McRitchie Run, Singapore

[Jaqa]

Hi Guys!
We have May Day here, so a public holiday. Which does not affect me as I am studying for my exams this week. But I did need to get out into nature to clear the head a bit.

Decided to have my first run with VFF's. I have not run with any shoes in the last month and maybe 3 shod runs in the last 3 months. But I'm going to need shoes if I want to do an ultra in a year's time or so.

First up, the weather report. Quite a nice day this morning. Definitely not as humid as yesterday morning. There was a particular kind of mistiness yesterday morning till 10 which was just the evaporation from a big storm on Saturday. Took one look and said Nah! You just sweat and feel crap!

Note the real feel temperature. You kinda get used to that and the heavy air. Every day is the same here. ( Lowest temperature ever recorded is 19C! )

 

[Jaqa]

Singapore has lots of these outdoor gym/ adult play areas. Kinda nice!

Footpath at first light..

 

[Jaqa]

You see plenty monitor lizards here- up to 3m. Close relative of a Komodo Dragon which live just some islands away. But these are harmless.


Golf course to the side but luckily only a short bit. If you can play golf here, you have some serious numbers in your bank account


Main water inlet.
I'm studying for my 2nd degree in Economics. The aim is becoming a Water Economist. Love all things water related, and the Singapore water reservoirs have a fascination because even with 3 meters of rain, this country is water stressed. They have to import water from Malaysia. These reservoirs are vital. And the older central ones are really beautifull with clean water and old architecture.

 

[Jaqa]

Leaving the golf course and lake behind.

Old bridge

 

[Jaqa]

Out of the 10km loop about 8km is this filled in crushed stone. Not too pleasant but I'm going still do this barefoot.


Just tunnels of jungle veg. Sweat Fest!!


Back to lake scenery..




So my other passion is fishing, and one of the attractions on this run is you can see lots of fish due to clear water and the legal area for fishing is only 30m long. Here are some Cobra or Emperor Snakehead. Pretty rare! (My cellphone hitting its limits here)

 

[Jaqa]

The dam wall and spill way. Gotta love some proper stone work. So much better than concrete.

 

[Jaqa]

The Southern side is defintily more "built up" and also lots more people. Got out just before the crowds. Luckily Singaporeans don't like get going very early.

 

[Jaqa]

Plenty of Arowana today. These are really beautifull pre-historic looking native fish. Highly prized by aquariums.

 

[Jaqa]

I started on the bottom left corner and went clock wise. About 10k's and then another 6k's run back home

Took this run as an outing and not a training run. So concentrated on feeling comfortable with the VFF's and keeping technique and cadence up. And to take lots of photos for you guys!

I walked most of the board walk because I wanted to check out the fish. If I was running I would have kept to the gravel paths away from the boardwalks. They shake and rattle a bit too much for my liking when I run on them!

Forgot to say this at the beginning- McRitchie run is one of the 3 runs you should do if you are in Singapore. The other is Marina Bay Gardens and Barrage, and the Botanical Gardens. I will do pictorials of those in the future!

It is not a trail run but people like to think so. I call it off-tar! Can get really busy on the weekends so if I want trail I go to Bukit Timah and other places. Not my favourite favourite but it's nice. Today was definitely less crowded which was my plan.

The VFF felt fine on the trail. Definitely do-able but after a while that shloshy wet shoe feeling and sound got annoying. Probably better in dryer and cooler conditions. I must try some sandals/hauraches next month.

But I did not like them when I hit the road back to home. Hot pavement etc. Much prefer bare feet. My feet felt unusually sore when I got back home. But I could feel them pounding harder into the pavement than is usual. And being wet and hot in a shoe for 2.5 hours, they looked like crap when I took of the Vibrams.

Hoped you enjoyed that! I did!

 

[skedaddle]

The scenery looks stunning Jaqa, good luck with the ultra training and thanks for sharing.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I like the way the surrounding change so drastically from one view to the other.

Anyone care to do parkour on this one? Hee.