A Very Early Morning April Fool Run

I did a very enjoyable run this saturday morning with the animiles group, comprising mainly triatheletes from the triathlon family and also elite and very fast runners like Vivian Tang, Anna, Pauline, Lua Choon Huat. At the invitation of Steven Chan (SC5), me and the group of SgRunners joined this run which starts every Saturday at 5.30am. It is definitely one of the earliest weekend training runs I've done...haha. Woke up at 4.15am, picked DO up at 4.50am, and both of us arrived at 5.05am to the start point at Lower Pierce Reservoir. We were almost the earliest to arrive, with Cokiee just behind. Soon the rest of the cars came streaming in, and it didn't seem like it was so early anymore, as we were such a big group. Brokie, Kelly, Bee, Cosmic, run3, Ken, choonwei (cw), Gentle, RealRunner (RR) arrived soon. We had some nice introductions by SC5 to the animiles runners, notably notme (yew), Arlene (a 68yo gal who is so trim and fit...whoa), anna, bleudauphin, Vivian, Alan, and many more.

SC5 gave a brief of the 24km route (Lower Peirce->Upper Peirce->Old Upper Thomson Rd->Upper Thomson Road->Sembawang Rd->Mandai Ave->Mandai Rd->junction to the zoo->U-turn and back the same way) before calling for a start to the run at 5.30am sharp. Before we even could get our engines cranked up, the animiles burst to the front...whoa...very fast pace they ran. Brokie and Gentle had started off 5min earlier. The group of SgRunners run3, Bee, DO, RR, Kelly, bleu, Cokiee and myself were getting warmed up at the back. I had a nice chat with RR and we talked a bit about the Sunday's MR25 TT and the upcoming Phuket Marathon where we will be going in June. The morning air was cool and fresh as we headed into OUTR. Once out of OUTR, we ran mostly on the fringe of the road along UTR. After about 5km when our engines were warmed up, RR and DO pushed ahead, and I followed suit. The pace was comfortable, maybe 5:30min/km. We bumped into Brokie & Gentle along the way. As we ran along Sembawang Road (we did not turn into Mandai Rd, which I used to do with SAFRA MF), there was a slight smooth slope where we could see many runners ahead. The morning was still very quiet and cool, though more vehicles were beginning to zoom by.

Soon it was just RR, DO, Cosmic and myself running as a group as we approached Mandai Rd. RR was maintaining a nice pace. When I saw RR taking his breakfast on the run, I took out my mini Snickers bar. It was the first solid food I had since I woke up. Took some water from my fuel belt (there were no water points along this whole route at all) to flush it down...ahhh, could feel the energy getting to my body...hehe. Soon we saw the frontrunners coming back on the return; VT, LCH leading (heard they ran all the way to the zoo and back...wow!) then SC5, cw, yew, and a few others. I finally reached the junction to to zoo, and turned back along with RR, DO and cosmic. We ran the return leg a tad faster, with RR setting a good pace. I just followed from about 25-50m of RR and started to look around at the emerging sunrise around. It was serene and calm, and I could almost feel like I was getting into the 'zone'...haha. When I recovered from those mini trances, I would find RR further ahead. I would then play catch up to close the gap. I was feeling great, breathing smooth, not feeling any tiredness in the legs. I could see more runners from the animiles running past us, in the direction of the zoo. RR's pace increased a little as we ran back onto UTR. After passing a few runners, I soon saw the behind of yew, who was running strong and looking very much like the ironman he is. RR's pace was increasing slowly, and soon he passed yew. I followed suit, and yew informed that we had about 5km+ to go. I was feeling good on what was a 5min/km pace to me. The last part of the run was nice as we ran back onto OUTR. There were many groups of cyclists who were just starting their regular long saturday rides. As I neared Causuarina area, I passed Brokie and after a small exchange, I made my way to the finish point. I checked my watch and found that I could still make a sub-2hr time...so I increased pace to catch RR. The stretch was longer than I thought...haha...and finally reached the end point to a welcome by Bee, Kelly and the rest who had finished their runs earlier. Checked my time and it was 2hr2min...just outside of 2hr...good, will set a sub-2hr goal for this route the next time...hehe.

As Brokie, DO, run3, cosmic and the rest came in, we welcomed them with some fun applause and cheers. Took some nice photos with our new friends from animiles, and had good conversations with many of them. After our wash-up, some of us (including James and SV which did their own ninja runs from home) joined the animiles group at Sembawang Hawker Centre for some good brekky and kopi. I thoroughly enjoyed the run, the nice weather and the friendliness of the company. I did not feel a tinge of tiredness in my legs, and I was joking with DO that we could go for another long run the next day. It could be due to the nice pace we ran without any stoppages. SC5 shared with us the benefits of using Endurox for recovery after long runs. I am keen to get the product and try that for my future long runs. I look forward to another occasion where I could do another run with this group, maybe goining all the way into the zoo and back. Thanks to SC5 and his animiles friends for making this a nice run for all of us.

Distance Ran:24km ___Time:2hr02min____Pace:5:05min/km
Average HR:N/A____Max HR:N/A____KCal:1,500KCal est.