A "Fool" Print

It was my first ever 100km Ultra-marathon to complete in one single day. Compared to the past, I did not do much training to prepare for this race apart from running with Eddie, May and Akira together for weekdays training. Our average distance covered was about 15km. Not enough mileage to prepare for this event but we decided to take it easy and aimed for completion.

To equip myself for this race, I wore Kayano 17 Asics shoes and used Nathan Trail Mix 4 fuel belt packed with Counterpain, toilet paper, 2 PowerGels and 1 Cereal and Energy bar each, with some extra money. In addition to these, we had our friends, Genevieve, Rosalind and Chin Yen came to support us at 18km, 35km 45km, 55km, 75km, 80km and 90km. I won't say I would enjoy the run if not for the company and support from friends. The reasons were that I have not recovered from my cough and been suffering stomach pain throughout the whole afternoon of the race day.

The race was flagged off at 6pm.This year, the Sundown Ultra-marathon started from Marina Barrage, where runners were brought through East Coast Park, Changi Village, Pasir Ris Park to Bedok Reservoir and back via the same route with each aid stations separated by 10km. As a sign of our unity, Akira, May, Eddie and I wore the same 2XU Running Tee to run together.

For the first 10km, we maintained our training pace of 7mins/km. Henry and his wife joined in to run with us at the East Coast Park (ard 8km) for the next 16km. They were training for their next week's Gold Coast Marathon. At our first own personal support point,. I took a few slices of Bak Kwa which I had prepared earlier for us.

For the next 10km, Eddie was not feeling well, suspecting food poisoning. Luckily for him, there were toilets along the costal road where he could temporary relieve himself. However, he dared to take much food after that.

As for me, I experienced an irregular heartbeat and discomfort in my stomach from 20 to 40km. We stopped by at the Changi Point Hawker Center but that did not help me much. By 35km, I was breathless where I saw our support group. I could neither talk much nor drink. Added to my worst scenario, the sleep bug caught up with me. I was running zigzag and hardly could keep straight. In order to stay myself focus, I ran along the pavement line. This sustained me a lot as it eased off my mind from the fatigue. I just simply had to maintain a constant pace and following the line with nothing else to think about.

At 40km pit stop, I got a chance to find a public toilet to alleviate my stomach discomfort. Feeling better, we continued our way to meet our support group, whom stationed at the bus stop(45km) where we had a few Cokes, Pocari and watermelon. Around 1.30am, We reached the 50km U-turn point. Not long after, Mohan was with us too. May commented it was rather demoralizing while Mohan and the group consistently overtook us after each pit stop even though we had outrun them. Eddie suggested we should cut short our rest time to 5mins instead of 10 to 15mins. We grabbed a few hot dogs, gummy bears, bananas and oranges before embarked on our next half to the journey.

When we reached 55km, Rosalind kindly brought my special needs bag so that I could change my socks and to my new pair of Nimbus 12 running shoes. After so many unexpected events, it seems like the lady luck was still not on our sides. After Eddie and me, May felt like vomiting. Upon her request, we plodded from Tampines Ave 10, via the Pasir Ris Park to Loyang Ave. Our support group was not stationed at 55km point as original planned. Gen called to inform me that they were at NSRCC. By 68km, we made another unscheduled stop at the Changi Point Coffee shop while we ordered some drinks. I took some ice coffee which helped me to stay awake a little. Subsequently, Gen and Rosalind drove the car to meet us. May was feeling better after the long walk. Nevertheless, it was Akira's turn of his condition deteriorating. He was quiet during the past 15km walk.

Along the Changi Costal Road, Akira requested to walk since his foot was suffering from blisters. May was quite active and energetic by then. I truly admired her recovery process and figured women had a better ability to recover faster than men. Me and Akira was totally exhausted!! Gen and Rosa was kindly to wait for us at the Costal road. Reckoned that there would be plenty of toilets along the East Coast Park and feeling discomfort on my stomach (again!!), I left my fuel belt with Gen and Rosa. By then, I couldn't able to run due to the strain on my right knees.

At 80km, I able to recover surprisingly after drinking the red bull given by Rosa. My right knee was not aching and I felt the strength to run. It was 8am and we had 2 hours to reach 90km before the cut-off time. Gen also kindly reminded us. Given the tight deadline, our strategy had changed from a leisure walk to a run-walk pace. It was 9.50am when we passed 90km pit stop. By this time, the morning sun had came out and we could feel the strong heat and humidity. Akira's situation did not improve much. We split in the last 10km, with Eddie and me running in front, while May and Akira were behind.

Again, Eddie had proved himself to be a strong endurance runner. The 90km did not seem to drain him. He was running quite fast ahead of me. I saw him around 97.5km where he was sitting on a chair, waiting for us. I tossed my bottle of mineral water for him to drink and we walked the last stretch towards the Marine Barriage. The noon sun was so hot that the heat within me and outsides was beyond my tolerance. Furthermore, the location was totally exposed with no shelter. Runners in front of me were all dragging their legs for the last 2km which seemed like an eternality to me. After crossing the bridge, Eddie took the lead to run up the slope crossing the finishing line with me followed behind. In total, we took 17:15hrs to complete the whole ultra-marathon. Unbelievable that I could run for such a long hours!!

Throughout the last 10km, Eddie and me were worrying that May and Akira couldn't complete before 18hrs. I was struggling between whether to wait or ran without them. My rationale reasoned me to go ahead for at least the effort of our support group was not wasted. Thank God, I was so elated when I saw May and Akira crossing the finishing line at 11.45am.

We had all made it!! Hurray for Hoh-Aye Team!!!