MR Ultra Marathon 2005

It was a wet Christmas morning. I woke up and woke my sleepy sweetheart up.

I arranged to meet Agnes, Tracy, Simon and Francis at MR 6:40am. Due to rain, they decided to chicken out. Nevertheless we arrange to meet later at 8am for our Macpherson prawn noddles. I have to go MR to meet up with Sgrunners no matter rain or shin, even though i might not be running. Off i left home about 6:30am with rain pouring down. The rain was heavy and it was difficult to drive, i am sure i crossed between lanes w/o knowing about it much. Fortunately not much traffic then.

I arrived at MR around 6:45am with my sweetheart. Get her to rest/sleep in the car, while i bring along an umbrella, camera and HP out. The first sgrunner i saw was ultraman. He is trying to unload the 100plus he is sponsoring. I would love to help but my hands are full.

I saw the rest of the Sgrunners hidden in the tent, hiding from the rain. Without wasting much time, i took some pictures of those diehard runners. As time come closer, the rain start to slow down abit, but thunder and lightning are observed far away. Around 7:15am, the race actually started in raining conditions. Runners.......what can you say about Runners...rain or shine, they still move on.

At that moment, i feel a sense of sadness sending them off in the rain. I wish i could have stick to my orginial plan and run. I want to get wet and muddy just like everyone else. My heart want to run. My brain telling me i can't or else i might be looking at long term injury. At least i can do 1 lap, alas my sweetheart waiting in the car, and i have an appointment make prior to coming over. . Timing just suck


James is there for the first part of the support crew. We chatted and later send off the rest of the late comers from Sgrunners. I left about 7:50am to meet my friends at Macpherson. The prawn noddles standard is good today, maybe due to early hours(soup not strong enough), or is it that just have no appetite for the food. We have a good makan and gossiping until 9am+ before we make our seperate ways.

I got Don Pie exact address from Balasing through sms , since i know he should be awake and about to come over to take over the support crew from James. I drove over to Far East Square with sweetheart & purchase 2 boxes of Chicken Pie. It smiles nice. Alas that is not for me. I sent the Don Pie back to MR around 2:20hrs(according to the timing clock) and pass on to James. I meet Sukami and DO on the way out and informed them about Don Pie awaiting those hungry souls. I left with an unfilful heart towards in-law place at Yishun.

I was back at MR around 5:40pm after i managed to get time off from my sweetheart. I saw a few of sgrunners finishing their run and the delighted expressions grow fondly in my memory. There are Astrogirl, Taz, Gentle, mythos and superboy. The scene cannot be describe, but their joy is felt by everyone at the moment.

Next year, minus another injury, i gonna have a date on 31 Dec 06.

Coming to Christmas

Where i was at Christmas last year? I couldnt recall. Sometime there is a lapse in memory or simply nothing special on that day to worth remember.

This year Christmas there is MR 25 Ultra Marathon to look forward to. 12 hours to complete 5 rounds(52.5km), its definitely well within my limit.

Ever since Standard Chartered Marathon, i have not been running much. In fact, i have be winding down, 1) to recover from the Marathon, 2) to recover from the injury. More on the latter as the injury just couldnt go away.

Although i have not been running much, i still trying to keep myself fit via going to the gym. Ok, i might not have the same fitness before SCSM, but 12hrs run, should have enough oil left in the tank to run the distance.

This week, i managed to run 20mins and 30mins on the treadmill. My injury still lingers on the last few minutes on the run. I am left with no choice but to abandon the idea of taking part in this year end finale.

I am dissapointed to say the least. Looking back on year 2005, i have taken part quite a few competitions. To be fair to "fate", this is the only event i have to sit out. Although at times i am carry injury for certain period, i am pretty glad that it didnt stop me from taking part in any of the run, especially Standard Chartered Marathon.

It could be worst. I am glad that it didnt.

End of Season ?

After Sunday MR25 time trial, i have not been running since, except on Saturday.

