Army Half Marathon

Woke up sometime in the early morning, and wondered what time it was. When I looked at my mobile phone, I had the shock of my life. The time was 00:00:00, and the date was 1 January 2004. At some point in the night, my phone had resetted itself and the alarm never rang! :P I quickly grabbed my Polar watch and turned on the night mode. It read 3:55 AM. *sweat* I was supposed to meet Babumouse at 4 am at the bus-stop outside my house! After sending Babumouse a "I'll be late by 10 min" SMS, I quickly washed up, gathered my running gear, a banana and a can of 100-Plus and rushed to the bus-stop.

When I got there, I received an SMS from Babumouse, saying he'll be late as well. (It turned out that my SMS had stirred him up from his sleep! *grin*) At around 4:20 am, Babumouse arrived on his motorbike. I put on his spare helmet, hopped onto his motorbike, and off we went, zooming our way towards the city. It was my first time riding as a pillion rider (and it was also his time carrying a pillion rider), so it was quite an exhilarating experience. :D

We got there in good time and checked our bags at the Baggage Deposit Booths. Then met up with the other SgRunners...too many to name :) I also bumped into Johnson near the Kim Seng Fountain.

At around 5:15 am, we made our way towards the start line on the Esplanade Bridge. Met even more SgRunners along the way. The race began on time, and off we went. I started out at a pretty fast pace (~ 4 min 45 sec/km to 5 min 15 sec/km), and I knew it was not sustainable, but I just couldn't slow down. But surprising, I could keep the pace up for quite a while. The stretches along Shenton Way, Sheares Bridge and Tanjong Rhu were quite easy. But by the time I got to Nicoll Highway, I could begin to feel the fatigue setting in. But I managed to keep my pace to 5 min 30 sec/km.

Saw an isotonic drink supply station, and was hoping for some 100-Plus. But they served me a packet of Activade instead. It's a new brand (I think) which I had never drank before, and although it is never a good idea to try something novel during a race, I decided to consume it anyway -- there wasn't any other isotonic drinks available! But the drink didn't settle properly in my stomach.

From Nicoll Highway, I went up Middle Road, then went past Park Mall, and onto Havelock Rd. But I was stopped at FOUR traffic lights. That was quite disruptive to my momentum, and I found it difficult to rev up to speed again once I had stopped. But overall, pace was still 5 min 30 sec/km - 5 min 50 sec/km, which was still okay.

But at around the 18 km mark, I started to feel really unwell. Maybe it's the frequent starts-stops, or maybe I'm not used to the new isotonic drink. I felt like vomiting, and I was only able to maintain a 6 min 30 sec/km pace. Near the 20 km mark, outside the Parliament House, I ran behind some bushes and threw up. After that, it felt much better. :D Keeping to a 5 min 45 sec/km pace, I trotted steadily towards the end-point.

The official race clock was showing "1:59:37" as I turned the corner into the Padang. 1:59:38...1:59:39...1:59:40... I piah-ed the last 100m, and went through the gate as the clock read "2:00:00". VICTORY is SO SWEET ;D

I collected my medal, then went to pick up my bag from the Baggage Deposit Booths. Then went back to the old Supreme Court, and sat down, and nuah-ed. Saw Zac there. We chatted a bit, and he realised I was still rather disoriented from my run, so he offered to bring me some ice milo. Thanks bro! Later, I was also joined by Gen (who ran 1 hr 36 min), and Aubrey. Gen also brought me three cups of milo and three cups of iced water. Thanks Gen! :D

About 40 min after the completion of my race, I felt well enough to stand up on my feet, and walked over to the pre-arranged SgRunners end-of-race meeting point. Took many pictures with the SgRunners. =) Bumped into Pit Chen and Puay Lim along the way, as well as folks from the Mt Faber Running Club. I think they performed pretty well at today's race.

Couldn't resist a picture with Teelee (1 hr 25 min) and his lucky bib C8888 :)

For brunch, we headed for Marina Square...just as it began to rain. I had a breakfast set (kaya toast, two eggs and 1 cup of kopi), 1 cup of iced Milo and 1 bowl of iced Cheng Teng. Also collected my HWA Funding Raise sheets from Junie. :D

Went to The Coffee Connoisseur with Ripley, Tiwazz, Balasing, Superboy, TLR and Fd. Chit-chatted and nuah-ed there in very comfortable sofas for a long, long time. I suffered from a few bouts of cramps while we were there, so I bought a packet of Very Lightly Salted crisps and ate them. It helped to delay the cramps, but not stop them entirely. we broke up for home at around 2 plus. And I slept, and slept, and slept.

