Inspiring mothers: The mum of three who became an accidental ultramarathoner

Straits Times

10-05-2025

Ultramarathoner Martini Abdul Talib, 43, started running in 2012 to lose weight after delivering her third child. ST PHOTO: HESTER TAN
SINGAPORE – When mother-of-three Martini Abdul Talib says she is running errands, she means it literally.
'My friends always tease me. If I say I want to buy shoes from Queensway, they'll ask: 'Are you going to run there?'' says the 43-year-old, who thinks nothing of clocking the 16km distance from her home in Pioneer on foot. She does not own a car.
In 2013, Malay newspaper Berita Harian reported how she and her husband, civil servant Idi Bakhtiar Md D'Zokere, 45, jogged from their then home in Clementi to Geylang Serai during Ramadan once a week to buy food to break their fast, a distance of about 17km. It took them almost three hours, and they would take the bus or MRT home.
Such distances are easy for Ms Martini, an ultramarathoner who has competed in numerous races of more than 50km, including three over 100km, since 2014 in South-east Asia. Ultramarathons are races longer than the marathon distance of 42.195 km.
She aced three recent competitions, coming in first in the women's masters category (42km) in the Salomon Forest Force 2023 race in Singapore; third in the women's open category (84km) in the Route 68 Ultra 2024 race in Selangor; and second in the women's veteran category of the Highland Ultra Challenge 2025 in Genting Highlands, which is a 12-hour endurance race.
Nothing seems to faze her – not even a fractured ankle after a hiking trip to Nepal in February 2019. Doctors inserted a metal plate and six screws in her foot and told her to rest for six months. By October that year, she had recovered enough to run a 55km ultra race.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she wore out her Vibram barefoot shoes jogging around Singapore. They were costly to replace. So, for three years, she trained and raced in made-in-Taiwan thong-style cushioned flip-flops in Singapore until she rejoined overseas competitions that required proper footwear.
She now has eight pairs of shoes, each with a different function, such as for trails, roads, interval training and recovery.
What makes her story extraordinary is that the petite, 1.54m-tall mother of three teenagers aged 14 to 17 was not a sporty child.
She started running only in 2012 to lose 10kg after the birth of her third child at age 31. It was the cheapest and most convenient way to exercise as she lived near a stadium.
'One round around the stadium track was very tough. I couldn't even finish two rounds (around 800m),' she recalls.
As she built up her stamina, she decided she needed extra motivation, so she signed up for a 6km run and gave herself two months to train.
Ms Martini Abdul Talib at the Highland Ultra Challenge 2025 in Genting Highlands, a 12-hour endurance race.
PHOTO: TITI ULTRA 2025
The adrenaline high she felt after crossing the finish line spurred her to join longer races of 10km, 16km and then 21km, within the same year.
In 2014, at age 33, she ran her first ultramarathon at an endurance-based event at East Coast Park, where participants pushed themselves to complete as many rounds as they could. She clocked 50km in 12 hours there, including resting time.
Then a primary school Malay-language teacher, she would train after work, from 6 t o 8pm. When her helper quit at the end of 2016, she became a stay-at-home mother, which gave her more flexibility to run.
On normal days, she runs at least 15km in the morning after her kids have gone to school and returns by 11am to prepare lunch. Afternoons are spent on chores and supervising homework.
If she is in race training mode, she does a second run of about 10km for recovery before a light dinner twice a week, while her husband holds the fort at home.
Her weekly mileage spans some 80 to 90km across hilly terrain like Mount Faber, Bukit Timah Hill and the campus at Nanyang Technological University.
During Ramadan, she trains in the morning for about 10 to 15km at a low intensity.
On weekends during the fasting month, however, she runs from 11pm to 4am and has her pre-dawn meal before heading home to rest.
Her husband, an avid runner and cyclist who has completed three ultramarathons, used to race alongside her before his workload became heavier in recent years.
Ultramarathons are a test of mental fortitude over physical stamina, and Ms Martini feels they keep her grounded and grateful.
'I hold on to this motto: 'Make your time away from your family worth it.' If you're going to waste your time, you're not doing your family justice by leaving them.'
During races, she wears a dainty pink-and-white charm bracelet with the initials MQ (for Mummy Queen, her self-styled race moniker) and an eight ball (for her birthday on June 8), handmade by her second daughter, Miska, 15.
This year, she will celebrate her 44th year by running the by-invitation-only 55km Eco-Ultra Marathon at Income Eco Run 2025, which ties in with her own sustainability beliefs and recycling efforts at home.
Being a competitive runner has made her a better parent, she reckons, as it has given her discipline, energy and more ability to focus on tending to her children.
'I make sure I'm present whenever I'm at home with them. That means no playing games or social media updates,' she says.
Her active lifestyle has rubbed off on her kids too.
Ms Martini Abdul Talib (centre) with her husband, civil servant Idi Bakhtiar Md D'Zokere (in black) and their three children aged 14 to 17 during Hari Raya earlier in 2025.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF MARTINI ABDUL TALIB
Elder daughter Mira, 17, does track and field, Miska plays in the Women's Premier League and only son Eka, 14, plays several sports, including basketball. The family are also avid supporters of Geylang International Football Club.
When she is racing, her kids and husband keep the household running and send motivational messages and family updates to her via WhatsApp. Her children are so proud of her accomplishments that most of their friends – and their mothers – follow her on social media.
Their steadfast support serves as a guiding light along the dimly lit roads she navigates on her own in overseas races, where the next checkpoint may be 10km or 15km away and stray dogs abound.
'I want to be a good role model for my children. I don't want them to give up easily without a valid reason, so I just focus on one step after another,' she says.
Registration for the Income Eco Run ends on May 14. Find out more at www.income.com.sg/ecorun
Stephanie Yeo is senior correspondent at The Straits Times' Life section.
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