A good MacRitchie Reservoir Run

Went for an early morning run at MacRitchie Reservoir today with some of the SgRunners - Meteor, Freddy, Babumouse, Roonz, Loneshark, Brokie, Vincent, Cosmic and Cokiee. The plan was to do a slow, relaxed 20-km recovery run. There were also other SgRunners gathered there today, including DO, Dream, Ultra, Bug, Alvo, RealRunner, Sumiko and Ronnie. They were taking part in the 30-km MR Progressive Run. At 7 am sharp, the MRPR folks took off, while the rest of us waited a little while more before starting. Babumouse forgot to bring his running vest, so he had to run bare-bodied. Must have attracted quite a few girls, heh heh...

The weather was good and cool, and we got off to a great start along the MacRitchie Nature Trail. I chugged along steadily behind the front runner, Loneshark, keeping to a 5 min 30 sec/km - 6 min/km pace. It took me about 10 mins to get used to the terrain. After about 20 mins, we emerged at the road leading to the Singapore Island Golf Course. Some excellent slopes here, which gave us a really good workout. At the end of the road, we continued onto the grass and jogged across the lovely greens.

We eventually ran until Lower Peirce Reservoir, and crossed paths with the MRPR folks. Loneshark indicated that Babumouse, Cosmic and I should move on while he waited for Brokie, Vincent and Cokiee outside the reservoir toilet. And so, off the three of us went. Touched the metal gates at the end of the road, and U-turned back. But somehow, along the way, Babumouse and I lost sight of the other runners, and since we didn't know where to continue our run, we ended up loitering around the reservoir bridge for a good 10 mins. There, I saw a number of grasscutters at work, so I took a picture of them.

Then Brokie and Vincent appeared, and the four of us ran off together, back across the greens, up and down the slopes of the country club and then did a turn towards Rifle Range Road. It was just yellow-brown, sun-baked soil for the most part of this section of the route. And lots of slopes. And we even had to cross a tiny river. We eventually did reach Rifle Range Road, but I was too lazy to run the full length of it (5.3 km one-way). So at my suggestion, we just ran for about 200m uphill along Rifle Range Road (said "hi" to the monkeys which were grooming one another on the road), then U-turned and headed back.

I was getting quite tired by now, and had to intersperse my running with short bouts of jogging or walking. The four of us were already in the second hour of our run, and we had covered some (or should I say "only") 14 km, cross-country style. But despite the fatigue, somehow, we pushed on, up and down each crevassed slope. We then took a few turns, took a short breather at the Ranger Station and then ran through the "out of bounds" land-slide area and emerged where Sime Track intersected with Golf Link.

From there, we went onto Golf Link, going past Jelutong Tower, all the way until we hit Jering Trail (~19 km mark). By this time, I guess I must have gotten my second wind, because I began to feel energetic again, and was able to drive up my pace back to 5 min 30 sec/km. And steadily, I moved towards the end point, reaching there with a timing of 3 hours for a distance of 23.3 km.

Some of the MRPR folks had already finished their 30-km runs by the time I got there. *gasp* Because there was a Children's Cancer Foundation event on at MacRitchie Reservoir that same morning, there was a Milo Van on site, and we were free to help ourselves to the free-flow of tasty, ice-cold Milo. =)

Also saw the grey-haired uncle who is featured on the Standard Chartered Marathon advert. For someone who's aged 54, he is in excellent shape. He runs fast, and has two well-toned pecs and eight bulging abs to show. I wonder how he does it...

After the run, I sort of nuah-ed around the MR Toilet area, trying to cool down. Brokie brought out her home-made barley, and offered all of us a cup. Thanks, Brokie! You're the greatest! :) And the whole lot of us sat or stood around, sipping on Milo or 100 Plus, or munching on energy bars or bananas, and chatting about Manuka honey and triathlons.

I didn't join the folks for brunch though. I was supposed to go to Legolas' church at 11 am, but considering the time I took to run today and how I still needed to bathe and clean up, I had no option but to arrive at his church late...real late, as in, when I got there, they were almost at their final hymn for the day. :P But I managed to meet Legolas, and passed him his AHM certificate. Also met Lina, Sihui, Henry, Jacky, Ming-Chyuan and Jenny there. Had lunch with Legolas and Bee Him, and shopped around a games/toy shop at Anchorpoint before finally heading home for a good rest. :) Settlers of Catan and Blokus Triagon look very inviting! =)

Some other pics from today's run... (Cosmic and Ronnie respectively)