The Urgent Run and UN World Toilet Day 2014

The rain gods spared us. Last night there was a heavy downpour. I thought there's a chance this morning's Urgent Run might be cancelled. My girl checked the weather forecast and it predicted a 3am rain. I hoped it would stop raining by 8am. And it did!

The grounds were wet and the field was muddy and filled with puddles. Still, better than rain which affected runners from another run which took place much earlier.

In case you are unaware, this morning's run, The Urgent Run is World Toilet Organization’s global mobilization event for UN World Toilet Day 2014 which falls on November 19. Yes, it's a real thing. Possibly, many other Urgent Runs will be held around the world soon.

Sadly, The Urgent Run did not enjoy good publicity. We didn't read about it anywhere and only found out about the run last week via a email from 8packs! I didn't expect many people to show up. I estimate over 300 participants in total. So sad.

The space booked for the event was huge.

So many toilets.

There was a giant air-filled toilet close to the Start line.

Many people were attracted to it. It was the star.

We even had to pose in front of it with a bunch of strangers. (photo filched from Lim Swee Say's fb)

Even the guest-of-honour, Minister Lim Swee Say couldn't resist coaxing a good photo out of the air toilet.

Speaking of Lim Swee Say, how fab does he look! He is 60 years old. Check out those legs and those arms. What does he eat? Or rather, what doesn't he eat? And how much exercise do you need to look like this at 60?

Hubs did his usual secret selfie thingy.

There was a group warm-up on the field before the run. The MC kept calling everybody to walk all the way across the mud to the stage at the other end of the field. But I was determined not to get my shoes wet so I did the warm-up on the raised platform near the start line. (meant for the flag-off as I discovered later on, oops). But look how clean my shoes are.

To compensate for my stubbornness, I did as much warm-up as I could. I usually have my photos taken without my glasses but it's hard to take the glasses off and on... so please excuse the unglam pics.

Finally the flag-off. But not before taking a few pics!

Everyone took off like a rocket. I immediately found myself at the back of the pack trying to catch up. My greatest fear was to finish last.

I struggled the first 2km. After that I felt less like dying. Towards the end I ran like the wind. Okay, it's just the wind blowing in my hair. Then I realised the grass was wet and muddy. My clean shoes!

Because I took my time to tip toe my way to the finish line to avoid getting my shoes wet, so many people sprinted past me. But I needn't have bothered. My clean shoes got wet and muddy despite my careful maneuvering.

I got my finisher medal. Can you tell what it is?

I used my stopwatch to time myself but forgot to press the stop button. I estimate I ran just under 30 minutes. This is not a good timing as hubs said it was less than 5km. (see how red my face is and why does hubs like to take photos at the moment when you are ready to collapse?)

I needed 4 cups of Milo to quench my thirst.

Last cup, promise.

Btw, the song Urgent by Foreigner was not played at the event. I was kinda hoping it would be.

There was a lucky draw after the race and fittingly, the top prize, a iPhone 6+ was won by a girl who was in the toilet when her bib number was drawn. Luckily, her friend ran to the stage with the winning bib to help her claim the prize.