As many of my runner friends have already notice, i will not be joining any more races this year perhaps 1-2. The reasons being i would like to focus on my training so as to better my marathon timing.

but do not worry as i will be still update upcoming running events and also some training guides taken from Runners’ World Mag.

Happy 2012 and run hard. Cheers

My pace was really screwed up since i have not been running trail for so long and as well as perhaps due to running 100km solo, this is the price i needed to pay. Needed more time for recovery and more speed work so as to get back the pace i used to have. It was really hard for my legs and each time i’m trying to run, my legs felt so heavy that i needed to walk. I am in a no position to comment whats the impact after running 100km solo, but i could definitely felt the before and after effect.  I hope this effect would go away soon because it is so irritating. I have checked with 2 ultra friend, and they told me the same thing.

Anyways, this year route was no different from last year. After the ranger station, there’s a sheltered hut. Runners will run till that point and make a U-turn and back to start point. I somewhat feels that this route is easier compared to the big loop because the bigger loop tends to be more muggy and harder to run if its raining etc. So, for the 1st lap, i came in a decent timing of 1hr10mins + etc. I did not stopped for lunch etc. I just keep continuing one after another lap. I would only stop by the end point to like refresh myself by eating some power bar and bananas. Other than that, i would just carry on. As mention-ed earlier on that i would only aim to do 5 laps.

Actually, for this year race, i came in rather unprepared. firstly, i used to carry a tiger palm with me especially doing trail incase of cramps but this year, i bought nothing. Secondly, i used to bring more gels like 5-6 gels but this year i just carried 3 gels with me. My intention was to eat 1 gel for every 10km after 20km. I remembered my running friend told me that MR 25 is a good time to try out all sort of nutrition because after all, if you are aiming for 5laps, you have got the full 12hrs to do it. But nevertheless, i sticked to my own nutrition and finished 5 laps and called it a day.

The weather was pretty nice with bit of rains here and there. I came back at about 7hr38mins which i think its one of the worst timing again. As this is just a leisure run for me, timing wasn’t important to me after all.

2011 is coming to an end, and this is the final race for me. As for 2012, my friend Jane have already started to ask me what races am i joining etc. I would like to tell all readers that i will not be doing anymore running events as i will be focusing on doing my own training to do a better marathon timing.

But rest assure that i would still post up the upcoming running calendar for your perusal.

Till then, see you in 2012 and keep running!. Cheers

i hope everyone is still following my running blog. Sorry for missing in action for the past 2 months ever since TNF 100km Solo. There are few reasons for my inactive.

1) after TNF 100km, i was back in school and focus on my upcoming examination.
2) preparing for marathon singapore as a pacer.

So, i signed up as a pacer this year and it was an enriching and fruitful experience for me. I thought as pacer was a good time to encourage /motivate runners to meet their desired timing and most importantly, know more people in the running circle. The pacer training was organized by a company named Racer ToolBox, they provide good training plans for all pacers; and we needed to follow it closely. We have our weekend runs every sat and my 4hr30mins pacer team consists of 6 runners including me. Terence is one of the in charge and he placed me at this timing as my PB timing was 4:16 which i did in hong kong. Every sat, we are like a hamster running loops; haha! the reasons why we run loops so that terence could make sure all the pacers are runners on the pace. As for 4h30mins pace group, the pace is 6mins24sec per km. On top of that, we were given gel for our training runs. There were 2 public runs if i could recall, where we ran with the public to get to know each other well as well as a gauge on our pace. But sadly, all the public runs are short distance (10km); which is very hard to determine. So, thats the summary portion for the pacer training program.

On the 4th Dec 2011, it was my 4th year doing the marathon singapore. Of cos this year the atmosphere would be totally different because i will be running with 2 balloons tied behind my back and its more tension than aiming for PB because runners are depending on you to run at the stipulated timing. As mention-ed earlier, i was in the 4hr 30mins group and needed to run at a timing of 6mins24sec per pace. My pace leader, K3, came out an idea whereby each of us will lead a few km. the pace lead would have to make sure we are not going too far nor too slow. The distance marker for this year was kinda screwed up which affects our pace too. I was leading the 2nd portion and was at a very good constant pace 6:24. Until when i hit east coast park which was approx 12km, i was still with my team. I began to lose them at about 20km; I am not sure what was happening to me on that day, i felt so weak and couldn’t sustain the pace. I guessed that i have not enough sleep as well as due to examination stress etc… I was lagging behind and decided to forgo my 2 balloons so that runners will not mistaken. At about 25km mark, i saw terence and told him that i have to run by myself since i could not catch up the pace. He asked me to revert my pacer tee and i could carry on by myself or run with other pace team. I decided to run by myself and was going very slowly. My legs felt heavy on that day and wanting to give up.

