CNY SGRunners 4-Hill Run

I joined the SGRunners for a 4-hill run this morning. I was so tired from my CNY openhouse yesterday that I skipped dinner and hit the bed by 10pm. Technically I should be fully recharged for the run this morning. Well, sort of. I definitely had enough sleep, but not enough carbs to last the 24ish km of hills and slopes.

We gathered at the NUS Kent Ridge Guild House at 7am, but only started the run at 730am. Anthony briefed us on the route and said it might be longer with 5 hills that covered 26-27km. Oops. I had only 1 powergel with me, and I was trying to wean off the Endurance drink and gels. A couple of MF runners came for the run too - Julie, TH, Colleen, and Jason. Roslyn, whom I had not seen since last SCSM 2007, was there with Jancy and Vincent. Eddie, Alvin, Jin Ye, JD and Sumiko came for the run too. Alvin had conned JD into showing up by telling him it was only 13-15km, and made the rest of us keep quiet. That was a 50% discount from the truth. Haha.

Anthony assured us that the run would be a slow leisurely one. It was anything but that. The SGRunners were all very fast. Perhaps well-loaded from CNY delicacies.

Hill 1 - Vigilante Drive
The 1st hill we tackled was Vigilante Dr, off S. Buona Vista. I had only hiked up that killer slope before. Midway up the hill, I strolled along with Eddie. Still undecided how hard to run today since HK Marathon was only 1 week away. We went for a loop in KR Park and out to the toilet for a water break. There was a army tanker on display and we posed for a group shot.

Hill 2 - Labrador Park
Next, we ran along the wooden canopy walkway to Bt Chandu. There was a flight of steps to the right of the canopy exit leading down to the new NParks Horticultural Park near Cantebury/ Alexandra. Eddie, Alvin etc went down the usual Pepys Road to Pasir Panjang. They had to go off early. The rest of the group walked down the steps and ran along a series of zig-zag winding paths to reach the Hort Park. From there we headed to Labrador Park. The weekend crowd was out at the Prata eatery and the teh-tarik looked very tempting. We went up the slope into the park and made a left towards the Dragon Tooth. It was a section new to me. Our MF runners normally turned right and did circuits around the 800m loop. After waiting some time, Anthony brought a group of female runners to the rest point. They had gone to run the entire park loop. The group took another photo at the Dragon Tooth. We were only 1h plus into the run, but I was beginning to feel tired. Maybe the pace of the runners was too hard for me. I tried to restore my own pace, staying right at the back of the pack.

Hill 3 - Mt Faber
We headed up MF via Morse Road. I was considering not going up MF loop, but in the end I followed the rest of the runners. Bad choice. I ran up Morse Road but walked half of MF loop to its peak. We stopped at the toilet for a break. I was feeling so low sugar, but I tried to resist taking the power gel, wanting to see how long plain water would sustain my run. I was drinking a lot of water today, much more than my usual consumption. We went down the steep slope at Kg Bahru and towards Safra clubhouse. Where possible, I tried to go in a zig-zag manner to reduce the strain on the legs. I could feel a slight pull at the side of my bums, possibly the ITB position. Shoots... Anyway, I felt so low that I walked back Telok Blangah Rise. Geez. I told David and Anthony that I would skip Telok Blangah hills and head back to NUS.

Struggle Back
I stopped at the clubhouse for a refill. No idea why I felt so horrid. Perhaps it was the lack of carbs over the past few days. CNY gatherings were full of heaty, fried/ baked fatty stuff, but not much carbs. Finally I peeled open my powergel and took a big gulp. Jason ran back to NUS with me in case I fainted! (Thanks!) Well, I didn't think that I would faint, but I probably would have taken a lot more walk breaks if I ran alone. I was simply counting the minutes and seconds to reach NUS. The powergel kicked in briefly, there was caffeine, and I managed to go on decently to Portsdown Road. There we crossed over to Science Park and down PGP. Jason turned out at Heng Mui Keng to jog home. I went along the final upslope towards Guild House. Finally! I was immensely happy that the run was over. Total run-walk time was about 2:30-2:40h. Enough to burn off many many tarts and cakes.

After a nice shower at the Guild House, we had lunch at the F'armosa chinese noodle house next to the Fong Seng prata row. This was the same shop that used to be at Ginza Plaza, serving decent homemade noodles, dumplings, steamed xiao long baos etc. Sat at a table with Julie, TH and Colleen, and exchanged some gossip in between slurps of noodles. Colleen was hungry but had no appetite. TH kept asking her to add vinegar because he claimed the sourness would whet her appetite. Julie and I looked quizzedly at each other and wondered about that claim. :) The handmade noodles came in a huge bowl, but I was so famished, I gobbled up every last strand of the noodles.