The day started bright and early with Meiji Yoga at 8 a.m., followed by Meiji Fair right after the yoga session. Meiji Run, which was scheduled from 3:45 p.m. onwards, consisted of 800m Kids Dash, 5K Fun Run and 10K Competitive Cash Back Run. The 10K category is called cash back run because runners who complete the race in under 50 minutes will receive cash voucher.
I participated in Meiji Yoga and Meiji Run (10km Competitive Cash Back Run) simply because they both looked so delicious to me!
Meiji Yoga
On the event day, we woke up very early and had breakfast before travelling to Sentosa. All participants are entitled to free admission to Sentosa via any transportation methods by showing their wrist tag for the yoga. As we had not collected our race pack yet, we showed our email confirmation and were granted free entry to the monorail.
From beach station, the direction to race village was clearly marked. Participants had to show their wrist tag for entry to the race village; again, we showed email confirmation and were granted entry. Volunteers were giving out yoga mats to all participants at the entrance, which I think is a brilliant idea so that participants don’t need to carry the bulky yoga mat from home all the way to Sentosa.
We went to the information booth to collect the race pack. The volunteers spent quite some time searching for our details in the laptop and then packed the bag for us. I found them to be very friendly and helpful though.
As we were setting up our yoga mat on the lawn, volunteers walked around distributing the healthy Amino Collagen to participants. Right before the yoga commenced, the emcee invited participants to raise up Amino Collagen bottle and drink it up together. Slurp.
The yoga session started at 8 a.m. sharp. The yoga was designed to be suitable for people from all background. It was my first ever yoga session and I found myself able to do about 70% of the poses, though not in perfect shape. It was challenging for a first timer like me. For the other 30% of the poses, I either didn’t have stamina or flexibility to do it.
The yoga session included poses such as downward facing dog, three-legged dog, child’s pose, plank pose, tree pose, lunges and half split. There was not much break period in between poses, the session was worth every second.
We were so fortunate that the weather was so kind to us. Throughout the 1 hour session, the sun hid behind the clouds, giving us a cool and breezy morning. Meiji Yoga is open for both men and women, however, I noticed there were more female than male participants.
Meiji Yoga ended at 9 a.m. right when the sun decided to come out of its hiding place. Participants queued to collect Meiji Breakfast, which included Meiji Bulgaria Yoghurt, Meiji Bulgaria drink, banana and apple. In addition, a copy of Teenage magazine was also distributed together with the breakfast.
Mineral water, You-C1000’s lemon water and orange water were available at Water Station. Participants literally didn’t need to bring their own drink. The volunteers distributed another bottle of Amino Collagen when we were enjoying the breakfast, we really appreciated the generosity of the organiser.
After finishing our Meiji Breakfast, we went to the information booth to collect our race pack for Meiji Run. We managed to collect the pre-race entitlements except for Race Bib because the bibs haven’t arrived at Sentosa yet.
We left the village at 9:30 a.m. and found that Meiji Fair has opened ahead of the scheduled opening time and we bought some delicious Meiji snacks.
Meiji Run
Contrary to the cool weather in the morning, Meiji Run was blessed with an unforgiving weather. It was scorching hot at Sentosa in the afternoon. We made our way to Sentosa via monorail at VivoCity by showing our confirmation email as we had not collected the race bib yet.
At the race village, we went to the information booth to collect our bib, however, the volunteers said they couldn’t locate our bib and asked us to wait while they search for it. After about 15 minutes, they gave us 5K race bib because they ran out of stock for 10K race bib. The 5K bib has a timing chip so there’ll be a record of our timing.
We then spent the next 30 minutes sitting down around the stage to avoid the blazing sun while waiting for the flag off. The water station beside the stage was a hotspot amongst participants because of the weather.
At 4:20 p.m., we headed to the start pen. Too bad, we missed the cut for the first wave. We queued for about 10 minutes for the start pen under the blistering sun. Eventually, we were flagged off for the second wave at around 4:35 p.m. by the emcee, Hello Panda and Fresh Milk Cow.
From the start line, we ran 1.5km towards Siloso Point where the first hydration point and the U-turn point were located at. I gulped a cup of chilled water and continued running towards Palawan Beach. It was hot but still bearable for me.
On my way to Palawan Beach, I saw a huge wave which consisted of mainly 5km runners. The crowd was too huge, many runners were running out of the designated lane.
Right after the 3km point was the second hydration point, followed by the sand section. The sand section was a real test to my endurance limit. Even though it was less than 1km long, it was really draining all the energy I had due to the extremely hot weather. I walked probably 70% of the sand section. As expected, the end of the sand trail, my shoes were filled with sand. Then, I shook the sand off my shoes and continued running to the start point.
I completed the first loop of 5K in 37 mins, which was a still a reasonable timing in my opinion. But, as I was approaching the 6km point, I hit the wall. My legs just didn’t have the ability to continue running and I didn’t know whether it’s because of the hot weather or the yoga that I did in the morning. I decided it’s probably wiser to listen to my legs than to push them beyond what they could do. So, I walked the rest of the second loop.
During the second loop, I wished the hydration points would distribute isotonic drinks to replenish the lost salt in my body, but all they have was mineral water. Most runners around me were walking too, those who run could be easily counted by fingers. After a long walk which took me an hour, I finally arrived at the finish line.
After Meiji Run
There was a slight hiccup at the finish line of Meiji Run. I spent 25 minutes queueing under the ferocious heat to get to the finish tent to collect my hamper and medal. The crowd size was too huge compared to the capacity of the finish tent.
The 25 minutes I spent queueing was harsh. I was dead tired and thirsty from the run. Fortunately, the organiser started the initiative to distribute 500ml bottles of You-C1000 lemon and orange water as well as 1.5L mineral water to participants who were queuing for the finish tent. Participants helped to pass the drinks around. It was a great camaraderie during a hard time.
There were 10 items in the hamper, however, the hamper was not pre-packed. Instead, participants were given a plastic bag when they queued, which they would use to collect each item from the volunteers in charge. When it was my turn to collect the items, the organiser had run out of plastic bags, so the helpful volunteers distributed boxes instead.
After collecting the entitlements, we sat down on the lawn to rest. Not long after, volunteers walked around the lawn distributing plastic bags as well as Gardenia strawberry and chocolate bread. At around 7 p.m., the organiser came on to the stage to apologise for the unexpected circumstance at the finish tent and to allow participants who missed certain items in their hamper to go back to finish tent to retrieve them.
It was a race with room for improvement and the organiser made good calls to remedy the situation. Tired from the long day, we left the race village early and didn’t catch the movie screening.
Event Overview
- Billed as the world’s most delicious race, Meiji Run delivered its promise of scrumptious goodies, such as Meiji milk, Hello Panda, Yan Yan, Plain Crackers, Bulgaria Yoghurt drink, Paigen, and other delectable goodies.
- Meiji Fair sells Meiji products at discounted price. It is open to participants of Meiji Run as well as members of the public.
- Race pack of Meiji Yoga consisted of a drawstring bag, a yellow singlet, and a yoga mat.
- Race pack of Meiji Run consisted of a tote bag, red T-shirt, towel, water bottle (only for 10km runners).
- The race village featured Japanese food fair, photo booth, and movie screening.
- On the race day, baggage deposit was fast.
- Unlike the first edition which featured all-you-can-eat Meiji products, but required participants to consume them at race village, this year participants are entitled to a hamper of Meiji products worth S$20.
