GGRC Go50 Support Run

After not running for weeks, I was glad that I woke up on Vesak day morning to go for GGRC run. This Go50 run is meaningful as two ultra marathon runners were taking up a challenge of running 50km for 50 consecutive days to commemorate SG50. I've wanted to join them when RD and PRR were supporting their runs, but somehow I didnt make it. I'm glad that on the 47th day (4th last run) of their runs, I finally made it!

I'm not familiar with Upper Peirce Reservoir at all, but the meeting place is easy enough and I took a cab to the meeting point at the Casuarina Carpark off Old Upper Thomson Road. Many runners had already gathered there when I arrived, it seemed like there were more than 100 runners that morning.

Runners gathering around

I've followed the Go50 Facebook since the start of their first few runs, and it was like meeting the heroes when I saw the two runners Mr Lim and Mr Yong, and their pacer Ah Siao. After a mandatory briefing and singing of national anthem, we were off.

Group photo of the runners from GGRC

It's my first running at Upper Peirce Reservoir, or to be exact, the roads leading up to it. There were no walking or running path, so the guys were shouting for us to keep to one side and the roads were really congested when there were so many runners. Eventually, we spread out and I realised it was really a long long way in, with many slopes and hills. I slowed to a walk on several slopes going up, and did not even see the lead runners after we set off.

Looking focussed and unglam

Upper Peirce Reservoir

After more than half an hour of slow jogging, I finally see the sign leading to the carpark at the reservoir itself. My Garmin had already recorded 3km+ even before I reached the reservoir. I stopped for a break to catch my breath and to refill my water bottle at the toilet. Unlike Macritchie reservoir, runners were not going one whole round around it, but just doing loops around part of it. I did one loop of 3km, joined others who were resting and chatting at the side and decided to call it a day. I was happy enough to meet the 3 heroes in person, especially Mr Lim as he smiled at me when I gave him the thumbs up as he passed. I got home after that and get to know that the other two runners were feeling unwell so they ran really fast and broke their own record by finishing the 50km at 4h+.

Us with Go50 organiser

Group picture while we rested (Photo courtesy of Go50 website)

The way out was quite lonely as I had to conquer those hilly slopes all alone, there were occasional bikers and runners and I guessed this must be a popular spot for people who want to train on slopes. There were cars going in and out, thus I was really careful since I was running on the road, most of them were really slow as the road was narrow and winding. I even spotted some monkeys acting like a boss in the middle of the road.

Monkey sitting in the middle of the road

The long hilly road

Finally, I saw the road widened out straight ahead and heaved a sigh of relief as I've finally reached the carpark where we've started, clocking around 9.1 km for the day. Since Casuarina curry seemed to be really popular and already crowded with people so early in the morning, I bought some to try at home.

Park-tor Run with Gei Gei Running Club

This is my second run with GGRC and the name derived from the venue where the run took place, Bishan Park. I actually signed up with GGRC to do their Moo Moo farm run in April and I also bought their running vest, but I missed it. I promised the Gei Gei guys that I will go for the May run to collect my vest, thus it became like an obligation.

Guys taking selfies before the start of the run

The weather had not been good and it had been raining almost everyday, thus April turned out to be a month with so few runs (only 3 in total). It actually rained predawn but luckily it stopped before I was awake.

Making our way to Bishan Park from Bishan MRT

Bishan is a great place to run as its just a few stops from Sembawang, so minimum travelling required. I'm also excited as I could explore new running routes, especially one that I can run frequently soon. As soon as we headed out from Bishan MRT station, we passed my future home and I was really happy to see it getting taller!

Crossing the road to Bishan Park

I was surprised that it was just a short 5min run to Bishan Park, as I took a bus to Bishan Park previously. The ground was slightly wet but the weather was really cool and good. The turnout for the run that day was huge and the pace was comfortable at first. When I'm running with a big group like this, I like to keep myself in front or middle as I'm sure I wont be able to catch up easily if I fall behind. It was easy to keep up at first, but gradually it seem that they were running faster than the pace I can manage.

