Circle Line Weekender #2: Henderson Waves

Photo Slideshow from ACLeong
Facebook Photos from Min, Susie, (more...)

After many days of wet weather, mainly in the afternoons and evenings, the weather was just great this Saturday morning at the Circle Line Labrador MRT station, where the FatBirds and Weekenders had gathered for the second run of the SMRT-FatBird Circle Line Series.  Many more new faces joined us, with all the eager looks in their eyes for an exploratory breakfast run in the 'hilly' western region, many of them having come from as far as the Eastern corridor of Singapore.

A quick briefing of the route later, we headed off towards Labrador Park, this time in the reverse direction of what we had covered two weeks earlier.  It was great to have a good runner with a DLSR running ahead to take photos of the group, in addition to our resident FatBird cameramen of acleong and Min.  It was nice to see a mixed group of gals and guys, young and masters runners, couples, friends, colleagues and families all coming together to enjoy a weekend of healthy, sporting activity.

One thing that caught our attention was the absence of the 'casual runner' this morning, with all looking like they were out for a challenging workout - it was later that I heard of a rumour that to attend FatBird runs, one has to run 5:30min/km pace....gosh, no wonder about 20-30 who had earlier signed up did not appear...hahaha.  For the record`, our FatBird Weekender pace is 8min/km - 10min/km, with many photo-stops and breaks along the way....so we expect to see more come for future weekender runs yah?

Back to the run...we had photo stops at a number of new spots along the Labrador Park area, and the nice weather and people just made those photos look so crisp and sharp.  We would have stopped for more photos if not for the fact that we did have lots of ground to run (pun intended)...fortunately, the runners were very good at assembling and posing, and the cameramen were just so 'pro' and smooth with their clicks - we did not stay for more than a few mins at each photo-stop.  We were back to the start-point after the 3km Labrador Park segment, and that was when the action really began...first with a vertical run up the stairs, then some 'bridging' and finally the ascent up Morse Road.

It took our breaths away as we climbed the slopes to Mt. Faber...beautiful sights on the left as we ascended, but the runners didn't seemed too interested to stop for photos - they just wanted to keep the momentum going till they reach the objective.  And, to the mid-point of MF they reached in exhilaration...soaked in the sights, before crossing the Henderson Waves to Telok Blangah Hill (one of the more famous 5 Hills in the Western region).  Of course, lots more wonderful photos and poses dotted our pathways, as we circled the top of Telok Blangah Hill, site of some very sweet grounds for hill repeats and interval sessions.

It could be due to a smaller group of about 70+ this morning, there were more opportunities to chit-chat and get to know one another, as well as getting lost somewhat as we got so engrossed and 'in the zone' we missed a slip road down to Henderson Road...haha.  We recovered well of course, to proceed on to Depot Road and towards our next objective, Hort Park and Kent Ridge Park.  By then, it was close to 10am and we had 'eaten' 12km of slopes and hills; with some stomachs already 'growling for food', we unanimously decided we 'shall be back' another time with (more time on our hands, and fuel in our tanks) to 'enjoy' the scenic Kent Ridge Park and 'smell flowers' at the Horticulture Park.

With smiling faces amidst happy yakking, the group proceeded back to Labrador MRT station along the shortest route under the cover of shade, and onto the air-conditioned comfort inside of the MRT station for their well deserved goodie bag of interesting items.  Of course, no weekender will be complete without more photos of the satisfied runners clutching their goodie bags and showing victory poses to signify how much we have enjoyed the Circle Line Run, and as we waved goodbye to the runners when they crossed the turnstiles down onto the MRT platform, a number of them waved back and said 'We Will Be Back!'.