2010 Marathon ; Seasoned Marathoner's Bag of Tricks

The completion of another marathon brings immense satisfaction 

3 years later at the 2010 Marathon, I have slackened my training and my age had caught up with me, so at the ripe age of 48, I did my 5th marathon registering a time of 5 hours 59 minutes on a hot humid Sunday morning early December 2010. Nothing to write home and tell the folks about but I did it.  

I already had a running 'base' of stamina, I could easily do 10 km with little training, so there I was waking up at 3 : 30 am in the morning on race day, putting on my running belt, slotting my power gels by my side, put on my race vest, shorts, and 2 running bottles to carry along the marathon route. 

I had by that time become a 'seasoned' marathoner. My serious training to be a marathoner started in 2000, so I had by that time approximately 10 years of training, and had run 4 marathons after attempting my first full marathon in 2003 (Penang Malaysia Marathon). 

I had learnt tricks to conserve energy, I learnt the correct pronation techniques to be biomechanically efficient. I had also practised long runs and when would be the best time when I would pop in the power gels and that would give me a boost of up to 1 hour. I had the entire 'bag of tricks'  to bring and carry along with you during the race. Let me highlight each and every one of them below : 

The End is Near

a) Power Gels (can be bought at any GNC outlet) 

This is as advised a low GI (glycemix index) type of energy booster when you suck it, the gel would be absorbed quickly and the energy released in bursts. Flavors are many, ranging from vanilla, chocolate, lemon lime, orange and berry. 

I would slot them strategically around my waist and take one after every 10 km completed. I also make sure that I drink lots of water together with the gel as it is highly viscous and gooey. 

b)  Nathan water bottles - Hand Carry

I bring 2 along. These are about 200 ml and you can fill them up with electrolytic drinks and refill them at the appropriate drinks stations every 5km or 2 km at the later stages.

c) ASICs Kayanos - Best In Class Shoes

I started with many brands, Brooks, New Balance, and finally settled on ASICs which is a runners shoe. They have many shoes for various type of runners. As I am rather heavy set, I decided that I am a normal pronator (not an overpronator ie. flat footed or supinator ie. roll off to the right upon foot strike) so the shoe as recommended by Runners World was the Kayanos which is basically a stability shoe ; it gives the best cushioning for runners who are normal pronators and my footstrike is roughly on the ball of the foot. There are many types of footstrikes, there are those runners who land on their heel (ouch), some on the forefoot. 

Fortunately my running gait is normal, so I land on the centre of my feet.

I started buying 2 pairs per year and the shoe series is excellent for me. When I first bought it, the model was series 8 or 9, and now it is series 26.  

d) Pain Spray - Keep the cramps at bay 

This is a must have. Around the 30 km mark (it varies), the cramps will undoubtedly set in. Maybe, its due to insiufficient training, hence the body is not conditioned enough so its a crummy feeling having to hobble or stop in mid stride when the calves or even the hamstrings start acting up. I originally tried the muscle relaxant gels, but the pain spray is light to carry around the waist (hook it up on your belt) and whip it out when the cramps start to set in. It gives you a feeling of getting a new pair of legs !! Alas the feeling goes away after may 1 - 2 km but it is a must have.  

e) Hydration Belt 

I normally invest in a hydration belt with small openings (zipped up) to keep essentials such as money, an EZ Link card (for the ride back home on public transport), stuff like that. Nathan Research has various models, so check them out at Running Lab at Velocity (Novena). There are small slots for me to put my pain spray, power gels and the ubiquitous towel. 

f) Face Towel

It gets really hot for races which start at 6 am and for ordinary runners like me who finish after 5 hours are looking at 11.30 to noon, so its incredibly humid and sweaty reaching the end of the marathon. I bring along a towel and at the 30 km mark, bring out and rinse it with water to dry up the sticky sweat which at that time is all over my body. At least I feel comfortable running that last 10 to 12 kms.

g) Oakley Sunglasses  

This is for my sensitive eyes so Oakleys suit my face to a 'T'. They are lightweight, fit well to the top of my head and so cool to look for the photographers nearing the finish line ! 

So there you have it, Mark's bag of tricks to help you run better and finish looking cool ! 

 

   

Corneilia Street ; Cool New Song from Taylor Swift

This is my current 'go to' song to get me up and about in the mornings. Do enjoy.

Mask Up, Go to places and be a Responsible Citizen.  

PTSD Challenge ; Raising Awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Singapore. Day 19

Day 19 of my PTSD Challenge, to raise awareness of the neurological disorder which trauma victims suffer. The symptoms include :  

a) Depression

b) Mood Swings

c) Insomnia

d) Anxiety Attacks - can be very severe

e) Flashbacks.

If not treated early and rectified, the disorder can manifest and the sufferer MAY end up feeling worthless and in extreme cases, take his own life.

This video was taken on the street and as I am a 'night bird', after a long day's work, so I am glad I did my part in this continous fight against this deadly modern day afflction which can be managed and mitigated by phychology, good sleep hygiene and patterns, exercise and in extreme cases, medication.

