“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy” - Rumi
It's been a year since my last race in Singapore, so it's apt for me to return to Temasek for that delicious “Murtabak Singapore” and yeah also run that trail race. Puzi and I were invited by the organizer to represent Team Salomon Malaysia for this race. Knowing Singapore's route would be rather flat, I considered this race as my training towards my big race in September. I set myself about 7 hours to complete this race/training event.
Sometimes you run a race just to meet old friends and seek new ones. Met Thomas Leong & SBR at the race pack collection. I was quite surprise to see a bunch of Kenyans were there as well - at Ultra Trail race! A quick investigation reveal a substantial sum of cash prize at stake for winners.
The race was schedule to start at 5:30 am (25th July) at Queen's Crescent, I have been to SG many times previously but this place was new to me. Met many old friends at start line, there were the Freedom Freaks bros, Halim Billy Joe, KJ and others. Met Thomas Leong again, Joshua and Paviter Singh - fresh from Laveredo Ultra.
Had quick a chat with Jeri Chua & Michael from race organizer just before the start of the race. Michael informed that the Malaysian version will be held in November, so keep an eye for the date.
At 5:30 am sharp the runners were off charging in the cool morning breezes and led by none other by Vlad Ixel. Then the funniest damn thing happened, the lead group missed the markers and took a wrong route, after few meters the front guys stop and realized this mistake and turn around, I was at 7th position at this moment.
Damn! Now the trail route is flooded by runners.
I had to do the hard work by passing slower runners one by one until there's fewer gap in front of me. Saw a familiar running style in front of me, I was confident it's Fred Tai. Called his name in the darkness and he's responded. We run together few km in those early stage of the run, then he put on another gear and left me eating dust. I just maintained my pace and not bothered to push harder - I had to remind myself that this is just a training run.
Reached CP 1 (5.5km) in 32 mins, didn't stop for water as I still had enough. It's quite long straight route - quite a bore. We run along the old KTM track and I got lost once more before reaching CP2 after we crossed a road crossing. It was dark and definitely my fault not looking up for the markers, I was looking down on the ground - making sure I have a good footing on the track.
It's still dark when I reached CP2 (11.2km) - Bt Panjang Road. The time was 6:37 am. We need to U-turn here to go to CP3 through few park connectors. The front runners fly by me just before that, Puzi was shouting encouragement at me when he passed by. Couldn't make the identification in the dark, both he & Kenyans are both fast and dark - don't blamed me ok.
Just before CP3 I got lost again, thankfully a fellow runner shouted for my attention and direct me to correct path. Thanks Mark, my new Pinoy friend based in Singapore. After that we kinda overtake each other at different sections of the trail route. Reached CP3 (19.4km) in 1:59 hours, it was now bright at 7:29am. The CPs only had basic amenities, water, banana, oranges and at few CP stocked with Tailwind. You need to bring your own food for this race, can't rely on the food at the aid stations.
From CP3 to CP4 I was at familiar territory, this part of the route was TNF100 Singapore that I ran in 2012. We ran through long stretch of tarmac along the Rifle Range road.
Here I bonked tremendously!
My glycogen reserve completely empty here. From then on I ran on empty, I ran powered by spirit & heart. My pace reduced and I started walking here and there in the trail. Energy gels was not enough to fuel this hard run and I ran out of CarboPro just before going to Singapore.
Met the front runners coming back from the U-turn going towards CP5, the Kenyans was dominating this race. Saw Vlad at position 7, he looked tired! I shouted and gave him words of encouragement "keep going Vlad!". The Kenyan really gave him a run for the money. Eventually both winners, Male & Female were Kenyans. No surprise there mate!
Photo: Runcapture @ Green Corridor
Finally reached CP4 (28.4km) - Island Club Road. It was starting to get hot at 8:34am. Took some water and poured it all over my head to cool down. Had my first taste of Tailwind here, it's cold and nice.
To get my spirit high in finishing the remainder of the race, I joked with the volunteers, "does this sport drink make me run faster?", I said to the lady manning the station. She just laughed and said "you gonna fly to the finish line!". I stocked up my water and thanked the volunteers before proceeding to the next CP.
The next CP was about 9km, but it felt like more when you're tired and running on empty. I catch up to Steve Chia and ran remaining 1km to CP5 with him in tow.
Reached CP5 (37.2km) - Greenway at 9:44am / 4:14 hours of running. Again it's only plain water at this CP and some fruits, top up both 600ml soft flask. One for hydration and the other one is to wet my head & face. That's my trick running the final 13 km in the heat.
Steve left the CP earlier than me, he's managed to hold consistent pace. It's a straight line toward the CP 6, about 9km. For 50km runners, we need to run and passed the finish line and make the u-turn before finally finish the race. This race tested our mental perseverance and determination, rather than technical abilities. Halfway towards CP6, I met SBR. Said hi and continued way run. Finally caught up with Steve again 4km from CP6, he was struggling. We encouraged each other for the thousand times. My Salomon team mate Puzi was coming back to the finish line from the other end, he looked tired and somehow a bit slower than his normal pace.
Met Fred Tai, Thomas & Paviter as they coming back from CP6, it’s 2km to the final CP. it felt longer, it was hotter and I was definitely struggling. I walked every time there's shade and ran when there none.
Reached CP6 (47km) - Reeburn Park at 10:57am. I walked back until 2km nearing the finish line before Steve caught up with me. We ran and paced all the way to the finish line.
Finally it's done. My 38th Marathon / Ultramarathon.
I finish the race at 11:32 am in 6:02 hours for 50km flat trail race. An over-distance race, plus I got lost three times - nobody's fault but my own. My Suunto showed 53km at the end.
The organizer claimed its 51.3km distance race, that sound about right !
Team Salomon Malaysia dressed in Blue (Puzi & I)
With Eric & Thomas
With Paviter Singh (fresh from Lavaredo Ultra)
What i consumed for the race
- Four Power Gels
- Two Mars Bars
- Five Slices of Orange
- One Banana
- Four Dates
- 600ml Tailwind
- 6 litres of water for the whole race
Definitely not enough calories intake. Gonna need my CarboPro stock soon.
There were plenty of food, drinks and ice cream at the finish line. It was a feast for the finishers, Nasi Lemak, Chicken Teriyaki & Vegetarian Fried Rice among food offered for the runners.
Congrats to all finishers regardless of your timing, in the end we only challenging our mental demons. And we won!
Gear used:
- Shoes –Salomon Sense 4 Ultra SG
- S-Lab Exo Zip Tee (Blue/White)
- S-Lab Exo Twinskin Short (Blue/White)
- Salomon Exo Calf (White)
- S-Lab Adv Skin3 5Set
- Optic Nerve Sunglasses – Model Vahstro
My Splits.
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