MORE PHOTOS WILL BE UPLOADED SOON.

Graph of NBRR Results (Men's Open)

Went to do some graph plotting...based on the results of 3,225 participants in the Men's Open for the New Balance Real Run 2006 (excluding those who did not get a final race timing, due to disqualification or failure to detect the champion chip). Beautiful sigmoidal curve, as one would expect, with the median runner clocking just over an hour. Given my timing, I just about made it to the upper quartile.

It's Fund Raising & Fun Racing!

I have decided to run for Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA) for my half marathon in the December SCSM. Think it's for a great cause. And so I will be making my rounds among my contacts sometime next week onwards to collect donations for the charity.



Was also thinking of going down to support the SgRunners gang for the KL Mizuno Run on the weekend of 16-17 September but then I realised it's Terry Fox Run that Sunday too (which reminds me, I had better get registered for it soon). So I guess I'll have to give KL a miss.

In any case, the half marathon in Angkor Wat in December is still calling out to me...and I want to go...I wonder if my leave application will be approved...

Real Run Results and Bad Running

Results for the New Balance Real Run are out... http://realrun.sg/results.html

Here's how I compare to the top finisher, the legendary Ganesan Elangovan... I am inspired to train harder!

Name CheckPt1_Timing CheckPt2_Timing Net_Timing
Ganesan Elangovan 00:06:54 00:16:29 00:34:40
Renoh 00:13:50 00:28:09 00:56:47

Anyway...was surfing the web for ways to improve my running technique. Came back to the Pose Tech website. Here's an interesting link on "Bad Running - An Analysis", which I thought was pretty useful. Now I need to get someone to videotape me running, so I can judge for myself how to modify my strides and body posture... Click here for the Pose Tech video.

Some mistakes (from the Pose method perspective) which the video identified are:

1. Leading leg lands ahead of the body centre of gravity, with heel strike
2. Push off from lagging leg results in body propelled upwards, rather than forwards

I'm guilty of both! :p

And then I went on to look at this video which discusses Rigid Body Movement While Running (which is not desirable). That describes me again...

How to overcome it?
1. Avoid driving knee forward and a backwards lean
2. Fall at a small angle
3. Don't lift up the driving knee too high

Will try it at the Army Half Marathon...

On my own...

Sneaked off for a quick run around the office this evening. Did the Ridley Rd loop, went up Nassim Rd and cut through the Botanic Gardens, exiting via the newly opened Minden gate, and chugged up the great slope of Minden Rd. Total distance on my footpod, 7.3 km. Time taken, including stopping at the traffic lights, 38 min 38 sec, which works out to about a 5 min 20 sec/km pace.

Was breathing really hard the whole way. Can't seem to get the chi-running technique right. How should I improve my running efficiency... *sigh*

BG Run in September - Three Flavours to Choose From

Route for this September's BG Run is up!

3 flavours to choose from:
(a) 11-km Vanilla
(b) 16-km Caramel
(c) 21-km Dark Chocolate

Start @ 7 am from SMU, and go along Bt Timah Rd towards Sixth Avenue. Then go down Sixth Avenue until Holland Road. Run along Holland Rd until the new BG Entrance at the 9 km mark. Vanilla fans to go up Cluny Rd back towards SMU (11 km in total).

The rest proceed along Orchard Road until the Istana. Then turn into Cavenagh Rd and then Clemenceau Ave North, passing Newton MRT station. Back onto Bt Timah Rd and run until Evans Rd. Caramel fans to fall out at SMU (16 km in total).

Dark chocolate fans to proceed for a Cluny Rd - Nassim Rd loop, to finish back at SMU (21 km in total).

