1ArmRunner

Unlike the two years before, certain changes were made to the 2010 84km running category. The running route no longer consists of vertical obstacles such as bridges, instead flat route throughout and the starting time has been push forward from 8pm to 6pm so that more ultra runners have the chance to 'beat the sunrise' - slogan for the event. This after collating feedbacks from participants from the previous 2 years where many had failed to 'beat the sunrise' due to the obstacles along the running route as well as the short time given of only 10hours (cut-off time of 15hours still remain).
For this year ultra marathon, there a couple of runners that will be doing it for a cause. Besides me who will be doing it to raise the profile of disability sports and to raise funds for my upcoming operation costs as well as for the disability track and field under the project name '84km of Pain for a Cause', there is Kash, a Malaysian woman runner whom I got acquainted in facebook and she wrote an article about me in her blog, she'll be running to raise money for National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) under the project name 'Project 84 - I run for Autism'. One more is Mark Philpott, President of Humaneity Group who is running under the project name '84km Pain for Humaneity' to raise funds to support a school for the under-privileged children in Cambodia.

Whatever the aims or causes to run this audacious and gruelling 84km course under 15 hours, this is no simple task. There is no short-cut to prepare for the mammoth task ahead except for hard training, piling the mileage to condition the body, mind and soul. With just 2 months for training, instead of progressive training, all the workouts intensity were increased exponentially as 2 weeks before the event itself, I have to run at least 60km in one particular day. That was the target but due to the recurring shins' splint and calves' strain, I only managed to run to a furthest distance of 58km.

Luckily for me, Patrick and Dave from 2XSFBSports.com came to my rescue, when they came to know that I was trying to negotiate the 84km ultra marathon, by providing sponsorships on Science in Sport (SIS) nutrition which  has been at the forefront of high-performance sports nutrition in Britain since 1992 which was founded by Tim Lawson, an elite athlete who collaborated with champion British cyclist Chris Boardman. SIS is also the first in the world to create isotonic gels. Using the SIS gels and bars, it certainly improved my performance and decrease my recovery time between training sessions. Consuming it during training sessions also helps me to train longer as I less succumb to fatigue and lesser prone to the dreadful cramps especially running long distances.

A week before the event, I started tapering down my training and started with my carbo-loading. The distances get shorter as the day approaching, and the pace gets slower. Although it was a nerve-wrecking period for most participants at this point of time, as for me, I actually felt quite excited and was looking forward to the challenge that laid ahead.

Just like many other events, one of the pre-race activities was the race kit collection. It was a disaster during the first day of the collection. There were many problems and many participants that came during the first day of collection, voices out their unhapiness. Firstly, unlike the previous year where it was held at the Millenia Walk, this year it was held at the atrium at Raffles City Shopping Centre. Due to the limited space, and huge turn out, the queues for each different category was spiralling around like snakes coiling in heaps. There were no visible signs and demarkations, and many who have waited in a queue for quite sometime, were suddenly told that they had to line-up in another queue as they were queueing in the wrong category. Frusrations were shown in the faces of those queueing up as they were not only left clueless but also they had to queue for nearly 2 hours before they are able to reach the counter.

Not only the queue was going very slow, but upon reaching the counter, many were given the wrong tags, wrong event singlets' sizes and etc. It was chaotic. But from the feedbacks, the organiser made the necessary adjustments, and the second and third day of collection was much smoother. Many participants were satisfied with the quick response from the organiser to solve the problems.

At the back of the race kit collection counter, many of the event's sponsors' booth were set-up. I browse around the booth and met many friendly staffs.  One of them that I visited was the adidas's booth. That is where I got acquainted with Alex and Mike, the adidas staff. When they got to know that registered for the 84km ultra marathon, they were quick to offer advises, tips and assistance. Mike even did a scan of the running strike of my feet using a special foot scanner. It just a simple analysis. To get a more detail analysis, one can call Adidas Singapore at Cathay to set an appointment. He even offered me a pair of extra soles which I can use to replace the soles of my Adizero Tempo after my first loop. As for Alex, he offered me his staff discount for the things that I purchased such as the Adidas tops and socks.

