NUS Hill Run on 31 Jan`07 (Wed)

Skipped LD on last Sunday as my right knee was still painful and I needed a fresh mind to work (yes, worked the entire week 7 days). Though I brought my swim and run gear with me on Monday, was unable to do either -- stucked at work till 9pm :( So Wed NUS Hill Run was my first run of the week -- after 4 days of rest.

This week, we had a smaller turn out -- ronnie, fennel, George, cokiee, tktan and me. Little tigger went ninja training, hohorunner had CNY dinner, DO went to the pool to "eye" chop chop and DR unable to make it last minute. Haiz, George, fennel n cokiee were late -- managed to start the run @ 7.20pm. tktan, who was trying out his new Saucony shoes, took the lead while I was sweeper and fennel as sweeper's sweeper :) fennel was having calve/shin pain from her LD with Safra MF last Sunday -- so we gals were running @ smell-flower pace while the guys chiong. When we reached Haw Par Villa, I suggested to fennel to take the short cut -- run up the slope and exit @ Zehnder Rd to South Bouna Vista Rd. fennel, being an upright person, opt not to take the short cut and we continued along Pasir Panjang Rd to South Bouna Vista Rd. Crawled up the killer slope -- hmm, no sight of the guys! Boo hoo, they didn't wait for us!

Recovered our breath @ the KRP downslope and continued on to SP1 -- skipped the water break @ Sci Hub. Lead fennel to the new route via underpass to Ayer Rajah Industrial Estate and South Bouna Vista MRT. We took a quick toilet break @ the MRT before proceeding to Ulu Pandan Canal. Set to auto cruise mode and enjoyed running with the wind on the face. Oh, remembered that I was suppose to switch my breathing technique to nose-in mouth-out (in preparation for Nagano Marathon where air is cold n dry). Erhmmm, somehow, could not synchronized my new breathing style with my stride -- felt out of breath. Gotta try this again at a slower pace. Mid way, felt pain on the back of my left knee -- oh no, not a good sign :( Slow down and the pain eased. We decided to skip Sunset Way Canal and head back to NUS. Chiong up the final slope and completed 13km in 1h15min. Took a recovery walk while waiting for the guys to come back. Poor cokiee, he was a lost sheep after taking a wrong turn @ KRP and couldn't find the front and back pack. Instead, he did his own run @ KRP. Warning to new comers, do stay with the lead or sweeper! Or, the sweeper's sweeper didn't do her job?! :P

Thanks for tktan for the ice and isotonic water and fennel for extra isotonic water. After a quick shower, we went to Clementi for dinner. ronnie and I had fried hokkien mee served with "oh pare" leave -- hmm, only complain was the prawn was not shelled (George was "kind" enough to demo how to de-shell the prawn using the handle of a spoon -- of course he ate the prawn after the demo). tktan had black bean sauce beef horfun, George had fried rice and fennel has dried noodle with mushroom n jiao zi.

P.S. Felt a sharp pain @ my right knee cap when I went down the stairs @ MRT station. Very disturbing as I had not felt this kind of pain before, plus the pain @ the back of my left knee during the Ulu Pandan Canal stretch. Dutifully ice my knees thoroughly before I zzz. Thank goodness, my knees felt much better this morning. Now, I juz hope that when I see my osteopath on Saturday, he will not asked me to stop running -- keeping my fingers n toes crossed!

Distance : 13km
Time : 1h 15min
Avg pace : 5:46min/km