I have been doing cycling, swimming, weights training, cross trainer etc but no running. My left knee feel okay, no pain except for abit of sore going down staircase on Monday and Tuesday.

Mileage have gone down tremendously and have not cross 10km mark in any session since SCSM 05.

After came back from Cameron Highlands, did a run on Saturday. I tried to do a....hmmm...it does not matter, i stopped at 2km+, turned around and walked back to the start point. Knee just couldnt hold it together.

Ultramarathon seems to be far away. Have i ended my running season? Or i can harness another burst from reserve.

I am very tempted to closed shop for the season, rest and enjoy abit of off season with festive seasons to look forward to.

Seize the day, tomorrow might not be yours.

Cameron Highlands

When was the last time i went up to Cameron Highlands? It should be about 5 years or more ago with Pheck Leng. We have a wonderful time there the other time, and have fond memories. I think another trip back that way should be good.

Date: 14 - 16 Dec 05
Tour Agency: Gunung Raya
Resort: Hotel Equatorial

Pheck Leng wanna take 2 days leave on 15-16 Dec 05. Since she is taking leave, might as well we take a short break outside of Singapore. We could have travel for longer period if not because of her rollerblade lesson on Saturday. Anyway, just have to make adjustment and take whatever is in store for us.

We started off at Golden Mile Complex on 14 Dec evening. We were there early(9:30pm) as advised and have to wait for the bus(at 10:30pm). The logistic for tour operators seems to be chaotic from the outside, or could be that is the environment they worked in. Anyway i board the bus around 10:30pm+ and leave Malaysia Custom around 11:30pm. A pretty good clearance at the 2nd link. We were tired and knocked off soon, until we are awoke at Air Hitam resting area. We have to change coach as current coach have problem with its breaking system to go up Cameroon Highland. We just dragged our heavy legs and half-closed eyes onto another bus. I think we ended up at the right buses. Soon, we proceed with the journey.

According to my occassional shutting of the eye lips i realised we make two stops to drop folks along the way, one at KL infront of Ancasa(the hotel i stayed during March KL Marathon). My back(spine) is hurting on the journey, i guess that soft spot whereby there are a hollow is not able to support for long period. I remember i used clothes rolled up and put it underneath the spine to support it previously...haha...long time didnt take coach, couldnt recall to prepare for it. Anyway will do that on the return journey.

Finally the figure of 8 or snakes up the mountain. It should be fun running up from the bottom to the top? Dont think i can make it lah....at least at current injury prone status. We reach the city central around 8am i think. We went downstair to "test" out the cold weather. It was shiok & cold The local tour operator board the bus and give us a short briefing and advise us on the mini tour packages available. We signed up for the Agro Tour Package which start at 3pm till 8pm. Next stop Equatorial Hotel.



Reach hotel around 9am, tried to check in unfortunately the room was not ready until 3pm. The plan is to take a nap,laze, read book in the room for the day until we are ready for the tour. Alas have to change plan leow.

I take the opporunity to recee the hotel, indoor swimming pool is small- Not even 10metre at the longest, water isnt very clear. Wonder why did i bring my swim wear for? . Gym is okay, more on cardio than weights from the looks at the equipments available. Still doable. Running in the hotel premises wasnt a great idea, as distance is short.

Look at the mist behind and you will realised it is pretty cold, especially when the wind blows.



We "slow jog" outside as we venture out of the hotel down the street where i spotted Rose Garden about 100 meters from the hotel when the coach bring us up a while back. Quite a handful of stores are open for business. We are hungry, since we didnt have breakfast and go straight to a kopitiam shop and have mee goreng, mee soup & 2 cups of HOT tea. We walk/see/eat around Rose Garden for about 1 hr before we went back to the Hotel.

We sat at the hotel lobby, reading books and listen to MP3 while killing time. We checked into hotel room at 2:30pm.



