To The Zoo, To The Zoo

We had our final AniMILES run this morning, ahead of the AHM next Sunday. We had planned to do a LSD run of 27km from LPR all the way to the Zoo entrance and back. When we met up at the usual start point, Vivian advised that we could turn into Seletar Reservoir from Upper Thomson Road, and then exit to the Mandai Crematorium area, for an extra 1km to make the run 28km. Freddy joined in the run for the first time, and he was the earliest, having paid $20+ for a cab...now thats dedication :). By 5.15am, Cheow12, DO, RealRunner, Bug, Fennel, mwengrof, Freddy, notme and myself had gathered. The AniMILES led by Vivian and Ironman Lieu started off first, including notme and mwengrof. When Brokie came at 5.30am (.dot.dot.dot), our SgRunners group started off too.

As promised, it was an easy chit-chat pace along OUTR. We talked a bit about NBRR tomorrow, as well as marathon training around the Reservoir area after we complete AHM next week. Some of us were also keen to do the MR25 30km Progressive Run in the first week of Sept. As we exited OUTR, we saw Gentle sitting on the curb already waiting for us. Hmm, we didn't see doraemon...she might be doing her own ninja this morning....hee. We ran at an easy pace allowing us to talk talk along Upper Thomson Road. Very soon, we turned into the track leading to Seletar Reservoir...ahh, I haven't gone that way for some time, and it was good to revisit the place. The air was crisp and cool along that stretch. Some of us took a mini break at the toilets, while the rest proceeded on. We passed the mini Towers, and then headed out along the road to the Crematorium, where we kept to a single file because of the narrower lane. Bug and RR were leading the way, and when we reached the bridge at the entrance to the Crematorium, the distance was approximated at 9.5km-10km. The time showed 56min..hmm, possible, because we normally reached that point at about 45min if we run by the normal route. From there Bug, RR, DO and Cheow moved ahead along Mandai Road, with me and Freddy following behind. Gentle, fennel and Brokie were just behind. I was explaining to Freddy the various distance markers and the route, and we soon reached the road leading into the zoo (24km U-turn point) in 1hr14min. We would normally have reached that point in 1hr or less if we were running a faster pace.

We joined the rest to turn left towards the Zoo entrance. It was good revisting this 3km to/fro stretch, as the slopes presented at that point of the run does require some 'mental' effort to go through. Vivian was explaining that they would do twice that to/fro stretch for a 30km run...hmm, really challenging. I took my mini Snickers bar at that point to refuel, and Freddy mentioned he would be taking his PowerGel soon as well. I reached the Zoo entrance in 1:22hr, with the front runners about 200m in front. On the way out, we saw Gentle, fennel and Brokie, the 3 musketeers..hehe... reaching the Zoo entrance. They were not too far away from us. Great! On the way out, I picked up speed a little to close the gap with the front runners, and along Maindai Road, I ran with Bug for a good distance at a 4:49min/km pace (according to Bug's Polar) till we reached the Crematorium area. At that point, we estimated we covered 18-19km. We turned right back into Seletar Reservoir, along the same way we came from. We maintained a steady pace of about 5:15min/km along that stretch all the way to the toilet point, where we refilled for the final stretch back. Without pausing for too long, we made our way out to UTR, and then back to OUTR. The pace was still about 5:15min/km, and by the time we cleared the small slope up OUTR, we increased pace to 5min/km.

As we passed the gate into UPR, a familiar voice shouted my name..heh, it was Kops21. He was having his own ninja run with Hee Shen, and was just exiting from UPR into OUTR. We said 'Hi' and I proceeded to finish off the remaining 2km+. We (Bug, RR, DO, Freddy, Cheow, Dream) completed the 28km run in 2hr33min. Brokie did 24km, fennel and mwengrof 21km, and Gentle about 20km. Real good run for all, especially those like Brokie, Cheow, fennel who have to reserve some energy for their NBRR the next day...kudos to their commitment and dedication for AHM and SCSM training. A check with Anna indicated that we could have covered more than 28km, possibly closer to 29km...ah well. I passed the AHM race pack to Brokie, and we enjoyed a good laugh about the 'special' magazine included in the pack.

I downed a small pack of Magnolia choco milk for recovery, and Bug too got himself a HL choco milk. It really does work for me, this choco milk :). Later at breakfast, we saw doraemon and SV who were already refuelling at the breakfast table with Gentle. Doraemon actually overslept, and did her own ninja training as suspected...and was dedicated enough to the AniMILES area to go down for breakfast, jio-ing SV along...waah! We had a 1hr long chit-chat over a hearty brekky, before breaking up for some of them to go down to collect their AHM race pack. Everyone was happy with their run this morning, and some of us suggested to extend the Demoralizing Run route all the way to Fort Road and back for a good SCSM Marathon training plan.. hmm, sounds interesting and exciting? foot for thought?

Distance Ran: 28km__Time Taken: 1hr33min__Pace: 5:28min/km