A "Fool" Print

I realized that i had slipped quite a lot from my training after the ISBG X-Country Run. As usual, we started off from the Marichite Reservoir's toilet at 7am.

For the first 15km, i kept closely behind CK. Hmm.. I could feel my breathe was improving (not as bad as friday's run) At the U-turn point for the 25km route, i decided to push myself a little further and run towards Mandai. Everything went well except on my return trip back. The weather was getting hotter and hotter till then. To make matter worse, i would feel a sense of dehydration (drank 2 bottles of istonic drink, still not enough) and the exhaustion from yesterday's cycling slowly eat up my strength. It was a tough run. Slowly, I dragged my tiring body alone back to the end point and saw Chairman there. Sigh. got to find more training grounds to stem up my stamina.

I had finally did a long run after the Safra Marina Bay Run. Lynn and Alvin didn't join us today as they were participating TNF100 yesterday. Apple joined in for the run today, bringing a new friend in. The weather was cooling and favourable for the this morning run. Toh, Macus and his brother (Lawrence?), Chew, Billy, Tan had turned out early at 6.30am to do an extra 5km before we started off.

The running route was as usual (20km) before except it extended to another 5km at Seletar Reservoir. Mak, Apple and David Ong had gone for an extra mileage of 2km. Macus and I were pacing each other on our way back. In the end, everyone did well today and completed around 2:20 ~2:40.

In the afternoon, i dropped by to Rodalink at Trade21 hub to get a Shimano cycling jersey. What a bargain!! Price reduced from $89 to $62.

I supposed to drop down to Marichite this morning for my usual Sunday run. Nevertheless, i was suffering a Chest Pain overnight, couldn't get to sleep and have to give up my run. :(

It has been months since i rejoined back with the runners at Marichite. This morning, Teo wanted us to do a 20km run in preparation for the AHM. There were more runners joining in and I lost count of which group they were belonging to. Nevermind, we knew each other somehow from one another. :)

The run covered the usual route from Old Upper Thomson Road to Seletar Reservoir. Came to think about it. This was my first LSD Run after the Sundown Marathon. My calves were still sore from yesterday morning cycling ride. Not to say that I haven't recovered from my cough yet!

Once we reached the Seletar Reservoir, Teo suggested to go another further route, running up the hill. All of us objected and wanted to make a U-Turn back. ha.. Chew and Billy were fast and furious today. They were running side by side with the young ones.Moreover, they were at their 5os. Amazing!!!

Macus and Johnson(Macus's brother) were tired. They had lacked of training recently. Johnson had signed up for the Full Marathon this year. We were suprised to hear the news as he proclaimed not wanting to do a full marathon before. 3 Cheers for him!!

The tiredness and soreness of my legs had got hold of me at the return trip. In addition, i have been focusing on cycling and lacked of running. How to achieve my timing below 1:50!! :( The weather was extremely hot and my throat was hunger for water. At the petrol kiosk, Oh bought me a 100plus to share. After" swallowing" up the Isotonic drink, our body felt to be flared up. Hmm. Perhaps it was a psychological effect. For the last 4km, I had managed to finish up the run at my usual pace. Oh stopped behind to wait for the two brothers. At our usual resting point, we were all making fun of the Macus and Johnson. It was enjoyable to run with this group as often our run would break up in jokes and suans..

I joined the rest of the old MR runners at Shu Fu hawker center. Steven(?) and Oh were showing their photos taken at Ipoh. The talk turned to spooky when they were relating their horrid experience and stay in the haunt house (House 1) at Fraser hill. It was creepy with the mentioning of: (1) bed being pulled up and down, (2) clawing sound from the wall and (3) a black hand being spotted beside the partner sleeping. Eerie!!!

I sure doesn't want to stay there if i ever join the Ipoh Marathon.

PS: The banana Custard Bun was good at Shu Fu Hawker Center. ^_^

Today’s plan for the Safra club was to run 2 or 3 loops around Marachite park. Although the turnout was better than the last, but many of the hardcore runners, e.g. Anthony, David etc were not presented. KK and Siew Lee had trouble finding a parking space and the group was waiting for them. I kept looking at the watch as I had to meet Mark (from MR) and passed the New Balance Shoes (MR1062SB) to him. Based on my experience, the MR-26 group (Not to confuse with MR) would finish their run within an hour or so.