Argo tour starts at 3pm, we visited Catcus farm, traditional farming, organic farming, strawberry farming, flower farming and ended with a dinner at the Chinese restaurant.



The logisitc of the tour operator is pretty poor, as we keep changing our coach and even table during dinner session. It was a mess. After dinner, they sent us to the Pasar Malam instead of the hotel. It was intended as we get a chance to walk/eat/shop abit in the evening.


We took the transport at 9:30pm back to the hotel. It was a long day, wasnt as great as we hope, but nevertheless we do enjoy our activities today.

I brought along my jogging stuffs, but didnt have the chance to use it. The hotel premises isnt a good place to run. Running outside of the hotel is okay, except it is hill training, and the danger of get run over by car is high. Another thing that bug me is my knee, i might not be able to run far, what happen if you ran too far down and not able to run up again? All this just doesnt give me the confident to make the run. At the end i just woke up later and enjoy the additional rest.

After breakfast we waited for a long while for the bus. Instead of 10am, the bus arrived around 10:30am. The bus is more spacious that the one we took from Singapore and we enjoy the additional leg space. We knocked off soon after the bus moved off.

It took a long time(about 1hr+) to come down from Cameron highlands. The next thing i knew we are already at one of the R&R along the NS highway around noon time. I came down the tour bus and realised my "old" injury is actually hurting me. Ayoh, i didnt do anything strenous and my knee hurts as though it have gone through some kind of siong exercise. I just sleep on the chair and the leg was also fully straighten. Why did my leg hurts like that?

This R&R is pretty good, not like those typical R&R. This one have dunkin donut and baskin ice cream stall. I guess it is somewhere between KL and Ipoh. We have our lunch of donuts there. We rest for a while, before i take on the journey back home. We stop over at Air hitam again and leave around 6pm. We reach Malaysia Custom at 7pm+. Have a traffic jam at Singapore Custom and leave the custom around 8pm. Finally reach Golden Mile complex around 8:30pm.

A good trip as a whole, could have been better with good logistics.

Photos are available at here

Post SCSM

It has been a week after SCSM. Body seems okay as a whole.

Have 2 gym sessions on Monday to "warm" up and get the system back online. Body ache is small matter which is expected. I m glad i recover faster than KL Marathon. More training and better recovery food + massage certainly helps to recover faster.

Tuesday no exercise for me as i was on leave and went over to Johore. More like "food" recovery for me..

Wednesday, have 2 gym sessions followed by a run at Ulu Pandan canal. I have a good run of 5min/km pace, 2 sets(2.3km). During the slow run back to office, the muscle on the left calf or is it thigh(couldnt recall) feel the strain suddently and i have to walk back to office. I tried to run on 2 different occassions after some walk, but the soreness came back and i immediately start to walk again and not to aggravate the injury again.

Thursday i have 1 session of gym. Yesterday injury didnt bother me at all, which is good. Afternoon went over to Jurong Point to book tickets for my Cameroon Highland trip with my sweetheart. She took leave next week and we take this opportunity to revisit Cameroon Highland. The last visit was many years back and we have good memory of that place then.

Friday, i have 2 sessions of gym.

Saturday wanna do a swim at Tampines SAFRA club, unfortunately it rains so have to sit at the sofa and continue with Tom Claney book.

Sunday, should i do a 10km run at MR or go for Time Trail in the afternoon. Ended up i took up the Time Trail in the afternoon. It was a tough run, which i have to struggle most of the 2nd part. Not a good run for me as i have not used to this kind of pace for quite some time. Furthermore, the rain in the morning have make the place soggy. Along the run, the injure that i had before SCSM have revisited and i was trying not to aggravate it. I make it back(barely) at 24:33. I was relief that my effort didn't go down the drain. I signed up for MR membership on the spot.

The injury that i got before SCSM have reappeared. Thinking back, the last time i aggravate it was after MR run. I guess the terrain make a difference. I going to cut off all MR activities until Christmas(MR Ultra) to give myself more opportunites to recovery.