Inaugural 'Prata' Run

In preparation for The Sundown Marathon, there have been a series of runs mooted and planned for by like-minded running kakis who need good, long training runs as a group. The Prata Run was one such offering...started by who else, but Prata of SgRunners lah...haha.

It was to start on Friday night and have us running approximately 30km with 3 planned Prata pit-stops to actually eat Prata to refuel and run, simulating race night conditions :). It rained from 5pm, but still a sizeable group proceeded to the meeting point at MacRitchie ...Prata, DeepCruiser, GuguGaga, StarDust, SealBoon, RoadRunner, tohmin, xiaopang, babumouse were already there when I arrived at 7.30pm. Brokie, Vincent and PassionRunner came close to 8pm, and with a short brief by Prata, off we went.

The rain had stopped, and the cool night welcomed us. We moved along Thomson Road smoothly, and the speed was pretty fast for a start. We reached Casuarina Prata in 30min, and Deep had already placed orders for 4 prata kosong to be shared....that set the base for the next phase which was to be a much longer journey, all the way to Jalan Kayu. After the quick makan, drinks and photo shots, we were off along Upper Thomson Road, then turning right towards Seletar Camp.

I was with Prata, Passion and tohmin covering the rear....and even that was at a fast pace of about 5:30min/km. Passion seemed pretty strong and running quite fast....if she could slow down a little, she would be able to do very well over longer distances. tohmin was preparing for his 2nd Marathon, and was soaking in all the mileage he could get. Prata and I were just enjoying ourselves with conversations about Sundown and prata in general...hehe.

As we ran towards Orchid Country Club, I was following Deep and Seal from across the road. It was after a long time before we finally reached the end of Yishun Dam, for a RV....I ran past 2 ice-cream vans, and was tempted to stop to get some ice...but since the rest weren't with me, the interest waned after a while. From the Dam, we proceeded at very fast pace into Seletar Air Base, and then after 3-4km of fast running, we finally reached Jalan Kayu Prata stall. It was 10.35pm by then...missing our target by a full hour.

We had prata of many kinds....I took a Cheese Prata....even took a Blue concoction, which tasted like medicine...yucks! It was great fun to eat a whole Prata (some even had 2 pieces), drinking 100plus, Bandung, teh tarik, Blue Water, Lychee drink, and cracking jokes and chit-chatting. After the satisfying meal, we took a walk break along Jalan Kayu out to Yio Chu Kang Road. Brokie & Vincent even had time to do a little 'shopping' while a group of fancy roller-bladers glided by...they will be really good support crew for Sundown Marathon, I thought....haha. tohmin bade farewell when we reached the junction, and the group turned right to run the 6km stretch of Yio Chu Kang Road towards Casuarina. The Cheese Prata gave me some good energy, and I was able to maintain a steady pace. the road seemed so long...and I was feeling slightly sleepy when it passed midnight. After what seemed like eternity, I finally saw the Casuarina Junction...happy! I reckoned we would have covered 25km by then. The time was already 12.30am.


We waited a little for the rest to come. With 4km back to MR, we took in a deep breath, and steadily pushed towards the end. Passion was still running strong, and Prata as usual, was covering the rear...he is really a very good Pacer and Back-Coverer...if there's such a term...haha. With 2km to go, I picked up speed and ran all the way back to MR. My time showed 12.50am. I quickly sent a SMS home, before gathering to share with the group about the run, and also injury prevention and Deep Tissue Massage. It was a good run, heavenly makan, coupled with immaculate weather....I thoroughly enjoyed it....I will now rest, and taper off for next weekend's Pacesetters' GE30km.



Distance: 30km__Time: 4hr50min__Pace: Fartlek-ed