RL run on 5 Oct`06 (Thu)

After the visit to my osteopath and swimming @ NUS SRC on Wednesday, my ankle and knees felt better. So went down to Running Lab for their weekly run after my seminar @ Bugis yesterday. First run of the week... Met many familiar faces and they asked where have I MIA to -- missed the runs for a few weeks due to dinner appointments and work. Eddie and imd were not around and mightyjoe was leading the run(he even wore a blinker @ his back for the new comers to spot him) -- this week was the Fort Canning route. The CDB was blurry with a thick layer of haze -- hmm, air quality was bad. After warm up, we started the run towards Fort Canning, via River Valley Rd and Clemenceau Ave. Fennel's frien, George was leading the front pack -- hmm, how to lead when the speed monster was running at less than 5min/km pace??!! I was chasing after them initially and soon lost sight of them @ Fort Canning Park. Wah, this time I could run faster up the slopes -- thanks to my newly discovered upslope running style(landing on forefoot instead of heel). Oops, made a wrong turn into the park and backtracked -- saw cokiee and fennel leading some other runners and followed them into the park. As we exited from the park, think cokiee stayed back to wait for new runners and I lead the way from here. Boy, kinda of stressed with this group of guys breathing heavily down my neck. After crossing the overhead bridge to River Valley Rd, we ran passed Clark Quay & Liang Court and turned left to run along Singapore River. My stitch came on at this point and I informed the guys to U-turn at Kim Seng Rd and slowed down. Tried to control my breathing but the stitch persisted -- in fact, had stitches on both sides!! Well, juz kept running and happy to finish the run @ 44:58min -- surprisingly, another PB as my last Fort canning run in early Aug took 48min :) Eddie was back from his other run and conduct the warm down exercises.

On our way to Peninsula Plaza for dinner with Eddie, Ekfram, don and other runners, George, fennel and me detoured to Feder Sports to check whether they have my size for Mizuno Wave Inspire2 -- lady luck shinning again, they have my size!! Happily bought a pair at S$150 -- thanks to George and fennel for bringing me to this store! Oh, fennel couldn't resist and bought a pair of "rocket" shoes, too! We then joined the rest for dinner at the basement food court -- 3 of us shared curry fish head with bryani/white rice. In the mist of talking abt nite diving, we were shoo out as the food court was closing -- to be continued @ next RL run...

P.S. Had ordered a pair of Wave Inspire2 from USA but shipment was delayed -- will probably get it in third week of Oct. Oh well, I now have a new pair to train on :)

Route : Start @ Hill Street -> River Valley Rd -> Clemenceau Ave -> Fort Canning Rd -> Fort Canning Park -> Cross overhead bridge to River Valley Rd -> Run along Singapore River -> U-turn @ Kim Seng Rd -> End @ open space opp Hill Street

Distance : 8.2km
Time : 44:58min
Avg Pace : 5:29min/km