STARTWO, FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2008

About one million

people ran in the Nike+
Human Race 10K last
month.

LIFESTYLE

T17

Running for life

By NIKI CHEONG
niki@thestar.com.my
T WAS like a scene out of a movie. Almost
11,000 people, all clad in uniform red tops,
had gathered at the Esplanade Bridge in
Singapore. The DJ was spinning some loud
music to get everyones heart pumping and
emcees Taya and Utt, both MTV VJs, were
trying to get the crowd roaring.
And then we were off.
Yes, this writer had the privilege of joining
an estimated one million runners from
around the world participating in the Nike+
Human Race 10K held on Aug 31. The sports
and apparel giant had organised 10km runs in
25 cities across the globe Shanghai, Taipei,
Madrid, London and Vancouver, among others
to host what they claim to be the worlds
largest one-day running event.
In Singapore, the only South-East Asian
country to hold the race, a mascot and a
young cancer patient flagged off the race.
They represented two out of the three charities that the runners would be running for
the global conservation organisation World
Wide Fund for Nature and the Lance
Amstrong Foundation, which aims to unite
people in the fight against cancer.
When I signed up, I had opted to run for
the third charity, the United Nations refugee
agencys ninemillion.org campaign which
aims to bring sport and education to refugee
youths.
There were many other Malaysians from
across the region who had participated in the
race.
It gives me the opportunity to run with
almost one million runners across the world
for a good cause, said Jamie Pang, a 38-yearold bank officer, who had pledged to the same
cause as I did. I am glad that runners are
given an opportunity to give back to the less
fortunate.
Mine was just a small contribution but the
cause played on my mind as I went past the
starting line at 4.20pm on the day of the run.
This was my first race ever, and although I
had spent a couple of months trying to build
my stamina, I was not prepared for anything
like this.
I have since been told that the Singapore
run was the mother of all races and it was
not difficult to understand why it received
such an accolade.
Before flying into Singapore, I had reserva-

Fans at the Nike+ Human Race 10K post-run

concert, featuring American rock band Boys
Like Girls.

The first wave of runners being flagged off at the Singapore leg of the Nike+ Human Race
10K. The race was held in 25 cities across the globe.
tions as to what to expect. Friends gave me
many tips but they contradicted each other so
much that I got even more nervous.
Showing up at The Padang (near the finishing line) an hour before the race, I was greeted by marquee after marquee for just about
everything bag storage, information booths
and refreshments.
Even the flag off was extremely organised
we were assigned tags which indicated where
to stand, when we would be flagged off so

that no one would slow down a faster runner,

especially the elite runners who, lets face it,
were going to win the race anyway.
As this was my first race, I was assigned a
green tag for the slowest group of runners
who were expected to finish the run in over
65 minutes. The other two categories were
the red tag (under 50 minutes) and the blue
tag (under 65 minutes).
I am not sure if it was the adrenaline or the
thousands of people reacting to the buzzer,

but I took off like a storm. While training, I

mostly ran alone so the rush of running with
so many people got me really hyped up.
As if the run itself was not exciting enough,
it really gave me a different perception of
Singapore, a country which I am quite familiar
with. While I am quite used to driving and
taking the MRT around the city, it was another thing to explore it on foot running along
the ECP freeway, along the clubbing strip of
Boat Quay and Clark Quay and then sprinting
towards the finish line past the Supreme
Court and City Hall.
Along the way, Nike organised a few local
acts to entertain the supporters (and the
runners) at various parts of the route. The
slight drizzle, which I welcomed, meant that a
couple of acts had to be cancelled. Still, the
headlining act, American rock band Boys Like
Girls, performed to an enthusiastic post-run
crowd during a concert after the event.
The Nike+ Human Race 10K was quite a
spectacle but what was even more exhilarating was the fact that I actually made it. Yes, I
completed the run, which to be honest, was
my only goal. Of course, it was for charity, and
for the honour of participating in an event
alongside names like Lance Amstrong and
Matthew McConoughey who ran in Austin,
Texas, NBA player Dirk Nowitzki in Germany
and former Olympic champion Carl Lewis in
Rome.
But while I was running against a million
people (I came in 79,795 place worldwide
thats the top 8%!), I was really running
against myself. So I was extremely elated that
I did it in 58 minutes and 19 seconds.
And now, Im hooked on running.