The group picture on the bridge

Me with the other guys (all strangers)

Group pic from another angle

Individual shot from another angle too, haha

We stopped shortly for a group picture after we reached Bishan Park 2. Then, we ran from the smaller Bishan Park 2 to the main Bishan- AMK Park, making one big loop. I was running mostly at my own pace but after awhile, I cant help but kept wondering when we will stop for a break. I was actually feeling tired and needed a toilet break too. Thankfully, we made a pit stop soon and I made a beeline for the toilet, getting myself refreshed after that.

Here we go...

And we go...

And we go...

Despite the sky threatening to rain anytime, there were many groups of elderly doing their weekend exercises at the park. It was also quite a good place to run, so I cant wait to move to Bishan although I totally have no idea how I'm going to do up the place yet.

Groups of elderly doing the Great Singapore Workout

We took another group picture after the toilet break and headed back to Bishan Park 2. I could gradually feel very light drops of rain on my arm as we made our way back. The run was actually quite short, just 7km but it was a good way to keepstart my runs for May.

More group picture

Me among the pros

Can see my new place in construction from the park

The really nice Gei Gei guys had refreshment ready, there were 100 plus, watermelon, bread with nutella, chocs and so on. I'm really glad that we have such community running clubs to motivate us in running, the guys who started GGRC are actually really good runners who can go much longer and further than the runs they organise, therefore I guess they are really doing this to spread the love of running to the rest of us.

Running happily towards the end point

I looked like I was leading the pack hehe

Big wide smile

Refreshment provided yummy!

Passing my new place when walking to the MRT :D

Bui Bui Run with Gei Gei Running Club

Morning landscape with MBS

I happened to see a blog about GGRC last year and I realised another new running club was formed, with a humorous name coupled with local flavor.

I didn't make it to both their previous two organized run but I was glad that I could finally register and sign up for today's run. It's cute as we could choose our own bib no. I got it colour printed, placed in a transparent folder, punched holes and ready for the run.

I woke up really early at 535am, the same time as my usual weekdays waking hour. I've wanted to do a run with RD the previous day but I missed it as I arrived too late, therefore I told myself in exasperation that I should make sure I get to the venue on time. 

As I was walking to the Esplanade using Citylink, I saw some other runners with the bib we printed out on our own. We started chatting and located the rest of the group who were already gathered at the outdoor theatre area. I was surprised when we emerged from the Citylink and it was still dark outside. It was nice getting to town at this time of the day, when it is so much more quieter and everything was so serene.

We gathered for a briefing and group photo, then started the run heading towards Boat Quay, with the U turn point after roughly 2km at Liang Court. The group of runners were really fast, I had problems catching up with the runners in front of me although I was already pushing myself hard. Luckily, it was a really big group that day, therefore I was not too stressed since there were many others behind me.

Refreshment provided

After the U turn point, we headed back towards Esplanade and eventually reached River Hong Bao, the mid point where we took a rest and group photos again. The whole place was decorate with huge festive stuff and there's no better time to take photos than this, since there was nobody around. We took a really long rest as some time was spent taking group photos with two different backgrounds. We also did a headcount and there was more than 100 runners present that morning. Wow!We headed towards Nicoll highway next after running along the F1 gallery, I saw many participants of the Male Urbanathon as we ran past part of their route. I kept on running till I reached the U turn point at Nicoll highway and then headed back again. The fast runners around me had pushed me to outperform myself again, I ran 40 seconds faster than the 10k for Terry Fox Run and achieved a new PB. Yeah!

Kudos to the guys of Gei Gei Running Club for the really wonderful run, there were even fruits and refreshment provided after everything. I also admire the spirit of the organisers and some runners for taking so many photos, running after us with their heavy cameras, and they were even faster than me in their slippers.

I loved checking out the photos after the runs, there were so many of them for this event. :)