The title of this post says it all. We survived. I’m tempted to just leave it at that, mainly because I’m still tired out from it, but because we seem to be such suckers for punishment, I’m going to try and do a proper post.
What exactly was the TNF Singapore City Race, you ask?
Well, it was a free form race, which meant that there was no fixed route. We were given the five checkpoints half an hour before the race began, plan our own route, and go. The checkpoints could be cleared in any order, so everything was basically free and easy. Interesting! I’ve never come across any race like this before and credit must be given to the organisers for running the event so smoothly.
Planning our route
As the maximum number of members per team was six, we were told that Noah had to be registered as an individual participant. He drew a lot of attention from fellow race participants, the friendly people at each checkpoint, and even passers-by. I think he was rather puzzled by all these strangers smiling at him and taking photographs of him!
I walked most of the route together with the other two ladies in our team, and we had an enjoyable time just chatting along the way. That definitely made the 10km more bearable!
The gals (plus baby)
Our team’s objective was ‘to complete, not compete’, so we walked all the way. The only running I did was at a pedestrian crossing, when I had only ten seconds to cross the road. At the beginning of the race, however, we saw two guys who were clearly there to compete. One guy looked at his watch, and tapped it while looking at his race partner, and that started a whole day of ‘kui tiam liao?’ (Literally: What time is it already? Subtext: Hurry up!) among our team. Our team leader even came up with his own meme for it and sent it to our whatsapp group chat along the way. *rolls eyes*
Kui tiam liao?
One of our other ‘race catchphrases’ was, ‘Don’t second guess me!’ This came about because I wasn’t part of the route planning, yet I kept asking C, ‘Are you sure this is the right way?’ There were a few navigators in our team, and they took turns to decide on our route along the way. Having a really poor sense of direction meant that I was unable to help with that, so I tried to make myself useful by appointing myself the ‘social media person’. Each time we arrived at a checkpoint, I would check us in on Facebook, get our group photo taken, and send said photo to our whatsapp group. Hey, I was helping to document our experience, okay? 😛
At one of our checkpoints
C and I were initially very worried about bringing Noah along, but the baby surprised us all by being perfectly happy throughout the whole race. We woke him up earlier than usual and I nursed him in the car, but the little boy had no issues with the change in schedule. I guess he really enjoyed being carried around all day (who wouldn’t?) and I only nursed him once, when we all took a break at Liang Court. It helped that the weather was good and that we were hiding in air-conditioned malls every now and then walking in the city.
Noah napping as we walked
The race brought us to places which we’d never been before, and we even discovered the Tintin shop along the way! We’ll probably make a trip down one day to check it out as C is a Tintin fan.
By the end of the race, all six adults were exhausted. We agreed that we probably covered more than 10km, as there wasn’t a fixed route, but as we didn’t have a pedometer, we’ll never know for sure how far we walked. To make matters worse, I was wearing my really old track shoes, which were falling apart didn’t fit well, as our brand new ones were stolen recently. I ended up with a huge blister on one of my toes, which C sadistically helpfully burst for me this morning.
Spot the Blister
It was a fun way for us to spend time together as a group and I’m pleased to report that our sanity and friendship survived the race. We even joked that we can now go on holidays together, preferably not one with as much walking though. I think we were all very proud of ourselves for having completed the race before the organisers packed up and left. Haha.
Our ‘Short Distance’ Timing
We did it!
PS. We may not look tired in the photo but trust me, only the baby wasn’t exhausted.
PPS. I can’t believe I walked at least 10km with the baby strapped to my chest! C said that this ‘whole mother thing’ gives me ‘super powers’ and that I wouldn’t have been able to do this a year ago. I beg to differ. I think I can cover that distance if I’m shopping! 😉
PPPS. Check out Zee’s account of our race! She actually knows where all our checkpoints were (I was too tired to care) and took some really lovely photos of them too.
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