Total time expected for 21 km - 2 hr 15 min

New Balance Real Run 2006

Dragged myself out of bed at 5.40 am today. Slept barely 4 hours. Showered, put on my running gear, had some cereal, made sure I brought along my champion chip and race bib (MO 2233) and was out of the house for the New Balance Real Run 2006. Didn't know for sure where the SgRunners meeting point was, or where to deposit my barang-barang. But took the bus down to HarbourFront anyway and tried my luck. Lo and behold, I saw Bikerchic, Daisiki, Cheow12 and SV at Seah Im Food Centre, and Cheow12 graciously offered to give me a ride into Sentosa. Thanks, bro! :) We waited a while for Cokiee to arrive, and then we (minus SV who was on his bike) hopped into Cheow12's car and off we went, into Singapore's pleasure island.

Felt great to be back at Sentosa, even though shadows of fatigue still lingered. Had some brief conversations with the SgRunners, and then was ushered to the start line. But the race started late (as usual), and then there was the typical human traffic jam at the start (as usual). *pained look* But nothing unexpected :) Did the first 4 km rather strongly, but began to feel a bit worn out soon after. Hit the sand at Tanjung Beach at the 6 km mark, lost willpower midway and started walking. I guess I could have pushed harder, but mentally I wasn't up to it. Not after a hectic week anyway. :P After Tanjung Beach, I powered up with some 100-plus, and was able to complete the Palawan Beach stretch of sand rather easily. Met Balasing in the middle of Dragon Trail, and he kindly offered to pace me to the end. Thanks, Bala! :D And thanks also to the SgRunners supporters who were cheering us on during the last 300m stretch!

Finished the 9.8 km (according to my footpod) in 56 min 58 sec. Much slower than my timing in 2005, but better than that in 2004. :D But it was a job well done anyway, and after picking up my Finisher's Goodie Bag (well done to the organisers for improving Goodie Bag collection over the years!), bumping into Chee Keong and collecting my can of 100-Plus, I spent the next 30 min cheering the remaining runners at the last 50m stretch.

Great turnout by the SgRunners today, including some new faces (to me) such as _michelle, Burnz and Celestronz. Cosmic_Wind told me that Igloo sent me his regards. Thanks, Igloo and well done on your 46 min run! ;D And I also met Akmal at the finishing line. He was with his students from the Special Olympics. Excellent, they have some great runners too!

Later on, I went to collect my bag from Cheow's car together with Bikerchic (yes, I'll plan a suitable Botanic Garden route in September! *grin*), Daisiki and SV. Then we proceeded to Tanjung Beach for a picnic, beach volleyball (I didn't play), swimming (I didn't swim), ninja running training (I didn't run) and nuah-ing (I nuah-ed). Got my pics taken by Dasher. [Looking at the pics now, I think I can do with a darker tan, and I'll need to pack on more muscle mass, AND grow taller *lol*. Did I mention that I've lost 2 kg since a couple of months back, and I need to punch a new hole in my belt?]

Had lunch with the gang at HarbourFront Food Court. I had my ice kachang and sliced fish noodles. Then dozed off at the table. *sheepish look* Left for home at 2.30 pm, and had a good, long nap...zzzz...

(And hooray, my right leg didn't let me down today!)

Fuzzy details

The week just whizzed by. I just remember waking up in the morning, going to work, and *fuzzy details*, and then coming home past midnight and having really late dinners/morning suppers, and then sleeping a few hours, and then waking up again. Vomitted at work on Friday morning, but managed to keep it under control until I got home. A symptom of lack of sleep, I reckon. I think running a full marathon feels worse - physically - but at least I enjoy the marathon.

Leg still feels funny. Maybe a nerve slid out of place during last Sunday's BG Run. That would probably explain why when I move my leg, it triggers off a mixed sensation of pain and numbness all the way down from my quad to my ankle. Pity I had no time to ice my leg at all. I think I'll still go for the Real Run tomorrow. I'll just not run fast. Can't wait to meet up and say hi to my running buddies. Thanks Babumouse for offering to give me a ride to Sentosa!

It was encouraging to see the well-wishes posted in my blog during this hectic week. Thanks guys and gals. Really appreciated that.

I thank God that my workload will (supposedly) be less next week. I should be able to get a bit more rest before the half-marathon. I'll need it.

And yes, the SgRunners Forum is up and kicking again! Great news! Thanks to Carine and Mack for the job well-done. May such a hacking episode never happen again.

Blue, blue...

Feeling really miserable right now. Will work never end. Will my leg never get better.

