SAFRA Half Marathon 16 August 2009

Please see the Link List (if interested) on the analysis of my recent 21km run.

Running Pictures - Past Marathons

2002 SC Half Marathon

This one got me hooked on the sport, I had trained almost 1 year to be able to run this half marathon and after the finish (I recall it was somewhere in the east Coast Park) I was interviewed by Japanese Film Crew for some Visit Singapore Tourist Show. The cameraman was taken by my medal and the interver, a lady asked me how I felt. I said " Good, and next year (2003) I will run the Full Marathon.

In 2003, I did run the Full Marathon in the Penang Bridge Run in a time of 5 hours 16 minutes.

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2005 Army Half Marathon


2005 SC Full Marathon ; about 500 m left to go.

This marathon was full of drama for me, firstly I hit cramps on my left calf leg as early as the 23km mark and hobbled from then on. Around the 30km mark, my right leg calf succummed to cramps and it was then enduring the torture till the finish. To make matters worse,it was an extremely hot day and I doused myself with alot of water so much so I was drenched in water from head to toe. My shoes were squishy due to the soaking and I was determined to break the 5 hour mark.

Near the end, 100m or so I hit the final stretch when the massive cramp pulled my entire hamstring in frontof a few thousand spectators. I fell flat on my front, drew all reserves of remaining energy left, another runner helped me up - AND THEN HE LEFT ME - so I fell down again, consumed by tiredness. All around me were people screaming and the announcer was yelling my bib number 1874 and wanting to inteview me.

The last 50m, I was aided over the finish line by a medic, and I made it with 1 minute to spare. I sat staring into space for almost 45 minutes in the finishers tent too consumed by the events that happened and regained my energy to get up and take the taxi home.

Talk about a dramatic finish, this is it !



2004 Half Marathon at 19 km 500 m. 500 m left to go

I finished this is 2 hours and 30 seconds flat, safe to say this is my Personal Best time to date. I had lost a total of almost 5 kg leading up to this run and weighed in at a very healthy 67kg. My lowest in 20 years !

Monthy Python Meaning of Life - Fighting Each Other

This video is really funny and you finally understand why Britain is no longer called Great Britain. It is that they have lost the focus on winning the hearts and minds of the people,countries and small states which they colonised hundreds of years ago. Now, they are just another Western ex-power wondering where it all went wrong for them.

Enjoy this video where they make a complete disaster of attacking the enemy and in fact end up attacking themselves. One of the funniest sketches from the Monthy Python crew of the 70s and early 80s.

Jason Mraz - Butterfly

Golf and Squash ; 2 Sports As different as Night and Day

Recently, Johnson, a colleague asked me to play a game of squash with him and this is the theme of this blog. Golf, the gentleman's sport where there are 101 rules about everything from the shoes to the dressing to the positioning of the body,to the tee-off, to etiquette on the fairways and greens etc. It embodies the values of honesty,manners of courtesy and behavior and players are fined or penalised for slight misdemeanors such as cursing,or even walking across one's 'line' at the tee.

My opinion of it is that it is a social sport, where the competition is mainly between the player and the golf course .How he pits his game against his handicap score is the fun part. Say I am a 24 handicapper (from previous games on the greens, and I am certified by a professional to be competent), during the game with my friends, I shoot a 86 for a par 72 hole, that is actually 14 above par, but after I deduct my handicap, I am actually playing 10 strokes better than my 24 handicap. So if I play a few more similar excellent games and record these score cards with my home club, my handicap will be knocked down to around 16.This is how it works for the handicap scoring system

The trick with golf is one has to round up a gang of similar minded khakis (mates) and arrange a 'flight' of normally 4 people and book with the golf club one
is attached to. Golf club rules dictate that players must abide by the following before playing a round of 18 holes :

1. Form a group (flight) of 3 or 4 players at a prearranged approved time
2. Show proof of competency (handicap card or Playing Competency card)
3. Be appropriately attired in golf gear and spiked shoes

So the fun starts when all 4 of different playing abilities go on the greens and the 'true' characters of people are revealed. Cheaters (those who put false scores) will be found out very fast and can lose their handicaps and those who are impatient also learn patience - by waiting for their flight mates to a) find their lost balls or b) their flight mates may be hitting the balls in all directions except that of the green so its quite comical to see a bunch of beginners in all kinds of rough and waiting for each other to hit onto the green. Trust me, I have been there and done my fair share of 'gardening' or digging out little tufts of the fairways when my stroke is too deep into the ground. The opposite is the 'airstroke' whereby a "whoosh" sound is made when one totally misses the ball. There is also
many versions of the 'slice' where in the most embarrasing case,one hits the tee off with a full blown swing and expecting to see it soar 150 meters it trickes out off the teetop and rolls say 6 inches.

