)

A very interesting run, for women only - Yeah, Gals Power!

I must admit that i participated in this run not juz to support the women only event but becoz i was very much attracted to the shape bag loaded with goodies - ha, the men dun get it! It turned out to be a really fun event coz many Sgrunners ger gers participated, hee.. some of us even have colour code (yellow) for our tops. The Sgrunners boi bois and Kelly also came to support us - Alex came in pink top and poms poms :) Our supporters took lotz of photos.. what a glamourous day for the ger gers.. hee.

The run started at 8am. There were so many participants, spent the first part of the run following the pack and then slowly wheeze past them. After the water point, i picked up my speed. The scorching sun made my run seems forever, felt like slowing down but i told myself to keep going. Towards the end of the run, saw my darling and the supporters - smile my sweetest smile for the paparazis (they sure look like one.. hahaha). I was kinda tired by then, Al ran alongside me, giving me encouragement - my sweet darling. I ran as fast as i could to the finishing point and came in 98th place (timing: 56m 41s).

The weather was so hot that day.. dun think the sunblock helped much loh.. i need recovery time, must be fair lady for my wedding.. Aiyo, there's another run this coming Sunday - Mizuno Run.. under hot sun again!

MORE MILK

Yeah! Just received my trophy - was given 4th placing for the Corporate Challenge Women's :) So very happy! My boss said i should do Milkrun every year.. hmm.. does it mean she'll be sponsoring my run every year too? hee.. Hmm.. maybe sponsorship might includes running gear.. hee... expand my wardrobe! I wish!

Well, truly, I would be glad to go for the corporate race every year, not for anything else but simply it means more donation to the little ones (S$500 leh!).

MILK RUN 2006 – 2 July 2006

MILK Run 2006 - my 1st anniversary race. Last year’s MILK Run marked my first official race. Initially I’ve decided not to take part in the run this year (didn’t wanna become ‘chow ta’ under the blazing sun). Then when my boss asked if I wanna go for the corporate challenge, my heart skipped a little and I gave her a sheepish grin and so there I was, under the hot hot sun, doing the MILK Run on 2 July 2006.

This year I took part under the Women’s Corporate Challenge 8.4km. It was a slightly different route from last year but a bit confusing for some (good thing Al looked at the route map and told me gotta do a loop run once I hit the Clemenceau Bridge). It was really hot that day, I started out at a faster pace trying to weave myself out of the crowds, then I slowed down a little to get condition to the heat. It was quite a ‘torturing’ run until I saw the slogan on a runner’s tee just before me, it read “MIND OVER BODY”.. hmm.. I was thinking to myself then, my body felt alright leh but the heat’s killing me.. so I changed the slogan and muttered under my breath ‘mind over weather.. mind over weather…’ it worked ;) Towards the last part of my run, I was thinking maybe I should slow down and make it an easy run. Then I told myself, i’ve set a goal to finish the run in 51mins (Al always encourages me to do my best in all races), gotta to try make it! I increased my pace in my last km, for my Al who came to support me, i sprinted my way through the finishing line.

So happy, did my best and came in 5th position in the Women’s Corporate Challenge category (all thanks to my boss, coz I wouldn’t be able to get any prize if I’ve joined the Women’s open… so many good runners under that category.. hee). I’m happy to complete the run in 48min 33s nevertheless :)

National Vertical Marathon, 12 March 2006

Al and I signed up the Lovers' Challenge category. We arrived at Suntec City a few hours before the event to meet up with SGrunners, they were all wearing a triumphant smile on their faces, having just conquered Suntec Tower 4 in good timing for their individual events (3 cheers for you guys and gals! HIP HIP HOORAY x3).

It was really exciting, waiting in line to start our VM, the SGrunners couples being Brokie and Wildcat, Kelly and Renoh, Astrogal and boi boi, Al and me. We had great fun jesting each other, even during the event, Brokie used her 'block with full moon' strategy on Renoh and Kelly. Al and I started climbing the stairs hand in hand, but later on Al was leading and i was following closely behind. Hee.. we didn't have problem overtaking the few couples in front of us, astrogal was even cheering us ;) We were so happy to have made it to the top, both panting heavily by then but what great joy it was to have completed the race! We came in 9th position (08:04:60), so very happy! Can't do it without Al, he's my motivation (he was so determined to finish the race, i had to practically 'give chase', determined not to lose sight of his bums..hahaha).

