Sime Trail Comeback...

There was a large turnout this Sunday morning at the MR25 15km Progressive Run. It must have been due to the marketing of the MR25 Progressive Run series and the goodies for FY08 if we complete 5 of the runs. Gentle, StarDust, Alvo, kk, cfred84, RealRunner, Ultraman, SealBoon, DO, TLR, Ripley, Brokie, Vincent, Eugene8 were amongst the many familiar faces. There was also a large gathering of SAFRA Tampines and MF runners....hmm, with the JI fugitive still at large, it was definitely more assuring to have a larger group running together.

The Sime Trail and the Ranger Station area has been repaired...so there was a last minute change to run a loop though there. Because of the shorter 15km, I did not bring along my fuel-belt; just a key pouch holding my keys....mistake, for that was to cause me some stress later in the run. It was a smooth start, and I was taking it easier (to reserve something for a possible 10km recovery later on) for the first stretch. Exited Northern Route in about 20min, and trailed this ang moh lady who ran a very steady pace. There was rather large ang moh guy just behind her. As I moved up chunky hill along SICC, I felt my shoe pouch missing. Yikes, ran back and fortunately found it 50m behind. Saw Raven coming up, and I just continued on.

Reached the halfway mark at UPR toilet area, took a quick drink, and proceeded back. Saw Brokie, DO, SealBoon, kk coming up. Along the golf course, suddenly heard 'FORE!'; I immediately ducked..wah, scary...but the runners in front weren't too affected...haha. Back up along chunky hill, saw many familiar SAFRA Tampines and Too Family runners...waved to all of them....very happy to see so many familiar and cheery faces. Turned into Ranger Station, and the repaired portion of Sime Trail was a pleasure to run on. I was still following the ang moh gal...very consistent. Near Jelutong Tower, saw Ultra in front, and just moved nearer to try to catch up. Finally caught him at 'Tree Roots' area, and we had a short chat while walking up the undulating roots area. All the way back to exercise area, then along Lornie Trail, and finished in about 1hr18min.

StarDust, RR and many more had finished their run. We waited for a while, and then kk, Brokie and the rest came in. Raven, Brokie, StarDust and myself decided to do an additional 1hr slow run, to practice a little of the 30min/5min run-walk routine. It was fun doing a 6.5min/km jog and yakking about things and Raven's happening activities in Tokyo. A mis-step, and I went sliding forward near the exercise area...fortunately my reaction was fast, and I just escaped with very superficial wounds. We carried on from there with no further incident, and at the end of the bridge near Jelutong Tower, we turned back and took our 5minute walk. The Too family of Tao, HohoRunner, ST ran past, and Brokie was trying to tackle them...haha.

We started to run again at the end of the bridge, and we reached zig-zag bridge at about 10am...exactly 1hr after we started. I suddenly realized I had dropped my shoe pouch...this time I had no idea where I might have dropped it. Met Hoho who kindly loan me his mobile to call home for the spare keys. Raven was very kind to drive me near to Lornie Trail, and with the help of StarDust and DO, we combed the whole area...some people might be thinking we were searching for the JI fugitive...haha. Woodstock stopped to enquire and offered her assistance too. With so much help rendered, it had to end well. I finally got my keys back and was thankful for such a bunch of good running friends who were ever willing to lend a helping hand, and those who shared their concerns. Many thanks, guys and gals!