The next Simple Hydration Run Team member to answer 15 Questions is Ian Lye from Singapore (currently living in Switzerland).
1. What is your favorite color?
Yellow. It’s been my favorite color since I was a kid. Red’s a close second though!
2. What is your favorite song right now?
The Jam I’ve currently got on repeat in my iPod is Fun by Coldplay (feat. Tove Lo).
3. What is your favorite book?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is also a favorite of mine.
4. What is your favorite movie?
I’m a huge movie buff, and I can’t name just one. So here’s a selection of a few of my faves off the top of my head: Blood Diamond, Training Day, The Professional, Crash, The Beach, Brokedown Palace, Black Hawk Down, The Game, Shawshank Redemption, any of the Bourne movies….
5. What is your favorite snack food?
Nachos with Salsa! M&M’s® will do the trick too!
6. What is your favorite word?
Grind. Keeps me pushing through when I just want to stop during a hard workout.
7. What runner inspires you?
Kilian Jornet, Seb Chaigneau and Francois D’Haene are the ultrarunners at the very top that I most admire these days, but the runners that inspire me the most are my friends in the local ultrarunning community in Singapore. Many of them are really accomplished, and I just try to ask as many questions and learn as much as I can from them. Their feats remind me on a daily basis of what is possible if I truly put in the focus, work and sacrifice.
8. What is your favorite workout?
Long, slow trail runs alone to just zen out to, with some hills sprinkled in between. Flat is boring!
9. What is your favorite running shoe?
For shorter distances, it’s got to be the Salomon S-Lab Sense Ultra line. Super comfortable and they just fit like a glove. For longer ultra-marathons, the Hoka ATR Challenger is my go-to, with its fantastic cushioning-to-weight ratio.
10. What is your favorite race medal or award?
My medal from the Marathon Des Sables (150 miles semi self-supported stage race in the Sahara over 6 days), and it sits framed together with my unwashed shirt (below) from that race. It represents the accomplishment of a dream two years in the making.
11. What race would you highly recommend?
Marathon des Sables. Discovery Channel once named it the Toughest Footrace on Earth. ‘Nuff said!’
12. Have you ever bonked in a race?
Yeah, at least twice that I can remember. Once during a half-marathon when I was trying to set a PB and went out too fast in the first half of the race. Second time was during a marathon in intense humidity. Both times, it felt like I was running in quicksand, and that my legs were moving progressively slower no matter how much harder I tried to push.
13. How many miles have you covered without walking during a run or race?
26.2.
14. Do you prefer running in the summer or winter?
I lived most of my life in Singapore, where the weather is 80 degrees Fahrenheit with 85% humidity all year round on average, so I’m going to have to say summer… it’s what I’m used to.
15. What is a fun fact about you?
I never managed to successfully run a full 10 kilometers until I was 21 or 22. I used to struggle mentally with the idea of running that far for that long. The distance just seemed impossible to me. Today, I’ve run 100 kilometers in a race twice, and also done a 250km stage race… Crazy when I just look back and think about it!
