Wet & Muddy Morning Run
Woke up to a cold rainy day and attended my 3rd Mizuno Run today morning, but the state of organisation of the Mizuno Run was simply too pathetic to be mentioned here. (I'm betting that almost all running groups/forums are complaining about the state of disarray, lack of organisation and command & control this event had)
I was actually wondering whether to attend the run in the morning, stoning in front of my computer. It was raining heavily, and I was kinda sleepy. Tired, I dragged myself out of my house, took 59 and reached Tampines Poly in 30 mins (wow!). Actually, I had intended to take taxi due to the rain (and I was running late), but I couldn't find any taxis at all! (I'm not very lucky with taxis lor...) First time taking 59 and I was surprised to reach TP so early.
As it had stopped drizzling, I quickly made my way to TP, looking at the huge jam in front of TP due to cars dropping passengers who were going to run...It was seriously bad and I wondered why they did not allow the cars to enter TP to drop off the passengers.
Walking to the stadium was relatively easy, and as I neared the stadium I was stunned by the turn-out. It was really full and people were still streaming in! Gosh, I was wondering what is the total number of people at the event when the MC announced that there was over 8000 runners! I was like "WTF?!" as memories of the poor organisation and handling of previous Mizuno runs came to me. I was a little hesitant to place my bag into the baggage deposit truck also, when I noticed that there were only 2 pathetic trucks loading the horde of bags. What made matters worse were that they just dumped in the bags with no apparent system of tagging or marking out of the bags in the truck, which meant that the bags would be unloaded in a bulk!
Walked around the stadium to find the registration spot (yea...never mark out...no signs...WTH!) and saw Zhan Wei, his friend and Henry.
The queues for the toilets were also super long, and at the start of the run, I was super far from the starting line (or balloon) lor! Tsk. And barely 1km from the starting line, there was already a chokepoint. Gosh. The route gets worse on entering Bedok Reservoir, where the gravel path had formed puddles of water, and muddy paths greeted the runners. Spent most of the time jumping around and trying to squeeze past the slower runners.
Furthermore, I was told that the end point of the running event was at the reservoir instead of TP! Quite shocked at the last minute change. Managed to finish the run with a raw time of 53 minutes, but the time did not seem accurate given that I had practically walked from the start till Bedok Reservoir.
At the end of the run, I saw Lionel (Muscular) and went to collect the goodie bags with him. Having no signs, we walked up and down till we saw people holding those Mizuno bags, and asked for directions. And the queue(s) were super long! We were a queue, and were shocked to know that it was the queue for Fun Runners only! It's really bad to not have signs, but the command & control of the event was sorely lacking! We went to find the Competitive Goodie Bag queue, only to see 3 queues! OMG. We had to queue for half an hour for the goodie bags, and all we got was a shoe bag and a singlet. I guess the saving grace was the wonderful ORANGE singlet! Haha.
Walking around, I realised there were many more people I know who attended, like Heng Hong, Hwi Bee, Jonathan, Lionel, Qiu Rong, Sandip, Sarah, Yi Si, Zhiwen.
Went home with muddy shoes (heart pain!), caked calves and a smelly running kit. I'm seriously considering NOT joining future Mizuno races...getting from bad to worse.
Had an afternoon nap and met my cousin Cynthia to go out and get some of my clothes for the upcoming exchange - Boots and Socks. Intended to get my soft shell rain-proof/wind-proof jacket, but there was either last piece/no stock.
After spending some time walking around here's a note about the different stores I've went to:
- X-trekkers (Velocity) do sell decent equipment from brands like Mountain Designs (Australia) and Black Yak (Korean). The staff were pretty knowledgeable, but I found them slightly pushy in terms of selling their items. Got my boots and socks from them.
- Adventure Gear Post by BOAC (South Bridge Road) sells mainly China brands like Kingcamp. Again, the sales staff is pretty well-versed with his equipment, though it relates more to personal experiences.
- Adventure 21 (Chinatown) is a shop which deals with fairly mid to high ranged equipment from European brands like Mammut and Trezeta. Prices are kinda steep, cos of the brands.
- Campers' Corner (Capitol Building) is a little outlet tucked away in Capitol, along the main road. Sells via online also, and carries brands like Leki, Marmot and Arcteryx (all expensive brands! But I must admit, Arcteryx is worth the price)
- Outdoors by World Of Sports carries the Columbia and Hi-Tec brands. Columbia, for its rugged outdoor jackets, fleeces and boots. Hi-Tec, for the boots. Limited range though.
Current Mood: 
Sleepy
Awake
Happy
Pensive