At the start of the slope, Ricci, Trevor, Freddy, Jimmy and those fast runners were running in front of me. My ITB was still hurting me, and I had to take my pace slowly. Perhaps, I had run for Marachite too often. The trail had become a playground for me, and proved to be an easy run for me. I couldn’t feel any short of breathe or sweats in doing the trail except of the disturbance coming from my knees.

In the run, most of us were sticking together with occasional stopping by to wait for the rest. After we had ran passed the golf link, I left from the group and sprinted towards the Marachite toilet point. I was in short of time since Mark could finish his run soon. Again, it was amazing how the trail run had improved my running. Before I realized, I had reached the end-point and caught hold of the MR-26 group. They were gathering at our usual resting place. I took a break, passed the shoes and chatted with them. Again, our topics were surrounding running shoes. Somehow, I guessed I had become infamous in the group of providing opinions on running shoes. Ha.

After a good chat, I wanted to proceed to my run. Deva was astonished that I was doing a 20km distance since the next week was my Full-Marathon race. Usually, this would be the time for runners to do tapering. Moreover, I was wearing a knee guard.

The second loop was a lonely run. Till now, the Safra group was far ahead of me. I ran at my own leisure pace and managed to overtake a few Safra runners. I saw David in the trail running at an opposite direction of me. He was wearing his usual black cap, Nike tights and running shirt. After a cold bath, I hurried off to my Church Service.

There were only four of us (Deva, Tan, Mak and me) turned out for today’s run. Apart from the usual runners whom ran at Macritchie Park, there were polices and soldiers flocking into the venue. It was reported that someone had caught sight of Mas Selamat at the surrounding area. Nevertheless, activities at the park were still as usual as if the news of the escaped convict had no impact to our daily life.

We started our run at 7.05am and ran together as a group. In the first 7km, I was running slightly behind of Deva with Tan and Mak falling behind 300m away. My calves were feeling tighter and the pain at my knees was developing. I would sense my old injury is coming back to me. For the past few weeks, I still could feel stitches at my knees while sleeping. Deva had a stitch at his stomach and his pace was slowing down while we were coming near to our U-turn point. This provided me a moment of relieve from my pain as both of us slowed down our pace.

After making the U-turn towards Upper Thomson Road, my pace with Deva had came even closer with each overtaking each other. While we were running through the Old Upper Thomson Road, we heard someone screamed from the woods. Would it be Mas Selamat? Nevertheless, nothing could deter us from continuing with our run.

After making a rest at the Pierce Reservoir’s toilet point, Tan had picked up his pace. I attempted to follow him but the pain at my calves and knees proved a great challenge for me to overcome. Once we out to the main road, I couldn’t spot sight of Tan. He was far away from me dashing towards the end-point. By now, Deva and Mak were way behind us. With the pain developing, I had a moment of tendency to walk for the rest of the journey. Still, I continued and completed the loop around 1hr 30mins.

I met KC at the park while resting and chatting with the others. Before I left with Tan for a free ride to Velocity, I spotted a helicopter hovering above us. It looks like this time round the tip is real.

In the afternoon, I met up with Tania for lunch at Earle Sweden. She has dropped by to Singapore after attending a conference at Thailand before heading back to Jakarta in the evening. Veronica was there too. She had just returned from Seattle. There were about six of us in total (Elaine, Tania, Veronica, her husband, 2 other current MBA students). Rosalind was late as she still suffered from the jet lag. She just flew back from Seattle after attending the Microsoft’s conference at Microsoft University. She looked haggard, probably due to lack of sleep. :p Before Tania boarded Veronica’s car to the airport, she wished me well for my career. How sweet is she. :-) I gave a pat on her head as a return of my encouragement to her.

Subsequently, I had an agonizing and harrowing experience of leg massage by Jan at Chinatown. PS has become infamous in the shop as Frankie was telling me of her running experience. After finishing the massage, I could hardly walk by my own. Hopefully, my legs would recover before the KL marathon.

