My mud soaked Kayanos 16
This year's National Day falls on a Monday and I have been especially challenged this year. The reason is personal with my parents not in good health, so I had for the last 10 days or so been running back and forth to visit my Mum, who had an operation, in hospital. So some of the more pressing work commitments as well as personal time for my running had been set aside for my family.
Today's run at Macritchie was prompted by my almost 3 week layoff from running. I had caught the 'flu virus about 2 weeks ago, recovered after one week, decided to take things easy for another week, and then this last week I had to make all the arrangements for my Mother,checking her in, and then ensuring that after the operation was over, the family could see her as often as possible. I am thankful to supportive company staff and to my wife, who made chicken soups and helped supervise the cooked food for the last 4 days now.
With the Singapore Bay Run about a month away, I need to step up my game and take my training up a notch, clocking about 50 km per week for 1 month to be ready for the 21K half marathon which I have run consecutively (except 2006) for 5 years now. The Singapore Bay Run Half Marathon is 12 September 2010.
2006 was the year when I had my collapse and I was struggling to get back to fitness for the rest of the year. Since 2006 I have run 1 more marathon (in 2007) and done 3 half marathons, a treadmill race (came in 3rd) and a 25K run (in May 2010). A good comeback, to use the term, and I hope to top this by running 1 or maybe 2 marathons before year's end.
The run at Macritchie started at 6.00 pm sharp, it was bright and sunny when I started, on a fast clip and was determined to set a decent time. At the startpoint, the route traverses into the jungle and I overtook the walkers and some slower runners.
My pace was even and I was feeling strong given that I had full rest this long weekend. At the top of the first hill (there are 4), I noticed that the ground was very muddy. So here I was running at a fast pace (to me) and swerving left and right to avoid the other oncoming walkers and runners and also avoiding the muddy portions which covered the entire width of the trail ! Too late,
my 3rd encounter and my left foot plonked deep into the mudbath, due to my strong momentum I managed to pull out the soggy shoe and continued my run with my left leg caked in mud. (See picture).
Coming down the second hill, it was slippery and people were blocking the pathway, instead of calling out "excuse me", which is the norm, I had no time but to clap loudly and the youngish woman jumped (yes jumped) out of my way. I could almost visualise a nasty accident where I was barreling down the hill at a fast pace and slamming straight into the woman. Nasty accident avoided !
The rest of the route was quite refreshing and the reservoir area probably had rained in the late morning judging from the many muddy sections along the route. I was going at about 5 minutes 30 secs per km pace and was only overtaken at the Lornie road section by a couple of young runners in their 20s (I have come to accept that I am no more a spring chicken) who looked like they from some running club judging from their uniform orange T shirts.
Hitting the 3 hills on Lornie Road and back to the start point, I was feeling pretty ecstatic that I was finishing my first 5 K run in 3 weeks in a pretty decent time of 27 minutes 20 seconds.
- Onward Mr. Mark !
- Majulah Singapura !
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