On the day of the event, I was still undecided whether I slould wear the long 2XU compression tights or the short one but feeling it might a very humid night, from the feedback of past 2 years participants, I decided to wear the short 2XU compression tights and the 2XU calf guards. As for the tops, it'll be the new Adidas Response top which I just bought with my blog's url emblazoned at the front and back (just in time to get my local t-shirt printing supplier to print it) and as for the socks, it'll be the new Adidas formation.

For all ultra-marathon participants, we are given a 'special needs bag' which is a transition bag, where we are allowed to store the things that we want such as change of clothings, deep heat creams, extra music player and etc, things that we want retrieve at the 'race pit-stop' after our first 42km loop. For me, I place an extra Adidas Response top, extra soles given by Mike, an extra pair of socks, a small hand towel, a can of cold spray for my niggling injuries and a few SIS gels and bars.

Upon reaching the site, with only 30mins before the flag-off time, I quickly deposited my bag at the baggage are and the transition bag at the race pit-stop tentage, and find a good spot to carry-out my stretches. Although, it was the first shuttle service, I feel that it set-off a bit too late but I still managed to take say hi to quite a few runners and supporters that were cheering as soon as I stepped-off from the bus. I also managed to say 'hi' to Alex and Mike who were tending to the Adidas booth and Patrick who was tending to the SIS booth.

At 5.50pm, many runners were already making their way to the starting line. Shariff, Singapore Blade Runner, who was at the race site since 3-plus, and me managed to squeeze our way through all the way up to the front of the pack. As the emcee was introducing the pasy years winners such as Jeanette Wang and also the man himself, Adrian Mok, Shariff and I was enjoying posing in front of our friends and supporters who were happily snapping away on their cameras, and at the same time, we were discussing our strategy on attacking the 84km course.

Suddenly, the emcee introduce me, the 1ArmRunner to the crowd. Everyone applauded and cheered, and I acknowledged their support by raising my paralysed left arm using the control of my shoulder and did a bow. As soon as the cheered died down, the emcee started to do a countdown to the flag-off and everyone was suddenly focused on the run.

When the horn was blown, Shariff, me and many other runners started to sprint-off from the start line. It was like a 100m dash but in reality, there's 79,900m more to go. So at the 50m mark, Shariff and me started to slow down a lot. We started on a very slow, comfortable pace and was running shoulder-to-shoulder. But at the 4km mark, Shariff told me to proceed on with my own pace. As I do not want him to feel stress and feeling that he was slowing me down, I picked-up the pace and ran on my own.

It was quite a humid day and so from 6km onwards, I have to stop at every hydration point not only to hydrate myself but to wet my head and body, by requesting volunteers manning the hydration points to pour water on my head and back.

Thd first 42km loop was quite a breeze. I did not felt much discomfort and I managed to complete the first loop about 4hrs and 50mins. Just as I reached the last 3km to the pit-stop, I was received with loud applause and cheers from the road marshalls, volunteers and other participants but the loudest was when I reached the pit-stop itself.

At the pit-stop, I was assisted by one of the volunteer (I deeply apologise that I forgotten your name but if you know who you you are or if anyone knows his name, please let me know). I'm truly grateful for his assistance. He helped me with changing of my top, socks and soles, and even helped to wipe my perspiration-off on my body and my legs with the towel. He then fed me cupcake and mineral water which was provided by the organiser, and before I left the pit-stop tentage to negotiate the 2nd 42km loop, he fed me the SIS gels and bars, and spray my legs with the cold spray. I guess, I spent less than 15mins at the pit-stop and it was the only time, that I showed my scarred body to the public with my right stump protruding out (I only went half-naked after getting permission from the other exhausted participants and everyone do not seem to be bothered about this trivial stuff).

