Run events Archives - Kids 'R' Simple

Safari Zoo Run 2018 – 10th Year Running for Wildlife

The run events that can survive for 10 consecutive years must be quite something and deserve a look into why they remain popular! Come January 27, 2018, Safari Zoo Run is going to be held for the 10th year raising awareness for wildlife conservation. Now, for any kind of runs, it is important to know what you are running for. Many can be attracted by the runner’s entitlements, the running route, fringe activities, but do not realise the theme behind the runs. If you would spare a moment to read and understand why a run event is held, perhaps it would make it more meaningful to join in the race.

What is Safari Zoo Run about and what are you running for?

Safari Zoo Run was conceived to commemorate Singapore Zoo’s famous matriarch and one of Singapore’s most loved animal personalities — Ah Meng the Sumatran orangutan, who died of old age in February 2008.

Safari Zoo Run 2018, like all its 9 years of hard work, seeks to raise awareness on wildlife conservation. For adults, we may already know about endangered animals, but may not pay too much attention about it. For kids, how do they have the awareness? What better way to do so than to send the message to both adults and kids in family runs and individual runs? And this is the reason why Safari Zoo Run remains one of our favourite family runs so far! Running for a good cause!

I make it a point to explain to my kids why they participate in a run event, hoping that it will make them run with motivation.

How do you raise awareness by running?

Safari Zoo Run 2018 is proud to feature 4 animal icons namely: Ah Meng the Orangutan, Chawang the Asian Elephant, Canola the Manatee and Sunny the Hornbill. Read this infographics below to choose which one you wish to support! Each animal icon team supports an endangered wildlife species in Singapore. Do your part for wildlife – join a team and run for wildlife today!

Another way to support this worthy cause is to give donations to the Wildlife Reserves Singapore conservation fund which will go a long way in helping preserve wildlife species. Visit this link to make a donation: www.giving.sg/wildlife-reserves- singapore-conservation-fund/safari_zoo_run_2018

What we love about Safari Zoo Run 2018?

So… what attracts us so much to Safari Zoo Run?

1) Running past the animals!
We are going to run past lions, zebras, giraffes, and many more animals! Just like our last Safari Zoo Run, we do not mind getting all distracted saying hi to the animals that we passed by! That is perhaps the reason why family runs are usually not competitive, simply because the kids are running haphazardly!

2) Free entry to the Zoo and River Safari!
Who doesn’t want value for money stuff??? A quick calculation will tell you that the Safari Zoo Run is worth your every cent. Yes, considering a free entry to the Zoo (worth $33) and free entry to the River Safari (worth $30) on event day, PLUS 50% discount to Night Safari (saves you $22.50) and Jurong Bird Park (saves you $14.50), PLUS Race apparels, T-shirt, Finisher’s Medal, well, and not forgetting you are running for wildlife and bonding with your family and friends at the same time, I hope you are already convinced!

Not to mention that we get to visit the Zoo and River Safari all in a day! Our kids never get tired of the Zoo!

3) Running for a good cause
Ok, I shall not repeat this again! Please scroll up to read “What are you running for?” 😛

4) Family Run Category
Safari Zoo Run has 2.5km and 5.5km family run categories! We are going to run the 5.5km family run this time round! Our previous run was a 2.5km which was perfect for our toddler back then, however, now that he is 5yo, surely we can run a longer distance to see more animals along the way! We will be running through the Zoo and Night Safari. We are prepared to run, hop, jump, walk, skip, whatever, to get to our destination! We have never run such a long distance together with the kids. It is gonna be exciting! Crossing my fingers that the youngest will not ask to be carried!