  

2007 Nearing the Finish Line - The Good Old Days of Running sub 5 Hour Marathons.

2007 was the year of my 4th full marathon ; I had run my first in Penang Malaysia in 2003, and I had taken up this sport with full enthusiasm and gusto. I was a very enthusiastic runner, and subscribed to Runners World for a number of years to achieve the motivation of running. Runners World had plenty of articles to guide newbie runners like myself to eating correctly, gait analysis, shoe selection, training schedules and lead times, motivational quotes, tips from the pros and seasoned runners, best runs on this planet and so on and so forth.

I can say I am one of those crazy ones who gave up golf (at the tender age of 38) to take up running, when many people would take the opposite route ! They would run till about their mid 30s and then take up golf which is much more leisurely and a social game. I think I am a social person but up to a certain extent. 

By the time 2005 came, I was running easily 10 K most mornings with the exception of Sunday and 1 other weekday. I managed to stretch the runs to 14K on Saturdays and in the leadup to the marathons, say 1 month before the race, I would be running easily 20 K to 32 K on the Saturday morning, and this would be my tune up to the actual marathon. So, setting the alarm clock at say 5am to rise and aim to hit the road by 5.30 am was a very common routine for me.

In addition, for the longer runs, I would stash my Gatorades at certain places along my route and so on and so forth. I would be out each morning for 1 and a half hours before coming back to the house and then proceeding to wash up and get ready to leave for work by 8.45 to 9 am. 

Running to me is the essence of life. I believe my passion to run stems from genetics. My father was Indian Tamil, so that side of me somehow made me so fond of running. I am by no means a fast sprinter or even a middle distance guy, but come 5 K and beyond, I would say I could beat most recreational runners and can easily (in my prime) do 5 min per km for 5K to 10K distances. 

 

                                                  2 Dec 2007 Marathon Video 

During my pre-teen and teen years, I recall running from the bus stop at Victoria street some 1-2 km away and I would attempt to beat the lights and run non-stop from the bus stop through the old shop houses along Middle Road, up towards Sophia Road and then to Adis Road.

Somehow during the teen years, my Mum brought us to swim at the swimming club and hence my running was overlooked due to much more emphasis given to swimming as an extra-curricular activity in school and junior college. 

Don't ask me why, but I was and am still an avid runner. Of course, now 13 years older and perhaps 5 kg heavier, I do not run as much. Time has made me a young old man. So I still do the odd 10 K and 5Ks are perhaps done once or twice a week. Speed is no longer there, so I am happy to run at a pace below 7 min / km.   

Running buddies, I've had guys and the odd lady who accompanied me on my runs. My current running khaki (partner) is a Portuguese pal based in Singapore for a number of years. 

The day I stop running because of injury, or old age, I better think of another hobby as fulfilling as this one to keep me wanting to wake up in the morning with a smile and jump out of bed.  

My Hopes for Singapore Post GE 2020

Sunday afternoon 19th July 2020 Sunny Blue Skies 

We had our watershed election on 10th July 2020. It was a unique one, as it was called for by the incumbent party forming the Government in the midst of the SARS Cov 2 crisis where Singapore is still recording hundreds of new infections everyday, albeit mostly (95%) from the foreign worker contingent.

The pandemic is far from over, and our 2nd quarter GDP estimates showed a contraction of over 12% from the previous quarter - the worst ever since I started my working life way back in the late 80s, or more than 30 years.

Now that the dust is (barely) settling, My hope for Singapore and the new Parliament is to have or focus on these structural issues hitting us now and in the future :

a) more checks and balances in the Executive - debating and airing all views before casting a vote to move forward or roll back bills.

b) a relook at job opportunities for Singaporeans, especially PMETs (professional, managers, engineers and technicians), giving them more than ample opportunities and financial credits (SkillsFuture etc) to learn and the rest is up to them. It will be tough to adapt, but adapt we must. People in my age group are especially vulnerable having gone past the ideal hiring age and unless we have the right skillsets such as computing C++ or Python experience, we will be overlooked time and again. 

We only have Grab, Security guard, service personnel jobs in the moribund retail and banking setor at this stage in life. The prospects will not get any better nor the pay package any better, so train our minds to take on the next challenge of it will be a very meagre existence going forward. Adopt a kiasi or paranoid (afraid to die) attitude.

This is very strange coming from me, but even I need to face the harsh realities of the 'new normal'. One that eschews personal relationships, getting too comfortable and whiling away precious time with friendly meetups. The COVID-19 is all upon us and we need to fight it for a long time, first with less meetups, secondly with masks in place ever so often. It is not nice but the risk of getting infected outweighs the need for camaderie for the sake of bonding.     

c) Poor : Give the chronic sick and elderly a greater financial stipend. Whatever mistakes they did with their lives or misspent, people need a sense of dignity in their golden years. 

d) Unemployment benefits : true this will impact everybody's tax bill (being raised) but do it with the social good for everybody in mind.

f) More help for Small and Medium Sized Companies ; be it tax reliefs, jobs support and rental deferrments. Nothing beats cash on hand, such as grants based on (for example) the last 3 years Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss management reports. Yes, many of these same SMEs will go bust, but cashflow is the lifeblood of any company large or small, so balance sheets are critical to attract further investment in form of cash grants to keep the SMEs alive while the industry re-invents itself.  

