Running 120km around Singapore in the middle of a pandemic
Just before the pandemic began, I was in Borneo, Malaysia, running my first 105km ultra marathon around Kota Kinabalu with the incredible Borneo Ultra Trail Marathon (BUTM) crew. Days later, Singapore found itself in a full lockdown. I had gone from being on an adventurous streak to facing a stay-at-home notice for the next three months.
So I joined forces with some friends to raise money by running 120km around Singapore, with others contributing through cycling, swimming and running. Our efforts, determination, and team spirit meant that we completely smashed our distance and fundraising targets. Together, we covered an incredible 53,095km and raised over $18,000 for YMCA of Singapore.
I had made the decision to do this run not too long before we were due to set off - around a month prior - which is not something I advocate for my clients. I had only run two 8km runs before the actual day, with a lot of strength work building up to the run to help prevent any injuries. My friends were in a similar position: Kat had never run more than 50km, Rachel had run 105km with me in Borneo, and Frankie had never run more than a half marathon.
The run kicked off in dramatic style as I slept through my alarm. With my heart pounding through my chest as I woke to multiple messages and missed calls from my teammates. Fortunately, I had packed everything I needed to pack the night before and my snacks and liquids were ready to be put straight in my bag. As I frantically messaged the group asking them their location, I took a few deep breaths and had a few scoops of protein and water to give me some energy.
Moral of the story is you can plan as much as you want, but sometimes things don’t go to plan, so you have to ride the wave and get on with it. I just had to make up time and meet the team.
When I met the team, they were in great spirits. The first leg of our run was up the east coast in the early hours. It was surprising how many people were up and about (or maybe because I’m an early bird I don’t usually see the nightlife). We blitzed the first 21km together in a great time of 2 and a half hours, which was a great pace. I knew we wouldn’t be able to hold this pace for too long past the 50km mark, but whilst we were feeling fresh we wanted to cover ground. About 30km in we had our first casualty with Frankie with some knee pains. After some stretching along the Changi strip (if you are familiar with this long road you know it is relentless), Frankie took it down a gear, but the goal was to move forwards. For the next 10km Frankie and I were dragging our feet a little, with Rach and Kat leading the way. 40km into the run we had our first stop of supplies as the rain started to come down - we did not want soggy feet so early on in the run. We were joined for a stretch by my client Iain, who ended up running the furthest he had ever run that day - 36km - which was exceptional.
As we pushed forwards heading toward 5am, we had our second casualty. Rach sadly pulled her hamstring and could no longer go on. The rest of us continued as the sun rose, now 7.5 hours in. The next part of the run we followed the route up past Changi Village, round Pasir Ris and up to Kranji and Sungei Wetlands. This stretch took forever, especially with the sun rising and the heat getting too much. Over this time we were all at different speeds and I had a few solo moments to get my thoughts and headspace together. There were moments of walking, talking to get myself moving as well as getting the tunes on to have a good old sing song. I don’t always listen to music - I save the tunes for when I’m struggling (in this case it was classic all out 80s - here’s the playlist if you ever wanted it).
Then - when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go. I started sweating, anxiously wondering if I had time to reach anywhere. Too late. There wasn’t a toilet or gas station that was within reach when nature called, so I had to run into the bushes (probably full of snakes) to do my business.
Afterwards, I caught up with Frankie in the sweltering midday heat. Our water had emptied and we were at the north point of the island , a kilometer away from any water top ups. Number one rule, always have water on you, especially the longer distances. We stopped to eat fries and down some cokes and sprite to give us the sugar hits. We probably sat for a little too long, leaving our muscles and joints lovely and stiff.
It was around 2pm, and we still had 33km to go.
Check out the full experience in this short clip here.
The three of us began our run home starting with the long strip of tarmac on the motorway. It was never ending. My legs and joints were feeling every inch of the run around the island right now. We just knew we had to keep moving forwards to bring us closer.
Time was going fast and distance being covered was slow. It was hitting us all in different ways. Finally, at 8.30pm, Frankie and I had run 120km around the island. We had been going for 20 hours at this point! We were feeling a mixture of delirium, relief, and exhaustion - both mentally and physically. We went our separate ways and I came home to eat burgers and soak in an epsom salt bath.
The day was done and I ran an obscene amount of steps in one day let alone a month.
To aid my recovery, I jumped on the static bike the following day, which helped release joints and muscles on the lowest resistance.
There’s so many reasons why I do these kinds of challenges or events. The main ones are:
For my mind - to push myself to show up when things are hard, to know I have the resilience and mental capacity to get through it.
For my body - to see how it responds, endures, overcomes, and to find strength.
Lessons:
Make your own magic - in the middle of the pandemic, I wasn’t waiting for adventure to happen to me, I decided to make it happen.
Do the hard things - take on risks, face the challenges and walk through the discomfort to the other side.
Keep moving forwards - there will always be roadblocks. It’s our perspective and our reality that counts.
I want to leave you with one thought: you don’t need to enter a race. Plan your own events, get creative, do it on your terms.
If you enjoyed this tale of my madness in Singapore during the pandemic, check out my article about the trio - the 120km round Singapore, 58km west to eat, and 36km north to south.
