Hi, I'm Soh Rui Yong.
2-time SEA Games gold medalist in the marathon,
and Singapore's fastest marathoner.
I have two dreams that I wish to achieve.
The first is to win many medals for my country.
And the second is to inspire people through sharing my journey.
And that's why I recently joined The Smart Local.
Join me as I race marathons around the world
and attempt ridiculous challenges.
Today, I take on Challenge #1 - to run from to the west of Singapore all the way to the east.
This was the first leg of the journey, from Jurong East MRT all the way to New Town.
And honestly, this was the real cross country -
running from the West to the East.
I started the run a little bit faster than how I usually start my training run.
Usually when you wake up early in the morning to train,
you're a little bit sluggish and slow for the first couple of kilometres,
but this time, right from the start, I was early and running pretty smoothly.
I think that having the three cameras and having James (Rainier) on the scooter behind me
was definitely good motivation and good company.
Speaking of the scooter,
the scooter wasn't able to keep up.
So I was looking back every couple of minutes or so to make sure that James was still there.
And after about 2 km, I couldn't see him anymore.
Wah. He's damn fast.
I can't catch up. Even the scooter is damn slow.
I'm actually dying trying to catch up...
- Hey guys! - (Producer) Jiayou! (Hang in there!)
Cannot sia!
Let's go!
Alright. Water break.
- Alright. - (Producer) See you at the next stop.
Here is where James and company sped off in the car.
They were going to wait for me at IKEA to get the next shot.
And I was free to run by myself for the next 15-20 minutes.
It was dark and cool,
and I started to appreciate why races are held so early in Singapore.
I usually run when the sun is already out.
And running when the sun is not out yet...
It was a great experience because you could run but didn't feel as tired -
you weren't sweating as much and it was a great feeling -
Being able to run without boiling in the sun.
It was super inspiring for me to run past Tiong Bahru market at this time of day.
I saw all these hawkers setting up their stalls.
20 minutes later, it was a complete turnaround when I ran past Clarke Quay and Zouk, I saw all these hawkers setting up their stalls.
20 minutes later, it was a complete turnaround when I ran past Clarke Quay and Zouk,
and there were people stumbling home, drunk,
their night just ending.
It was interesting to see how people are starting and ending their day.
I'm not usually up at that time of day.
So it was quite a change of scenery for me.
The GoPro got no battery.
The scooter got no battery.
I don't know how I'm going to film him.
We run.
(Producer) He's still got the energy to climb up.
Alright, we are at MCCY.
(Producer) Yo. The scooter ran out of battery.
R.I.P.
Hey James.
We have no scooter battery, we have no GoPro battery...
Hopefully this camera... The battery stays through the whole thing.
The battery is ok, but I'm not.
So James is running out of battery.
(Jes) Are you ok?
I cannot...
- Where's Rui Yong? - He cut across...
He'll come across here, this way, or what?
Oh, my God. He is at the (Singapore) Flyer.
- But as in... he didn't run past here? - Yeah.
Ok, so basically Rui Yong missed this checkpoint - this wonderful view -
He went to the next checkpoint!
- (Producer) Shall we gather our team? - Yeah, let's gather our team...
- (Rainier) You missed the pit stop, bro. - (Sam) We were waiting for you at the Singapore River. - (Producer) Shall we gather our team? - Yeah, let's gather our team...
- (Rainier) You missed the pit stop, bro. - (Sam) We were waiting for you at the Singapore River.
Oh, I didn't know that! I'm sorry.
Singapore River. Damn. I thought the next stop was the Singapore Flyer.
Once I parted ways with (Rainier), I went past the Parliament house and straight here.
And then I realized that it had been some time since I saw someone,
so I took out my phone and started Telegramming the group.
The next part was a big mistake on my part.
I was supposed to run past the Parliament House, Victoria Theatre...
to get some nice scenery along the river from there...
But I messed up and forgot about that. I ended up going straight to the Flyer.
So unfortunately we don't have any scenery from there.
Here is my producer James (Rainier) re-enacting that scene for you.
So... on the actual day itself, Rui Yong forgot to go to this place.
So I'm going to re-enact it for you all...
so I have to put this face on mine.
And I'm wearing the exact same thing, so... A bit weird.
Rui Yong mode: On.
Let's go!
Running through the city just as the sun was rising was an unforgettable experience.
It was beautiful... The lights were still on...
The sky was red and the sun was just coming up.
Looking across the river, you could see the whole Singapore city skyline.
And... yeah, I was very proud to be Singapore at that point of time.
Wha...
What's that? Oh, the stupid...
The next landmark we passed was the Peranakan House.
I was just blown away by how aesthetically pleasing it was.
It's actually really near my house, but I've never explored it before.
I think that this goes to show that people don't really explore their neighbourhoods.
The next time you have a chance,
put on your shoes on a Saturday morning,
get out of the door, go for a run.
You might find a hidden gem right next to you.
West to East, baby.
Rui Yong... Rui Yong...
This is the real cross country, man.
Stuff I did in Junior College was like...
child's play compared to this.
So that was the end of run. I took about 2 hours and 34 minutes.
We went from the West to the East
and saw various landmarks along the way.
I learnt so much about my country after doing this run.
I think that it was fun.
I got to do 2 things at one go - learn about my country and clock in my training run.
If you have any challenges for me, comment down below.
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And you can watch our other videos over there! See you next time.