Scenes from Hong Bao i-RUN

Hong Bao i-RUN Slideshow, courtesy FatBird Jancy

MR25 Ultra-Marathon 2008

I had to miss 2007's MR25 Ultra-Marathon because of my Chiangmai Marathon. This year, I revisited the MR25 Ultra-Marathon, which I did in 2005 and 2006. There was a large crowd of more than 300 participants this year, many doing their maiden Ultra-Marathon at MacRitchie.

Team FatBird had a good contingent. SgRunners, Pacesetters, SAFRA RC, aniMILES, trifam were well represented too. The new carpark became operational, and because of renovation works to the carpark area, the registration area was shifted up slightly. It was great to meet many runners and lots of photos were taken prior to the start. My plan was to do just 5 laps to qualify, and not over-extend myself.

A quick brief by Steven Lee, and away we went. I took it slowly, and was aiming to do 1hr15min laps. Many of the faster runners overtook me, and for most of the first lap, I was running near to YN. DeepCruiser, Cheow12 were running just behind me. I used the Nike Vomero to test out its resilience on trails. The weather was dry and good, and without much incident, I completed the first lap in 1hr10min. Since it was too early for food, I continued on with a visit to the toilet.

Loop 1 - Inside Northern Trail

The second lap had HophIng running alongside me for most of the way. The sun seemed to be emerging, but with cool winds, I was still feeling good. Spotted Brokie, wend88 and jjchng who were armed with cameras and firing away. I posed for some nice pics and continued running. The Sime Trails claimed Colleen and a few others as victims. The pebbles and sharp rocks caused some serious abrasion to their arms and legs, but they bravely continued on....such are the resilience of Ultra Runners. Once again, Colleen overtook me and she was looking very strong indeed. I spotted Eunice running very strong near the end of the 2nd lap, which I completed in 1hr9min. DO had stopped his run to provide support, whilst terry, YN, spencer, Max, kopibaby, and the rest of the gang were going on.

Lap 2 - Along the bund near golf course

I took a Gu gel, a banana, and then set off for the 3rd lap. I was still feeling good. I became cautious after 2 near misses when I kicked on some rubble. The crowd had thinned by then, and I caught up with Cheow12 and DeepCruiser midway. I could sense HophIng running well just behind, and so was Charmane and YN in front. Saw the camera crew yet again, and more photos followed in the trails. Tey from Pacesetters was also busy clicking away, and he was actually running the 5laps too...*wow*. The MR25 Photographer (SteveChoo) was also roving around and taking pics of the event....very happening. Byron, Bose and Shut were stationed strategically at the end point to capture the runners as they finish their laps. I did not have my fuel belt with me up till then as there were ample isotonic support at the water points. It was great to see Shirlyn from SAFRA TP who kindly offered me her famous 'Sng Pao'. That was heavenly. Completed the 3rd lap in 1hr13min, and was still feeling ok.

I took a mini pao (thanks to Meteor), another banana, and off I went. I wanted to do the first 42km within 5hrs. I was running the 4th lap mostly by myself. I was still running up all the slopes, although there were others that were taking walk breaks. All the runners were looking strong, and running pretty tactical too. Near the end of the 4th lap, I once again saw Eunice and Charmane. I was feeling hungry throughout lap 4, and was looking forward to some solid food at the finish point. Managed to finish the 4th lap to complete the 42km trail in 4hr53min. Heard from DO that the cooked food and Pizza had not arrived, and so I had to down more bananas...haha. I rested and chatted for a bit. Although I was still feeling hungry, I decided to just finish the last 10.5km loop to be back for lunch. I had allowed about 1hr30min for the final lap.

I started the final lap behind cfred and Charmane. This time, I had to resort to walk breaks as my legs were weighing a ton. I had loosened the shoelaces as it was causing me lots of discomfort for the past 3 laps. I decided against changing another pair of shoes since I was going to finish the race soon. The pressure against my left foot was giving me a stinging sensation, and I knew I did not want to endure for too long. Charmane had an unfortunate fall in Northern Route. It didn't look too bad, and she could endure till she reach the water point at SICC junction for a wash up.