There is a lot of bantering and joking whenever I play with my golf friends,because of mishits, poor hits and excellent or fluke shots. By the time one takes to finish a round of 18 holes (around 4 hours), one is usually burnt brown by the sun, dehydrated and ready for the 19th hole - which is the watering hole or terrace where the depleted energies are regenerated by copious amounts of beer, isotonic drinks and the local food. Normally we have some betting going on so the 'loser' or the 2 'losers' pay for the dinner / lunch.

Squash, on the other hand is a more gladiator like where 2 palyers enter and 1will emerge victorious. It is seldom a social sport where people hit for fun aganinst the wall. Squash players (or squashers) learn a variety of strokes from basic drive strokes to cross court volleys, from boasts to back of wall lob shots.

Invented in France in the early 1500s, the game has evolved over the centuries to incorporate even doubles play (4 people, 2 per team) play.However, for most players, it is 2 per game. Again, there are basic rules to abide befors stepping into the court :

1. Non-marking shoes must be worn before entering the court
2. Players must be attired in all-white (some clubs)
3. Use of yellow or double yellow rubber squash balls are preferred

Again through playing with my partners over the last 20 years (its 10 years since I picked up my racket to play a decent game), it is always about winning the point and fighting for every point with no quarter asked or given.

Now that I am in my mid to late 40s, and with the flesh not so willing, perhaps I may have to develop a 'social squash' mindset where hitting the ball is already an achievement. Or then again maybe not ?

Integrated Resorts ready in 2010

3 blocks of the Iconic Looking Sands Tower almost completed

By the beginning of 2010, Singapore will have its first Integrated Resort Gaming Facility located at the Marina South just next to the floating platform. The second, managed by Resorts World, will be ready by 2011 located in Sentosa. Sands of Las Vegas, whose chairman is Sheldon Sands has placed his bets on gambling in this 'fine' country where there are fines aplenty from spitting to smoking to littering.

It is a contradiction in a sense that the ultra prim and proper Singapore, wants to pursue the gambling dollar.However, the Government having thought long and hard and elicited feedback from all areas such as religious groups, various intrerest groups and the man in the street, decided on a "YES PROCEED" vote in 2007. This is being true to their pragmatic nature, had decided that they wanted to "have their cake and eat it".

The Government has probably had their think tank models and scenario models out a long time ago and decided that the 'pillar' of manufacturing will not be as strong as before and will probably shrink massively in the coming years, hence, the need for new skillsets and mindsets and hence the decided on the gaming and entertainment industry.

Now there are up to 30,000 jobs being dangled for Singaporeans (and Malaysians) displaced by the Financial Crisis such as Croupier, Concierge, Limo Driver, Asst Sales Associate, and alot of other related jobs in the tourism and hotel industry.

Gambling and its related ills like gambling addiction leading to family breakdown will have to be managed. The Institute of Mental Health has spent untold sums of money visiting places like Las Vegas and Macau to study the effects of excessive gambling and how spiralling debt will spell disaster to the family unit. How the casinos can manage to get the finances of problem gamblers and persuade them not to continue now but in years to come (say 5 years) will determine whether Singapore's move into the IRs is indeed successful.

In the bigger scheme of things, there are the new restaurants, Seaworld and Universal Studios to look forward to.I was a small time gambler (during my NS days), but my forays will be limited to the buffet table. My gambling luck has always been 'so - so'.

Neither Win Big or Lose Big. Perhaps its time I seriously reviewed this Mindset if I am to learn from the Big Boys like Goldman Sachs - see earlier post on "Lessons from Goldman Sachs Turnaround "

Sheares Bridge and Army Half Marathon 2009

This year's half marathon is almost like a regular event for me.I have taken part in the Army half Marathon (organised by the S'pore Armed Forces) for a total of 8 times, and in the last 5 consecutive years (except 2006) I have taken part in the Veteran's competitive section. The objective is to 2 fold :

1) To achieve an Intermediate Goal of 21 km whereby I can attain a level of running mileage enroute to the end of the year full marathon which is 42 km long. I force myself to run this distance and motivate my tired aching muscles to go the extra km.