I think the rash of many funds available for the SMEs from Enterprise Singapore, and Astar to name 2 are still in my opinion, too high hanging fruit. The effort insofar as time, resources and presentations are at best, a token. 

We practically have to explian in detail the entire process flow to an 3rd party to assess the project's feasibility and if we are onto a 'winner', I think I would go for private funding rather than applying for the onerous productivity or even business development grant.

What do I see in my 'crystal ball' economically for Singapore ?  It is a matter of survival and that means re-adapt into the new cloud based marketing model of product innovation, user convenience and keeping ahead of the competitiveness with new ways of doing the same old work.

Adapt or face the end of life of traditional business models, for many companies. 

  

My Next Race will be in 2021

My trim and fit picture in Dec 2010 

This year has been a really traumatic and very distressing year for everyone. SARs COV - 2 is in full swing all over the world, there are currently 14 million cases and 400,000 deaths, there are massive floods in China, the the 2 superpowers are facing off on many fronts. 

Singapore is facing an unprecendented -12.4 % negative contraction (2Q) from the previous  1Q GDP numbers and everywhere people are tightening their belts and travel between countries have dropped to 10% at best. Closures of restaurants, high end and mom and pop stores, travel, hotels, ticketing, airlines, tourist packages, everything is down almost to 0 this last 4 months.

So I brought up a little distraction for myself. A goal if you like. My last race was in June 2018 where I ran the SAFRA 2018 21km with several friends Ricky Ng and Timothy Lee. My time was a not too shambolic 2 hours 34 minutes .This year is a washout in terms of any sporting or entertainment activities (no Olympics, no football with fans, lots of cancellations of major sporting events from NBA to Wimbledon and to F1 races). 

So next year is my goal, at 58 years young, I want to register below 2 hours 15 minutes time fo a 21 km. 

Back of the Bib 

Front of the Bib of my last race 

So here is my  2 big hairy audacious goal for 2021.

a) Run the 21 km in 2 hour 15 minutes and below

b) Run one European marathon ! 

I can still dream and plan can't I ?  

The next step is to execute the plan. That is the HARD PART. 

Goodbye Hans ; Till we meet again. Keep the flame burning brightly ever

At Il Fiore Bar in May 2015 

I first met Hans Brys through a mutual friend Kim Soon Fang. I had just finished the toughest project of my working life (selling specialised human performance chambers) and was thinking broadly about diversifying into new fast moving consumer goods business (FMCB) using online marketing and sales.

To cut a long story short, I was introduced to Hans as he had a similar type of business model and concept selling his arthritic Belgian products into Asia while I had my probiotic products made in Singapore and targetting to a wider audience worldwide.

Hans came to Singapore in the early 2000s, met and married his Singapore born wife soon after and had been living here for almost 20 years. He had another daughter from his first marriage in Belgium. 

He had seen the ups and downs of life and I was struck by how hardworking and humble he was. Always with a ready smile, and his Yul Brynner (bald) haircut, he stood out amongst the unit holders in the basement of Chevron House  where he and his wife Marilyn persued their food business called "Pasta 101." The hours were long but they were a good match to this very tough industry.  

Those were the good times.

We met up I would say close to 20 times, and always he was there with support, a kind word and an easy smile. He first started his food venture from his mobile  stall in East Coast Park, I recall running over after an 8 km run to partake in a meal of pasta in the evening, and his wife Marilyn and precocious daughter Delphine would be there after nursery class to rollerblade and keep him company. His Mum in law would also be there to mind the stall when he needed a break from the backbreaking work. It was just near the beach at Carpark D as I recall.

The prices were very reasonable, something like $7 for a box of pasta with the secret sauce and topping. A picture of his mobile stall is shown below. Lovely balmy days in the hot and humid weather were not a big deal for this hardworking man and his family. 

After his 6 month stint at East Coast Park came to an end, he bid, tendered and was successful to run his outlet at Chevron House. So he started his Pasta 101 at the Basement of Chevron House at the Foodcourt. Those days lasted about 1 and a half years. When he ran into issues with the management of the building, he decided to help out with another of his countrymen who was a top chef and has many top quality restaurants all over Singapore. It was a great comeback for Hans.  

A dedicated family man, with no airs, hardworking and humble. He gave his all to his family and to his friends. Last year he told me that he came down with a serious cancer of the lungs and which had affected the kidney and even the bone. I was totally shocked at this revelation, because he had seemed like the perfect picture of health. 

I will miss you Hans, 11th July 2020 was your last day. Only 52. Till we meet again, I will keep all the memories of you and remember the constant hint of a  smile on your face.

Carpe Diem.