From MacRitchie To Seletar Reservoir & Back

This Sunday morning was to be full of running activities. There was the MR25 X-Country Marathon. I had been thinking for a fleeting moment whether or not to join the Marathon, but decided against it in the end. I had not even ran my first road marathon, not to mention a X-Country one. Also, this one involved 4 loops around the MR Northern Route, which I know will be very tough, if not monotonous.

I woke up early, and my wife was supposed to join me for our Sunday run with the MF Runners. However, she didn't feel too well upon waking, and I went ahead instead. I reached MR by 6.40am thinking I could get a sweet parking spot, but instead, was surprised to find the place jam-packed. I then realized that The Adventure Race had took the whole of carpark A. I had to make a loop back and finally parked at the lower car-park. There were a ton of people already about. I bumped into Eng Hwa at the car-park and she mentioned that Teen could not make it. Teen must have had such a fun workout to Sentosa yesterday that she cannot roll out of bed today for this run.HaHa. Well, she will not know what she missed without reading this report.

I saw the MR25 running group registering for the XC Marathon, and I went ahead and chatted with some of my running friends, Sukaimi aka The Lonely Runner, David Ong and also Aik Hock. They had all signed up and were talking about their preparations. They told me that of the 30+ runners who took part last year, only 9 completed the marathon. I went like 'Phew! Fortunately I was not going to take part". In fact David was only going to run 2-3 10km laps.

I then spotted Sock Hwa, Goola and Chairman, and went up to them. Sock Hwa mentioned she had taken part and completed in the previous 3 MR25 XC Marathons before. This year she is skipping it due to injury. Along came Lai Chee, showing us her battle-worn scars, the latest on her knee. This is one tough lady, going for the Marathon with a fresh wound like that. Wow! Then heh, along came Andre, our new MF Runner. This was the first time for Andre at MR, and he planned to run about 10+km. Very good determination, Andre. He reminds me of myself when I first started to run last year. Very dedicated, and always willing to join in for runs with different groups of people.

We finally started off our own run, and the plan was to run all the way to Seletar Reservoir, and back, making that about 25km. Along the way, there are places where people can turn back for shorter routes of 15-21km. Very flexible. We had a smaller group today of Chairman, Sok Hwa, Eng Hwa, Jimmy Tan, Hock Soon, Goola, Wong, Chairman, myself. I think thats it? Ahhh Jimmy Tan, he too had not joined us for MR runs for about 2-3mths. I remembered I last ran with Jimmy along the same route too. We headed towards the start of the Northern Route, passing the small wooden-planked bridge, and into the trails. The weather this morning was excellent, cloudy with no sun. We ran a good pace in the woods, and came out of it at the SICC road in about 21min, faster than in previous runs, where we normally exit here at about 23min. Chairman asked me to move on, and since I haven't broken a sweat yet, decided to run ahead and wait for the group at the first toilet. I ran up the slopes of the SICC road, then turned left along the golf course overlooking the reservoir, and then along the long stone bridge to the first toilet.

The group came after a while, and Andre was following behind, not too far off. Well done, Andre, keeping to that pace. Chairman said he will allow Andre to run to the main gate up ahead, and then for Andre to turn back. I think Andre did just that, and that would be about 15km, and by no means an easy route (trails & slopes inclusive). I think Andre would have lost another kg after today's run...hehe. The run along the road to the main gate leading to Old Upper Thomson Road (OUTR) was extremely pleasant today. It was like the air-con was on, and we were getting breezes of about 24-26deg. Jimmy Tan was calling it 'heaven'. All of us were very happy, and were enjoying the run very much.

We reached the main gate shortly. At this point, Wong, assumed the lead and turned left towards OUTR. I followed behind, and since the weather was good, Wong too picked up the pace. I merrily followed behind, and when we reached the end of OUTR, Wong turned back. I gestured to him that I was going ahead to Seletar Reservoir. I got onto Upper Thomson Road, and then towards the Executive Golf Course along Mandai. I looked back to check, and was happy to see the group was also going the same way. I remembered that Goola wanted to run all the way to Seletar Reservoir too. I ran along, passed the toilet at EGC and then towards Seletar Reservoir end. I ran along the longer, flater road towards carpark A. Derrick showed me this way the last time we were here. There was also a turn at carpark B towards the Tower, which I was thinking of trying maybe the next time. The route to and back will add another 4km of running. I took a short toilet break at the toilets at the Reservoir end, and took in the beautiful sight. There was a vast expanse of water, and many joggers and walkers were already about in that area. I waited for about 5min for the rest of the group, and when I didn't see any of them come up, I decided to run back and hopefully meet them.

Clicked my HRM and off I went. I had already ran 1hr13min, making it about 13km at this mid-point. I picked up pace a little hoping to catch up with the rest. When I went back to the toilet at EGC, I still didn't see any of them. I thought they might have turned back much earlier, and was a little surprised, since Goola normally will run longer than that. I continued on my way back along Upper Thomson Road, and then back to OUTR. At about this point, it started to drizzle. I was still feeling very good, and the rain gave me a good clean-up of my perspiration. In fact, till then, I had not even used the water I carried with me in my fuel belt. I just took water from the 2 toilet stops earlier. I was getting a little bored, since I have not seen the group for a good 1hr by now. I continued on faster, hoping to catch their backs. I reached the main gate again, and ran past it towards Lower Pierce Reservoir. I found it strange that I still have not seen the group. Could they have gone another way? I know Wong would have reached earlier, but I thought the rest shouldn't be that far off.

I continued on, and this stretch of the road always will have the cyclists coming up. There were not many cars along here today. I continued, and finally reached the Casuarina estate. The rain had just stopped, and the sun came up. I had a good drying up. Wet clothes always give me chaffing. I ran even faster here, hoping to catch the group maybe at the toilet up ahead. Reached there, no luck. Nobody there; I took a quick drink, did a little stretching, and off I went for the final 4km+ back to MR. I felt strong at this stretch, and the pace wasn't exactly blistering. There was no one to pace me, and I was just taking it leisurely. Within what felt like a short time only, I was at The Little Sisters Of The Poor building; turned into the woonden-planked bridge, and headed back to where we started at the MR toilet.

When I recahed back, I still didn't see our MF Runners. I did see David Ong, and we had a short chat, He just did 2 rounds of the XC Marathon, and had to go bring his kids for an outing. It was a good workout for him. He also mentioned that Sukaimi is in the top 5, and maybe could get into the top 3. Good for him, Sukaimi. I hope he wins something again. I then spotted Wong, and later Chairman and Jimmy. Andre and Chairman had already bathed and changed. They then told me that Goola and the rest probably went to CarPark B Tower at Seletar Reservoir, and when I came down, they were still up there. That explained why I couldn't see them at all. They were still not back from the run. I had to go for another appointment, and could not wait and join the group for carbo-loading and breakfast. As I was leaving in my car, Jimmy said this was the best weather he had experienced at MacRitchie. I agreed totally, and we all went back very satisfied with the run.

Distance Ran:25km XC___Time:2hr17min____Pace:5:29min/km
Average HR:152bpm___Max HR:168bpm___KCal:1720KCal