Asia

Singapore Beach Marathon

Published January 23, 2020

whether I run, walk or have to crawl…

I’ll set my goals and achieve them all.

Spacious, clean airport. Quiet, easy people. Luggage. Customs. Hotel transport.

Welcome to Singapore – the hottest, most humid place I’ve ever run 🔥

Hotel lobby 4am, short walk to our Day 3 Marathon. 5am pre-dawn Start on East Coast Beach. Registration, bib pick-up, meet n greet with couple local runners. Tunes readied. Bottle of water & 2 bags of salt-n-vinegar chips (purchased nite prior in Perth). Dragging, notta lotta sleep. Legs tight but body still strong. Singapore & tomorrow’s 26.2 in Egypt been in my head for a year. One foot in front of the other. Even if I have to walk, today’s the day. No more planning, no more self-doubt. Quick glance at my watch. 82 degrees.

6 out-n-back on a lit, pristine path ‘longside ocean. Could hear waves; warm breeze. At daybreak, I’d see folks practicing Tai Chi. Massive barges/cargo ships just off the shore.

Initial focus: not getting lost… and logging miles. Dropped off path a tenth-mile before seeing another runner. Quickly right’d my course. No sun for 2 hours. One foot in front of the other. Lap. two laps. Water. banana. Out-n-back thrice. High SUN ☀️

Path full of morning joggers. Push, push. More water. End of lap 4. Steamy.

Stopped. Handfuls of chips. Needed salt. Vinegar settled my stomach. Change of shirt & socks. Tossed both, soaked, purpose over. Walk/jog/slog. Video to document my Pacific surroundings. One bite at a time. How do you eat an elephant? Thanks Sis.

SUPER appreciative of Sis’ daily videos. Dangerous spiders to avoid. Ways to sabotage my mates (after finishing LAST every race). Coach. Sis marathons. She heat-suffers. She’s one I can talk freely – no judgment. Everyone should have a Sister. Complete trust.

WhatsApp messages updating the Group. Halfers complete – and crazy fast Brendan. Just me & Mika left from Triple 8. Dude focused. Eyes forward. No more high 5’s as he passed. And soaked. Biggest difference? 5 hours & Thor’s still running. Great job man.

One lap to go – pushed. Everything to the turnaround. Puke fest & dizziness last 2 miles but… last 2 miles. Finish temp 96 degrees. More sun than shade. Sidewalk vacant-free of exercisers. 3^rd medal in 3 days – on 3 continents. Asia!

Common room shower. Fresh clothes, repack. No eats, nothing staying down. Water and half a can of Coke.

Airport dash to our first flight. Even closer in Dubai. LAST CALL, plane DEPARTING – CAIRO 🇪🇬🐪

4th Annual Singapore Beach Marathon & 1/2 Marathon

Singapore — January 23, 2020

Keenan Haga Louisville, CO U.S.A. Marathon 6:00:16

: Welcome Singapore 🌴

: Village Hotel Katong

: SUNRISE 🔥

: 90° & STEAMY

: East Coast Park

: barges & cargo ships

: Triple 8 BESTIES ❤️

: Day 3: Asia

: 6 laps out-n-back

: thanks Sarah 🇨🇦

Singapore Beach Marathon

Posted in Asia, Marathons/Ultras, Triple 8 Quest | Tagged beachcombing | Leave a comment

Osaka Marathon 🇯🇵

Published December 1, 2019

goal SET, goal MET 🌏

1:30am. Sleep cycle off. World weather, London knifing. BBC only channel not Japanese.

3am. Partial pack of Doritos & a mustard packet. Mighty slim pickin’s. Still dark. Luggage pack’d, repacked. Showered. Phone fully-charged. Run ready. 7 Continent Day.

9:20 Start. Layered up; peeled clothes early. First day of December. Beautiful sunshiny Japan.

15-minute walk to Castle Park. Corral C. 30,000 runners; whole lotta buzz. Osaka Japan. Pinch me. ‘One & done’ marathon 6 years ago. Today #172, first in Asia. Whose life am I living? Crazy.

Loud-speaker Japanese. Doesn’t really matter. I move when the sea around me moves.

Phone on airline. Calf stretch. iPod queued. Go, go, GO!

Easy flat course. Lotta out-n-backs, whole lotta runners. City race, reminiscent of NYC 2015. Marathoners elbow-to-elbow. Mile 1, Mile 26. Big buzz excitement. Sheer amount of people super overwhelming. Playlist blaring, eyes forward. Stop, walk, breathe. Soak it in. Make a memory.

Out fast, faded fast. Warm second half. Course a half-mile long. But… finish I did.

Last kilometer. Osaka Castle. Path lined with late-autumn arbor. It’s really gonna happen.

SUPER HERO day – 7 Continent FINISH.

: my first in Asia

: 30 THOUSAND

: Team RED

: Corral C START

: whole lotta runners 🏃‍♀️

: make a MEMORY 🙂

: 7 Continent FINISHER

: Official Certificate

Osaka Marathon

Posted in Asia, Marathons/Ultras | 1 Comment

Foreign Runner Check-in

Published November 30, 2019

Osaka EXPO 2019

Like all my big-city races, day’s Expo far away. Guessing city-tourism likes to share the wealth. 7-Eleven yen withdrawal, metro day-pass purchase. Phone fully-charged, I got this. Chuo Line to Cosmosquare. Osaka Convention Center, all the way to the end.

Volunteers awaiting, pointing the way. THOUSANDS of runners. Crowd line-queued, inching forward slowly. 2^nd largest marathon-only event in my life [behind NYC].

Rainbow-variety of charities. Participants choose a cause & pledge a donation. Funds withdrawn after July’s lottery pull. Team Red. Cancer not unique to Americans.

Hour+ bib pick-up. Foreign Runner Check-in. WOW – signage says it all. Even amongst the Foreign, I felt foreign. China, Hong Kong, Taiwan… and me.

Tomorrow, my last continent. Road pavement (or Antarctica trail). Marathon on all Earth’s landmasses. 26.2 miles. Honored. Blessed. And super emotional.

Osaka, Japan. Right time, right place. Sooo many people I’ve met on this journey.

Inspiration overload ❤️