Mind Over Marathon - Singapore
THE BEGINNING - APRIL 2018
In 2017, the BBC followed a group of 10 people who all suffered with mental health issues as they trained for the London Marathon.
This was one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, and as someone suffering from depression, it was incredible to see a program on a main television channel showing that we are normal people who just struggle sometimes, alongside how much physical activity and social interaction can benefit us so much.
Last year I had the pleasure of joining Chevy and his running crew whilst I was in London, as well as connecting with Jake via social media to see how his journey and path has developed since the show. So I thought to myself, why not create the same kind of safe space myself here in Singapore?
I had a bit of a mad moment and posted the above message onto a Facebook page in Singapore. Yes, I work a full time job and travel a fair bit - but I want to do the Singapore Marathon in December so why not see if some people want to train with me and we do it together? It might be fun, I could make some friends, maybe raise some money for charity and maybe help some people get fitter/healthier/offer a support team in the process - so why not!
Over 100 messages to my inbox later - I knew there was a problem. There should not be over 100 people reaching out for help in aid of a better mental health or wanting to spend the next 7 months focusing on raising awareness on mental health and challenging themselves to run a full marathon - surely?!
I realised there would be no way I could train over 100 people, for free, four times a week as well as work full time. I told people that they had to commit and only once I saw they're registration to the Singapore Marathon would they be on the team. This got the numbers down to 64 runners - not as low as I'd hoped but I'm willing to guess 10% will make it to the start line; due possibly to a few injuries or relocations.
Whatsapp group set up. Hashtag ready. Training plan and schedule worked out for the next 7 months (with 4 weeks of buffer to allow for any injuries or if a lot of people were really struggling). I was ready to kick start MindOverMarathonSG.
MEET & GREET - MAY 2018
First things first - let's meet everyone for a juice and a Q&A before we start.
We have rape victims, girls with depression, anxiety, body dis-morphia.. There are people with parents with schizophrenia, men who have lost friends to suicide, women heartbroken from bad break ups.. And they're all here. They're all looking at me, looking for something..
Their questions were simple enough to start: 'How many runs a week? What distance do we go up to? Do we have to count our calories etc etc' - then the real question came out that everyone was wanting to ask..
'Why are you doing this and what do you get out of it?'
'Nothing - I'm training anyways, so thought it would be cool to run with some people who may also be struggling. And I’ve done the process of training for a marathon before so I can help give advice and tips; I have a training program that works. Main priority is to get you guys through the marathon, then if we can raise some money and awareness for mental health charities then that’s a plus!'
They seemed a bit happier after that and they didn’t look quite as petrified as when they first walked into that juice bar..
MEET SOME OF OUR RUNNERS
SEVEN MONTHS OF TRAINING - JUNE 2018
From pre-training week 0 which started with four 30 minute walks a week… LFG
JUNE
After walking four times a week for half an hour, we started our pre-training with a 5 minute interval training. This slowly increased up to 20 minutes. Focus for the month was increasing water intake, nutrition and running form.
Longest run: 20 minutes
JULY
The group was now starting to get more comfortable with each other which is great to see. They started exchanging inspirational books and quotes. People getting more confident exchanging their personal stats of their runs. Lots of memes being sent round and a sense of running community being built. Hydration tips and rehab tips for those experiencing initial niggles and twinges now they’ve started exercising.
Longest run: 30 minutes
AUGUST
Group runs continuing - pre-training is officially over so now the runs are distance based starting with the first long run of 5 miles. People dealing with boredom in runs is a popular subject so lots of sharing podcasts, music and audio books. Have spent time this month looking at cadence and running with metronomes.
Longest run: 8 miles
SEPTEMBER
First trail run completed.
Longest run: 12 miles
OCTOBER
Lots of the group wanted to do a race pre-marathon day so they felt more comfortable with the process. All the success for everyone who ran the Great Eastern 10k and half marathons. People getting better at dedicating time to running even whilst travelling. Richard Branson also spotted on one of our Joe & The Juice runs!
Longest run: 16 miles
NOVEMBER
Final long runs pre-tapering here. Focus more on hydration, nutrition and plan for race day. Ensuring everyone is rehabbing properly whilst still doing their strengthening exercises.
Longest run: 18 miles
DECEMBER
Thought it would be a nice treat to do an early, pre-marathon Christmas get together for everyone. It’s been a long, hard 6 months for them and now they’re tapering and getting ready for D-Day. Words cannot express how excited I am for them or how proud I am for these guys sticking with it till the end.
THE RACE
At the start line I had 10 runners for the FULL, 13 runners for the HALF, 2 runners for the 10km and 3 runners pulled out this week. So 25 of us, 7 months later, from over 100 applicants. This was it.
These girls and boys were ready - they knew how to handle their long runs, they knew our game plan for the run (to start slower than they think they should, and to stay as part of the group for as long as possible). We knew the smaller pacer groups within our squad so everyone had a few buddies to run with - my hope was that everyone passed the finish line with at least one other person within our support team. A 4.30am start means very little spectators, and we knew as soon as that sun came up at 7am it would be a different game. We were ready. Just one foot in front of the other.
As soon as that gun went off - it had started, the thing we'd be training for for seven months was on. As predicted with the adrenaline and thousands of people around us, the girls burst out and divided face palm - how many times did I say it! But it was fine, in our respective groups just as planned, into the night we went.
