Demoralising Run II

Joined the sgrunners for a morning run at Changi this morning. Have been meaning to run there for some time but have not found a suitable opportunity. This is a tough route to run although flat. But it is long and hot and would make a good training run. This time managed to convince M to come along.

There was already a big group when we arrived and RSM Brokie demanded that everybody goes for a warm up jog so all of us guai guai followed her to Changi Creek before turning back up to Changi Coast Road.

The last time I ran there was like 1 and a half year ago in Feb 06. After coming out of the Ferry Terminal, instead of having to run on the road, there was now a nice big running path. This as I understand is part of the park connector which will leads all the way to East Coast and eventually Marina South. The other end to Changi Hills is already completed.

The first group comprising of the faster runners led by Realrunner had already disappeared from sight by then. The back pack comprised of WeiHao, Alvo, Cobalt, Highbury, Brokie, Raven, Sealboon, AC and myself. Dream was also with us. Not too sure why he hung around. Thought he could have took off with the front runners. M and Meteor was running a shorter distance and thus hung even further behind.

The weather was fairly good at the beginning. The trees along the side provided a fair bit of shade but running along the route was helluva boring and seem to go on and on forever. (I guess it's not called demoralizing for nothing). It seems like running on an extra long treadmill. No matter how long I had run, it was always the same. Trees on the left - road and airfield on the right!

Eventually, when I saw a split in the path, I decided to break from the rest and turn left into it just to break the monotony. This was actually part of the park connector and hugs the coast line and comes out to Safra Sailing Club. But it was slightly longer and when I reached SAFRA resort, all the runners had disappeared way in front except for Highbury. Ran with him till the first toilet at the National Sailing Club before turning back with Brokie and Cookie who had reached there much earlier. I took my expired PowerBar than. It looks horrible and tasted worst. Took half of it and was tempted to throw the rest away but decided against it.

Way back was the same. One long boring route. Initially maybe with the psychological effect of the powerbar, was able to pick up the pace a bit but when I stopped to finish the rest of the powerbar, the battery simply went flat. That plus the hot humid weather caused me to withered and I slowed to a trot. Gentle was biking up and down and encouraging everybody. AC caught up at the toilet at the Ferry Terminal and even though there was only less than 2.5m km to go, I simply couldn't push myself and contented myself to just sort of shuffle to the finish.

The finish line was great though - there was the famous Brokie's barley which I had heard of many times in the forum but never tried and Doramon's jello. Yummy and good reward for finishing the run.

Down and Out

Looks like all form of exercise is out for this week.

Just when the throat is much better (at least can croak now), the yucky stuff has started. Extra boost of VC, liang teh doesn't seem to help. Look like have to let it run its course.

Oh well, a good excuse to slack.

Nike Jet Stream

I am not a Nike shoe fan but surprisingly, my longest serving shoes is a Nike. It is in fact my 2nd pair of running shoes that I bought around 2003? The first was an Adidas (don't even know which model) and this was the 2nd. Those days know nuts about running and bought whatever shoes that 1) must be nice to look at (my Adidas) and 2) the sales people recommends.

The Nike Jet Stream was recommended by a sweet young thing at the Sportslink outlet at Eastpoint. Asked her why I should buy it when she recommended it and her answer? "Because I also wear it". So I figure if it's good enough for her, its good enough for me. Remembered this clearly becos I actually bought a too small size the first time round. After buying it, went and ran on the treadmill and found it too tight. Brought it back and changed it for a half size bigger. Actually, later found out it was still too small but didn't realised back it those days.


After finding it was still too tight (toes started turning black), relegated it to gym use and that's why it has last for so long. It's still look in pretty good condition and I hate to give it up but I have to make way for new shoes and so I guess it will have to go.

Can't really comment much on the performance as I can't remember how it feels like when wore for a run. But it must be quite comfortable for me to stick with it for so long or is it I just a 'kiamseap' old man who just can bear to dump it?

Goodbye old friend - My one and only Nike:)

Running Lab Annual Dinner

Went for the RL Annual Dinner at Raffles Town Club on Wednesday evening with Eddie, Terence and Sebastian. The RL has grown very fast - from one outlet in Funan to 3 outlets now - 1 in Novena and another specialising in outdoor adventure also at Novena. The RL has certainly spiced up the competition in the sports retail line. It was the first shop to have a treadmill in house and NB and Nike soon followed. Than Mizuno came up with some specialised software to measure the foot but at the end of the day, nothing beats human passion and RL has plenty of that as all the staff are selected because they are passionate about running or sports. At the dinner, the staff were going gaga over a new range of shoes launched by Zoots and offering to the boss to test it out. With such passion and zeal, RL should continue to do well in the years to come - more so as they continues to bring in running gears that are not commonly available in Singapore.

As guest, we didn't expect anything but they were kind enough to include everyone in the lucky draw and so all of us came away with something. They are indeed very generous. Each attendee has a pair of socks as a door gift, the staff got an extra t-shirt. We volunteers get a pair of 'Sole' insole. For the games, our table won the bingo game and so each one of us got a SIGG bottle and finally for the lucky draw, I walked away with a North Face watch and a $100 Zoots voucher. Terence was even luckier - he won the prize everybody was eyeing for - the 1st prize of a RS400!



Many many thanks to Walter for inviting us to the dinner.