SINGAPORE — He has had to reduce his training to just once a day, but Mok Ying Ren remains optimistic of qualifying for this year’s SEA Games men’s marathon.

The 28-year-old is aiming to meet the qualifying mark of 2hr 37min 10sec at the Seoul Marathon on March 19, even though he has had to juggle training with doctor duties as a resident in orthopaedics surgery at the National University Health System.

Mok was the first Singaporean male to win a SEA Games marathon with his triumph in 2013 but the nature of his day job just does not allow him time to train as much as he used to. Still, he is pleased with how preparations have gone.

“I would say I am pretty confident of qualifying if everything goes well,” he said on the sidelines of a book launch event on Wednesday (Mar 1) afternoon.

“Right now, I just started my residency training so it’s a lot of expectations to do well at work and my priority is definitely work. My postings are also changing regularly and for the last three months, I’ve been in the emergency department and that entails shift work… so that kind of disrupts the body clock.

“But I am just focused on completing one run a day; whether it’s a workout or a long run, I just check it off.

“Over the weekend, I did my longest workout (so far) of six sets of 5km runs, so I think it indicates quite good fitness despite me cutting down training to once a day and juggling my work.

“Nowadays I don’t look at the whole year or whole month (in terms of planning for) training; I just really focus on getting the one run in every day. If I work in the evening, I run in the morning; if I work in the morning, I run home in the evening, that’s my approach now.”

Mok, who did not participate in the 2015 SEA Games which was held in Singapore, is also looking forward to flying the Singapore flag with defending champion Soh Rui Yong. The latter has already sealed his berth.

“To have two previous gold medallists would be actually quite amazing,” he said. “When Rui Yong won in 2015, I think many people didn’t expect it… even when I did in 2013, nobody expected it too.

“Hopefully this year we will manage… to show that those wins weren’t flukes, so I think it’ll be exciting.”

Meanwhile, fellow national marathoner Ashley Liew insisted he was not disappointed despite just missing the mark over the weekend at the Tokyo Marathon.

The 30-year-old associate doctor of chiropractic was gunning for a third straight qualification, but fell a whisker shy with his 2:38:30 time. He indicated he will not be making another attempt before the qualification window closes on May 31.

“I really don’t go into any race expecting results and that goes for qualifying as well, I just run my best and hope that’s enough,” he explained.

This was despite having to endure an unusual situation where he was placed in a slower pen at the start of the race, instead of being at the front.

“There were a lot of recreational runners around me so it was very difficult for the first 3km just to make my way out and find space,” he recalled.

“But I told myself I couldn’t change it (the situation) while in the midst of a race, I’ll just roll with it… Obviously that affected the rhythm quite a lot, and my time and energy, but effort-wise it was still good and I managed to pull off a 2:38.

“I am okay because I’ve got to keep the bigger picture in mind. I love representing Singapore in the SEA Games (but) at the same time I am still trying to dream of (the Olympics in) Tokyo 2020, so in order to get there, I need to run faster times first.”

Both Mok and Liew are also featured in “Runnerdotes”, a new book launched by Sundown Marathon founder Adrian Mok to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the race. It features a collection of anecdotes from 11 runners, including Olympian Neo Jie Shi. In the book, they shared their own personal journeys and insights gleaned from their individual running experiences.

Mok said: “It’s a good initiative and hopefully non-runners who read this will want to pick up running, and those who are already running will be inspired further.”

Liew added: “At this point of time giving back (to the community for me) means hoping to share and inspire people… if it (means the opportunity) is in the form of a book, I am happy to do so.”

*The book retails for S$23 (paperback) at all major bookstores. Visit http://www.sundownmarathon.com/sundown-with-love-2017/ for more information*