Our first run of the year! {My Little Pony: Friendship Run 2016 experience}

We totally support family runs because they are a good way not just to keep fit and healthy, but to allow the family to bond and create precious memories at the same time. The last run we did was in July last year before I moved onto my third trimester of pregnancy. So, it's been a long hiatus but we are glad to announce that we are back in the running scene again!!!



Our first run this year was the long anticipated My Little Pony: Friendship Run 2016 which, to the delight of all My Little Pony fans, was held for the very first time here in Singapore. I have to honestly admit that we don't really watch the cartoon (we do have a DVD though) and I can't say we are ardent fans, but having been to several My Little Pony events including a picnic as well as meet and greet, the girls are definitely in love with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle!



My Little Pony: Friendship Run 2016 offers three categories - The 1KM Pony Kids Run for the young ones to run with their parents, the 4KM Fun Run for the solo runners and the 6KM Bestie Run for best friends to sign up and run together. For us, it was a natural choice to go with the 1KM Pony Kids Run since we wanted to stick together as a family. Plus, I checked with the organisers and they said Asher could join in the fun as long as he was in a stroller too!

The night before the run, I got everything ready including packing our bags, pinning the race bibs onto our shirts, attach the timing chips to our running shoes, placed aside the socks, shorts, caps and sunscreen etc to be worn and used the next day. Since our race was the last to be flagged off at 9:30am and we only needed to reach 15 minutes earlier, we decided to go out slightly earlier and reach by 9:00am. The kids were totally excited when they woke up and I could see that they really looked forward to such runs too.

Well, you know how they say that things rarely go as planned? We were all feeling enthusiastic when we entered Sentosa, only to realise that there was a bad traffic jam leading up to Beach Station. From the hubby's expert point of view, it was going to take over half an hour for the car to inch its way there and there might not be any parking available too. Argh. We should have just parked at VivoCity and take the monorail into Sentosa! Anyway, he took a split second to think and gave me two choices, either I take the girls with me and hop on the monorail to get to the event venue, or all of us end up missing the run.

Part of me wanted to stubbornly think that we can somehow find a way to make it together since I really wanted it to be our first run as a family of five, but the other part of me knew jolly well that he was right. So, I grabbed my phone and wallet, dumped them into a pouch and the three of us got off the car. We decided that walking would be more straightforward and so we took quick steps and managed to arrive at the starting point promptly.

In fact, we still had a good ten minutes left and so we went around taking pictures first. I tried to call the hubby to see if he could make it but he said no, he was still stuck and there were no lots available so he had to park at Siloso instead and it would take him a long walk to get over. My mind was on the baby and I was a little apprehensive if the hubby could handle him if he acts up or gets hungry, but then again, I guess it was a perfect opportunity for me to spend some precious time with my two girls, something which I've not done for quite some time ever since the baby came along.

See the crowd at the starting point? No wonder there was a jam! Still, we were thankful that we made it or else the girls would have been totally disappointed.

Remember to do some warm-up and stretching before the run! I was totally confident that Angel would be able to run throughout since she has been to many family runs, some of which were longer than 1km. As for Ariel, this would be her second real run and her first was a 800m run. As if she could sense my worry, she said "I can do it. No carry, I will run!" Awwww.

Pinkie Pie was there when the run flagged off, much to the delight of some of the kids and parents. Alas they ended up blocking the way when they wanted to take pictures with it instead of moving forward with the crowd. I can't imagine how hot it would be to be right inside the mascot under the hot weather so kudos to Pinkie Pie for looking at the cameras and even posing for some of the shots.

On your mark, get set, GO! We were really excited to start off and we began jogging, only to realise because the path was so narrow and because it was fully packed with people, we had no choice but to stop several times in the first half of the run. I also saw some of the participants trip over the wheels of the strollers and had to take extra caution that the kids stay safe on the path.

It was a little dismaying because I would have liked to run from the start to the end with my kids since it was a short 1km run. I also asked them to keep jogging on the spot during the times when we were forced to stop, to which Angel said "The rest of the people are also walking, not running". Which was true.

So, we tried our best to break through the crowd and within a very short while, we realised that we had reached the halfway mark already. Huh, so fast!! I was really determined to make all of us run a little more so it was a relief to see that the second half of the run had wider paths and everything went more smoothly. Well, at least we didn't stop at all for that 500m or so! The girls also held hands to run together which I thought was absolutely sweet though it might not be the safest thing to do!

Yippee, we crossed the finishing line! But no timing was stated on the board! Haha. Anyway, though this was a competitive run, timing was of no issue to us because our priority was to have a fun time together and run as a family.

Yay! Another medal to add to our collection! I must say that this is one of the nicest ones we've had so far!





As for the baby, the funny thing is the husband and him managed to 'join' in the run after all! This was because the road marshal directed him onto the running track and so he joined halfway and pushed the baby in the stroller all the way till the finishing line. Well, dear Asher, we'll be waiting for you to grow older so that we can all run together in future, ok?

After the run, we collected our Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash plush toys from the media booth and these totally delighted the kids. They loved the rainbow hair clips too and couldn't wait to put them on immediately. We were initially excited to go to the carnival and play some games.... until we saw the horrendous queues and realise how scorching hot it would be for us and for the baby.

Well, the least we could do was to find some shade and stay on till the girls watched the ponies performing live on stage. It's amazing how they can watch such performances over and over again and still feel so excited whenever the ponies come alive!

So, that marked the end of our experience in the My Little Pony: Friendship Run 2016. Despite the little hiccups, it was an enjoyable Sunday morning for all of us and we were still glad to be there and then as a family of five. Cheers to completing our first run of 2016 and to many more to come!

Disclosure: We received a media invite to participate in My Little Pony: Friendship Run 2016. All pictures and opinions are solely ours.