This is my second VM, athough the climb was only 43-storey high this time round, it was tougher coz ventilation wasn't good and we didn't get to climb to the top unlike the Swissotel VM, got nice view from the top. But it was more fun coz i have Al with me this time :) Oh, forgot to mention, i love the goodie bag.. hee.. got lotz of goodies!

SCSM, 4 December 2005 – Half Marathon

My very first half marathon :). I must say I've never taken any run as serious as this yo.. i even tried to follow a training schedule during the last month prior to the race (hee.. as closely as I possibly could lah.. with little changes here and there ;P) and I penned down my target time for race day (every 5km of the way) which I didn't really meet with though. Don't think I'd have done all these if not for Al, he spurred me on ;) I am very happy with my results, completed the race in 2h:6m:27s.

Took a lift from Brokie that morning, we arrived at Padang very early. After settling her two darlings and depositing our bags (ooh.. big mistake that was!), Brokie and I went to the starting point to cheer the full marathoners and see them off.. so very exciting! Then it was our turn to standby the starting point, I could feel the excitement all around and everybody was grooving to the music (the emcees really did a good job in getting us into the ‘ready get set’ mood). I started out slow and easy, lost sight of Brokie in no time (she must have run after the Kenyans), saw lightning flashed across the sky and thought it was going to rain. The first 5km was easy and I was slightly ahead of my target time. Found myself a pacesetter, an angmoh who was running consistently before me. Caught sight of Al along Marina Park on the opposite lane.. then I realized my 'pacesetter' went far ahead of me.. decided to speed up a little until I caught up with him. Continued running and occasionally stopped to take a drink at the water points. When I hit the 10km mark, I was about 2 mins behind my target time and decided to speed up a little and ran past my 'pacesetter'. I was on my own after that, running according to my own pace.. was glad when I saw the 15km marker. I was beginning to feel tired and it was getting really hot, drank my honey drink.. hmm.. nice! 6km more to go.. kampateh.. 4km more to go… tired… walk a little.. hmm.. too slow.. began running slowly… finished my honey drink.. continued running.. so hot! think I 'chao ta' oredi (would really welcome the rain with open arms). Looked at my watch (my very special watch), 2 mins more to my target completion time.. sped up a little.. don’t think I can meet my target time liao.. it’s alrite Suz… just complete your run in good shape… Boy was I happy when I reached the Anderson Bridge, with my last burst of energy, I race through the finishing line.. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I did it!

I felt a sense of accomplishment the moment I crossed the line. After collecting my medal, I headed towards the baggage claim counter.. stood under the hot sun for over an hour just to get my bag :( Went to look for Tiwazz and Bee after that, they were cheering for the runners I left them to look for Al, found him at the massage corner. He was exhausted and suffered from bad cramps towards the last part of the run.. poor darling. We met up with the rest of Sgrunners for group photos and had lunch together at Funan foodcourt.

I had great fun that day. Hee.. a full marathon next year? a bit scared to do so but I was really inspired by a few Sgrunners to take on the challenge.. like yojanjan and roadrunner!

-- "Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first"

VERTICAL MARATHON, 6 NOVEMBER 2005 – 682

Yeah! I’ve completed the 73-storey vertical race up Southeast Asia's tallest hotel - Swissôtel The Stamford,
Singaporeand came in 2nd in my category (Women 30-39), timing – 12:33:55.
It was quite an experience, right from the beginning to the end…
- the excitement I felt rite from the moment I woke up that morning (in fact I woke up a couple of times to find it too early to do so and went back to bed again..hee)
- the joy of meeting with sgrunners once again (Brokie, Tiwazz, T@z, YankeeII, Kops21 and wife, Fastlane - and wife, Mythos, Commando, LaoKaYu, etc..), there was juz so much stuff to talk about!
- the eagerness to start the race while waiting inline at the starting point
- the thrill of racing up the 73-storey hotel
- the triumph of reaching the top and receiving my very first medal (was met by sgrunners who were cheering for me :) )
- the pleasure of enjoying the city view at such height and posing for photo taking session
- the fun of going for makan session @ Kiliney Kopitiam with sgrunners after the event (ya rite, we talk non-stop)
Ha, been there, done that! Now I would really love to do another vertical marathon! Come my dear friends out there, join me in the next one! Hee.. can do ninja training together for the race yo ;)