Finally, i crossed the finishing line at about 5hr07mins which was far from my targeted timing. I was very depressed after the race but terence came to me and told me i tried my best.

To be honest with you readers, i was away for so long also due to this reason. I was so ashamed of myself that i could not help runners to run at their targeted timing and i felt so useless.  I decided to come back to blog because my running friend, kelly and jane told me to share my experience with my readers. So here i come back again to really share my experience in point form below.

1) being a pacer is never an easy job, one should be VERY committed to it and focus during the race. A slow down in your pace will lead you to finish the race late.

2) training program should be stick very closely and commit to it; and during your training run, you should run at the pace you are going for. Not doing your own training pace run.

I would like to apologize to readers whom saw me during the race and trying to follow my pace but i failed. This is a lesson learnt for me and i hope this matter does not happen to me again.

Till then, see u guys at next race.

North Face 100 is one of the most challenging event compared to others. runners will get to run inside the trail with their hydration bags on.  I have been participating the North Face 100 event for the past 2 years. I started off doing 50km duo (25km each), followed by 100km duo (50km) with my running buddy. Unfortunately, this year my running buddy was injured and couldn’t join any long distance race. Therefore, i decided to try the Solo 100km. I often thinks that those runners whom signed up 100km solo is trail are crazy, 1st they have to run 2 loops and 2nd they will start running the trail early in the morning where the trail is pitch black. Total darkness.

This year race for 100km solo starts at 1am. I reached Macritchie at 11.30pm and met up with kelly and some other runners. TNF staff was there too, so we chatted abit before flagging off. I was armed with headlight and a mini torchlight so that i could see the trail. The race was flagged off by the race director. At the start of the trail in MR, it was a total darkness, all i could hear was the runner’s footstep and insect cricket. I managed to stay on pace with 2 other runners and i left kelly behind because she was recovering from an injury, therefore she decided to take it slow and easy. I have no problem with the route at the start to bukit timah because i have been training with my friends. but somehow i feel abit lost around the mountain bike trail; but luckily there’s some indication along the way to guide us to the correct route. Despite of carrying headlamp and torchlight with me, i still fell down twice in bukit timah mountain bike trail.  There was a slight change of route, instead of running the usual route which i trained for, we need to turn left towards dairy farm main route. There’s a water point 2 at dairy farm carpark. After that, i am very comfortable with the route as The North Face Progressive run once held there. I ran towards the entrance of mandai where the water point 3 is. The volunteers were very kind to help me refill my hydration bag while i’m grabbing some GU chomps to eat. Initially, i thought i was suppose to turn left to Lor Asrama; but luckily the volunteer shouted ; turn right. I was like omg, i never train the route before, so i tried to slow down to look at the direction and making sure i will not get lost. I ran pass Ulu Sembawang Park Connector and hit a junction where i was confused whether to cross the traffic light or otherwise. For me, it seems like there’s no other route, therefore i decided to cross the traffic light and continue running. I could not see any signage and i called the race director for help. there were 2 ultra runner followed me too and were waiting for me for directions. End up, my friend Sim called me said i was heading towards the wrong direction and I have to detour. I was kinda pissed off because there were no indication of where to go at the junction of the road. The exact route should be turn left into a slip route towards Lor Asrama. I wasted my energy on approx 2km of distance. Anyways ,Lor Asrama was pitch black too, but luckily there were few lightsticks laying around. I must say, i’m not only looking on the ground so that i will not fall but also keeping my eyes wide open for directions.  I would say climbing hill 265 was a big challenge during the night, i could not see anything and was trying to grab something to push myself up. Eventually i was up and i continue running. There was 1 point where there was no indication again; and i’m not sure what to do…so eventually i turned left and luckily i was in the correct way. I do not wish to lost in Lor Asrama as that place wasn’t small. There was one part I need to highlight, i was running alone and there were 3 motor bikers, i’m not too sure whether they are from the orgazier, they highbeamed me and revving their motorbike engine and i got shocked. I kept right and let them bypass me. I was shocked and wondering what the hell are they doing at such wee hours?  I truly enjoyed running Lor Asrama at night and the weather was somewhat cooling as compared to last year running under the hot sun. I knew this gonna happen to me if i’m able to do the 2nd loop of 50km to complete my 100km solo.

