Running Bukit Timah

I've been wanting to give the Bukit Timah Bike Trail a go for some time now...running that is.

The thing with the trail is that if you go in the morning, you get attacked by a lot of bicycles on the same route which is VERY dangerous!

Since Xinn needed to do some work at home and it was a lazy Sunday afternoon while waiting for dinner, it was hot and if I were to run, it had to be under shelter, what better opportunity eh?

Running on a bike trail, especially one at BT, is a different experience as compared to running at MacRitchie. There are portions of the trail where it's steep...as in...you stop running, you walk slowly down the slope, and even then at times you'll almost slide down!

Up hills aren't any easier either. Take the photo above for example, that's not an up shot, that's a shot taken straight in front, so that's the climb I was dealing with, this one was an easy climb, not a hard one, but still with the lack of rocks at certain areas you'd find yourself slipping at times, which to be honest was rather dangerous.

The first 4km was pretty fun, it took me half an hour to cover but I did stop to take photos and catch a breath, especially after the steep slopes. It was good to see I wasn't the only person running the route, an old japanese man (seen from a distance in the picture directly above) was running the route as well. No bicycles at this hour.

Although you can't see it though, it was starting to rain, which was partially the reason why I was rather eager to run. lol. I had left the house earlier with two plastic bags, one holding my car keys and some money, another with my phone to keep it safe.

The last 2km wasn't as hard as the first 4, but I did run into a road block that got me stumped for quite awhile...I didn't recall this during the bike run last week!

By then it was already starting to pour, it was so bad that I had problems getting my touchscreen to respond to my fingers as the surface was getting wet. This was the last picture I took before I turned back to see if I had missed a route.

The rain got so heavy here on out, the ground was covered in water, I couldn't see the mud or stones anymore! Every strike onto the ground had me hoping that I did not step onto something potentially sharp. The good news though was that with all the rain, my Vibrams was getting a good cleaning at the same time....still, I was going to wash them once I got home anyway.

When I reached the long flight of stairs again, I then realised that I hadn't hor-lan...something was different with the route! I was a little worried, you know how there's folk stories of people running into forests and they keep running but can never find their way out again? To be honest that thought did get to me for a bit....lol!

So I headed back towards the slow sign, and once I reached, I then realised at the right there were bicycle tracks leading up slope and so I headed that way and true enough was lead to the other side of the block which lead me back on track again!

Overall my 6km route became more of a 7km run thanks to the additional U-turn at the blockage. It was still a fun route though, a rather dangerous but fun route...after 2 minutes in you give up avoiding the puddles and just whack every step into the mud that you'd feel it squish between your toes.

Overall a great run, it;s no SCM, but it still was quite an experience! =)