I went to the run without expectations nor preparations. I would play by ear and run based on how I felt. Participants who ran 5 loops (50km) would get a finisher tee and a certificate. At the minimum, I should do 3 loops to justify my waking up early in the morning for the event. The night before, I had prepared some chocolates, powerbars, powergels, extra Endurance drink, muscle rub, plasters and so forth and packed them neatly into a plastic box. I also chilled a cooler tub of ice water for the event. Both were labelled with my name.I started off the run with Eddie, Alber, Melvin and Chin KK. The guys soon ran ahead, while I stuck to my easy relaxed pace. It felt great to do a no-time pressure run, I had not felt so relaxed for some time. I met Michael (Ong) in the trail and we ran together for some distance. The first lap was over in about 1:16h, but my shoes were giving me problems. I chose to wear my North Face Endurus GTX trail shoes today and had taped potential hotspots on both feet. Nonetheless, new abrasion areas surfaced and I stopped to add more tape. After getting a drink, I set off on the 2nd lap. Again, Eddie and Alber ran ahead and I happily kept my trot-along pace. At the end of the lap, I had to adjust my shoes again. There were abrasions at the back of my left ankle. Only after the 3rd lap did I manage to get my shoes fixed comfortably. It was almost 5h and I had only ran 30km. Gosh! I was clocking about 1.5h per loop. Incredibly slow. The extra time was spent refueling at the main carpark station. Somewhere along the trail, a monitor lizard laid in my path before lumbering off lazily, a monkey threatened to snatch my water bottle, and children almost knocked into me. I really needed the extra spice to an already challenging run...
I ate some kit kat bars, remixed my Endurance drink and pushed through the 4th and 5th loops. Wee Hou (Principal) was running around my pace. He seemed to be going strong, and was all prepared with a water bag that he started using on the 4th lap. After the 5th lap, I stopped for some food. I was beginning to feel hungry. In the last 8h, I had only 3 kit kats, 2 Gu Gels and 2 bottles of Endurance drink. There were chicken pies at the refuel table, complete with longans, mini-tangerines and bananas. I was still feeling strong and my legs were ok. I did a quick mental calculation and figured that there was enough time to do 2 more loops if nothing went wrong. Not wanting to pin my hopes too high, I gamely mixed a new iced bottle of Nuun drink and set off on Loop 6. The cold Nuun lemon-lime flavour was a rehydrating (sodium) drink and tasted very refreshing. I met another runner in the trails who was also on his 6th set. We cheered each other on and agreed that we could try for the 7th lap later. As time was tight, I mentally rehearsed the food and drink I would need to grab before starting the last loop.
A number of familiar faces - Chin, Benny, Henry and some others - were at the finishing point when I came back from the 6th loop. I got Alber's help to top up my Nuun drink while I took a Powergel enroute to the washroom. I had about 1:50h for the last set, which should suffice if I maintained the 1:30h timing. Fingers-crossed, I ran off, feeling energized by the Powergel. I think the Gu Gels I took gave a nice base of carbos without energy swings, whereas Powergels provided the "high" and kick to turbo charge but energy would dip after the effects wore off.
The guy I met in the trail had already gone ahead. In the midst of the Northern Trail section, the sky rumbled and starting drizzling. I prayed that the rain would hold off until I completed the run. I felt the onset of cramps in the quads and deliberately slowed my steps and not dash downslopes. There were only a few participants in the trail by now, each silently willing his legs to take the next step forward. I forced myself to run through the Lornie Road stretch and spotted Wee Hou a distance ahead of me. Soon the end was in sight and all the runners made an extra effort for a strong finish. Within 5min of completing the run, the skies opened up and poured heavily. High from the run, I headed home for a much needed rest and decent food.
Now as I am washed and comfortably seated at home, I could feel all the sores and aches in my legs amplified. I felt perpetually hungry, but was happy that the run had burnt off all the xmas feastings. The MR route seemed simpler than the USA trail marathon I did - where the slopes were much steeper and terrain more varied - but I was slower today perhaps from the hot weather. On my 7th round, I motivated myself by comparing the run to a climb and visualizing that it was only a short distance to 'basecamp' aka end point. I had a cramp-free run, but as I looked ahead to the Sundown 84km next year, it would not be as comfortable. The trails offered a nice cushion and variation in strides, whereas the tarmac road was a repetitive motion on the same muscles.
7 laps. 70km. 11:48h. It was a personal record for me! I had never clocked such a distance, nor expected to do so today. It was definitely a wonderful closure to the running year 2007, already a year of many firsts. The run today was the icing on the cake. :)
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