Swissotel Vertical Marathon 2011

Signed up for the Swissotel Vertical Marathon with Superman months ago under the Lovebirds challenge. We collected the race kit one week before the race at one of the functions rooms in Swissotel.

On the day of 20.11.2011, Sunday, both of us gathered at the area outside Macdonalds at Raffles City. There was people handing out small cups of Vitamin Water to participants as they waited in the sunny weather for their turn. Different categories were staggered at different time slots to report, however no registration is required, just turn up in your race tag pinned in front of your t-shirt, and the marshalls will let you in.

One suprising thing is that the actual start point is about 50m away from the stairway. The stairway is located at the right side on the MRT entrance to Raffles City and the starting point is near Macdonalds. Thus one will need to sprint once you are flagged off by the marshall to the stairway and climb from then onwards. Did I mention that the timing starts at the flagoff point? 6 participants were flagged off at about 30 seconds intervals thus there is no crowding and pushing at any point in time.
After Superman and I were flagged off, we jogged to the stairs following the path directed by the marshalls as the stairs was not obvious to us. Once we reached the stairs, we started climbing at a brisk pace. Superman had to match my slower speed as he is fitter than me and I am nursing a heel injury (though suprisingly, the heel didnt hurt at all in the morning).

Climbing the stairs here was unlike the training I did using HDB stairs. There is a gap between two flights of stairs, thus one will need to walk for a short while before climbing the next flight of stairs whereas for HDB, you just need to do a short turn. The stairways was well-ventilated as the doors to corridors were opened. We rested at every 18th floor as per our usual HDB stairs training but towards the second section, I started slowing down and use the railing to haul myself up.

Around the middle section of the 73 storeys, the turning between 2 stairways shortened with a 2 steps break, thus one will need to climb, walk, climb 2 steps, walk and then climb again. After the third break which is the final section, I was really out of breath and feeling slightly nauseous. And the railings start to feel wet and slippery...(eeewww)...

Fortunately, Superman kept giving me words of encouragement and with his motivation, I focused on just breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. After 73 storeys at a height of 226m, we made it to the top of Swissotel!

The view from the top was breathtaking and as the weather was sunny, we can see very far away. Other than the usual iconic buildings like MBS, Esplanade, Singapore Flyer, UOB Building and PSA Port, we also spotted the colourful Rochor flats that was slated by demolition. Participants were busy taking photos standing at the edge but you do not have to worry about falling off the side as the level below was built jutting out and it houses some aircon/building structures and equipment.

After drinking the bottle of mineral water provided by Swissotel, I felt much better. With finisher medals around our necks, we took some photos around the top though Superman keep saying that his hair is ruined by the strong winds (but he still look good lah).

Participants were advised to leave the top after some time to avoid over-crowding. Going down was just as interesting as well, we need to climb about 3 storeys down to a corridor and we entered the lift landing for the famous restaurant of Swissotel, the Equinox! Live music provided by 2 singers and the smell and sight of the buffet greeted us. An enquiry with the restaurant host revealed that it cost abt $128 per pax to dine here. The view from the restaurant was breaktaking as well!

After reaching level 4 of Swissotel Convention centre, we were greeted by marshall clapping and cheering us for completing the task! And thereafter 2 ladies passed us a can of Red Bull to drink. We walked to the holding area and vitamin bottled water was made available to participants at the reporting area, while photos taken by the organisers were put up at a board for participants to collect.

It was quite messy as participants were jostling to spot their own photos and the photos of different categories were randomly pasted at the same board. After some time, we gave up trying to wait for our photos as the organisers assured us that all photos will be made available from their website at a later date.

I feel that the event was well organised though the photo collection could have been improved. We enjoyed the event and to me, it was quite an achievement to reach the top at a respectable time of about 20 mins.

What a memorable 20.11.2011!

Garbage enzyme works!

After waiting for 4 months, I finally tried the garbage enzyme that I "cultured".

The liquid smells of oranges with a hint of alcohol in it. First, I tried in on the grime between the floor tiles of my bathroom and the grime came off quite easily with some scrubbing. Next I tried it on my cooking stove. Now, the stove is covered with grease and some parts are even blackened due to stuborn cooking stains. The grease came off quite easily with a few swipes, however the stubborn stains did not bulge much no matter how hard I scrubbed. In the end, I gave in and use cream stain cleaner and the stains came off after much vigorous rubbing.

Garbage enzyme is an pretty effective cleaner that is environment friendly and does not harm your hands For the really die hard stubborn stains, you may still need a commercial cleaner to do the work. 

I love the fact that it smells good (oranges in my case) and is free!