There were not much issues running back and i targeted myself to reach MR by 7hr30mins but i was slightly earlier and reached back at 7hr15mins. When i was on my way back, The 100km Duo category just flagged off not long ago. everyone was clapping and cheering for me and i replied back and wishing them the best for their 50km. Initially, i wanted to leave the pit stop by 9am but was warned by some ultra runners that i needed to reach Water Point 5 which is the top of Hill 265 by 1pm. So i decided to rest for 15mins, get myself changed with a new set of running attire, ate 2 apples and re-fuel my hydration bag. By 8:30am i set off for my 2nd loop. 2nd loop was a torture to me. firstly, i did not run such a long distance in trail before, the max was 52.5km for MR25; thou i completed many ultra on road, in trail will be a different story. I literally walked all the way and wanting to give up because of my blisters hurting too much. I called Tekko to check his location and asked him not to wait for me because i’m not too sure what time i will be reaching dairy farm carpark. I left 2 coffee with him and hope he could pass me along the way. I knew that i could not make it in time for Checkpoint 5 by 1pm but that does not fail me to carry on running/walking. I fell down once again at durian loop perhaps because i’m too shagged and lost focus. I continue to fast walk and kelly called me to constantly check if i’m ok and asked me to push on. Finally i get to meet her at mandai and she passed me my coffee; She asked me to push on and said “alvin, do it once do it good, u dont wanna come back again next year to do it right”. As soon as i left towards Lor Asrama for the 2nd time, i was all by myself. ; no one was infront nor behind. Luckily along the way, i saw a group of runners, 2 ladies whom was pacing 2 ultra runners. The 2 ladies was kind enough to accompany me and constantly check if i’m ok. Once we reached hill 265, the staff was saying that we were late and we have 2 choices. 1 is to follow their van back to mandai entrance and wait for bus to pick us up or continue at our own risk. All of us sat down at the training shed for a while to discuss and I suggested we should continue since we make it this far. I called my friend, Jane, that i’m gonna DNF because i missed the checkpoint and she couldnt believe it. Luckily, once we climbed the hill 265, we saw the checkpoint staff; there were kind enough to write down our bib number as a proof that we crossed this checkpoint even thou the timing system was shut down. I personally finds that it was a bit way off by putting a cut off time at 77.1km by 1pm and the next cut off timing will be 5pm at 88.9km; and the distance is 4hrs to complete 10km? i find it way too off. Kelly called me to constantly check if i’m ok to continue and also to encourage me over the phone. She said as long as i can reach Water Point 4 (mandai entrance) by 3.30pm, i still have hope to reach the end point by 7pm. With her wordings, i felt a sense of hope. But this hope does not last long as we lost our way in Lor Asrama again! no indication of direction. I saw OneArm and Bladerunner along the way together with a couple whom got lost inside Lor Asrama too. we called for help and luckily was back on track soonest possible. One of the ultra runner decided not to push on and left me and a guy from aussie came here specially to run; As we lost our way so many times, he decided to give up too. OneArm and others were way infront and i’m the only person left walking alone in Lor Asrama. I managed to come out from Lor Asrama by 3:26pm and rested for almost 10mins. Kelly asked me if i’m able to continue? I was still deciding, and it will be a waste since i left 18km to end point. The medic biker whom followed me thru asked me the same thing whether i wish to give up or continue.

Finally, i stood up and say i will continue. He warned me that i need to reach Chestnut drive by 5pm and end point by 7pm. I replied and kelly asked me if I would need a pacer. I responsed if she’s able to pace me it would be good. She grabbed 2 water bottle and paced me. She was walking very fast and i’m trying to catch her up but failed many times. But at least there’s a person infront whom i can set as target. Eventually we reached Water Point 3 at 4.30pm and i called jane along the way to update her the status too. Along the way, brokie also msged me to encourage me to press on. Kelly asked me to set off quick after water point 3 because there’s still 12km in 2hr30mins. We continue to fast walked and eventually saw the pipeline and rifle range road. I was so happy knowing that i will complete but at the same time afraid i might missed the cut off time by a few minutes. After the rifle range, kelly asked me to go on myself as she was unable to fast walk anymore. And i decided to fast walk and run at the same time. I reached the ranger station and went to the toliet and continued. When i reached the Northern Trail, Brokie and Tekko msg-ed me on my status and brokie said she’s waiting for me at the end point. Jane msg-ed me too that she coming down to see me finish as I’m the last runner. The last 2km was a torture for me, I’m trying to pick up my pace to run but blister was too painful to even continue. At the last 1km, i saw a North Face biker and he told me that i’m the last runner and he will pace me to finish off the race. I was so delighted and i followed him all the way.