Quick post

Long hours at work, and my right leg still hurts. Had to order eat-in pizza on Monday night, and I could my stomach rejecting the unhealthy dinner. :P But mornings are better now, with the additional hellos. ;) Can't wait for the weekend.

Waterspout during the NUS Triathlon?

Just imagine if the NUS Triathlon today had been organised in Sentosa, and the waterspout occurred just as the swimmers were out at sea *shudder*

Beachgoers at Sentosa get surprise sighting of a waterspout

A waterspout - commonly known as tornadoes over the sea - has been spotted off the coast of Sentosa, spooking many who were spending a lazy Sunday on the beach...

Sunny clear skies turned dark and stormy in less than 3 minutes at around 12 noon on Sunday off Siloso Beach, according to eyewitnesses...

Click here for more news on today's Sentosa waterspout...

Happy birthday, Fd! :)

Celebrated Fidah's birthday at Plaza Singapura's Swensons today. =) Great turnout, there were almost 20 of us there :) I was feeling rather tired from the day's exertions, so after eating my breaded chicken and watching Ripley's photo slideshow of this morning's NUS Triathlon (well done to TLR, Penguin, Mythos, Yulan, Gen, LacticAcid and Flip!) and singing the birthday song and eating the birthday cake, I began to nod off at the table. Details are blur from this point onwards, until the part when we started to collect money for the dinner and then headed off for home.

My right leg is hurting quite badly now. Not quite sure how to describe it, but I cannot make sudden movements with my leg, and if I were to keep the angle at my knee outside of a 80-100 degree range, I would experience much discomfort/aching/pain in my quad and down from my knee to my ankle. Hmmm....this is strange, I have never experienced anything like this before...IMD suggests that I ice the area. I think I shall do just that.

Correr, correr...

Had a good run today with Tiwazz, Ronnie, Roonz, Daisiki, Charlotte, Babumouse, TKtan, Alvo, Meteor, Teelee, cfred84, Run3, Doraemon_Red, Cokiee and dasher, and *surprise* we were later joined by Alecchua along Orchard Road! :) Although Fennel, BH Lee, Alan and Tintin were supposed to come, they had still not yet showed up at SMU by 7.15 am. And so, rather than waiting indefinitely, I kicked off the August 2006 BG Run.

I had underestimated the distance of the loop inside the Botanic Garden, so by the time we emerged from the Tanglin exit, we had covered almost 5 km, instead of the originally planned 3 km. There were quite a number of visible changes in the gardens, now that the renovations of many sections were completed. While we were inside the gardens, we had managed to keep to a nice 6.30-6.45 min/km pace.

We continued on our way, doing the Minden-Ridley loop (at a much faster pace of 5-5.15 min/km) and stopped to buy drinks at the petrol kiosk near Tanglin Mall. Then, it was a straight road all the way until we reached the Istana (about 10 km). We crossed the Istana Park, and went down Clemenceau Avenue until we reached Liang Court.

By this time, we had split up into two groups. As the second group had not yet caught up, the faster pack went ahead first with the Liang Court-Kim Seng Bridge-Liang Court loop. We crossed a number of bridges in the process, including Ord Bridge, Pulau Saigon Bridge, Jiak Kim Bridge, Robertson Bridge and of course, Kim Seng Bridge. Then we stopped for drinks at the 7-11 near Riverside Point. Dasher, cfred84, TKtan and Babumouse are very strong runners, so I had to push myself really hard to keep up with their pace. *pants*

Meanwhile, the second group had arrived at Liang Court, and then proceeded to do a shorter loop along the Singapore River in the opposite direction. Eventually, all of us (minus two) gathered at the 7-11. The faster group had covered about 15 km by that point, and the second group, about 13 km.

But there was no sign of Charlotte and Alecchua. After waiting for about 10 mins, the rest of us decided to go on. We also agreed to cut out the remaining stretch along the Singapore River, since we had already done our "extra" 2 km inside the Botanic Garden. So, we went back towards SMU. We figured that since Charlotte was familiar with the route, she would probably be able to run back with Alecchua on their own.

We kept to a 5.30-5.45 min/km pace for the most part of the return leg, though we had to stop at virtually every traffic light! The last 2 km up Nassim Road was very exhausting, but we all did well :) And conquered it! It was good to see Balasing at the end-point.

