My Saturday!

I reached MacRitchie Reservoir at 6:30 am today. Darkness still reigned but there were already quite a number of walkers, joggers and runners there. While waiting for Nanyan to show up, I did some warming-up along the road between Carpark B and the toilets. She drove in shortly, and not long after her, Teck Kim and his Taiwanese friend also arrived.

The four of us then proceeded on a slow jog around the reservoir. Contrary to my expectations, we only did the smaller 5-km circuit, and that, at only a fast-jog pace. I had originally intended to run further and faster, in preparation for my next attempt at qualifying for MR25, but I enjoyed this morning's slow jog around the scenic reservoir anyway. It was therapeutic, breathing in the fresh air, hearing the soft crunching of sand and snapping of twigs beneath my shoes, catching a glimpse of the mutual grooming rituals of the primates resident there and observing a 40-cm long monitor lizard lazily consume its breakfast by feeding off tiny fish trapped among littoral weeds. :)

I was home by 9 am. After a quick shower and a light breakfast, I picked up Jeffrey Archer's "A Prison Diary - Volume 1: HELL" and continued reading where I had left off yesterday evening. I was done with the novel by lunch-time. "HELL" is a short book in which the renowned British author and politician recounts his experiences during his first three weeks in prison (19 Jul - 9 Aug 2001) after being found guilty of perjury and sentenced to four years in jail. It was an extremely thought-provoking read!

After lunch, I was out of the house again. I popped by Jurong Point to sign up for the 2nd 10-km Mizuno Wave Run (after much procrastination!), faxed a letter at Singapore Post, and bought the Hands United CD and a Marc Anthony "Amar Sin Mentiras" CD from Sembawang Music.

With all that done, I went to Sharon's place at 2.30 pm for a Y-Runners briefing session. There, I was given a "Collector's Certificate of Authority" to authenticate that I am collecting funds on behalf of The Salvation Army (TSA) through my participation in the Singapore Marathon. Now, I will have to start finding family, friends and colleagues and ask if they would like to donate to TSA. :)

After leaving Sharon's home, I met up with Chris Ang for another gym session at Fitness First (Paragon). We blasted our legs with free squats and machine-assisted hack squats, and then did some exercises for the abs and obliques. I left the gym at around 7 pm, went to the Orchard Library to borrow Lord Archer's second volume to his Prison Diary series, "PURGATORY" and then went home.

All in all, today was a very eventful and relaxing day. If only everyday were like this! :)