As i’m close to the finishing point, i wanting to knee down as promised but i never do so. And the emcee announced “There comes the last runner, Alvin Low from The North Face”; and i was so happy that i completed it. Jane and her bf was waiting for me , and there’s a camera man whom took picture of me. Not long, brokie joined in and was so happy to see that i completed this 100km challenge. I joined them and chit chat with them near the beverage tentage. Surprised to see Taz was there. We were so happy that all of us completed this race. And they joked la, says after i came back, everything shut down liao, even the photographer also pack back go home. LOL! I was glad to hear that all Ocean’s 9 (TNF run leads) completed their categories and at least our hardwork pays off.

Well here comes my reflection: Overall, this race was well organized despite abit of hiccups here and there, especially the signages. But i’m not blaming them because its was our runners’ responsibility to view the map before the race day itself. Improvement can be made such as re-consider the cut off timing for 100km soloist as it was kinda unreasonable to clock 37km in 3hrs or 4hr after completing 50km already? Water point was sufficient and this year they include GU chomps which was superb. 100plus was given at Water Point 1 and 4 despite no sponsers from them. Milo which i didnt drink was sufficient too. Volunteers were very helpful and i really wanna thank them for their hard work; especially those left alone marshal at rifle range road and lor asrama. There was one lady whom stand under the hot sun too. Thank you.

Now comes to my thank you speech: I would take this time to thank several people. First is Kelly Lim whom pushed me the final stretch of 18km to make me a finisher, thou she injured herself but she still believe that i could finish on time. 2nd is Brokie and Jane, whom waited for me to complete my 100km race and constantly send wishes to me to press on. without those motivation, i could simply give up. Tekko for keeping my coffee chill and sorry to keep you waiting for me but i does not appear; was way too slow. TNF staff, Carey whom jokingly said i wont complete this race but i did. Eventually she left a last word for me, Alvin, i’m proud of you. haha!   and thanks to all participants whom encouraged me along the way.  I never felt so much better with friends specially waited for me till i complete my 100km. I’m really happy and felt much appreciated. Thank you guys!

Last but not least, congrats to all finishers and continue running!

Date: 30 September – 2 October 2011, Friday – Sunday
Time: 11am to 7pm
Venue: Orchard Central, Level 1,181 Orchard Road, Singapore 238896

This is my 2nd overseas and it was a meaningful ones too. I heard many good comments on this event and hence decided to give it a shot. This trip was much more meaningful because theres’ a total 30+ runners in a group travelling together. The whole trip was organized by Jancy aka Brokie; also one of the TNF run leads. Well I would like to spend abit of time complimenting her. I believed she did it out of goodwill and she done more than just planning; i.e. booking of hotels room, collection of our bib number thru one of the malaysian runner Tey, and whats more, coordinating well for our welfare especially makan-ing in malaysia. Shes a power women and i never regret knowing her. She’s one of the power women i have ever met? brokie, if you are reading this, all this words are from my heart ya! lol. She even tell me, she wants all the runners whom travel to be happy and she will be happy; i believe that makes her so unique from others.

Ok back to race day event; as this race only have 300+ runners, i would say half of it made up of Singapore runners. I would say this event was not actually a race , as it does not have a timing system to check our timing; the aim of the event is to run happily as well as know more runners along the way.  The starting point is at one of the chinese school and its quite ulu; because its not in the city center of KL. Our coach bus driver intend to pick us up at 3:30am as the starting time was 5am. I didn’t sleep well the whole night; all thanks to one of the runners’ group (i do not wish to mention which running team) was being very inconsiderate. They checked in at around 8plus which was absolutely fine with me and they were making lots of noise which i believe they needs some time to settle down. But after 9pm+ they are still making much noise and this carries on till 12mid or so; the noise including shouting loudly, banging the door loudly like their own house; shame on those Singaporeans! Our bus driver got lost his way thru and took us an hour to reach; thou we missed the briefing at 4:30am but luckily was only some safety brief. The event started at 5am sharp; the first water point is 5km away and subsequent every 3km. Jancy msged me the night before informed me that she will be bringing her hydration bag to prepare for TNF; hence i decided to follow otherwise. It was so dark at some portion and i could barely sees anything; luckily theres a few runners whom wear a headgear with lights to shine some light on the road so that i could run properly; thanks to them coming here well prepared. Oh well, i did a lathe acid test which indicates me to run at 160 – 175 bpm steady zone and i decided to give it a shot this time round. Before the event, i was informed that there’s an uphill at about 11km; so i decided to reserve some energy on it; when i crossed the 11km, i found out that the up slope was not as scary as what was mentioned; im able to run in a fairly pace. When i reached the 17km water point, someone shouted, here comes the hell. I was like “hmm what kind of hell is that” ? so i happened to run side by side with a man whom wear the same shoe as me; he said that this up slope lasted 3km and there might be dogs chasing after you; i was like 3km!! . after a short while, i saw most of the runners in front/behind me started to walk; and i follow too; haha! it was a torturing 3km walk but what goes up must come down, eventually the up slope was break even by a 3km down slope which i tried my best to run faster pace to cover back the timing. The scenery was fantastic but i did not bring a camera along. After the fantastic 6km run up and down the hill, there remaining route is fairly flat with constant small up and down slope.  I lost motivation easily because there’s nothing much to see except for the cool weather which keeps me going. Along the route, i could sees a lot of sort of kampung housing. Its so much different from KL city. The entire route was sort of more rural area than urban ones. The distance marker was very accurate thou they did put in their website that they tried their best to make it accurate; I was having a hard time to maintain my pace perhaps due to insufficient rest;

