Singapore's most decorated distance runner shares about the inspiration behind RunSohFast Academy, and how his wife got motivated to pick up running
Following a recent visit back to Singapore, Soh Rui Yong dropped by SportPlus Studios for a chat with the team. Beyond discussing the complexities of ‘Runfluencers’, and the absurdity of Strava Jockeys, the Singapore six-time national record holder also shared about his life outside of training for races.
Missed out on our 'Runfluencers and Strava Jockeys' podcast episode? You can find out more here.
Rui Yong recently marked two major milestones, getting a degree — in law, no less — and getting hitched. The back-to-back SEA Games marathon gold medalist found forever while in London, where he was studying at the University College London. His now wife, Nantacha, had been in the English capital for a seven week English course.
“It was very serendipitous. We started out as friends because we were going to be in and out of London within a couple of weeks,” shared Rui Yong.
“I got to know her, hung out with her maybe once or twice a week. We then met more often and eventually when she left, there were still no guarantees if she would ever come back but we did keep in touch.
A few months later, she asked if I was seeing anyone and my answer was no,” he laughed before adding, “She was thinking of coming back to visit so when she did, that was when we started dating properly. That was all a little over two years ago.”
The pair wed in September last year and in July, began the famed Road to Chanel. Yes, the luxury fashion brand. It all started when the 33-year-old was invited to the Gold Coast Marathon 2024 as an elite athlete, which meant that Nantacha was given all-access VIP treatment. The duo were put up in a hotel room overlooking the coast, and while Rui Yong ran along the scenic Australian town, his wife was in the VIP tent watching her husband the entire way.
“Imagine this, she’d never been to a marathon before in her life. She’s not sporty at all and spends more time in the mall than the track. She was in the VIP tents and the eventual race winner, Yuki Nakamura, her agent, took care of my wife,” he said.
“She had people coming up to her in the tent asking if she was an agent too and who her athlete was and she was like, ‘No, that’s just my husband running!’ The beautiful thing is that after two hours, she came out and stood at the finish line for 27 minutes until I came across the line. I was so tired and the first person I saw was her.”
As she watched Rui Yong cross the finish line, a fire was ignited.
“She became very inspired to run. For her, she needed an external motivating factor. She asked if I’d buy her a Chanel bag if she ran a 5km race but I said that’s way too easy, half marathon. We eventually negotiated down to a 10km race on a certified course and she has to run the whole thing without stopping,” explained the runner.
With the race still undecided, we wait in anticipation for Nantacha to cross that finish line soon.
To read up more about the Gold Coast Marathon, you can visit SportPlus' Gold Coast Marathon page here to relive our experiences in 2023.
About RunSohFast Academy
Besides getting hitched, Rui Yong also decided to embark on a new business endeavour at the end of 2023, setting up the RunSohFast Academy. The thoughts of setting up something he can call his own took years in the making though, and didn't just happen right there and then.
"When I first entertained the thought, I spoke to some people about it, one of them was Ben Pulham from Coached Fitness whom I highly respect as a coach. Ben actually has an undefeated record against me actually. We've only raced once in the 2010 Army Half-Marathon and he retired after," shared Rui Yong with a laugh.
"He was actually discouraging me from doing it while I am still an athlete as my schedule would be all about running - managing my own trainings and then coaching other people in person, which at that point of time I probably would have done, and it didn't make sense as my working hours would be at a time where I was supposed to be training."
"So those plans were shelved back then and I took up a gig with The Smart Local before I went to study in the UK. But this thought and questions kept coming up over the years, whether it was over Instagram or in person - I found myself spending a decent amount of time answering these questions anyway."
"So last year I came back and did the Singapore Marathon, was lucky enough to win the National Championships for a fourth time, and at some point in time something just clicked - I had a small break from running anyway, I was going back to the UK anyway - a bit jetlagged, so I was awake at 3am in the morning," he said wryly.
"I don't know about you but my mind comes up with the most interesting ideas when it's dark and when there is no one around to talk to me. So I remembered saying to myself, 'maybe I should try this.'"
Little did he expect the overwhelming response he would get when he took the leap of faith to set up RunSohFast Academy.
"I wasn't expecting the response I would get because I put it (the announcement of RunSohFast Academy) up, and maybe in the next two days I had like a hundred emails. Then I realised I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it, I started thinking who can actually help me with the workload etc. but at the same time so much was in its infancy that I was just doing everything myself."
While he is satisfied with how RunSohFast Academy is doing, Rui Yong is not resting on his laurels and is currently planning to further his studies in business to improve his own business knowledge in order to stay relevant and keep up to date with the times of today's ever changing world.
If you are an intermediate to advanced runner looking to chase a personal best or improve your running, you can hit up Rui Yong and RunSohFast academy here.