Today is the 15 km progressive run event held by MR25. There was a huge crowd gathering at the starting point near the Macrichite toilet with lots of familiar faces being spotted, e.g. Ronnie, Anthony, Janice, David, Eric etc. In addition, the Tampines Safra club had organized their run at Macritchie reservoir too. I have never seen such a huge crowd since after the MR Ultra-Marathon.

Macus and his brother were wearing their brand new GT 2130 Asics shoes. Everyone was making fun of the brothers’ new pairs of running shoes. Choo was especially interested and ordered a pair from me since he has been searching for the same model for months. Not sure if it was an act of God or by coincidence, our running route for today would pass through a series of trails and slopes. So much for the new sparkling white Asics shoes, which might soon be covering with mud and dirt.

We waited for the 15 km progressive run to begin before our turn to start. Incidentally, the 15km progressive run route was nearly the same as us. The route ran through the woods before hitting to the main road, up to 2 treacherous, daunting slopes before hitting to the scenery golf course, bypassed the air-con road and back by Upper Thomson road.

Our topics of chatting during the run were mostly circulating around running shoes. When I reached the golf course, I saw Anthony firstly to run back to the finishing, followed by Ronnie, Janice, David, Eric and Janice’s husband. One by one, I gave way and cheered for them. Subsequently, Teo led the way and brought us to the water point for the 15km progressive run. (He is also an old member of MR25) Since there was no participant left, we tended to drink up the rest of cold and refreshing water. Cooling!!

Against Toh’s wishes, we protested of his proposal to go up to the air-con road. However, the two ang-mohs (I saw them before but didn’t get their names) whom joined us had already run up the slopes. Nevertheless, that couldn’t spare us from another 2 more “killer” slopes in which we had to pass through.

After reaching Upper Thomson, it was a completely flat road. I thanked God secretly that my suffering had ended. I could still feel a bit of pain near my knees while running up the slopes, probably due to the 3hrs of cycling around at East Coast yesterday cheering up some of the Safra members in the Biathlon race.

At the finishing line, I met Anthony, Jancy, Ronnie and the rest whom had completed their run. Anthony suggested going for another round (10km). I was totally exhausted by the numerous slopes that have conquered. In fact, I didn’t think that Anthony was aware that I just came back from my run. Still, the idea allured me. After knowing their running route, I told them that I would catch up with them later.

I rested and chatted for nearly 20mins. While walking back to the starting point, Billy waved his hand to catch hold of my attention. Hmm.. how did I miss him? He didn’t join us for today’s run but did a short distance instead. I managed to borrow $1.20 from him to buy a can of “green tea” before I ran at the opposite direction of Anthony’s via the woods.

My plan was to wait for Anthony and the rest at the exit of the woods so as to be together for the rest of the journey. However, as usual, my plan fouled. They had not turned up. After waiting fruitlessly for ten minutes, I decided to make a U-turn and go back from the same direction where I have come from.

Jancy was earlier than me at the finishing. Great minds think alike. From Janice, I understood that they had made a U-turn just like me. Alamak, no wonder I couldn’t able to meet them. At this moment, Uncle Chua, Soh Hua, Eng Hwa and Goole had also done with their run. Janice’s husband revealed that Anthony had lost his car key and the rest (I presumed Ronnie and David) were with him searching for the key.

After taking my bath, I volunteered to backtrack their running path to see if I could locate the key. Janice offered to help but I couldn’t think it was necessary. Furthermore, dark clouds were forming in the sky. Perhaps it was a punishment that I didn’t attend the Church service. Once I reached the start of the trail, the weather began to pour heavily. The rain abated and poured again every time I made my way again back to the trail. The experience was exasperating. I headed back to the Macrichite toilet but still no sight of Anthony and the rest of the gang. Finally, after waiting for another half an hour, I decided to go back and prayed that Anthony would find his car key.

I arrived just in time to see the group when they started their run at Macritchie. After queried with Toh on today’s running route, I immediately packed up my things in the locker and chased after them. Strange enough, at the first 10 km, I couldn’t detect any sight of them. Thinking I might be ahead of them, I waited at the Lower Pierce’s toilet for ten minutes. Still, there was no sight of them and I continued.

