After doing the 28 loops round MR for the MR 25 challenge, I was actually quite tired about doing trails. But this was one race I thought maybe worth the while to do as I really did not feel like looping anything anymore and Mountain Goat was another loop race.
The race info:https://runningguildsg.blogspot.com/p/hardcore.html
There are a few categories, I went for the 57 km thinking that it is pretty reasonable and also not too short and not too long. Going through the usual places, Bukit Timah Nature reserve, Macritchie Reservoir, Dairy Farm, Chestnut and Mandai T15. The only specials were the small 2km walking trail out of Chestnut park and the Wallace trail. The rest were pretty much the usual suspects.
The rule of the game was that you can start at any point but you must end the same point, there was also a little bit of a tricky for the Macritchie side as for it was not the usual route but going through the West Lake Ave. Although running in Singapore was getting very predictable and I felt it was not much of a training of terrain and elevation for me, I still went ahead because I felt that having some training is better than none. It was also good to be able to get some trails before hitting the Gede Pangrango summits.
The Race
It is a virtual race, so we have to start and stop on our own onus, after which organiser Ben swee will check on our Strava Map to verify the distance and the accuracy of the navigation. This time I did with Sam again, I did not have high hopes to get in the Hall of Fame which we need to go under 8 hrs, firstly I felt that the Bukit Timah Nature reserve side will be quite challenging for me esp the hills and stairs.
We started at 4am on a Sunday, I still remember the next day was Vesak day holiday. I did not really like to run the nature reserves on weekends because of the crowd. But Sam had a tight work schedule so no choice. The first half was to clear all the roads and going into Wallace with head lamps, it was a while since I donned the headlamp for running. It was really nostalgic, reminded the longer races I did overseas. We had a short break at Chestnut, then and pushed on for Macrtichie, this part was really quite torturous because weather was getting very hot and merciless.
On the roads
Macritchie was not exactly the place you wanna be at such weather. Before hitting back to Bukit Timah Nature reserve, was going through the open area of residentials at Binjai Park and Sian Tuan Ave. Was already starting to walk quite a bit there due to the weather. Finally at BNTR , it was cooler due to the shades from the trees, but the elevation was the killer.
Many times up Bukit Timah summit
Finally, I finished it in 8 hrs 30 min while sam was about 9 hours slight behind due to cramps. I was glad that we finished it. We took some photos and I had a quick clean up before changing up and taking the bus home.
day break at mandai
Revenge 57
beautiful pipeline trail
So this came because Sam said that we should go for the revenge, although I was very reluctant because I find it too harsh for the weather. But I decided to take leave on one of the Tuesdays and revenge this race, which only ten days away. As usual I started alone at 5:30am because I woke up late. Packed the same stuff and went through the same route but this time alone. I was a bit confused at the zheng hua park up to Mandai as the last time I was merely following Sam. But I just tried my best. Coming out , everything was more logical. It started to rain at the Mandai portion quite heavily and I thought it was good because this would mean that open stretch in Binjai will not be that hot. But I was wrong, the sun came out huge and hot after the rain. Once again I slowed down at the Binjai Sian Tuan stretch. The moving time was less than 8 but overall elapse timing was more. I guess this time I have to accept the fact and move on.
Going through the dark
Revenge 31
Met Pierre at the BNTR
As it 2 times of the 57 is not enough. Sam told me that he would like to downgrade to 31K as it is possible higher chance to get into the Hall of Fame. I wanted to let it go but, I decided to join him out of good will. It was a Sunday again. This time we wanted to do a quick on, the 31k does not have the Asa road portion at Rail mall so it was more relaxing and also minusing the Macritchie makes a big big difference.
With Sam
To cut the story short, overall I did manage to get the hall of fame only by a few minutes but as I had not resetted my watch when I started, I was again denied of it. Guess I was really out of luck for this race, I was happy that I managed to get some trainings out though.
Guess this year, I will need to be more careful and alert for the races.