Monday, June 2, 2008

For the Love of Pain.

It's 2 days after the marathon and my whole body is still aching, mainly my legs. My legs feel like blocks of wood and I am hobbling about like an old man. I actually found it funny when I saw one guy crossing the road today wearing the red Adidas shirt. He was hobbling about too! Haha, what a sight. I think I'll only dare to wear this shirt once I stop hobbling completely. =D

I was actually surprised many of my peers knew about the Adidas Sundown marathon. Here's an excerpt from TODAY.

Race organizers HiVelocity anticipated 5,000 runners would sign up for the inaugural adidas sundown marathon 2008. When registration for Asia's first night ultramarathon opened last December, they got much more than they had expected.

On Saturday night, 6,029 people will be running a 42km marathon route that snakes along the National Parks Board's Eastern Coastal Park Connector Network, with 310 going the full ultramarathon distance of 84km.
HiVelocity had initially opened only 100 slots for the ultramarathon category which was filled in two days. The organizers then upped the number of slots to 175 and to 300 by the end of March.

"The response has been overwhelming," said HiVelocity found and director, Adrian Mok. "We hit our target of 5,000 a month before registration closed. We didn't think so many people were as crazy as us."

The trend is echoed in other endurance events here. The Aviva Ironman 70.3 race on Sept 7 – registration for which closes on Aug 17 – will see an estimated 1,500 athletes lining-up at the start line, a 15% increase in participation from last year.
Singapore's Marquee triathlon event, the Osim Singapore International Triathlon, has also witnessed a dramatic jump over the last five years – there were 3,800 participants last year, up from 500 in 2002.

"I think Singaporeans have become more health conscious and are looking for more physical and mental challenges." – Maray Gadams.

"Singapore is a small place, so it's really about island fever, wanting to get out to do more. The adventure of this race is also appealing." – Leow Kah Shin.

"Many people are taking part for health reasons, and also because they get a sense of achievement from completing a marathon" – HiVelocity's Adrian Mok.

"It's a real challenge, and many get bitten hard by the running bug after just one race."


The coveted, hard-earned T-shirt.

Posted by MK at 9:54 PM