When I left the cosy tentage, there were many camera flashes aiming at my direction and from the corner of my eyes, I can see the full-marathon participants already ready at the start line. Thus, I know that its going to be 12am soon, which is time for the full-marathoners to be flag-off. As I started my 2nd loop run, many half-marathoners were making their way back and many gave their support, well-wishes and high-5s as I ran passed them in the opposite direction.

The first 5km went quite smoothly but at the 6km mark, I could feel my shins' splint and calves' strain were coming back to haunt me. Not only that, a few days before the event, my right middle toe was accidentally stepped on by a lady in heels in the train. It caused the toe to swell 3 times its normal size and I could not even put my hold weight on my right feet. During the day of the event, my toe was still swelling but I was still able to cope with the pain. It just got a bit excruciating on the 2nd loop. But the worst was yet to come.

Just as I was limping pass the 8km mark, drowsiness started to set in and it is not due to sleepiness. In the morning of the event day, I got struck by nerve pain on my left arm and I thought it will subside after a short while. Instead, it worsened as the hours passed-by and just before I left the house, I had no choice but to take the nerve-pain reliever medications. The drowsiness from the medication will only come after a few hours consuming the medication itself. So besides battling exhaustion, the recurring injuries and a swollen toe, I was trying hard to keep myself awake and fully-focus.

But the drowsiness won. From the 9km mark and above, sometimes I was limping with my eyes close. Due to that, sometimes I accidentally knocked into other runners or sometimes, almost ran into ditches and drains. I tried to run/limp with the company of other runners and even wet my face my face and body many times, but the drowsiness was just too strong. Hence, to prevent from unneccessary injuries on myself or other participants, I decided to take some short power-naps at the hydration points or where there were road marshalls stationed. I heard of stories about participants falling asleep throughout the race, only to wake-up after the cut-off time. Thus, I make sure that there will be someone to wake me up just in case I fell into a deep sleep. Luckily, I'm able to wake myself up each time I took a nap.

As the further I went, the pain on my legs and toe, and the drowsiness just kept getting stronger. But I was determined to complete the race before the cut-off time and before sunrise. Furthermore, I do not want to let those people that were rooting and supporting me down. Most importantly, I do not want to let myself down. Throughout the remainder of the 2nd loop, I kept telling myself this mantra that 'pain is temporary, pride and glory is forever', and as an ex-guards officer, I have a lot to live up to.

Though it was passed the 12hrs that I set myself to complete, I managed to complete the 84km course at a time of 12hrs and 41mins. I know that I could do even better but I was satisfied with my achievement and by the time I crossed the finishing line, the sun was just about to rise. So I suppose I still managed to 'beat the sunrise'. If I'm still able to run next year, pending on the outcome of my next operation, my target will be sub-11.

I just would like to thank the following people that made this achievement possible:

- Adrian Mok, HiVelocity / Polar
- Shawn & John, Band
- Patrick & Dave, 2XSFBSports.com / SIS Nutrition
- Sham & Ryan, Key Power International / 2XU
- Alex & Mike, Adidas Singapore
- Volunteers, Supporters & Participants of adidas Sundown Marathon 2010

Special thanks to the volunteers that assisted me at the pit-stop, baggage deposit, hydration points and etc, and supporters that set-up their own hydration points/fuel-loading points that fed me isotonic drinks, coke, fruits and etc along the ECP.

Last but most important of all, I would like to thank those that have made the donations and pledges their support for my '84km of Pain for a Cause'. If you would like to make the donations/contributions, just click here to know how.

By the way, congrats and salute to all Sundown participants that came, ran and conquered the night especially the ultra-marathoners. 2-toes up to all of you;-]

Oh, one last thing, this run is dedicated to Shariff's daughter who is currently nursing an illness. I hope and pray for her speedy recovery.