At the midway of Old Upper Thomson Road, I finally met up with the rest of the group. Teo and Macus beckoned me to make a U-Turn and joined together with them. I agreed.

As we were running (me, Teo, Macus and his elder brother), Teo updated me that the group had geared up and improved a lot in their timing. Macus joked that we couldn’t be lazed around anymore with Toh spying on us like a “watchdog”. In fact, Toh was in front of us and made a few stops to check if we were following him closely.

The pace was unusually fast, roughly around 4mins/km. Even for me, I hardly could catch up my breath. Teo was joking we had to run faster and not letting Tan to overtake us. (Tan was running 20km while we were doing 16km) Else, we would be totally losing our “face”. Eventually, we arrived back to Macritchie 1 min before Tan. (Lucky for us) Tan was really fast, I could not remember anyone I known of whom could do 11/2hrs for 20km distance. And, he will be joining the coming Biathlon held on March. Good Luck to him. :-)

This was the first time I have ever tried on a trail run, not to mention to run for a distance of 50.25km. The thought of running at least five loops around the Macritchie reservoir would discourage me from attempting the event. At the night before the race, I had only 2 hrs of sleep.

Against my agenda to wake up at 4.30am, I had overslept and nearly missed out the start time at 7am. At the starting point, I saw the familiar faces of MF runners and Xuanjing who often likes to take photos for any race events. This year, there were around 200 participants and the weather was kind to us for a marathon race unlike previous year. My plan for today run was to try to cover as fast as possible for the first 30km before my legs could fail me again.

During the first round, I greeted some of the MR runners, and caught up with PS and Michael. I had taken the wrong route to Tereniang trail and overtook them twice. At the exit point from the forest, I saw XuanJing and made some funny posture to be photographed. The first loop took 1.15 hrs which was much later than my usual pace. Never did I expect the terrain of the trail has such a significant impact to the timing.

Before finishing the second loop, my stomach started to grumble perhaps due to the acidic drinks (100plus). It was weird to run with noises coming out from your stomach. The second round took nearly the same time as the first. However, I could not feel the cushioning of Asics GT2110 during the second loop and changed to my New Balance shoes at the transit point.

The third round had turned into a floury experience. At 25km, I suffered a terrible cramp at my right calf and dropped onto the ground suddenly. I couldn’t raise up my right leg and lying there helplessly. Luckily, there were 2 runners offered their immediate assistance. The young chap helped me to pull my calf muscle while the lady applied her Yoko Yoko on my calf. Feeling relative recovered, I jogged slowly and walked whenever I felt the cramp was coming back. The Yoko Yoko worked in an amazing way. It was more effective than the deep heat I applied usually. However, I could feel the burning sensation on my right calf, and the color of the skin surfaced with red. It took me 1.30hrs to complete the third round and I saw PS was behind me at the transit point. I was puzzled by her performance since this wouldn’t be her usual timing.

My strategy was to listen to music for the last 2 laps. For the fourth round, I still felt the cramp kept coming back. I walked on the up slope and ran during the down slope to shorten the time coverage. It was a recovery run for me and it took me around 1.45 hrs to complete. The heel and outsole of my New Balance shoes, which served me loyally over all these years, had came off totally. I needed to change back to my Asics GT2110 again.

In my last lap, I had relied on my thigh muscles to move my legs instead. I was running with Ronnie for a relatively short distance and undecided if I should make one last dive to complete the entire experience. However, the lurk of my past experience at four years back where I nearly couldn’t walk after suffering from a cramp still haunting me. At the first water point, I inquired for any deep heat offered at the last water station of the loop, hoping that at least I could make it there and savage the situation if the problem occurs. But it was not available. Subsequently, I saw PS behind me at Raffles Range and decided to have a one last try. After a short distance of run, the cramp stroked again!! I kneel down on the ground for a moment attempting to recover from the sudden pain. My face must be showing with great pain as the volunteer from the race advised me not to run anymore. Nevertheless, I still continued and delivered more power to my thigh muscles. PS and me were not far from each other and we came across Trevor. Trevor informed me that Michael, Chin and Freddie was not far away. I left behind PS and Trevor and managed to catch up with them. We were walking and chatting along the way. When Freddie spotted PS was catching us soon, he warned us to begin our run. We were picking up our pace quickly. I couldn’t help it. The event was rather funny as if PS was some horrible monster trying to eat us up. :P Along the roadside of the route, I attempted to pace PS. I sensed that she couldn’t like the idea. I still continued and kept praying the cramp would not come before reaching the end-point.

