Animiles Run on 7 Oct`06 (Sat)

Was planning to test run with my new Inspire2 on Friday but the haze was particularly bad – had to change plan and joined the Animiles Run on Sat morning. Received gentle’s wake-up sms promptly at 4.20am and got up to get ready for the run – glad to find the haze cleared overnite. Substituted powergel with 2 mini snickers – so that I could sleep after the run (hardly take caffine coz I dun drink coffee/tea – the caffine in the powergel kept me awake after my runs). Hopped into gentle’s car at 4.47am and we went on to pick up chuacath, fennel and George @ Hougang – made a couple of U-turn due to unfamilar grounds. Arrived at LPR ard 5.20am – left 3 Animiles runners(Vivian, Anna and another guy) @ the start point as the rest had started @ 4.45am for 27km. Gentle & chuacath were going for 25km, fennel and George for 24km and I joined Vivian’s group for 18km (maiden run for my new Inspire2 and need to conserve some energy for BG run on Sun). After a quick stretch, we started the run – the Animiles runners ran ahead as I warmed up to find my comfortable pace – keeping them in sight. George overtook me before the end of Old Upper Thomson Rd and fennel was following closely behind me. George & fennel went on straight to Sembawang Rd while I made a left turn to Mandai Rd towards Track 7 & Seletar Reservoir -- wah, more upslopes!

Air was good as I ran along the Seletar Reservoir, passing the tower – only Anna was in sight abt 100m ahead. Joined back to Mandai Rd and head towards the T-junction of Mandai Rd and Mandai Ave – passing the Mandai crementorium. Crossed path with Vivian mid-way and Anna at the traffic light. As I made my U-turn, spotted some 27km runners(including imd) crossing the traffic light to Mandai Ave. Met gentle & chuacath on my way back – they were doing good. At the Seletar Reservoir, I was looking out for Anna but lost sight of her – gosh, I must have slowed down a lot or she had increased her pace! Ran passed the tower and u-turn at the round about – able to up my pace slightly with the help of downslopes. Mentally prepared myself for the last 4km along windy Old Upper Thomson Rd – took a deep breath and ran up steadily. Saw 2 Animiles guys stopping for a drink – they had put 100plus behind the metal barrier. The monkeys were awake and making lots of noises in the trees. Troops of cyclists zoomed passed. As usual, welcomed the sight of Cassurina and sped down the last 1km to LPR. Finished the run at 1hr46min – thought I was doing a tad slow. Later heard from Vivian that I did more than 18km -- the 18km route was to turn off from the Seletar Tower but I ran an extra 1.2km to U-turn @ the round about!

Imd and realrunner were cooling down and SC5 came back shortly, followed by cheow, fennel, George, gentle and chuacath. We finished off the run was a good breakfast at Sembawang Hill food centre – had chwee kueh with generous serving of not-so-oily chai por. Thanks to SC5 for organizing the run and gentle for the ride to/fro LPR.

P.S. Verdict of the dumbbell waterbottle : Tried it out for this run – boy, the bottle leaked from the top! Quite yucky to hold the sticky bottle coz I filled it with H2O! Had to hold it upright and minimal swinging – very restrictive to the arm swing and I had to change hand often. The capacity of the bottle is abt 400ml. After my run, 2 Animiles gals came up to ask me where I got the bottle – told them @ Mandarin Gallery but dun recommend them to buy due to the bad experience. Well, at least the bottles made good gift for my nieces as they were fascinated by the shape.

P.S.S. Verdict of mini snickers vs powergel : I did get hungry on the return leg – maybe need to eat more before the run :P Good news was I was able to take a nap in the afternoon!

Route : LPR carpark -> Old Upper Thomson Rd -> Upper Thomson Rd -> Mandai Rd -> Track 7 -> Mandai Rd -> U-turn at traffic light after Mandai Cremetorium

Distance : 19.2km
Time : 1hr46min
Avg pace : 5:31min/km