Soh Fast, So Good

Soh Rui Yong spills the beans on the road to his 2017 Southeast Asian Games marathon gold medal.

- Jackie Teo

Some call him a rebel, but the truth is that Soh Rui Yong is irrefutably the nation's pride. Using a word play on his surname for his moniker 'runsohfast', the twenty-six year old has a haul of two SEA Games marathon gold medals to date, in 2017 and 2015. The Raffles Institution graduate had his fair share of ups and downs, and is raring to share his stories with RUN Singapore.

“It's very simple to say if you just put on your shoes and work hard, theoretically results will come. What people tend to overlook is the athlete's psychology. One of the lowest points any athlete can be at is after training for months or years, and the performance didn't live up to expectations or worst, you get an injury. Most struggles happen within the athlete's own head, and it's something we all have to learn to cope with ourselves.

It's more than just putting on your shoes to run, it's handling the emotions and balancing performance consistency not with anyone else but with yourself,” Soh refuted.

In 2016, the University of Oregon graduate got struck with plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of the thick band of tissue connecting the toes to the metatarsals. That injury forced him to withdraw from the Fukuoka Marathon, an event he intently trained for. Six months later Soh emerged like a phoenix from ashes, setting a new personal best at the Chicago Marathon where he was just 33 seconds shy of Murugiah Rameshon's 1995 record. His performance in Chicago placed him in a good position for the 2017 SEA Games and needless to say, he went on to secure his second gold medal.

A CAREER IN SPORT

A question on many minds though, is the feasibility of running as a career, and what it brings to the table; economically.