A "Fool" Print

This evening, we (Me and Pei Choon) were running slightly late. Michelle was already waiting for us at the Singapore River. Lucky for us, Jancy, Anthony, Benny and Eugene (Leaders) were conducting warm-up exercise when we reached the meeting point. It was an expensive trip, which cost me $10.30 for the taxi fare. : (

After registered our names and category to be participated in (7 km), I joined the group and started the run with the rest. There were about 30 of us with each participated to run at different distance. At various turning points for the different groups, the running leader of the group would stop over to guide us for direction. The 7km running route was rather convoluted with many turning here and there. It was confusing for me to anticipate each turn should take. I was running together with a Malay guy (wearing Safra running shirt) and a lady foreigner whom slightly behind me. The guy was rather helpful. At every turn to take, he would call upon me to direct me of the turn. In addition, Anthony, DO, Jancy and the rest of running leaders/ assistants would cheer for us to go on.

After the run, a woman at the registration counter asked me for the timing to complete the run. I couldn’t understand the rational behind it since I thought it would be a leisure run to encourage people to keep up this sport. Apparently, they would like to gauge the runner of any improvement to their health. Still, I wouldn’t agree to their method since a person’s health couldn’t be measured by how fast he/she could run. Well, I might just give her my timing based on my usual pace. Subsequently, I went with Michelle towards Raffles City to have our dinner over there and picked up a book titled “The Last Lecture” which supposed to be inspirational.

Late as I am to join the Safra run tonight. Did a quick loop around the whole stretch of Mt Faber and saw Chin in the bathroom. Chin was training together with his mates for the coming kinabalu climbaton. Hmm. perhaps one day i might join him to train for my trekking trip.

Thenafter, I had an enjoyable dinner with the rest of the Safra runners. At midnight, suddenly felt a urge to write a poem to send my best wishes to SGrunners forum. :)

Running fast or waddling on.
A group of us shares the running passion.
Coming from SG, roaming around the island
Picking up a starting point and we all gather up
Sharing the laughter, sweat and perspiration
No matter how bright the Sun or Late is the hour
SGrunners will always be here and stay on
To motivate, inspire and keep the running spirit going on!!

Tonight is the long awaiting Sundown Marathon event. For the whole day, it had been raining continuously, drizzling and dark clouds forming in the sky. Luckily, it managed to stop before the race. Those participants whom participating in the 84km flagged off at 8.30pm while my event started at 12.00 am.

When reaching the venue, the starting point was crowded with people. I could see many runners posing pictures to be taken beside the Sundown Marathon signboard. Henry called me to pass his powergels to him. I searched vainly for any sign of him around the massive crowd but in vain. Then I came across Stanely and some of the Toa Payoh Safra runners gathered in front of the VIP tent. After a while, I was halted by William (Collen’s hubby) near the bag deposit area. William was aiming to do a sub-4 for the full-marathon which was same for me. We started off together and paced each other for the first ~2 km. Since the running route was quite narrow and congested, we were running off from the track to avoid the jam.

Before long, I speeded up my pace and William was far behind me. Most of the route covered at this race was using the park connector sitting on a hard cement. In order to prevent any cramps on my calves at later journey, my strategy was to run on the grassland besides the path to take advantage of the soft ground and lessen the impact to my legs. The Costa road route was a lonely run for me. I overtook many runners and kept looking at my watch. For the first 10km, I had clocked 50mins. It was promising for me..

Once I ran into the east coast park, I could see many supporters clapping their hands cheering us. Some of the children were also running together with us for a short distance. It was a great feeling!! At 18km, I would sense my legs were giving away. I kept telling myself to “go on” and looking around for any runners to pace me. I was eagerly looking forward for the 21km U-Turn point but it seems like an endless road to me. I skipped the last few water-points to save the extra timing. Finally, I crossed over the 21km mark point and clocked at 1:48hrs!! Great!! I broken my 21km record. Yeah!!

The next 21km posed a challenge to overcome. Mentally, I told myself it was another 21km and imagined myself just began my run. After making the U-turn, I crossed over the bridge and ran towards the Siglap park connector. I saw a marker showing 22km. Hmm.. the distance and the marker did not seem correct for me. Nevermind.. By then, my pace was getting slower and other runners behind me had overtook me. I continued the same pace and conscious of my calves not giving me away this time. At the park connector connecting to Bedok reservoir, the lamps were off and we were running in the dark. It was the first time of me running in the dark cutting through the HDB estate. The volunteers were holding the lightening stick and directed us to the correct route. Till now, I was impressed by the organizer as there were many water points and volunteers to guide us.

