Mount Faber Run on 10 Oct`06 (Tue)

Monday was rest day from running and met up with my ski buddies for Korean food @ Chinatown -- authentic and good food (will go back to try more dishes). Feeling fresh and need to "use up" the carbo loaded the night before, I resumed my plan to run from KRGH to Mt Faber -- estimated distance of 15-20km. tktan, who juz recovered from flu n still nursing a cough, joined me for this new explorative route. Hmm, haze was back, juz after 2 days of absence. Not at a life threatening level, we proceed with the run -- with option to cut short the distance if haze got worse along the way.


From KRGH, we ran along Pasir Panjang and turned into Sci Park II -- met my ex-colleague and he looked shock to see me running (or he dun see me as a sports person). Passed by Bloogie, which used to be occupied by African Heartbeat, ran up the slopes to Gemini and up the stairs to South Bouna Vista Rd. Wah, this windy upslope was nothing compared to the killer slope @ Vigilante Dr :P Then we entered Sci Park I -- first time I ran reverse direction and enjoyed the gentle downslopes to Science Hub. tktan found the path that link to Portsdown Flyover and I tried it for the first time. After the flyover, we turned right to Queensway -- met Safra MF runners (only recognized bug) who were on their training run. Air was particularly bad along this stretch , with pollution from vehicles. Turned right to Alexandra Rd and then left to Depot Rd. Nice stretch along Depot Rd with light traffic and fresh air from the tree lined road -- saw a Depot Height Shopping Centre(didn't even know this exist) and an Indian temple. Turn right to Henderson Rd and then left to Telok Blangah Way -- passing Safra MF clubhouse. Mentioned to tktan that there is a nice Japanese Restaurant, Himawari, inside. We ran along the fringe of Mt Faber via Telok Blangah Rise. At Lower Delta Rd, we saw the Mt Faber sign, marking the entrance and start of the slopes. Took a deep breath and started running up the long windy slopes -- signaled to tktan to go ahead (he made running upslope so easy and effortless!!). Slow and steady, I made baby steps up the slopes, with tktan stopping for me to catch up. At Jewel Box, he asked me whether I needed a break but I declined -- juz wanna get over the hills in one go (oops, later realized he actually brought his digital camera to take some night scene -- sorry, next run then!). Thanks goodness the upslopes were over and we welcomed the long downslope to Morse Rd.

We took a break at a petrol kiosk along Telok Blangah Rd -- tktan's left shoulder was getting stiff and needed a stretch. Both of us felt good to go on to Labrador Park -- from Telok Blangah Rd, we turned left to Labrador Villa Rd. Maybe due to the haze, the park was quite deserted except for a few couples and a group of Chinese guys. Not as breezy as our first run but no hint of smell of soot. Made a stop at the toilet as tktan need to cool down his CPU (aka head) -- he didn't carboload and ran out of fuel which in turn heat up his CPU. We bought a cold sports drink from the vending machine -- new flavour of soda and carbonated. We completed the final upslope to Olive Restaurant -- burping gas along the way up :) After exiting from Labrador Park, we ran along Pasir Panjang Rd -- dislike this road due to the hurdle jumps up/down the pavements. Instead of ending @ KRGH, we cut short the distance and end @ Pasir Panjang Food Centre. Did a cool down stretch before having dinner at the food centre. tktan resisted the temptation to have the char kway teow and ordered prawn noodle soup. I had mee rebus -- more interested in the dessert later. We finished off the meal with hot cheng tng and ice nata avacado(first time trying this dessert -- nice, i like!). Then we took a bus back to KRGH and headed home after a quick shower -- had to rush thru shower as the locker service closed at 10pm -- the staff had to wait for me to return the locker key and towel). Many thanks to tktan for the mobile water station and carrying barang like camera, ezlink cards, knee guard, $ etc.


Route : Start @ KRGH -> Pasir Panjang Rd -> Sci Park II -> South Bouna Vista Rd -> Sci Park I -> Portsdown Flyover -> Queensway -> Alexandra Rd -> Depot Rd -> Henderson Rd -> Telok Blangah Way -> Telok Blangah Rise -> Lower Delta Rd -> Mt Faber -> Telok Blangah Rd -> Labrador Park -> Pasir Panjang Rd -> End @ Pasir Panjang Food Centre

Distance : 18.75km
Time : 1hr 52min (including traffic light stops)
Avg pace : 5:58min/km