For the faster group, we had covered about 20 km in total, and it had taken us 2 hr 30 min. The second group had gone about 18 km. *Well done!* Later on, Charlotte and Alecchua showed up at the end-point. They had been waiting for us at another 7-11 at Liang Court, which explained why we had not seen one another! *grins* Mystery solved!

As we were stretching (well, some of us) and cooling down, Teelee shared with us some of his 100 Plus. Thanks Teelee! :) Then, we had a quick shower, and went to Food Haven for breakfast. I had a cup of apple-lime juice, two slices of watermelons and a cup of iced horlicks. *Shiok!*

Cokiee said that I've lost muscle mass. *chuckles* I guess that can't be helped since it's race season and I'm running much more and for longer distances during this time of the year. So I'm bound to get thinner. But hopefully, I won't lose too much. It's very difficult to pack muscle on later. :p

And today, Tiwazz passed me my SgRunners running vest, which is SO cool :) I love the design!

Can't do the GoogleEarth Plot for today's "actual run" route, because my PC is down, and I don't have GoogleEarth installed on this machine... :( *sigh*

Afternoon out

Took a nice, leisurely stroll along the Singapore River today. Weather was nice and warm. Never realised how beautiful the place can be.

Chatted with some construction workers near Read Bridge where they were working on the new MRT station. I asked them if they worked on Sundays. One of them rolled his eyes, and said that they were bound by contract to finish the project, and at the rate things were going, yes, they'll be here tomorrow. He asked me if I was a foreigner. I laughed and said I was Singaporean, born and bred here. I told them that tomorrow morning, I'll be leading a group of runners through the area, so maybe we can say hi to one another if we meet tomorrow.

Moving further down the river, I reached the large grassy field opposite Liang Court. I saw two European men in their forties and a young Asian lady in her twenties there. They were having a whale of a time, flying their remote-controlled planes. Observing the aeronautical display was another European man and his adorable toddler, who was dressed in baby pink. I asked the group if I could sit at the side and watch them fly their toy aircraft. They said yes. And so I took off my sandals, sat down on the grass, and watched their little machines zip through the air, their propellors spinning and humming away. I enjoyed myself greatly.

When they left, another trio came to play frisbee on the same grassy field. They wore Ultimate Frisbee League T-shirts, and judging from their wide variety of throws and accurate catches, I've no doubt that they are experts at the sport. Cool moves.

And while I lazed around on the grass, I was approached by a South Korean tourist who was on holiday in Singapore. His name was Jyun. It was his fifth (and second last) day here. I took the time to tell Jyun about Singapore, about the different buildings, shops and the Singapore River, about the recent National Day Parade and the fireworks near the Esplanade. We had a good conversation, and then Jyun went on his way to further explore our island city.

It was a nice and relaxed afternoon. After soaking in the sun and a few friendly interactions with absolute strangers, I went into Liang Court and collected my New Balance Real Run race pack. Then I took a slow walk down Clemenceau Avenue, through Istana Park and then onto Orchard Road, where I took a bus-ride home.

Plunging a pair of scissors into my leg

Worked late last night. Got back home, had dinner with the midnight moon for company, and watched a foreign variety show on TV. The host was interviewing an all-girls pop group, and then arranged for a well-built guy clad only in his swimming trunks to parade in front of them. Hmm. For a brief moment, I felt envious of the guy's physique and the attention that he was receiving from the gals. Then I realised vanity was raging loose in my life, and that I needed to kill it. That I have not succeeded in doing so was a sober reminder of my fallen and sinful nature, and my desperate need for Christ.

This morning, I woke up from a bad dream. Not the first time that I've had a dream along this particular recurrent theme - I'm taking a ride on the public bus. There's a bloke (usually a benign-looking middle-aged gentleman) seated beside me. Then, for no particular, he swipes out a pair of scissors (or a penknife, depending on the dream), and begins to attack me with it, plunging the weapon in my limbs and torso. And then I am roughly jolted out of my sleep.

I wouldn't exactly say that I'm freaked out by these dreams, but they're certainly not something pleasant to wake up from. Definitely not today anyway. They belong to a totally different category from the "I'm falling down a cliff" dreams.

TV shows and dreams aside, it's time to focus back on reality. I wonder what I should do today. I had managed to do some weight training on my legs on Thursday (squats, lunges, leg curls) - thanks Shutehelup for the inspiration - and if all goes well, I will be leading some runners for a 20-km adventure tomorrow.