Race Categories and Fees

Race Category		Normal Rates 8 Nov – 7 Jan 18
10KM SAFARI ZOO CHALLENGE (COMPETITIVE) – Runs through Singapore Zoo and Night Safari	MEN’S OPEN	$80
	WOMEN’S OPEN	$80
5.5KM SAFARI ZOO RUN (NON-COMPETITIVE) – Runs through Singapore Zoo and Night Safari	ADULT	$70
	JUNIOR / KIDS**	$50
2.5KM SAFARI ZOO KIDS DASH (COMPETITIVE) – Runs through Singapore Zoo	BOYS	$55
	GIRLS	$55
2.5KM SAFARI ZOO DASH (NON-COMPETITIVE) – Runs through Singapore Zoo	ADULT	$56
	JUNIOR / KIDS**	$50
AGE LIMITS: MEN’S & WOMEN’S OPEN • 16YRS & ABOVE \| ADULT • 18YRS & ABOVE \| JUNIOR • 13 – 17 YRS OLD BOYS / GIRLS • 6 – 12 YRS OLD \| KIDS • 4 – 12 YRS OLD

*Loyalty rates applies to past participants of Safari Zoo Run in 2017 only.
**Adult supervision by a registered 5.5km Safari Zoo Run (Non-Competitive) or 2.5km Safari Zoo Dash (Non-Competitive) Kid participant is required. Due to safety reasons, one Adult participant can only be paired with a maximum of 2 Kid participants in the same category. So what happens if you have 3 kids or more? You may write in to safarizoo.run@hivelocity.com.sg and the organisers will consider exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
**Children 3 years & below as of 28 Jan 18 may enter for free (without runner’s entitlements) in the non-competitive categories. An accompanied Adult registration is required.

If you are a WRS Family and Individual Member, you will be entitled to a special 15% off prevailing rates! Please contact membership@wrs.com.sg or call 6269 3411 for the promotion code.

Christmas Promotion!!

Don’t worry if you have not signed up and wish to do so, but miss the early birds discounts!
For the 12th day of Christmas, enjoy 12% off the race fees using promo code 12OFF! Hurry now as it’s the last day for this promo!

Not only that, for anyone who registers from now till 5 Jan 2018 using the promo code 12OFF, will stand a chance to win a pair of slots from the 5.5KM or 2.5KM Category!

We are all excited to get ready for our first long distance family run to kick start a series of run events in 2018! We can’t wait for Safari Zoo Run 2018 to come! Hope to see you there too!

Disclaimer: We were given complimentary entry to Safari Zoo Run 2018. Stay tune to what we will be doing on the run day itself!

Shape Run 2017 – Fun to Run as a Family

This is the first time we are running Shape Run and as a family of 5 in the 1.8km category. And perhaps the last family run that I can sign up Missy as a child. Kids grow up so fast! Kids size shoes do not fit her anymore too! I hope that regardless whether my children are running as Child or Adult, our family can keep up running together for as long as possible.

Shape Run is an all-women run event, so it was kinda interesting to see Daddies and Sons running too! Well, they were running in the 1.8km family run. The Shape Run official run tee-shirt is in pink and comes with a grey crop top. While we were wondering if the male runners would be wearing pink, we were glad to receive a lovely blue version for all of us instead.

On the morning of Shape Run, we were all up and about by 7am, well, most of us. Interestingly, Master 5, who is usually the earliest riser in the family, always chooses to sleep in on days we need to wake up early. Despite all the buzz in the house, he stirred lightly and continued sleeping. What we usually do is to do whatever we need to get ready and wake him up 10 minutes before we leave the house.

Shape Run was held at the Kallang Practice Track. It took us a while to search for the Start Pen entrance to realise that we came from the opposite direction. We saw the Start banner and quickened our pace to wherever the entry to the Start Pen was. We spotted a few blogger families wearing the same blue tee-shirts as us and that made it easy to spot if we were heading the right direction. However, seeing that the race was going to start in a couple of minutes, and the entrance was no where near, we decided to climb over the barricades. Not exactly a nice thing to do, but it was the easiest thing to do with children in tow. The kids found it fun though.

We had a little time to take some pictures with the Skechers Shoe Mascot before the race and did a little warm up.