2) To pschomotivate myself to now maintain and run at this distance and push the distance envelope longer to 25km, 30 km, 35km and then 40 km.



At the Finisher Paddock

Dean Karnazes, the famous ultramarthoner once famously said that to run the 100 miler (160 km), "you run the first 50 miles with your body and the next 50 miles with your mind". Reflect on this phrase for a while.

This is especially true for me as while I enjoy distance running as a hobby and sport, there are times when I lack the motivation to a) get out of the door at 5am in the morning b) Continue running to the set distance.After finishing 10 km or even 15 km, it is so easy to say "stop,thats enough for the day" when in actual fact,
I need to cover the neccesary 15 or 20 kilometres. I need to log in about 80 - 100 km per week and an average run spped of 6 minutes /km for me to achieve the required timing I desire of around 4hr and 15 minutes for the full marathon.

This is the target time for me this year, barring any unforseen injuries like last year.

In 2007, I covered the 42km in 4 hours and 45 minutes or so


Finisher Medal

This year's Army half Marathon started at the right time in my opinion, not too early where all competitors must wake up at the unearthly hour of say 2am. 5.30 am is a decent enough time to start but my grouses for this year's Half marathon is this :

1. Too many soldiers who are supposed to run at 7.00am (10 km) are already there are 5am causing alot of confusion and chaos at the baggage deposit areas, toilets and general waiting areas.

2. Announcement to come to the starting paddock was not heard, there was too many people milling around causing confusion. Many runners, me included did not know that the run had started (5.28am) until we walked near the start and went over the Championchip timing mats.

3. Baggage handlers were very inexperienced and asked for all bags to be opened and checked (for possible bombs ?) as a new security feature and then to delay things further, we had to cut the bag tags when the earlier instructions were to tie the tags to the bags directly. The reason was to place each bag in a waterproof plastic bag.

Compliments this year

1. Plenty of water points and serving water as well as 100+

2. The motivators were youth groups and some units music and dance companies which were quite a sight to see, thus distracting me from my aching muscles and heat.We had a Caucasion gorup on kompangs (Malay drums) and also a group of stiltwalkers among the more interesting ones.

My run target was 2hours and 05 minutes and I hoped to reach that time by strapping a wrist band with the km times printed out for each kilometre covered. By 2km, I knew that I was behind the target time and was trying my hardest to make up for lost time. However, my experience and instincts kicked in and I decided to stop or slow at almost all drink stations to get water for hydration - a very important factor for me so as to ensure I could last the distance.

Truth be told, I had not covered this distance in a year and this run was in a way of telling me, hey I can cover this distance. Anyway, the first 5 kms were pretty smooth with about 6:30 pace, behind the target 5.55 pace needed for a 2hr 05 finish time. I decided to continue on 6:30 pace as it wss crowded and overtaking and swerving around sweaty bodies take up alot of energy and effort. Maintaining the pace for the first 10km was my goal.

Around 7km, at the start of East Coast Park,and I could see the first elite runners already heading back at the 15km mark, their long purposeful strides making the most of the road.How I wish i could run like them !

At 10km, we hit the first timing mat and it was still quite a decent pace for me of 6:30. Around 12km I popped my first Accel Gel, an energy gel of complex carbohydrates and drank water to digest. Around 15km, near Mountbatten road exit the first aches on my muscles were starting. I was enduring the aches and ignoring the younger runners zipping past. " Run your own race. I have nothing to prove except finish at a respectable time" I told myself. There were about 1000 people ahead of me but around 5000 behind,so I figured I was around 20% percetile.

By the 18km, I was visualising how I would finish, the route was familiar so I just took the time to mentally play out how I would look for the cameras at the end point. How vain of me !

By the 20km mark, my legs were like wood, but I endured and the last 1km I took the extra effort to raise my footstrikes and not to shuffle. I even found the photographers at the finish and toyed with them on the home stretch to take myself finishing.

After collecting the medal at the Finisher's paddock, I bumped into my running khaki (Gopi). We had a nice catchup on our runs last year, and since I injured myself, I made it a point to run with him in the near future.

Truly, this sport is all-inclusive and one I will partake for a long time.