I have this sudden urge to read something. But I don't know what. It's a very, very odd feeling.

Escapémonos

Escapémonos
marc anthony con jennifer lópez

Escapémonos tan lejos de aquí
Distantes de todo
En la oscuridad donde no haya más
Que ver en tus ojos

Escondámonos de la multitud
Del absurdo día a día
Donde todas estas cosas que perturben
No estén más en nuestra vidas, en nuestra vidas

Para que estemos solos amor
Y el universo se nos quede en un abrazo
Donde se esfumen esas dudas
Y esos miedos que nos quedan del pasado

Para que estemos solos amor
En un día sin fin
Sin preocuparnos más
Del que podrán decir
Donde durmamos abrazados
Y si entonces nos sorprende el amanecer
Saber que estás ahí
Que estamos solos

Escapémonos por necesidad
Nos debemos tanto
Si el amor está, no hay porqué esperar
El donde o el cuando

Escondámonos de la multitud
Del absurdo día a día
Donde todas estas cosas que perturben
No estén más en nuestra vidas, en nuestra vidas

Para que estemos solos amor
Y el universo se nos quede en un abrazo
Donde se esfumen esas dudas
Y esos miedos que nos quedan del pasado

Para que estemos solos amor
En un día sin fin
Sin preocuparnos más
Del que podrán decir

Snow

Was walking to work today when I started to imagine how the streets would look if it had been snowing. And as I did so, the roar of the busy road traffic faded away, leaving just the still, still silence of winter. I imagined the ground covered with a thick layer of soft snow. Trees dressed in glistening white. A frozen lake in the park where little children, wrapped up in bundles of clothes, gathered to play on the ice, lost in their own world of fun in spite of the cold. A pair of young lovers who had climbed up a tree and huddled together in a warm embrace, watching the snowflakes dreamily driftly down from the skies. It was perfect. I miss Scandinavia...

And I got a flash off cheeryrunner's website, it's cool. It plays a song by the Drifters, called "Some Kind of Wonderful"...Put it in my side bar...

Happy National Day!

q(^v^)p HAPPY 41st BIRTHDAY SINGAPORE! q(",)p

Just saw my wushu sifu, Vincent Ng, on TV during the National Day Parade (NDP) 2006 live telecast. For this year's NDP, he's choreographing the martial-arts segment involving some 600 students from Rulang Primary School, which incidentally is the alma mater of some of my great running buddies, like Johnson, Zac and Chee Kong, as well as the current school of Ah Khen and Nanyan's three kids, Zoey, Zolene and Nigel.

Vincent is such an inspiration. He's a great wushu instructor, extremely qualified (World Wushu Champion!), easy-going and very friendly. Pity I wasn't able to continue my wushu lessons under him after I started work last August...

New Bug Really Run

Went for the New Bug Really Run on National Day morning, led by Bug...who else! The start point was the Esplanade. There were some 25-30 of us, including many SAFRA runners such as Teck How and Freddie, new SgRunner faces such as babumouse and SteerPike, and regulars such as Brokie, Divey, Dream, IMD, Ronnie, Tintin, Cokiee, DO, Daisiki, Teelee, Tekko, Patrick, SV, Cheow12, Sotong, Realrunner, Ripley, Cosmic_Wind, cfred84, kops21, fennel, doraemon_red, etc. Osama was also there, but it has been quite a while since I had last seen him.

Route for today's run. Click on image to enlarge.

The whole group of us went along the Bay for about 2 km, then turned into Nicoll Highway for another 2 more km. The group quickly split up into two sub-groups, with the faster group moving at a 5.30-5.45 min/km pace. I was with the faster group. We moved onto Middle Road and then Bencoolen Street until we reached Park Mall (6-km mark).

From there, we went along Clemenceau Avenue, crossing Clemenceau Bridge, and then proceeded along Havelock Road, turning left near the Riverview Hotel. It was at this point that Alvo and Meteor joined us for the run :) And it was also around here that our pace picked up significantly, to about 5-5.15 min/km. *pant*

Going past the Outram MRT Station, we proceeded down to Cantonment Road. By this time, the sky was already getting darker and darker. When we reached the junction of Maxwell Road Food Centre (about 9.5 km into the route), it had already started to rain.

