Short story: The most awesome playlist ever created

Exam is a rather stressful period for everyone; coincidentally it falls on the same period as the final preparations for the race of the year - Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore - and running so happens to be one of my most effective stress reliever. Been clocking miles and conditioning and stuff and it feels really good.

Another important part of prepping for a good race is good music; and while my phone has been serving me rather well for short races, it is too clumsy to hold in longer ones. Bought a cable converter yesterday during my travels at Daiso and attempted to revive my old iPod nano. Playback controls slightly off, but still usable.

Only then that I paid attention to my rather long list of playlists and definitely this one stands out. Uniquely created to serve a single purpose, only used once, and untouched ever since.

The SCMS 2014 Half-M playlist, also known as Err let's finish this race within 32 Blank Spaces.


A little backstory: At that time when I was prepping for my first half-m, I was thinking of ways to keep track of my pace without a timer since I didn't have one (phones not counted since it's definitely a huge waste of battery). Was listening to Blank Space and I suddenly got the idea of looping it for the required timing - I was aiming for a 2-hr finish, so 32 Blank Spaces were enough; end of playlist, end of race. Also worked out the estimated pace - roughly 1.5 Blank Spaces for every km marker.

In the end, I came to the race with 1 hr of sleep and traces of alcohol in my bloodstream left from the night's after-party; my iPod was half-charged so it died midway during the race. Exhausted myself to a 2:30 finish. Left my iPod to die, never touched the playlist since.

Fast forward a year and I'm now running full-m. Plus I don't think I will ever need more Blank Spaces to finish a half-m.

2XU. Fewer than 30 Blank Spaces right?
Less than 20 days away, all the best fellow runners!

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