A Dusty Recovery on Easter

11 of us gathered at MacRitchie for a recovery run on Easter Sunday, following from the Good Friday Dusty Run. YN, Spencer, DO, K20Z, LiLian, Yamsong, Julie, Yong, Amy, SC and myself joined the SAFRA MF Runners for a flower-smelling trail run. The last time I was there in the day was for the 15km Progressive Run, and since then, a furore had erupted about the closure of the access to certain parts of SICC leading to UPR, possibly jeopardizing the MR25 Progressive Run Series. There was a sizeable group of familiar MR25 Runners, as well as an army run event taking place....quite a crowd at MR this Easter Sunday morning.

SC and Amy were there to do a trail walk, while the rest of us proceeded towards Northern Trails. Lots of chit-chats with Yong about the trails, and soon we were out at the end of NT, after 3.6km. All were enjoying the undulating slopes and fresh smells of the trails. We could see a station with an umbrella at the junction leading to SICC, but no guard was in sight. Nevertheless, we proceeded on towards the Ranger Station via Terantang Trails. From the Ranger Station, we went into the Rifle Range Trails where we were welcomed with lots more slimy slopes...hehe. The folks were exclaiming about the difficult terrain, but yet enjoying themselves, occasionally panting hard, mostly not able to chit-chat anymore....haha.

I was enjoying the trails again, as we went to the end of RR Trails, and showed the team Rifle Range Road which can lead us all the way to Bukit Timah Hill, Dairy Farm, and even ZhengHua. We turned back and went for more slopes to reach the other end at Venus Road. There was a barricade of bushes in place. After about 9km of trail running, the folks were feeling a little winded, and we decided to just head back along Ranger Station to Sime Trail, Jelutong Tower, SICC and then Lornie Trails. LiLian and K20Z held out very well, and were running fast too. The trails were good for strengthening of the ankles, calves and building leg lift.

We completed the 15km trail run with nary a whimper...hehe. Those lactic acid buildup were certainly cleared by the time we reached the carpark. Iced-cold 100plus was already waiting as Spencer and YN had run ahead to set up the TFB Watering Hole. Bug, Teck Hou, Lai Chee and Colleen had already finished their runs. We were joined by Amy and SC who had finished their 5km walk too. Had a chat with the MR25 folks about the new Progressive Run route, and it seemed that we might not have to run 2 10.5km loops for the 20km run in May *keeping fingers crossed* All had a good recovery workout on this Easter Sunday morning :)