I carried on jogging to Sime Trails, and saw Matthew walking. He mentioned he had cramps and had walked for quite a bit. I too was taking walk breaks to avoid tripping over the rocky area. Met half-timer along the wooden bridge towards the golf course, and from there, it was me and a few other runners, including Matthew trading places. When I reached the 'tree roots' area, I was overcome with an eruption of cramps to my inner thighs...that was so painful....I had never had cramps in that area before, and I was just rooted to the ground. I did not know how to stretch, and just stood still for the cramps to subside.

The final 3km was almost non-runnable for me, as the cramps would erupt whenever I tried to jog. I walked most of the way, and Matthew overtook me with 1km to go. I finally made it out of Lornie Trails, and it was sheer pleasure to see Shirlyn, Divey and Benson, the SAFRA support group. I took a cold orange squash and had a pic with Shirlyn. Finished the race in 6hr45min, just behind Charmane and cfred. DO welcomed me with news of Sarpinos' Pizza (thanks to Max for sponsoring this for Team FatBird). It was the most heavenly piece of pizza I had taken in a long time...hehe.

While resting, my calves and sides of the stomach threatened to cramp up on numerous occasions. I had to walk about and had some good chats with SC5 and Teacher Lee. SC5 and his aniMILES team did well for their maiden MR25 Ultra-Marathon. I went to wash-up and don the finisher T immediately. I stayed at the finish point for about 2 hours cheering the runners in, especially Team FatBird, SgRunners and SAFRA RC. RoadRunner3 looked so strong when he finished 6laps. Melvin How was superb after doing 7laps, and went for 8. YN, acidburn and a few others went for 6laps or more. Rosalind and Ultraman finally came back with their five rounds, famished but happy.

Happy to have completed the 5laps :)

When I left at 4pm, there were quite a number of ultra runners still inside the trails *kudos*. I am sure a few of them will go up the podium. I am happy to have completed the minimum 5laps without sustaining too much pain or injury, and more importantly, to witness many of the new runners achieve their Ultra-Marathon dream. Just received news from FatBird terry that FatBird YN and Charmane came in 3rd and 5th respectively for the women's open. RoadRunner came in 5th for the men's open. Eunice topped the women's category. Melvin How from SAFRA MF finished 9 laps and just missed the pole position by minutes. *kudos* Congratulations to all winners.

Photo Slideshows from SteveChoo (official photographer), jjchng (#1), jjchng (#2), Brokie, byron, Bose, wend88, Shutehelup, la_senza

Pacesetters GE30KM 2009

Team FatBird & Frenz @ Finish Point

The SAFRA MF Gang

This was to be my 3rd Pacesetters GE30km race, and I have participated since the inaugural one in 2007. There have been rumours of a more challenging route this year, and I spent some time allaying the fears of those first-time 30km runners whom I have jio-ed for this run. A group of FatBirds have been preparing themselves for this run a few months back.

I arranged to drive up to KL with the SAFRA MF gang. Learning from our experience last year where we traveled at night, this year we decided to leave early Saturday morning instead. Adam with Alber, PS and Yean in one car, Eddie and family with Sumiko and bf and Karen in another, while me, Bev and DO followed in a 3rd car. The journey was smooth and we arrived at Hotel Coronade at 10.50am Saturday. After checking in, we immediately headed to Jalan Imbi for delicious Bak-Kut-Teh and Fish-head.