The weather was wet and cool, which felt great to me. But being careful not to slip, I decided to slow down my pace. Hence, while the others raced ahead, I steadily made my way together with Divey and kops' friend along South Bridge Road and crossed Elgin Bridge (11-km mark). kops met us there and passed us some isotonic drinks. Thanks kops!,

By this time, the front runners were no longer in sight. From Parliament House, there were a number of ways to get back to the starting point. At my warped suggestion, Divey and I decided to run to the Esplanade via the Citilink :) It was cool running underground, past the shops and leisurely-strolling shoppers :) Totally surreal and awesome! *thumbs up*

Divey and I emerged from the underground at the exit near the Esplanade, and met up with the other runners at the end-point. My footpod registered a total distance of 13 km, but this included my running on-the-spot in circles while we were held up at the traffic junctions. On GoogleEarth, the distance recorded was about 12.5 km. The entire journey, including all the delays, took about 1 hr 20 mins.

Later on, thelonelyrunner met up with us at the Esplanade basement carpark to pass us our SgRunners running vest and shorts. They look fab! =) But he was not feeling well (the flu), so he declined joining us for lunch. Thanks, Penghulu, for meeting up with us to pass us our purchases despite your illness!

We lunched at the Marina Square Food Centre. I had a set meal (a cup of kopi-O, two hard-boiled eggs and some kaya-cheese toast) and a refreshing glass of iced Milo. Ultraman and Seal joined us for lunch too.

During the lunch discussions, I realised that I would really, really like to go to Angkor Wat for its half-marathon this December, and also try out the half-marathon in Hong Kong next February. Now, what I need to do is to engineer a way to get my leave approved...(",)

Botanic Garden Run (August) - Route

As discussed with Tiwazz, this is the proposed route for this month's BG Run, for your preliminary info, pls. The total distance is around 20 km. Self-hydration (i.e. fuelbelt or money to buy drinks) is recommended.

Botanic Garden Run (August) - Route,
Image uploaded by Renoh. Click on it to enlarge.

We'll start off at 7:00 am by going from the old SMU down towards the Botanic Garden, and cover about 2.5 km within the gardens itself. We will exit via the Tanglin Gate where there will be one water point, i.e. the toilet. Distance covered so far is estimated to be 3 km.

Then we will do our little Ridley Road circuit, and emerge at Tanglin Mall (5 km mark), where we can stop for another water point if required. From there, we will go down Orchard Road until the Istana (8 km) and then cut across Istana Park and down Clemenceau Avenue all the way until we reach the Singapore River.

From there, we will turn towards Kim Seng Bridge and do a U-turn there (10 km), going onto the opposite side of the river. Then we will move along the river until Ord Bridge. If the weather is hot, we can quickly cross the bridge for a quick water-break at Liang Court. Otherwise, we will continue along the river until Cavenagh Bridge, cross it, and go back towards Liang Court (14.5 km). The 7/11 there will be our next water-point.

From Liang Court, we will go back up along Clemenceau Ave and Orchard Rd. We will pass by Takashimaya at around the 16.5 km mark. This will be the final water-point before we reach our end point via the remaining part of Orchard Road and the great slopes of Nassim Road.

The pace will not be too fast. We will aim to finish all 20 km within 2 hr 45 min.

Go the Extra Mile

S$50,000. 250 runners. 42.195 kilometres. 1 charity.
GO THE EXTRA MILE @ SCSM06.

The website for the fund-raising effort for the Handicaps Welfare Association at the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon is up and running. Check it out by clicking here.

LSD - 20 km

Took a $20 cab ride with Gen down to East Coast Park this morning for a LSD Run with the other SgRunners. The two of us arrived at Carpark B1 at 6 am, only to see cfred84 running past us, already dripping wet with sweat. He was wearing the new SAFRA Running Club vest, which was cool. Although I'm a longer member in the club than he is, I haven't purchased my running vest yet :( *sigh*

Later on, we were joined by SportVenturer, Daisiki, Roentgen, Kickjazz, Nemo, JunieTang, Charmane, Superboy, Shut, Cosmic_Wind, chongwf and AngelicaWonder. When we were all gathered, we started on our 20-km run from Carpark B1 until the Laguna Golf Course and back.

