First Hello Kitty Run in Singapore : READY! SET! GO!

Hello Kitty 5km Run

The world's most famous iconic character, Hello Kitty celebrates her 40th birthday with an inaugural Hello Kitty Run in Singapore. It's the only Hello Kitty birthday bash in Southeast Asia featuring a 5km route in Sentosa.

This run is open to participants of all ages with the aim to gather Hello Kitty fans as well as non-Hello Kitty fans to join in the big celebration.

Picture Source: http://www.hellokittyrun.com.sg/#racecategory

Not surprising, before I could even do a shout-out for this run, it was already fully registered. Yes, that's the power of this 40 years old, mouth-less kitty. Jess Baby and I was elated when we get the slots. Thank you so much!

Race Pack Collection

The race pack collection was held for a period of 3 days from 24 to 26 October 2014 at Suntec City Mall, East Atrium.

It was a vast difference between collecting the race pack on Friday as compared to on Sunday. Jessie told me that when she went during her lunch time on Friday, it was super crowded but when I went on Sunday evening, there was no queue at all. So here's TIP #1: IT'S OK TO COLLECT YOUR RACE PACK ON THE VERY LAST MINUTE

I forced my bf to wear the Hello Kitty Specs. I think this photo got him a lot of "Likes" on Facebook. His friend even asked him to wear everyday!!! Hahaha.

Pink top and pink bag to match Hello Kitty!

Inside the Race Pack

Overload with Hello Kitty goodies. TIP #2: IT'S OK TO CUSTOMIZED YOUR RACE BIB. Haha, I don't know if other runs allow this, but putting chewyjas as the name on my race bib looks more awesome than my real name!

Actual Race Day

The actual Hello Kitty Run was held on the 1st of November, which is a Saturday and I have to take leave from work to attend this. Luckily, my leave was approved maybe because it's just the first day of the closing month. Met up with Jess Baby we reached the starting point which is at the Sentosa Gateway around 8.15am. At this timing, we were already at the 2nd wave. Heard that altogether there was 7 waves in total with about 17,000 participants.

There was no baggage storage area and we were advised to go light as we have to run with our bag. This is where we stood and the run was flag off with a one-of-a-kind birthday cake and birthday song. Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel mascot was on the stage. However, from where we were standing, we can't see any single thing. We only get to hear the host voice through the loud speaker. TIP #3: ALWAYS AIM TO BE IN THE FIRST WAVE IN ANY RACE.

When we finally neared the starting point, the Hello Kitty Mascot has already left the stage.

In return, we've got one Bad Badtz Maru mascot by one of the race participants!!! He managed to get up on the stage. That's his few minutes of fame. A lot of us who didn't have any photo opportunity with Hello Kitty Mascot ended up taking photo with him. This is call no fish, prawn also can.

And so the run begins! The dark, gloomy clouds doesn't looks very good.

At the 800 meter checkpoint, Jessie was already nowhere to be seen. With different running stamina, she's so much faster than me. In my mind, I thought I've ran a few km already but when it shows just 800 m, I was feeling what my expression shows.

So, I decided to slow down and enjoy the set up. Took photos and stroll.

At the 2.4km Checkpoint, which is also the one and only water point, it started drizzling. It was very bad as there was no poncho provided and I didn't bring my umbrella due to the small bag. Jessie has already reached the ending point and was under the shelter. This motivates me to run faster so as not to be caught in the rain. TIP #4: ALWAYS BRING A PONCHO IN SUCH OUTDOOR EVENTS.

I finally did made it to the Finish point but I was all drenched! Took about 40 minutes to complete the whole run. Rewards gotten was a can of Qoo drink, Hello Kitty biscuit and of course what everyone was aiming to get, the Hello Kitty Medal!

Really considered myself very lucky cause while we were safely under the shelter, there's still a crowd stuck at the finishing point. They couldn't move in at all as there was a jam at the entrance. Due to the lack of wet weather plan, the whole thing was rather disorganized, especially the handling of medals. TIP #5: PROPER TRACKING OF WHO HAS COLLECTED THE MEDAL. This is for the organizers. It was so messy that I could just walk pass the volunteers a few times and get a few medals, if I want to because they don't even know if I have collected them.

Proud to be the Hello Kitty Run Finisher! This Hello Kitty Run has definitely created a big topic for everyone to talk about. We was still talking about it a few days after. After this run, I'm definitely looking forward to more interesting runs next time round with my running buddy! Thanks Jessie for this photo of us with our medals and thanks for your motivation and encouragement!^^

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