Pacing @ MR25 2013 (MacRitchie Resevoir Ultra Marathon)

It's been in planning for a few months leading to the event, in support of some of the NB Runners who were going down to MR25 this year to take part in the minimum 50km ultra, a few of the runners decided to head down and provide some form of ground support, be it pacing, providing food, or just safe guarding valuables.

We had initially planned to set up a water station but had to cancel it after realizing it was going to be tough with the lack of manpower and the thought of having to fight with monkeys wasn't something we intended to face.

I had only managed to drop by the race around 9 plus, by then it was already pass the first loop for some, I had planned to pace three loops, with four being an additional if I could find anyone to run with.

Photo by Sebastian Cheong the Iron Man Runner

My first loop was with Ah San, and tagging along with Michael Yong who kept us company mostly throughout, great guy and strong runner though I understood that he was underperforming that day, hence decided to make it a more leisure pace.

The weather was really good that day, honestly, way better than 2012! I was hoping for rain but given that the weather was super cooling (and windy!), it really didn't matter!

Left to Right: Joey Chan, Seah Kim Peng, Me, Sin Ling
Photo by Ng Ngee Hung

My second loop was done with Sin Ling whom I had promised to pace for one loop during her second MR25. It was great catching up with her as well as Kim Peng whom I've seen and said hi-byes so many times at events but never got to have a conversation with. It was a solid 2 hours run but a lot of chit chat and laughter!

My third and final loop was accompanying Gwenn whom I had the pleasure of meeting during one of our MacRitchie trails a couple of months back, it was her maiden Ultra and she was going strong even at the 5th leg, wow!

I was intending to do a 4th round but by the time I got back, most of the guys I knew were already midway through their final circuit, so I decided to call it a day and just hang around.

Running wasn't the only highlight of the day, meeting a lot of familiar and new faces was also a fun experience!

Picture from THE Mohan Marathoner!

It was good fun catching up with a lot of the guys and MR25 was certainly quite an experience despite not taking part this year...from the organizers, volunteers, to the participants and support from several running clubs, MR25 wouldn't have been a success if it weren't for them.

MR25 was concluded with the NB Runners heading off to Golden Mile for a decent meal over hot soup at Thien Kee Steamboat, very Hainanese flavor, similar to Yetcon!

Good conversation over a good meal with good people. What a way to end 2013. =)