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Km 1 - Highlight was Lucy singing Mariah Carey All I Want For Christmas and getting oh so very excited for us passing the 1km mark and assuring us she wouldn’t do that for every marker we saw.
Km 5 - Over the bridge by Fullerton Bay just reminded me of running over Tower Bridge in the London Marathon - reminded me to take my time, we were keeping pace, we were still a big group at this point which was perfect.
Km 6 - Running next to a very unhappy, very hot snowman. Poor guy.
Km 7 - Running past a band singing Blink’s All The Small Things and watching the elite athletes come running past us on the other side of the road and Vithi shouting - and possibly startling - the athletes. Me also describing my worst date ever to distract the girls. This was also the point of the most boring part of the marathon which I'd made the girls run before so they knew how unstimulating this part was and that they could do it.
Km 10 - The first part of the marathon seeing some of my faster runners having done the uturn and running back parallel to our lane - the neon yellow t-shirts were golden and seeing your runners parallel to you allowing high fives, hugs, shouting support was incomparable as to how important that was for everyone.
Km 14 - The first mist station - which genuinely is warm mist so absolutely no help. There was four of us together at this point watching the sunrise come up over the tanks and in front of all our fellow runners - mentally having this sunrise was just a standard long run for our team, we'd done this route and this sunrise run many times - it was beautiful and a pleasure running with these girls.
Km 19 - The split. This is where the half marathoners split off from our full runners - mentally thats where our race started. I hadn't even noticed the run up to this point, this is where I started running.
Km 20 - A straight road into the sun. The sun was well and truly up and scorching. It had been 27 degrees, 85% humidity at 4.30am this morning - this was one of the hottest runs so far and it was only 7am. You could see runners start to try and run along the sides of the road to get some bursts of shades from the trees.
Km 21 - Half way. Saw one of my girls walking in front of me who had been in hospital this week - caught up, and three of us had a pep talk - just one foot in front of the other, walking was fine.
Km 23 - Over the barrage - the lack of shade really kicked in here, as did the heat - but again we had done this route countless times so we knew we could do it.
Km 26 - Into East Coast Park - this was long, I wasn’t exactly sure how long we would be running for in here but with thousands of runners on my side, and thousands of runners having done the uturn and running back towards us was tough - you're just trying to figure out where that uturn is. This was great though as again a tough point for where I could see my runners running towards me so again, high fives, shouting, cheering, hugging all happened along these 4km. This was the point of where I started grabbing two ice waters, one to sip, one to pour down my front/back/over both arms.
Km 33.5 - Queen's Don’t Stop Me Now came on and my God I had the biggest surge of energy - this is the point in the race where you need to push, and also in this route, this is the point where you know how far it is back down to the barrage and how long the Gardens By The Bay route is - this is where you need to not stop and keep pushing.
Km 36 - This is where people really started walking - it was now 36 degrees, no shade and 95% humidity. The heat was unbelievable.
Km 39 - Whoever thought it was a good idea to make runners run over a steep over-pass 6 hours into their run, in that heat, was an idiot. Not only that but you could see the finish line on your right, and after power walking up that slope, the route verd off to the left and you still had over 3km to go. Jesus.
Km 42 - I saw three of my half marathon runners at the corner - yelling, shouting for me to go. I couldn’t even, I was so proud of them for finishing their halves all I said was 'well done well done, I'm so proud of you' - it didn’t really sink in I was about to cross the finish line until I heard The Eye Of The Tiger - mine and my uncles running’s song, and hearing the commentators scream 'you've done it, you're there!' Then I saw the finish line, trying really hard not to cry I crossed it.
My god the overwhelming emotion that ran over me. I didn’t cry after my first marathon - I did that one for me. This marathon I did for my group, and they did that for them and the sense of relief I had knowing that everyone had finished, I had 4 runners just behind me - everyone was going to cross that line within the time limit. We had done it, they had done it, I had done it. Those girls and boys deserved everything and I could not have been prouder of them. It had been a long journey of dedication and hard work. There had been injuries, tears, smiles, laughter and so much love and support.
I will be eternally grateful for the effort they all put in, the support they gave to one another, without judgement or criticism, we had strangers come together to achieve greatness.
Longest run: 26.4 miles
2018 SINGAPORE MARATHON
LOOKING BACK
So why did I post that first ever Facebook post?! For three reasons:
To try and offer support to people to those who need it
To raise some money for charity and awareness of mental health
To make some friends
And here we are seven months on, post race..
I believe I, and the rest of the team helped each other. I learned a lot about people and myself in this process. I learned that no matter how ‘busy’ you are, you can always find the time to help people and give back, or on the other side, find time to prioritize yourself and exercise. Those girls and boys who did that made it to the end of this challenge.
We raised over $3630 for Samaritans of Singapore which is an amazing accomplishment. Not only that but by speaking up consistently about mental health during this journey I feel like, as least for this group of people (and hopefully those who have followed us online) that it’s ok not to be ok, that you do need a support system and that being outdoors/being active/living healthy does help your mental well being.
Not only have I made friends and family for life, they showed me support and compassion when I - even as their trainer - needed it. They taught me that I am still beautiful even without makeup on and they have no judgement on others who like themselves were exposing the very raw parts of themselves.
