"Going slow does not prevent arriving. "
- Nigerian Proverb
26 December 2010, Sunday
MR25 Ultramarathon, MacRitchie Reservoir Park
Over 200 pairs of feet came stomping down MacRitchie at 7 in the morning. Over 200 pairs of feet belonging to owners who can't think of anything better to do than to torture their rubber-cushioned appendages in a 12 hours run.
Somebody wore a shirt with a quote that best describe the mental state of these adventurers.
"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special idiot to run an ultramarathon", it goes.
The horde of us soon arrived at our first challenge of the day: the roller-coaster slopes of the Northern Trail.
I maintained as much a cautious pace as I can, not wanting to burn out too soon. Other runners soon catch up with me, one by one cruising past as I was tempted to pick up a little speed. Fatbird Chief, Anthony Sum, was about 25m ahead and I used the space between us as a rough guide to keep my pace.
Other than the challenges of running discipline and the rugged terrain, the weather is forgivingly cool. I had a good feeling that everything is going to be slow and easy, with hours of pure running ecstasy passing by.
Tackling the slopes was not much an issue at the moment so long I stick to the game plan. Go slow when running up. Restrain from speeding when running down.
At 3.5km, we made a left turn and temporarily ran on road past the Singapore Island Country Club. One more left turn and via a short upslope, we reached the mid-route water point at the barrier-blocked entrance of the Terantang Trail. I grabbed a cup of Pokari Sweat before entering Terantang.
Once there, I quickly noticed plastic drinking cups being strewn by the side of the trail. It wasn't a pretty sight. While I'm not a die-hard environmentalist myself, I expect most runners to have a respect for nature reserves like MacRitchie and keep these areas from pollution. Except for the water point, there's no proper dumping containers in sight but that's no excuse. I continued to hold onto my empty cup.
The ride along Terantang is quite bumpy but without as much of the elevation gains and losses as the Northern Trail. Soon after, we made a turn into Sime Trail where the grounds are much rockier than any part of the race route.
Approaching the U-turn checkpoint along Sime, I met Chris, one of my friends from Ops Sunbird, who is running on the opposite direction and a good distance ahead of me. Soon, more familiar faces, mainly the people of Fatbird, showed up including a heavily-equipped Alan; hydration gears, compression tights and all. He was late for race start but somehow managed to catch up with the rest. Another friend, Winston, showed up in a bright pink shirt and wore a 'devil's horn' party headdress. With the festive mood still in the air, runners could be seen donning fancy headgears, usually of a Christmas-theme.
The final portion of the path leading out of Sime Trail is a short but steep climb to the edge of a water storage facility. At this point, many runners choose to walk up the slope instead of running it. David Ong once cautioned, that it is nearly impossible to maintain running pace throughout MR25 UM as there are countless slopes to deal with. It would be good to conserve strength, by walking over the inclines, for this 12-hours run.
Moving past the water storage facility, I headed back to the MacRitchie Amenities Centre via the Northern Trail and reached there 70 minutes later, completing my first loop. I was a little tired but quite full of energy and the sight of the pretty girl, handling out cups of Pokari Sweat at the start-line water point did perk things up. After chomping on a slice of bread with honey, I embarked on the second loop.
Over 200 pairs of feet came stomping down MacRitchie at 7 in the morning. Over 200 pairs of feet belonging to owners who can't think of anything better to do than to torture their rubber-cushioned appendages in a 12 hours run.
Somebody wore a shirt with a quote that best describe the mental state of these adventurers.
"Any idiot can run a marathon. It takes a special idiot to run an ultramarathon", it goes.
The horde of us soon arrived at our first challenge of the day: the roller-coaster slopes of the Northern Trail.
Participants of MR25 Ultramarathon'10 heading towards the Northern trails.
(photo courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong)
I maintained as much a cautious pace as I can, not wanting to burn out too soon. Other runners soon catch up with me, one by one cruising past as I was tempted to pick up a little speed. Fatbird Chief, Anthony Sum, was about 25m ahead and I used the space between us as a rough guide to keep my pace.
Other than the challenges of running discipline and the rugged terrain, the weather is forgivingly cool. I had a good feeling that everything is going to be slow and easy, with hours of pure running ecstasy passing by.
Tackling the slopes was not much an issue at the moment so long I stick to the game plan. Go slow when running up. Restrain from speeding when running down.
At 3.5km, we made a left turn and temporarily ran on road past the Singapore Island Country Club. One more left turn and via a short upslope, we reached the mid-route water point at the barrier-blocked entrance of the Terantang Trail. I grabbed a cup of Pokari Sweat before entering Terantang.
Once there, I quickly noticed plastic drinking cups being strewn by the side of the trail. It wasn't a pretty sight. While I'm not a die-hard environmentalist myself, I expect most runners to have a respect for nature reserves like MacRitchie and keep these areas from pollution. Except for the water point, there's no proper dumping containers in sight but that's no excuse. I continued to hold onto my empty cup.
The ride along Terantang is quite bumpy but without as much of the elevation gains and losses as the Northern Trail. Soon after, we made a turn into Sime Trail where the grounds are much rockier than any part of the race route.
Approaching the U-turn checkpoint along Sime, I met Chris, one of my friends from Ops Sunbird, who is running on the opposite direction and a good distance ahead of me. Soon, more familiar faces, mainly the people of Fatbird, showed up including a heavily-equipped Alan; hydration gears, compression tights and all. He was late for race start but somehow managed to catch up with the rest. Another friend, Winston, showed up in a bright pink shirt and wore a 'devil's horn' party headdress. With the festive mood still in the air, runners could be seen donning fancy headgears, usually of a Christmas-theme.
The final portion of the path leading out of Sime Trail is a short but steep climb to the edge of a water storage facility. At this point, many runners choose to walk up the slope instead of running it. David Ong once cautioned, that it is nearly impossible to maintain running pace throughout MR25 UM as there are countless slopes to deal with. It would be good to conserve strength, by walking over the inclines, for this 12-hours run.
Moving past the water storage facility, I headed back to the MacRitchie Amenities Centre via the Northern Trail and reached there 70 minutes later, completing my first loop. I was a little tired but quite full of energy and the sight of the pretty girl, handling out cups of Pokari Sweat at the start-line water point did perk things up. After chomping on a slice of bread with honey, I embarked on the second loop.
The loop registration checkpoint near the start line & MacRitchie Amenities Centre
(photo courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong)
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