Cold Storage Kids Run 2014, Gardens by the Bay

We went for the Cold Storage Kids Run this year again! You can read about our last year’s experience but this year was really exciting because it was held at The Meadow, Gardens By the Bay! I signed both the husband and myself up with the kids, and we were really looking forward to all the fun.

The husband went for the Singapura Finance Blue Sky Run with Jerry and I went for the S-26 Family Stroller Fun Run. I can’t wait till next year where we can all be in the same race!

I didn’t manage to check out much of the activities at the event because we were running late trying to get a parking lot (we ended up illegal parking in the middle of a car park, along with many other cars who were in the same plight as us) and made it just in time for the start of the race. Note to self: leave the hours 2.5hrs before race time next year! The traffic and parking really wasted a lot of time and we almost didn’t make it.

I packed the husband and Jerry off to their race (which has an earlier flag off time) before I went to join my friends for the race. We didn’t manage to take a family shot at all!

Here’s me and my baby, all ready for the race! I totally love tying my hair into plaits these days because of my red strips of hair. And yup, we are also running with our relatively new Lucky Baby stroller! I don’t know about you, but I am quite paranoid about stroller runs because with babies, everything is unpredictable!  You’ll never know when they will fuss. The last time I did a stroller run, I prepped windmills from Daiso to keep the kid entertained, this time round, thanks to Taime, Jerome got a Lucky Baby zig zag clip on activity wheel  to keep himself entertained, along with a sunny shield and a clip on fan to keep him (and mummy) cool.

We managed to take a group shot before the start of the race, and then.. we are off! The most significant difference between last year’s race and this year is the lush green that we are constantly surrounded with. Last year, the race was at Padang and it is really an urban jungle. This year, it is really nice to be running amongst the greens with the city backdrop behind us. It was so beautiful, we just kept stopping to take pictures instead!

Granted, it’s my first time at the meadow and i was really amazed by my surroundings and the large, lovely structures that were part of the landscape. I would love to come back for a stroll some time soon.

The 800m was perfect for the stroller run. It wasn’t as tough as the 2.4km I ran previously in another race and i thought it was a good enough distance to clock in some fun and the race ended as quickly as it started with no fuss from either of our kids! Perfect!

We took a group shot at the finishing line and another with all our medals! I liked that this year, instead of just the kid receiving the medals, we adults get one too! I love that i have a small keepsake to keep and collect as well. The sky turned pretty dark at this point in time and we quickly took a group shot with our medals before it rained on us.

I went on to find my husband only to realize that their race was delayed and didn’t start till much later, which is kinda good news because i was able to capture some shots of them!

 Here’s a shot of Jerry looking cheerful before the race!

According to the husband, Jerry wanted to run most parts of the race himself and it was a stark improvement from last year where he requested to be carried for half the race.

The husband even took a video for me while he chased my son down!

P.s. If you ever take a video, please remember to take them in the landscape format because videos in portrait format just don’t quite cut it.

I didn’t manage to wait for them to take a nice picture at the finisher’s line because this is what happened..

This was the last shot i took of them because i had to run for shelter myself, pushing Jerome still in his lucky baby stroller. I was totally drenched, dropped my camera (luckily I realised it and went to pick it up and it didn’t died despite dropping into a huge puddle) and i can’t be more thankful for the full canopy of the lucky baby stroller! Jerome was kept relatively dry in the pouring rain except that his legs which were sticking out of the stroller were wet.

I had to squeeze Jerome into the medical tent thereafter while i remain in the rain outside till there was enough space to shelter both of us. It was quite an experience and guess what the kid was doing all these while? Keeping himself entertained with my mobile phone and his zig zag activity wheel.

I eventually got reunited with the husband when he borrowed an umbrella and enrolled Estella & her husband to look after Jerry. We didn’t manage to leave the venue till much later, and totally drenched in the rain. Jerry also clocked in his first experience of walking in the rain with a carton box over his head. It was a totally hilarious sight but a pity that i didn’t have the hands to take a picture of him while at it. While i might have seemed like the totally terrible parent of having him walk in the rain, we were rushing the kids off to the pediatrician for a vaccination and had other stuff to attend to and the rain was simply not letting. I did choose a time where the rain seemed a lot smaller before deciding to venture out.

It’s really a pity that the rain came down on us so hard that day. I was still hoping to check out the booths and the activities available around the event but didn’t have a chance to at all. The only thing i managed to do? Plonk Jerome in the middle of the field and had this picture taken.

All in all, we still had great fun and an experience of a lifetime. We will be back next year, for sure and hopefully, the car park situation would improve and that the weather would be good!

P.s. Although my stroller was soaked through and through in the rain, the kid was still quite dry except for his shorts since his legs were drenched. We quickly swapped out the kids’ clothes the moment we reached the car. As for the stroller, all it took was just a day of airing and the stroller is as good as new!

Disclaimer: My family was invited to take part in the Cold Storage Kids Run by Full Circle PR, and compensated to race in the S-26 Stroller Fun Run with my Lucky Baby Stroller by Taime (FB page) and AT Marketing Consultancy. All thoughts and opinions are of my own.