Soon, the loud buzz was heard to flag the race, and all families leisurely crossed the start line. As I had sprained my ankle badly a month ago, I could only walk the entire 1.8km. My sprained ankle caused me to miss a few favourite run events this year to my great disappointment, and this family run of a short distance is the best I could managed for now. So, while I walked, my elder kids ran ahead, stopping only to wait for each other. My hub ran with the youngest and to my surprise, he did not even once asked the Daddy to carry him. It would be quite different if I were to run with him. It must be a Mummy’s boy thingy.

When I made it to the finishing line quite some time after the rest completed the race, my elder kids told me that 1.8km seemed surprisingly short compared to the NAPFA 1.6km run. They did not feel a single bit tired. All thanks to the amazingly light-weight Skechers Shoes that they were wearing on their feet. Missy told me that with her Go-Run 5 Skechers shoes, she felt her feet were light and could cover the distance effortlessly. That’s what I felt as well, I could walk slightly faster than usual and even attempted to run a few steps to test out my ankle’s recovery. Apparently, I did not feel any pain wearing the good support shoes. The shoes did give me some false hope of resuming my Mizuno Ekiden the next weekend. But of course, Ekiden is a totally different ball game.

Having good company made the run event more fun. We were happy to run with the cousins together (yes, you spotted correctly! The 3 cheerful kids of Summer from A Happy Mum), although at different speeds, and gathered again at the race village to play. It takes very minimal play toys to have fun when the kids are together. Balloons can keep them playing for hours. So can trampoline, if not for a photo-taking queue, they could jump for hours too.

It was easy to take family photos as well. We could help each other take photos instead of doing we-fies. And take unique pictures like this (with help from others of course)! Spot all our colourful Skechers Shoes!

After the run and numerous photo-taking fun, we headed on to eat breakfast together. While I was thinking of my favourite Mac Donald’s at Kallang, a place I frequented during my Secondary School days with friends, both the hubs preferred Hawker Centre instead. Sometimes, I think my hub is like an old uncle who favours hawker and Chinese food anytime over restaurants and Western. Nevertheless, the kids were happy with whichever choice of breakfast place as long as they got to eat together and prolong their bonding time with their cousins. I can’t be happier with such strong ties. Hope they will grow up as close as ever.

Now that we have experienced our Skechers Shoes and tested the suitability for runs, you bet we will be running in them again in our next run event. If you are wondering how comfortable they are, check out Skechers shoes in any outlets in Singapore to try on them yourself 🙂

Disclaimer: We were happy to be invited to Shape Run and have our running shoes kindly provided by Skechers Singapore.

Cold Storage Kids Run 2017 – 10th Year Running!

Cold Storage Kids Run 2017 is celebrating their 10th Anniversary this year! It has become one of our must-go run every year. Now, for every run, there is a goal or cause to it (Please don’t just run for the sake of the goodie bag!). For Cold Storage Kids Run, it is aimed at promoting the goals of healthy eating, active living and spending quality family time through running together. This is so in line with what our family does, especially in bonding together!

Poster Mummy and Boy! That’s Us!

Do you spot who are on the advertising poster this year? It is amazing to see ourselves on it! Many readers told me that they “see” me everywhere! Friends and relatives saw the poster splashing across The Straits Times and message me to ask if that mummy was me! So, yes, the mummy and toddler in hand are ME and my Master 5! This picture was taken on our first Cold Storage Kids Run in 2015. I can still remember the cameraman flashed his camera at us non-stop the moment we crossed the starting line! We are so honoured to be chosen as the Poster Mummy and Boy very much to our surprise!

2 Adults can join family run!

Cold Storage Kids Run remains to be our favourite kids run event. Why is that so? You can read it all here in this post! Best of all, the organisers hear participants’ feedback and this year they allow 2 Adults to join their kid in the family fun run! In previous years, only 1 Adult can join the child and it was only me running with my youngest and I would have love for the Daddy to join as well! I am so glad that this year they made this change!