When i’m at about 40km+, it started to rain and i was like picking up my pace then. I love running in the rain and it really movitates me to run faster, how i wish the rain came in abit earlier like 30km mark or something? and eventually i finished quite a bad timing of 4:56 (sub 5) which is not i wanted to. But comes to think of it, this is not a meant to be race but more like a fun run; therefore, i did treat this event seriously but what i enjoyed most is travelling with a bunch of 30 runners whom are friendly and funny! Along the way, i also met an uncle whom i really salute him, he’s able to run that 3km up slope with ease and i didn’t manage to get his name. He’s my inspiration.

Well overall, the race was excellent; i would say this is one of the toughest marathon i ever done, and i don’t encourage first time marathoner to try. Water point was more than sufficient despite it was 3km apart. All finishers were awarded a unique medal, finisher tee and a certificate (timing to be filled in yourself).

IMO, if you asked me if i will want to do it again. my answer would be, yes if i trained hard enough on upslope otherwise it will be a no no for me. Do not wish to go there to walk that 3km upslope which defeats the purpose of a marathon.

Well my final words, if you are looking up for a challenge which is cheap and not far away from Singapore, River Jungle Marathon is a good deal for you; but let me warn you, i would consider this medal the most hard earned medal throughout my 4 years plus in running.

Below are some photos taken by photographers as well as from some runners. thanks for the photos.

S0, do join me and my friends if you wish to do a 4hrs 30mins marathon on 4 December 2011.

This pacer’s band can be downloaded at http://www.marathonguide.com/fitnesscalcs/PaceBandCreator.cfm

The race flagged off exactly at 5:15am. this year i decided to go much ahead because i know that it would be very pack if i would to stand behind. This year running route was entirely a new experience with no sheares bridge but running to marina barrage and gardens by the bay. Although i quite like the idea of running marina barrage but the area was too dark, and i nearly tripped and fall along the pavement of gardens by the bay. I personally feels that they should have added more lighting or light stick.

As i was at the front pack, i doesn’t feel much delay in grabbing a cup of water as compared to my friend, jane whom stucked for almost 2mins for some water points, which was pretty bad. Along the way, i decided to walk a bit and happen to saw one of the Hwa Chong runner friend, keloy, whom did the MR25 ultra back last year. We running side by side for almost 2-3km and i asked him to move on first because i needed to stop to drink up. I knew there were an upslope along fort canning area, therefore, i reserved some energy to conquer it. For the past few years, we began to see upslope which was the sheares bridge after 3km; but this time round, we sees an upslope after 15km+ or 16km.

At about 17km+, a guy shouted “alvin” from behind, when i turned back, it was Peng Thong whom was a friendly man i knew from Marathon Singapore Pacer Group. And now, we decided to run together and finish the 21km off.

The whole race does not have an accurate distance, my garmin watch cloaked 20.11km which was way too off from the desired distance 21km. I cloaked a timing of 1:51+ which i personally dont feels proud of it because the distance was not accurate.

On the whole, the water point was way sufficient; i find something interesting is that after you leave each water point, you were reminded how far more to the next water point; i would say this is for safety issue  but on the other hand, it can serve as a motivation to run faster for the next water point. As for the performance, i sees that there’s a reduce in number of performance but generally it was still enjoyable. Distance marker was placed at every km after the 1st 5km.

Army Half Marathon was one of the races which i would join every year regardless of how bad or how good the logistic was; because i finds that it really brings back the memories when i started army and how army trained me from a person whom cant run 2.4km to a person whom is able to run an ultra and marathon…

Registration is Open @ https://www.werunsg10k.com/ ; but somewhat buggy. Do take your own risk to register

Registration is fixed. you can register with ease

Team of 2 for $50. otherwise, $30 – $40/person