Since we were early, we went for some walking about the nearby shopping area, ate nice egg-tarts, before proceeding back to the Hotel to meet the FatBirds and SAFRA group for dinner at Jalan Alor. We had a sumptuous tze-char dinner at the usual stall, and met up with Alan Chao and a whole bunch of MF Runners. The Rainbow LOLO stall had unfortunately closed, and we could not satisfy our craving. We went on to San Francisco Cafe for our coffee, and some nice chats. IMD had kindly collected our race pack and had them delivered to the Hotel, and paid for our deposit for the Championchip....what a swell chap!

There was supposed to be a Championchip mat at the start point, but we did not see any. Instead, it was a late start at 6.15am, and soon we came up close with the initial slopes. I had told Bev, Terry and the rest to take a conservative approach at first. My tummy was still stuffed with all the good food from the previous day, and I could hardly wait to 'lose' them on the hills and slopes. The first 10km was pleasantly 'not-that-hilly' as I settled into a 5:18min/km pace. I traded places with a few familiar faces, notably Julie, before being overtaken by her....she was blazing away.

I felt good, and was busy watching my legs on the numerous down-slopes....too many of them, and some were steep. As the sky brightened, I plodded along at the constant pace. The distance markers were clearly missing, and I was fortunate to have my Garmin 405 to inform of the distance and pace. As I entered Sri Hartamas, I kept to a cautious stance. It was pretty smooth for me that morning as I meandered along the rolling slopes. I could see the Kenyans blazing in the reverse, and a distance away, spotted Tobias running back. I focused on moving forward, and did not wave to too many people as I wanted to conserve myself. By the 16km mark, I was overtaking some of the tiring runners.

On the way out, I felt much stronger, and relished the slight down slopes. Finally spotted Beverly and we waved to one another with encouraging claps. I increased the pace after 20km, and overtook a lot more runners. I went by Julie, Rhoda, and finally Prata at the last 5km. I felt good aerobically, but I was a little concerned about my legs getting bashed by the down slopes. I maintained a reasonably safe pace, and completed the 30km run in 2hr35min. Checking back, that is a good 11min better than my 2008 timing....not bad, considering that I felt much better this time too :) After collecting the very nice finisher's medal, and dri-fit finisher's T, I went for the chendol first. It was refreshing and yummy. I went back to the end point to welcome the rest of the runners in.

Cheerful FatBirds @ GE30km

A lot of the SAFRA and i-Runners also improved their timings. Leslie came in first in the Women's Open, Julie second, and Colleen came in fifth. YN was in 6th, just a minute behind...so 'sayang'. Benny did a respectable 3hr03min, Terry came in 3hr20min....wow, and Beverly conquered her maiden 30km in 3hr22min....outstanding performances by FatBirds. The other SAFRA Runners did very well too.

The TRYathletes

I went for more food and iced-milo. Lots of chats and photos followed, before we proceeded back to Hotel for a good wash-up, and then for very shiok Jln Alor Char-Siew noodles. The drive back to Singapore was relaxing, and we even had time for a mid-stop for ice-cream waffle. Overall a very nice trip and run, and I look forward to the next Pacesetters GE30km. The extra 1kg from all the food had stayed with me till now....haiz :(

River 'Hong Bao' Run 2009

Running 2009...

Hello FatBirds and friends,

The local running calendar in 2009 looks set to be another exciting one, from the 2nd rendition of the Sundown Ultra-Marathon to the SCKL Marathon in June and of course the year-end SCSM, interspersed with many intermediate-distance events like the NewtonActive Run, Shape Run, Human Race Run, AHM, et al.

To prepare runners (especially the new ones) for some of these events, we are exploring the possibility of getting together for weekly base training workouts of briskwalk-jog-run on weekends eg. Friday evenings, Sat mornings at ECP, Sunday morning LSDs at various locations islandwide. Those who are keen to join in please keep a lookout for announcements and discussions in Team FatBird's facebook or at SgRunners forum.

Let us take a walk down memory lane and relish in the FatBird Photo Gallery of runs in 2008.

I am looking forward to yet another exciting year of runs and fellowship.

Cheers!
FatBird Anthony

Re-live the Memories!