I woke up at 630am to the smattering rain, my incessant alarm, and the beeping of sms-es from friends alerting me to the wet weather in various places. It's great to have equally enthusiastic friends scattered across the island who wake up early to check the weather for runs. Ronnie and I had planned to do a long run around Macritchie-Mandai, but we were not keen to do so in a mud bath. Since it was still drizzling, I decided to crawl back under my silk blanket. An hour later, the sky still looked unhappy. We scrapped the Macritchie plan and headed to Safra for a road run. I saw KK's car in the carpark and was pleasantly surprised he came to run in the rain.
We readied ourselves and hung around the lobby until the rain ceased at 9am. We followed the Sunday route - Club, South Buona Vista, NUS, Kent Ridge Park, Labrador Park, Mt Faber and back via Kg Bahru. It was a cool drizzly morning when we set off, Ronnie fast disappearing out of sight. It was comforting to go up the winding South Buona Vista road, it was like home-coming. I lived in the NUS area for the past 20 years, and that was my oft-trained route. I knew almost every nook and turning of the routes around there. So much so that I almost ran on and missed the turn back onto campus. Like a pigeon's homing device! It was almost 10am, and campus grounds were damp from the morning showers. Hostelites and students began to stream onto the soccer fields and tennis courts for their trainings. Ah, the beauty of running, anytime, anywhere, anyone.
There were many slopes today (all the above named), and it was challenging to tackle them so soon after the MR run last Sunday. Kent Ridge Park was pleasant and cool. There were some groups and families strolling with umbrellas, a dog rolling on the grass soaking up the dew, and an uncle practising his Taiji, accompanied by many birds chirping in the overhead trees. I did an extra loop in KR Park. On the way out of KR Park, I realised that I'd not explored any of the marked mountain bike or walking trails, and made a mental note to do so one day. The wooden walkway leading out to Pasir Panjang road reminded me of the overnight trek earlier this year when I was training for Mustagh. At 430am, we had rested at one of the benches on the walkway overlooking the canopy below. Glad to be relieved of our heavy backpacks, we laid staring at the stars above and foilage below, nearly falling asleep in the still of the night.
Next up was Labrador Park. Traffic was building by now and the sun was slowly breaking through the cloud cover. I passed the breakfast prata crowd near the entrance of the park, and was distracted by their creamy frothy teh-tariks. I stopped at the water-cooler for some sips and headed for an extra 2 rounds on the flat loop. The prime waterfront real estate was abound with activities - families having picnics, middle-aged couples holding hands on strolls, people meditating on the benches or fishing, children laughing merrily chasing one another in the fields. A little 2-yr old girl blew soap bubbles at me as her proud daddy watched from the sides. I slowed down along the waterfront, enjoying the calm lapping waves.
The last stretch back to MF was both a delight and pain. Delight in knowing that the finishing was near, but only after clearing the painful MF slope. Time check, about 2:20h. I had no idea how much I ran or the pace. I went on the basis that a run >3h would be at least 30km. I wore my Mizuno Elixir today (I was saving my Asics GT for the weekend's Powerman race), wanting to test the shoes on long distance. At the recent AHM, I almost had foot cramp and I wondered if it was me or the shoes. But so far so good, my Elixir were holding up well. I caught my reflection in a bus-stop billboard and tried to analyse my running form/ posture.
When I returned to Safra, Ronnie had already been back for an hour. Oops. On long runs, the gap between fast and slow runners widened non-linearly. We chatted about the distance covered and the route. I guess morning long runs in Singapore could be rather charming in little ways, we just have to open our eyes and minds to them. :)
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