“Friendships born on the field of athletic strife are the real gold of competition. Awards become corroded, friends gather no dust.”
- Jesse Owens, 4 times gold medalist (1936 Summer Olympics, Berlin)
26 December 2010, Sunday
MR25 Ultramarathon, MacRitchie Reservoir ParkLoop 2 - Loop 5
Shortly into the second loop, I bumped into a returning line of runners, nearing the completion of their first 10.5K. Most of them were in good form and visibly ready to clock more repeated miles. Among them, Mohan, the Marathon Man and Fatbird's cheerleader, whooshed by as we exchanged greetings.
Mohan's a welcome sight in every races he participates. Armed with a whistle and upbeat optimism, he usually accompanied mid and back pack runners as he perked their spirits up to the cheery tune of his whistle and slapped high fives with passing friends. I'm glad he's not the only good guy along the dirt trails of MacRitchie that day.
In the midst of crossing the rugged Northern Trails, I tailed behind a pair of runners who were geared in black apparels and tights and pacing each other. As the trail sketch got a little hairy, one of them shifted to the left, making way for me to overtake. I was hesitant for a moment but accepted his kind offer.
How courteous of him.
One would not expect such graciousness to be readily exemplify in some local running events.
But the MR25 Ultra is a different story. Not even Stanchart came close.
It seems just about everyone is friendly here. "Hello" and "All the best" were freely offered during the short-lived contacts when runners from both directions glided or sped past each other. The camaraderie was truly alive and in a short time, strangers at the starting line became support buddies in the race.
Participants running the Northern Trails during the MR25 Ultramarathon'10.
(photo courtesy of Tey Eng Tiong)
Except for a few serious racers, there's otherwise a milder atmosphere of competitiveness among participants. The ultra, with humid weather, rough terrain and longer-than-norm distance, is enough an issue for us to focus on. However, it is these elements that enabled us to bond and empathize with fellow runners who were experiencing similar conditions.
I continued to meet and receive encouragements from friends for the next several hours, some of whom I finally broke the ice with after many weeks of being 'course mates' at the Operation Sunbird marathon training sessions a while back. On a return trip to the MacRitchie Amenities Center, Jacqueline Tan, one of the leading female racers and another Fatbird resident, popped out from behind.
"Hey, Terry! Are you Nat Yrret on Facebook?", she asked.
"Yeah, that's me", I replied.
"Why do you named yourself like this?"
"Oh, it's my name spelled in reverse. Just for fun."
She chuckled upon hearing the answer.
The rest of the top-tier racers were warmly responsive to peer presence as well; people like Henry Yang and Ben Swee who would become top finishers at the end of the day.
I managed to keep my feet going throughout the race. Everything seemed to be fine despite the obvious aches and fatigue in my body.
Soon, I ran up to a total of three loops which added up to 31.5K in mileage.
Midway, I met a colleague with her group of friends but they were here for trail trekking. I did a 'run-by' greeting and was confident I should be able to see her again when I started on the 4th loop. Sure enough, I caught up with her at the Terantang section. After checking on her well-being (she took medical leave during one of the weekdays before), I sped off into the distant, a steep climb waiting ahead for me.
By afternoon, I completed my fourth return trip to the MacRitchie Amenities Center for lap recording and re-fueling. The MR25 committee had catered lunch for participants in the form of Nasi Lemak in Styrofoam boxes but I wasn't hungry enough for that. Instead, I depended on my self-prepared slices of bread, spread with honey, for nutrition and it worked fairly well as a mid-race diet.
As I headed out for the wild again, I looked at my Garmin GPS watch and realized I had reached the marathon distance of 42K. This was the second time in my entire life that I had ever ran such distance whether the record's official or not.
However, the real task was in finishing the present 5th loop so that I can qualify for finisher status at 52.5K. I managed to abide by the '2 hours per lap' rule set by MR25, completing each loop in near-consistent timing so far. Can I do the same for this critical round?
After enough walking, I switched to a slow paced run and took off.... without much time to lose.
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