Mardi Gras Run

Woke up at 0650 hrs, and realised that the Mardi Gras Run (a play on words...Muddy Grass!) was supposed to commence at 0700 hrs. Figured that the others wouldn't wait for me to arrive before starting on their run, which meant that I wouldn't have any place to tumpang my bag. So I had to travel light...and play "catch-up" :P

Armed with my fuelbelt, two bottles of water, my handphone, some cash and my TransitLink card, I quickly got out of the house and took a bus down to the Thomson area. Got off at the bus-stop near the Old Upper Thomson Rd entrance at 0730 hrs, and started on my run. I was about 20 min behind the rest, and that translated to around 4 km (!).

Took me a while to reach Mandai Rd (~ 4.5 km). I knew I had to get onto Mandai Track, but I just couldn't find it. So I had to skip the Seletar stretch of the run. =( In the end, I arranged to meet the guys at Upper Pierce Reservoir instead. So I backtracked along Old Upper Thomson Rd until the gate to Upper Pierce Reservoir, where I bumped into the Mt Faber SAFRA runners doing their 10-km run.

From the gate, I ran over a couple of slopes to get to the Upper Pierce Reservoir carpark (~ 10 km, taking 1 hr). Shortly afterwards, the gang arrived - DreamRunner, RealRunner, Ronnie, Sealboon, Desmond, Brokie, Leh-lio girl, Stazla, Cokiee, Cheow, Gentle, Freddy, DO, Teelee, Superboy and TKtan. Their shoes were all muddy and wet from DreamRunner's special "secluded trail" route...hehheh...Talk about a Muddy Grass run...=)

Once we formed up, we went on to run along the golf course, and then did a right-turn into the "Yellow Brick" Road. Up and down, and up and down...and we eventually reached Rifle Range Rd - and saw all the monkeys. And then it was up and down, and up and down again, and getting nicely baked under the morning sun whenever there were gaps in the surrounding foliage.

At the opposite end of Rifle Range Rd, we took a right-turn to head towards the Bt Timah Nature Reserve Visitor Centre (~ 19 km in abt 2 hr 20 min). There, we stopped to hydrate and recover from the exertions. And then it was time to head back!

For me, it was a painfully slow run back towards Rifle Range Rd, and then the Yellow Brick Road. My breathing was okay, but my legs just couldn't move anymore. Must have "hit the wall". Got overtaken by most of the other runners by this time. But DreamRunner and Teelee were very helpful, keeping a watchful eye out for those who were lagging behind.

It was around 23 km when I transited from Rifle Range Rd to the Yellow Brick Road, and about 24.6 km when I finally emerged from the Yellow Brick Road onto the golf course.

I ended up walking with Leh-Lio girl for the remaining distance back to Lower Pierce Reservoir Carpark. We had a great chat :)

Total Distance: 28.2 km
Total Time: a whopping 4 hr 2 min (including rest breaks)

It's the longest distance that I've done all year! =) Hooray!

And now, I just feel like sleeping...