Forget hitting the open road, because in Singapore, fitness enthusiasts are literally clocking serious mileage inside air-conditioned shopping malls. With the air quality in the city-state plummeting to its worst levels in over a decade due to smoke from wildfires in neighboring Indonesia, outdoor activities have been completely shut down. Runners desperate to keep up their training, especially those prepping for international events, have found an insane alternative: the local mall.
From Pavement to Passageways: The Mall Is The New Track
On a recent Sunday, more than 80 runners descended upon the Marina Square shopping center, turning its corridors into makeshift running tracks. Imagine this: they’re pounding out laps past storefronts on two floors, all before the shops even opened for business. It’s wild, right? Eugene Beh, the 52-year-old founder of the Singapore Runners Club, even had to lay down the law for his 60 members before they hit the floors. We’re talking strict rules here: no sprinting, no overtaking, definitely no shouting or yelling. And yeah, spitting or wiping sweat on the floor? Absolutely banned. Beh confirmed they’ve had to cancel multiple outdoor runs thanks to the haze, which is blowing in from forest fires in Borneo and Sumatra.
The Grind Is Real: 100 Kilometers on a Treadmill Is “Very Mental”
The shift indoors isn’t just a quirky workaround, it’s a full-on mental and physical battle for these athletes. Take Angeline Zeng, 57, who works in banking. She crushed 10 loops at the mall, which is about 10 kilometers. Why? She’s got a half-marathon in Taipei coming up in less than a week, and a full marathon in December! She needs every kilometer she can get, and with her neighborhood gym treadmills always packed, the mall runs were a godsend. “We were like, wow, we didn’t expect that at all,” Zeng told AFP. She even digs the air conditioning, saying it feels “like you’re running overseas where there’s cold temperatures, so it’s really great.” But even she admits, circling inside gets “boring” for longer runs. Doris Tan, 42, another Singapore Runners Club member, initially thought running indoors would be “suffocating” but was surprised by how cool it was, though she still prefers outdoors.
Then there’s Paul Wong, a 54-year-old retiree from the X-Run club. He powered through 21 loops in the mall, hitting 21 kilometers. The Singapore International Marathon is just over a month away, and Wong normally runs up to 80 km per week. The haze has completely derailed his usual routine. He told AFP, “For the last two weeks I’ve been running close to 100 kilometres on the treadmill. The longest I’ve run is 28 km for two and a half hours, it’s very mental.” He’s a big fan of the mall alternative, calling the treadmill a “hamster run.” Eddie Chan, X-Run’s lead coach, even had to present a detailed plan to the mall to get approval, considering factors like walkway width and those tight corners, and making sure runs happened super early before shops opened. Chan summed up the outdoor nightmare, saying the high humidity plus the haze means the “impact is doubled and tripled.” Converting to indoors reduces all that outdoor chaos.
The air quality did improve a bit this week, which is a small win, but it makes you wonder what these dedicated runners will have to do next if the haze rolls back in. The grind for those marathons is real, and these folks are proving they’ll do whatever it takes!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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