Subsequently, William had caught up with me at the overhead bridge towards Bedok Reservoir. I beckoned him to continue… Unfortunately, at 28km, I felt sudden cramp at my right calves and fallen to the ground. Luckily, my “dropping point” was 20m away from the First-Aid booth setup by the SGrunners. They ran to my assistance, did some stretching for me(I wouldn’t move my legs) and helped me up. I took another powergel, rest a while before resume my run. By then, I knew I could not able to do a Sub-4.. My only hope now was to clock a 4:30hrs at least. I thanked them for their assistance and continued my run ignoring the pain.

The rest of the run was a great disappointment to me. It was a run-and-walk strategy. Every time I felt the cramp was coming, I would pause and walk for a while before resuming. I asked for some deep heat at Bedok reservoir but it was in hot demand apparently. The young female helper at the water point was trying hard to squeeze out every single and little of the gel for me to apply. I made some jokes with her.

At 30km, I clocked 3:20hrs. No good… The Tampines Park connector was a mental torture. It was just like another never ending route. After crossing one road to the other, I could still see the signboard showing TPC. Eventually, I exited to Pasir Ris Drive via a car park. It was a terrible slow pace for me by now. Virtually, every runners seem to overtake me. I could hardly feel any cushion from my ASICS 2130. I did attempt to run along the road but was waved by the road marshals to run at the pedestrian path instead.

At the last 5km along the Loyang Park Connector, I suffered another cramp at my right calf and “dropped” to the ground spectacularly. I lied on the ground helplessly and few runners ran pass me. Luckily, one of the many runners did stop to help me. After making a recovery walk, I jogged slowly. I could hear some of the runners complaining the route was a total mental torture. The soreness and pain from the foot would slowly transact to the knees, hips and tights. Well, I agreed with that plus the relatively flat terrain for the entire route had forced oneself to use the same muscle groups again and again.

The last 5km was perhaps my slowest 5km ever. I was frantically looking at my watch. It had passed 4:30hrs.Oh no.. I missed it and my whole body strength had given away. My mind was now focusing more for completion than the timing. Eventually, I had saw the finishing gantry registered 4:59. I definitely not wanted to 5:00 for this marathon. Immediately, I picked up every of my legs power and dashed towards it before it ticked to 5:00.

After the run, I stayed to wait for other MF runners returned back. I did a quick shower first before the toilet was crowded with other returning runners. Lai Chee was awarded as 1^st runner out for the 84km women category. Wow!! Got to salute to her..

Around ~6am, the sky started to pour heavily. I was wondering how the rest of the 84km runners were doing, e.g. PS, Anthony, David, Heng etc. Hopefully, they could find some shelters to hide from the heavy rain. After 8.30am, I managed to see more 84km runners returned. To kill the boredom, I was joking with the photographer sitting next to me. Subsequently, Alvin, Karen and Carol joined me to wait for the rest. I took photos for each MF runners coming back, e.g. Anthony, David, Alber, Ho, PS, Chin, Eddie, etc. PS did a 14:00hrs for her 84hrs. I would expect her to do 13:00hrs instead. Nevertheless, it was a great relief to know she had not suffered from any hip or leg problems during her run. We had a lunch at nearby hawker center before Alvin drove me to Clementi MRT.

In the end, I had broken two records of my own - my best 21km and worst 42km. haha..

It was a mass gathering(about 40 ppl) at NTU sport recreation center. Stardust had organized a midnight run covering a distance of 55km at 10pm to prepare us for the Sundown Ultra-Marathon. There were lot of familiar faces at the starting point, with some haven’t been met for a long time. Jancy was slightly late and her left knee’s area was wrapped with athletic tape done by her physical therapy doctor. It looked awfully serious and there were widespread concerns of her condition. David, Freddy, Kayano, Anthony and Alber were all their wearing long compression tights. We started giving them a nickname of “Long Tight” Gang and I suggested they should stick around together for the rest of the run.