This year is also the last year that my Missy 12 can participate with us as she will not be qualified as a “child” next year. So, this run is really very special to us to be able to participate together as a family. It is also the first time that all 5 of us will get a Cold Storage Kids Run running tee each! The categories that we sign up for are Speedy Orange, Sporty Apple and AIA Vitality Family Fun Run.

Where’s the venue?

If you do not already know from the poster, this run is held at Palawan Green, Sentosa on 28 May 2017, which is a fresh change from the usual venue of Gardens by the Bay. Expect to breathe the sea air, and enjoy the sun and sand (hopefully not too hot!). Flag time has also been pushed back slightly to 715am to minimise rush and congestion for a better run experience.

What are the Categories?

Here are the Categories available in Cold Storage Kids Run 2017:

Runner Entitlements (child):

Limited Edition Cold Storage Kids Run 10th Anniversary Running Tee
Limited Edition Cold Storage Kids Run Bag
Exclusive Cold Storage Kids Run Finisher’s Medal
Limited Edition Cold Storage Kids Run Fan
Limited Edition Cold Storage Kids Run Water Bottle
Finisher Race Certificate*
Fantastic Sentosa Offers and Vouchers
Free Admission Into Sentosa

For more information and to look at the pictures of what is in the goodie bag, click here.

Discount Code!!

Do use our discount code in the poster above OR below to register and you will get 10% off! This code is valid from now till 10 April 2017.

KRSREF17

Race Day Details
Date: 28 May 2017 (Sunday)
Location: Palawan Green, Sentosa Island (next to Beach Station)
Time: 715am – 12pm
Registration period: Now – 10 April 2017 at www.kidsrun.com.sg
Activities include a family carnival, and lots of fun activities (to be updated)!
Don’t forget to check out their facebook page for updates once you have registered.

Hope to see you there! 🙂

Mizuno Ekiden 2016 – Great experience

My kids asked me,”Why do you have to go for run events when you can run in the park by yourself?”

Even the hub could not comprehend why I have been waking up as early as 530am to attend run events on Sundays when I could have slept in or run on my own as the time suits.

I replied,”Kids, that’s because it is very fun to run with my friends. We motivate each other and it has become a healthy hobby for us.”

Approaching 40???

You know what? Maybe it is like a recent article that said it, as you approach 40, you begin to find new hobbies, exercise regimens, diet plans to keep minds and bodies in shape. And “as you reach your 40s, you settle down into your own skin and begin to feel comfortable in what you do, what you look like and what others think of you.” Haha! Maybe I am like this, as I tilt towards the wrong side of 35, I am beginning to feel comfortable in what I do, and being finally have some time to myself to do something I like and a new focus to stay fit and healthy.

So, together with 3 other mum blogger friends for a common love for our new found interest, we took part in Mizuno Ekiden. Mizuno Ekiden is a unique race of 4 friends completing either a half or full marathon in combined effort. We took part Continue reading “Mizuno Ekiden 2016 – Great experience”

Cold Storage Kids Run 2016 – our experience and feedback

One of the most well organized run events around is the Cold Storage Kids Run. From the race pack collection with fringe activities to the start of the race to the pick up kids to the many goodies after race are super organized. I am especially impressed by the fast pick up of kids after the race. Having been to a few run events, I do think that there are many races that need to learn from how Cold Storage Kids Run does it.

With all run events, there are a few important areas that must not be overlooked. Here are what we love about Cold Storage Kids Run:

Good Location

For the 2 years that we took part, we really love where this run was held: The Meadows at Gardens by The Bay. Never mind the far parking lot that we took and had to walk a distance. The fresh air and scenery more than compensated the distance and we had a pleasant walk in the early morning fresh dew. Along the way, we saw these amazing pruned sculptures 🙂

Lots of complimentary health drinks and snacks

Who can resist FREE Vitagen, Magnolia Milk in 200ml packs, Gardenia buns, Yoghurt Drink packs, Milo Van and more!? All these are free flow and are enough to feed the hungry kids and parents after the race. I have not yet seen another race event like this, probably because this is Continue reading “Cold Storage Kids Run 2016 – our experience and feedback”