Terra Plana Evo

I have been looking for the ‘shoes’ to wear for my barefoot run. Yeah isn’t it a oxymoron thing? Shoes to wear for barefoot run? But I wasn’t going to take any chance of getting a nasty cut or picking up some nasty infection or worms from running around barefoot. But like the bikini, it seems that the less material the more expensive and I wasn’t prepared to stump up so much $$$$ for a pair of what would be an experimental shoes.

So far stingy me has contended myself with pseudo ‘minimalist’ shoes from the mainstream manufacturer or wear a cheapo alternative like my Tyr booties. I picked up the Brooks Launch at a sale, got the Saucony Kinvara at a very good discount direct from the local agent and bought a pair of NB MT101 at Hong Kong prices. Not for me, the overpriced and ugly Vibram Five Fingers which seems to be everywhere. But since I first heard about the Terra Plana Evo, I had wanted to try it out but again kiamseap me baulked at the retail price of $229.00.

But now I have it! Courtesy of the nice people from Terra Plana Sg, I have been given a pair of the Terra Plana Evo  to what they call ‘field test’ it. Before I go into the shoe proper, something about Terra Plana:

From Pasir Ris to Punggol in 30 secs

After hearing Kayano, Mike Kang and friends raving about the Lorong Halus Wetland, and reading in the papers about this place, decided to go for a fun run to explore the area. But instead of starting from Punggol like most people do, took the lazy way out and drove all the way to the Lorong Halus Wetland and started from there.

From Pasir Ris Drive 1 to Pasir Ris Farmway 3 just follow the sign to Lorong Halus Wetland

The map of the Wetland which is actually a sort of landfill of rubbish

 

This bridge connects Lorong Halus to Punggol across the Serangoon River. Not a very long bridge. A fast run of 30 secs should bring one from Pasir Ris to Punggol.

 

Along Punggol Promenade. This park connector connects all the way to Hougang.

The Benefits of Running Naked

The Benefits of Running Naked

Anybody out there dare to try?

TNF Trail Run Series #1 Bukit Timah Reserve

Saturday morning, participated in the new TNF Trail Run. This is a series of monthly trail run to acquaint runners to trail running and will lead up to the North Face 100 Challenge. This inaugural run started off at the Bukit Timah Visitor Centre and subsequent runs will cover new trail routes like the Pulau Ubin trail, Lorong Halus Wetland and the mysterious Woodcutters' trails among others. Included as part of the series will be the 2 TNF 100 Challenge Progressive runs.  Runners participating in this series of runs will gets product samples; discounts and some entitlements to the TNF 100 Challenge subject to some terms and conditions such as minimum attendances.

Anyway back to the run. About 30+ runners turned up bright and early at the Bukit Timah Visitor Centre. After registration and a short briefing, the group took off for a 12km run through the forest of Bukit Timah. The designated route was a combination of the past 2 years TNF Challenge route. However, the 12km came up short and turned out to be not more than 8 km. Somebody aka me underestimated the distance and sell the runners short. Sorry guys.

Photo by Francis Chia

Apart from that, there was a further little hiccup. There were a mix of experienced and newbie. The run leaders deployed were also new to this and along the way confusion arises over the route as well as trying to rein in the fast runners and getting the slower ones to catch up. Some runners also failed to bring their own water despite repeated reminders on the emails and briefing. But it was I think generally a good effort for a first run. And it can only get better with time.