Eventually, I finished the five loops at a total timing of 8hrs.When I reached the finishing line, my whole energy seems to have vanished into thin air immediately. I was feeling giddy in my head perhaps due to lacking of sleep. Vincent from MR was complaining about me for dirtying the finishing t-shirt. Well, this was liked him. Sometimes, he would be nice and while times he would be very grumpy. PS continued to go for her sixth loops. I was resting at the finishing point, waiting for my certificate and chatting with Freddie, Chin, Michael, Trevor, Ronnie etc. They encouraged me to go for one more tried. I did consider but remember doctor’s advices not to run for long distance for the time being. There would be another race next year. Before I left, I took a picture together with Trevor, Alber, Michael, Chin.

On my ride back with Michael, the weather began to rain heavily. I was worrying for Lai Chee and PS (Presumed she would attempt for the seventh round somehow due to her regret at Mt Faber Ultra-marathon) would be caught up in the rain. Again, it was seasonal rain and did not look like it could extend to Marichite. Later, I was totally thrilled to learn that PS had completed her seventh loops and broke her record. It was amazing and I admired her perseverance, as I wouldn’t be able to run for nearly twelve hours surrounding with the same scenery repeatedly. :)

In the end, it was a good closure for this year. Although I haven’t made any plan to stay or leave for next year yet, I wish I would have a new fresh start and opted for a better change to the things happening around me.

I could not remember when was the last time I ever go for trail run at Macritchie. I was overslept this morning and arrived much later than my usual timing.

Despite the shower from yesterday, the beginning of the trail was relatively dry. After running for 5km, I was surprised to discover a toilet at the junction between Pierce trail and Sime track. That was totally something new to me!! (That shows how long I have not been to Macritchie Trail Run). J Since Sime Track was closed, I took the Pierce track and made a detour to Tree-Top, which located within 2 mins run on a steep slope. Although I knew the bridge is safe, but I naturally reduced and lightened my speed and footsteps when running on it. At the Petaling Trail, it made up of staircases and somehow transformed the whole running experience to staircase training. After bypassing the golf course, the trail was getting muddier and slippery. I nearly skip a few times. I hope before and on the day of Ultra-marathon, there would be no rain or else I have to seriously consider getting a pair of trail running shoes. About 500m away from the Macritchie toilet, I bypassed Jane and Yihui from the Singapore Women Everest team. When I was considering whether to make another loop, I saw Soh Huan and Eng Hwa. Soh Huan was asking me if I am joining the Safra Run. Ha.. :(

While waiting for the bus, I felt a pain at my left thigh. Perhaps I strained it during running or so. Back home, I used the Flexi-Hand Massager, which KC had rejected, to massage my left thigh. It sure felt good..

It has been a while since I last ran at MR. I decided to do a slow and steady run alone from Macritchie to Seletar reservoir in the morning. During the run at 13km mark, I saw Yuen and informed that Soh Huan, Eng Hwa, Goole and Uncle Chua was doing a 20km run too. I managed to catch up with them at the Seletar reservoir toiler. We had a quick chat and I continued running on my own. On the way near to Macritchie, I saw some of the MR runners and they gave me a good thumb up. In the end, estimated to complete the distance within 2:10 hr. Ok for a slow and steady morning run. :)

In the afternoon, met my cheerful cousin and we chit chatted and joked with each other for 2hrs. Ha.. At night, I met up with Partrick and we had a dinner together exchanged our views about BG relationships. Tomorrow, most likely I had to give my response to reject another job offer. And lastly, I have received an email for allowing to take my PMP certification test.