Daisiki, Gen and I ran ahead, keeping to around a 6 min 30 sec/km pace. We reached the turning point in 1 hr 5 min, and was soon joined by chongwf. There, we stopped for a short 5 minute water-break. Then, we headed back toward our original starting point. Gen and I sped up during the return leg, keeping to a 5 min 30 sec/km pace for about 6 km. Then, because I was tired, the pace gradually slowed down until about 7 min/km. We still managed to reach Carpark B1 within 1 hour and that was good :)

In total, Gen and I took 2 hrs 10 min to complete the entire distance. The rest of the group came in within 2 hrs 30 min. cfred84 and Cosmic_Wind who were speedsters, finished much earlier. On the whole, I think we're all geared up for the forthcoming Army Half Marathon :)

For breakfast, we headed to the Old Airport Road area. As the famous food centre there was undergoing renovation, we ate at the temporary food centre behind the original premises. The $2 lime juice that many of us bought came in ENORMOUS glass mugs, and we were struggling to finish the drinks! ;)

After breakfast, I went with Nemo, Roentgen and Kickjazz to the Suntec City area. Settling down in a cafe with Wifi internet access, Roentgen whipped out his laptop and the three of them began to discuss their plans regarding a charity fund-raising project with the Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA). I sat in and listened as they formulated their ideas on the project. It was a good meeting (",)

Later on, SportVenturer came over to find me at the cafe, and I left with him to go to Marina Square Food Court to meet up with Tiwazz, Balasing and Roonz who had spent their morning with Chyarose at Sentosa, swimming and running. *nice!*

From there, we proceeded to a gelato shop, where some of us bought 95% fat-free dessert, and then went on for more desserts at an eatery which served Hong Kong delicacies. I had a bowl of delicious black sesame paste. *yummy*

But I was really tired by the time I finished the last scoop of my dessert. I had worked until past midnight the previous working day, and I only slept for about four hours before going on my 20-km run earlier in the morning. So I started nodding off at the table. I think the others found it quite amusing that I was falling asleep :)

Anyway, I took the MRT back home, arriving at 5.30 pm. I wanted to hop into bed and catch a quick eye-shut...but then decided to blog first ;)

A short CBD Run

Went for the CBD run today. Shiok like anything even though we only ran a short distance. I ran with my footpod for the first time in months (battery ran out), and it clocked 7.7 km. The route is as shown below:



The early bird group departed from the start point at 7 am promptly, while the second and later group left at 7.10 am. Great turnout today, including Tiwazz, Balasing, Novaflux, Meteor, Charlotte, Kickjazz, Nemo, Aichai, Ronnie, SportVenturer, Ironmandreamer, Cokiee, sxuanjing, Superboy, Teelee, Roentgen, AngelicaWonder, Don, Reneta, Cosmic_wind, Zqang, Kay, Run3, Shut, fennel, Divey, mightyjoe, Charmane, Alecchua, cfred and many more!

During the run, I bumped into Rona, a classmate of mine from RI who's now working at GIC. He had dinner with his girlfriend, and was on his way back to work. We only chatted very briefly at the traffic light, and then I was off, chasing the dirt left behind by mightyjoe, Ironmandreamer, Cosmic_Wind and Teelee.

After our run, we celebrated Charlotte's birthday with two chocolate cakes. :) cfred also make some konnyaku, which was very delicious :) Shut, Ronnie and SV also helped to give out some of the Penang snacks which we had bought. And so we ate, and drank our isotonic drinks, and those of us who were still hungry walked over to Maxwell Market for a late dinner. =) Philip joined us there, and we talked about weight control. *grin* I'm trying to see if I can meet my objective of cutting my body-fat percentage down to 9%.

ALERT: Temporary SgRunners Forum

Click here for the temporary SgRunners forum which TLR has set up in the interim.

For me, this temp forum brings back many memories, because it reminds me of the first version of the SgRunners forum before we moved into the new site (which has now been hacked by someone and may take a while before we get control of the site back).

Anyway, SAFRA Mt Faber pool undergoes maintenance every Tuesday from 9-11 am, which means if I leave the house now, I should get there just in time. I'm so thankful that I've been on leave the past few days. I feel rested (hmm...not quite, considering I did a 22.3 km race on Sunday) and recharged. I even had time to clean up my room a bit. :)

I'll meet some of you guys at the CBD Run later.