Tis the season to be jolly...

Woke up to fine weather on Christmas Eve, and headed down to SAFRA MF for the first LSD in the training program after SCSM. My plan was just to do about 24km, skipping the mf hill portion, and taking this as a post-massage run. A smallish turnout of about 15 runners...most of them must be in a festive mood, and some were already at Ricci's house to prepare for Christmas Lunch :)

My legs felt a lot 'loose' after that massage on Friday evening. I took it easy for the first stretch along Depot Road, Queenstown and railway track. I ran mainly with Lai Chee and Fennel, as they were not too familiar with the route. We picked up speed as we went along Dover Road, passing Wong and Phei Sunn on the way. I chatted with Lai Chee as we took the Ulu Pandan Canal stretch, as she recalled how she used to train with SAFRA along that area many moons ago. Many people were out along the canal, prepping themselves for some big feasts in the days ahead :).

We were joined by small chau and Fennel at Buona Buona Vista MRT, and together with Wong and PS, we headed all the way along Commonwealth, turning into Alexandra Road, and then towards Harbourfront. Fennel, LC, Chua took a break at the petrol kiosk near Morse Road, while I ran all the way back along Kampong Bahru way. I decided not to do the hills today, so as to give my 'legs' less stress. As instructed by the 'therapist', I made a conscious effort to use my large muscles (read butt...haha) to lift my legs...it felt good. I finished the 23km in immaculate weather taking about 2hr5min. At the ClubHouse, I had a discussion with trainer Ong about the my 'massage' experience and the merits of stretching and developing core muscles.

I was impressed by Jimmy Chow's account of how he developed knee injury, and how he was cured by having needles inserted into his knees to draw of bad fluids or 'lactic acid built up over the years'....hmm, I had that same treatment done by a TCM sinseh when I got ITBS a year ago...wow, theory is similar, treatment too. JC now takes care to stretch religiously...I think I will have to start doing more stretching before and after runs, to clear lactic...in fact, I proposed to trainer Ong to invite Chairman to be the stretching specialist, and offer his stretching sessions for all the runners after runs...hehe. We were greeted by the cheery smiles of Divey, xsuanjing and SAFRA Tampines runners who had finished their wash-up after a run in the MF area...hmm, good news from Divey that the S.H.E. gals (Divey, xsuanjing, Bee) will be at MacRitchie next week to give some support to the MR25 Ultra-marathoners...looking forward to that run, as many SgRunners and some SAFRA MF runners will be joining in the fun to usher in the New Year..

Distance: 23km__Time: 2hr5min__Pace: 5:26min/km

Here's wishing all runners:

A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2007