SgRunners' 3rd Demoralizing Run

SgRunners @ Changi Beach Point (Start Of 3rd Demoralizing Run)

It was a cool morning...seemed like it rained for a couple of hours in the night. I took cereal, a banana and the usual coffee before moving off to Changi Beach Point with DO to meet the SgRunners. By 7am, nearly 30 runners had turned up. Ultraman brought lots of 100plus and bananas; Doraemon brought some very delicious jelly (not sure what the sexy name is...hehe); acleong brought a carton of 100plus; and of course the famous Brokie's Barley was there, along with some cut cucumber for 'cooling off' after the run.

My plan was to do a nice LSD, and finish the run in 3hours, hopefully covering 30km at least. We took our customary group photo, and after Sotong gave a detailed brief of the route and various points to turn back, we started off with a slow warm up towards the 'back' direction. The run along Changi Beach Park was cool and nice, and I was sharing with run3 how we did our first run along that path at last year's Ghost Run. That was where we met Ripley and teelee for the first time. How time flies. I was running along with Ultra and DO for a bit, enjoying the nice sunrise. The clouds were providing a good shade. Soon Ultra and DO moved ahead, and I was happy to run alongside mightyjoe and chatting about training for marathons and long runs, as well as his experiences in triathlon events. We caught up with doraemon and tktan...wow, they were running a steady 6min/km pace. Along the way, we spotted Elangovan, Donald Ng, and another MR25 runner doing a break-neck speed in the opposite direction to us. We turned left from Changi Coast Road into NSRCC. That was the first time I've run that path...nice. From there, we hit East Coast Parkway, and I could see some of the SgRunners in front. Broke away from joe and moved up to have a short chat with cfred, before moving up further to run with Ultra. Ultra was checking how much more before we hit the U-turn point. Along this stretch, I met many familiar faces doing their ninja training...Mike Kang from SAFRA, bleudauphin from Animiles, VRP gals Roo and Bambi. We exchanged greetings as we run past one another...it was nice to see so many familiar faces doing their Sunday ninjas :)

Ultra and I ran past the F2 carpark, then Bedok Jetty, and finally spotted RealRunner at the Bicycle Shop near the food centre. He had turned back at the Cable Ski area, and was taking a drinks break. We said hello, before turning back to F2 carpark toilets to take a water break. Brokie and acleong have reached that point too. Run3 came along, and I gestured her to run ahead and turn back at the Bicycle Station for a approx. 30km distance. I took my Gu Gel (Strawberry flavour...not too nice, choco is better), refuelled and asked Ultra to move ahead to catch up with RealRunner, Brokie and acleong. After waiting for a short while, I saw doraemon and tktan coming, and told them to run ahead to the Bicycle Kiosk too. I didn't see run3 on the return...so i moved on to catch up with Ultra and the rest. After about 1km, the group had gathered around tekko, mrs tekko, VRP gals. Tekko was in his 'pai kar' bandage, and was nice to bring ice-cold 100plus to support the runners. I had a chat with them, before proceeding along. Saw kickjazz and Roentgen running towards the Jetty, and gestured that they had 1km more. They looked like they only started to run...dang cool sia...haha. I ran further up to Brokie, and could see she was running a very steady pace. She mentioned she wanted to complete in good form...well done. acleong was moving along steadily as well.

As I ran out from NSRCC back to Changi Coast Road, met up with Ultra again. We motivated each other by saying there was only 10km more. I could see fennel in front doing her run-walk routine? That was the start of the long and demoralizing run back, as I was doing it alone. The road was just so straight. I had taken 2hr02min till that point. Along the way, I must have looked at my watch at least 3 times...it was that boring. Time passed pretty slowly. Lots of cyclists were moving past, and I was careful not to drift away too much, lest I mis-step or run too much out onto the road. I was thinking that must have been more demoralizing than the ECP stretch at SCSM05. At least there were people to watch at SCSM05. I tried to focus on my form, and could feel some tightness in my left hamstring....too much of the flat road, and using the same muscle set? I concentrated on lifting my legs, and working my quads. After what seemed like eternity, I finally saw the end to the coastal road. The shade from the trees were gone, and the sun was beating down furiously. I must have been pretty tired...Mythos waved at me, I waved back, but didn't recognize him...till I saw Jennifery behind him...hehe. I finally turned into Changi Beach Park, and the shade from the trees were a welcomed relief...albeit not for too long. Saw Ripley and ecouraged her to finish the remaining 2km. My mind was counting down the metres as the sun beat down.

I saw someone in yellow, and when I got close, I realized it was Rim. He looked tired, but must have been glad it was almost done. Good effort from Rim, who has only just started to do such long runs recently. I ran onto the pavement, and finally finished back at Carpark No. 2 in 2hr55min. The earlier group(s) had returned...Sotong, Bee, FBB, cfred, DO, teelee, RealRunner, SassyRunner, MightyJoe, Dasher, joao_li, Ronnie. I did a walk about to cool off, left my stopwatch running. Brokie finished strong in 3hr05min...wow, her longest distance yet with a respectable timing....her 42km should be a breeze. The rest of Ultra, Run3 and Fennel returned shortly, followed by a very strong looking doraemon...nice photo-shots by Sotong. We had very nice barley, jello, and lots of 100plus....thanks to all the kind sponsors..*thumbs up*. There was more than enough for everybody, and lots of 100plus were left to be kept by Sotong for the 'Reverse Demoralizing Run' :). The pair of Roentgen and KickJazz finished in such fine style that they looked like they ran only 10km, despite having done 28km...must be their 'run-walk' strategy *kudos*.

A happy group after the 'Demoralizing' run and refreshments

More group photos, and we proceeded on to Changi Food centre to have the famous Herbal Beef Noodles...more chats about the morning's events. Met Thomas (from SAFRA MF) who was having lunch with his family. Mythos and Jennifery were also spotted there taking their lunch break. When I left with DO and Brokie at about 1pm, the large group of SgRunners continued their chats and makan. A satisfying run and workout for many of them....some like doaremon and Brokie even said it was easier than the 2nd Demoralizing Run...wowee. I could see that all were very strong and high, and would have no problems conquering SCSM06...hmm, time to up the ante to 32km and 35km runs :))

Distance: 30km__Time: 2hr55min__Pace: 5:50min/km