'Runaway' groom: Meet the man who opted for a marathon 'bachelor party'

When we hear the term "bachelor party", most of us think of late nights filled with drinks and games.

One groom, however, decided to take the road less travelled.

Mere hours before his wedding dinner banquet on Saturday (Dec 6), Dave Luo went on a half-marathon in this year's Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon with one of his groomsmen.

And guess what? He'll be back for the full marathon with all three groomsmen on Sunday morning.

Speaking to AsiaOne shortly after completing the 21.1km-long run, the 30-year-old researcher explained that the idea came from one of his friends who had already signed up for the full marathon.

Despite calling it "a bit crazy", Dave eventually agreed with the plan.

"I thought it would be really memorable," he said, adding that he liked the idea of it as he was not really into drinking and partying anyway.

Dave also extended the invitation to the rest of his groomsmen, who agreed to join them in the full marathon.

This was sort of a full-circle moment, as Dave ran his first-ever full marathon with two of the three groomsmen in 2013.

To ensure that they stay on track, the groom planned his weekend by scheduling everything in 30-minute increments.

He and his groomsmen were "in army mode", Dave said.

Even though preparing for a wedding and two races is a tall order, they are not the only major events in Dave's life.

Just a month ago, the 30-year-old and his wife moved into their new house. Dave also recently completed his reservist duty and had a wedding reception in Taiwan, where his wife is from, last weekend.

"I feel that it hasn't been a busy day; it's been a busy month," the groom said.

When asked how his wife reacted to his decision "sandwiching" their wedding in Singapore between two races, Dave said that while she was not "all in" immediately, she believed he would be able to recover in time for their nuptials.

He explained that avid marathoners like himself often run about 30km early in the morning on weekends to build endurance, so a half-marathon would not leave him completely depleted of energy.

"She knows that I can function after it... and still enjoy myself," he said.

Dave told AsiaOne that many others had similar reactions to his wife, with some calling him crazy while others said: "If anyone's gonna do it, it's you."

"It is a very Dave thing to do," he said.

The groom also admitted that his in-laws only found out about him participating in the two races the night before, and he had not told his parents about his plan.

"They'll find out eventually... I think I'll get a beating," he quipped.

Although he runs regularly, Dave's usual marathon training regimen was impacted during this period. 

"I lost a lot of fitness. Part of it is due to injury as well — I'm having a little bit of a calf strain," he said.

"But I think that's running... no matter how fit you are...there's always a challenge to it."

He explained that the back-to-back nature of participating in these races during his wedding weekend poses a different challenge compared to other marathons.

"I can't get my fastest timing, but that's all right...It's just about completing [the race] for me at this point," said Dave, who took about two and a half hours to complete the half-marathon on Saturday.

When asked what plans he had for the future, Dave said he could not think of anything beyond the next few hours, but he was looking forward to his wedding, finishing the full marathon and going on a honeymoon to Vietnam.

"We have nothing planned. We're just gonna go there, eat some good food, lie down, get massages, [go to the] spa — the whole package," said the groom.

"It's a great post-recovery plan."

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com