After a series of chitchat and waiting for the some belated runners, the run started somewhere around 10.20pm. It had been a while since I last came back to NTU after my completion of my MBA studies. The familiar slopes and buildings arose my memories where I was here busily preparing for projects and presentations during my study days. Since most of us were unfamiliar with the routes, we were running closely together splitting into three groups. Ahead of us were the fast runners (Ricci, Chin, Collen, Freddy, Ultra-man etc). Within ten minutes, we had lost sight of them, while the rest of us slowly scurrying forward at a relatively 6mins pace. :)

After challenging the daunting slopes and completion of a loop within the campus, we headed off from the Jln Bahar to Lim Chu Kang Cemetery. It was a long dim stretch of road that seem like never ending. It was already past 1:30hr before we made a U-turn and back to NTU campus. Opposite of the road, I saw another group of slow runners. We were cheering each other across the road and the responses were spontaneous. :)

When we ran back to Jln Bahar junction, I saw another group of runners waiting for us. None of us knew the route well, so we all gathered there waiting for the last group of runners to come and lead us forward. At this point, most of the runners had consumed their drinks and left little to sustain. We were all desperately in need to refill our bottles.

When the rest of the runners had reached, we headed back to the NTU campus and running our way out to another stretch of main road. David had kept shouting “toilet 1km away” for every 1km we had covered to motivate us to continue. Jokes could be heard as the toilets seem to turn out to be “mobile” by its own. Finally, after running out of NTU campus, the 24hrs coffee shop was sighted. There was a sense of relief, especially to Kayano who dashed towards for a toilet break. ha

We had a ~15mins break at the coffee shop where all runners busily refilling their drinks and queuing up for the toilets. PS was stretching her ITB silently. She was running relatively slow with Alber tonight, while I and Yong were sticking together in the earlier run.

After the break, we continue to head towards Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim. At this point, some of the runners had fallen back or departed from us. We had a stopover at Jurong Hill to take some photos up there. It was a beautiful scenery with brightly lit bulbs lightening up the nearby port when looking from the hill top.

Next, we were running along Jalan Buroh towards Pandan Reservoir. I was behind Eugene and Jancy. Eugene was recapping his experience of knee injury when he had to stop the run for two months. After hearing the stories, Jancy was worried if she should stop her run. I could see she was struggling for her run all night long due to her knee pain.

When we reached Pandan Reservoir, more runners had departed from the group, (Jancy, Eugene, Moham etc). It was relatively warm running round the reservoir. I not sure why but perhaps would be due to the afternoon heat trapped inside. We made another stopover at Petrol Kiosk to refill our water supply and photo session before heading towards South Buona Vista Road via West Coast Road. It was reported we had covered 38km at this point!!

During the stretch of South Buona, Yong was complaining his knees while me and Wendy were running together. At the Buona Vista Petrol Kiosk, I was totally famished!! Took a Snicker Bar and some HL milk. PS and Alber were nowhere in sight. I figured they would have left the group by now. Anthony reckoned PS would not give up her run. I left the group at Buona Vista MRT and ran back home alone.

By the time, I reached home, it was 5am. Time for me to doze off…………Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I woke up at 4.30am. Since no one was sharing the room with me, I could take my own sweet time to tidy up myself. Subsequently, I boarded a small van with David, Janice and few others from Sgrunners to bring us to Lake Garden.

There were roughly about 1000 of participants. I was just in time for a photo session together with Mt Faber Safra members. After a few chats, the race flagged off at 6 am promptly. I ran together with Michael and Yuen. It was a causal run for me. I took some photos as I was running along. Then after, I caught with PS and we ran together for the next 15km.

Whenever any of the Safra members crossed over me, I could clap and cheer them up. The route was full of slopes. You simply just needed to conquer one slope with another. It seems like no ending to it. Surprisingly, I found no difficulties with the upslope. The water points were placed at every 5km. The energy drink provided tasted more like “fruit punch” to me.

After the turning point, my distance with PS widened. I caught up with Chairman and we ran together for the rest of the journey. I saw Stanely helping his Safra members(can’t remember her name). It seems like she had suffered from a muscle cramp. At the last 4 km, Chairman had slowed down. Looking at my watch, I still possibly to make it at sub-3hrs. I picked up my pace and dashed towards the ending point overtaking Albert at the last 500m.

Finally, I made it!! The timing was 3.06hrs. Not bad in view that I had not trained for the race. After doing some stretching and rested for an hour, we had our usual memorial photo sessions. The whole Safra (including Tampines and Toa Payoh) took a group photos.

We walked up to our coach overcoming another slope and stairs. It was more tiring than running up and cruising down the slopes. :(

After packing my things, I checked out the hotel room and went together with Michael, Peter, Xiu Lee, Wayne, Eric and some other members whom I not sure their names. We all settled down at a table outside the shop houses to have “Ba Ku Tek”. In addition, Peter bought a suckling duck from a mobile hawker stall. The food was delicious. Then after, I got some local delights before departing to Singapore together with the Sgrunners.