Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The Merciless Sun @ The North Face 100 Singapore

After hearing good reviews about the event last year from my running friends, I decided to take part in the 50km mixed duo... I had troubles at first looking for a partner for this event, but thank God for my fellow Glory-glory G aka Idola, Izuan as he decided to be my partner...

Basically, as a team, each of us would have to complete the 25km trail course that has been set from the MacRitchie Resevoir Park...

You can click here for a bigger view of the map

With my still-in-a-daze condition, the will and heart to run for the event was just not there... But I knew that he would've wanted me to complete this run since I've talked to him about it previously... And that it would be one of my last events before flying off to the NYC :) So mileage was needed for the week...

Thanks to my Senorita G aka Selly, the Gs and I bunked over at her place for the weekend... 

I am not sure on who's idea to start this category at 10am, but when we got to the park around 9am, it was blazing hot already... And all of us knew that it was going to be a long and 'roasting' session under the sun...

Team InYourFace reporting for TNF 50km duo duty! ;)

Team InYourFace, Thundercatz and Crazy Scorpios!
Pic credits to Izuan

See how bright and sunny the day was!!!

We were flagged off about 10 mins after we weigh in our hydration bags respectively... I was running with Izuan at an easy pace for the first 7km of the route... But somehow my partner looked not-so-good at our first water station... So decided to pace with him until we bumped into Selly and Agus (Team Crazy Scorpios) again before reaching to the second water station at km15...

Still looking sane here at the first water station... 
Pic credits to Sidyz See

At this point, we've been running for almost 3 hours and we were really shocked by the fact that this particular station ran out of friggin' WATER!!! You could have imagined our and other participants' frustrations here... The most essential thing needed in a race (especially a trail run) was finished!!! We found out afterwards that it was long gone even when Shanaz and Irwan (Team Thurdercatz) arrived at the water station much earlier on! Not good at all, organisers considering the amount of fees that we had to fork out for this race!!! Thank God for the water tap that was available at the toilet just after the station... 

At this point, Team Crazy Scorpios and Team InYourFace decided to swap partners and I ran with Agus for the last 10km of the route, while Selly (God bless you babe!) stayed back and pace with Izuan who wasn't looking good at all... Thanks to Agus, we managed to head back and complete the race in less than 4 hrs 30mins!!!

Wanted to cross the line badly...
Sorry Agus for leaving you (well not that far :P) behind!
Pic credits to Shanaz

See my reaction?!! ;)
Pic credits to Shanaz

Team Thundercats: Captain completed the race in 3 hrs 41 mins while Herr completed the race in 4 hrs 6 mins! Awesome team! :)
Pic credits to Shanaz

My partner Izuan and Selly completed the race in 4 hrs 36 mins! 
Look at their faces :) 
Pic credits to Shanaz

With Azu aka Apprentice, our cheerleader and photographer for the day :) 

Besides the water issue, confusing signage along the route and the hot scorching sun, I was happy to see all kinds of food that the organisers prepared for us after crossing the line... The tummy was happy :)

Also, BIG Congratulations to the 100km Duo teams: Dzul and Cynthia, Yim and Karen (they both went back to KL and ran the Putrajaya Night Marathon on the same day!!! Major salute!!!) Deo and Ray, Ijam and Ian, Kash and Syah, Frank and Jeff, & Izat and partner!!! You guys are so much nuttier than us!!! ;P

The trails were beautiful... I had so much fun running, walking and hiking through it... Maybe FRIM isn't that bad afterall then, even though my skin was 'boiled' and 'deep fried' on that day and that I think my big toes are suffering or 'dying' slowly at the moment :P

The hard earned medal... 
This one's for you TSB... Thank you for the inspirations.. You were definitely in my thoughts throughout the run... 

Would I do this event again? Heck yeah!!! Maybe I will upgrade myself to the 100km duo instead for the next year's one... Partner me anyone? ;)

Next: Recovery Run @ The New Balance Real Run Singapore

11 comments:

  1. Congrats Princess G, we were worried about you actually running this race, but it was Izuan that need gentle caring more ..he he

    congrats to both of you, it wasn't easy running under the merciless scorching sun.

    You should seek Deo next year as i am gonna retired from TNF, that was my 1st and last TNF ...or was it?

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  2. your toe sakit tu bukan pasal TNF ler. nnt i babab my tangga for u mmmkay ;) btw jom buat 100K duo next year! tak kisah lah nak team up with siapa2 pun since we know we can count on most of our friends to pace us till the end ;) tapi panasssssssssssssssssss, itu je yg kurang ons

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  3. Well done Nana! All the trainings on the happymill in front of the fan berbaloi kan? ;p

    Anyway, your expression when crossing the finishing line shows that it was easy for you. So, upgrade required please! Hehehe

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  4. Well done Nana! 100Duo - yes you should :D

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  5. Thanks for running with me the last stretch of the race, absolutely great! You should have mention you guys are going for 10k race the next freaking morning!! =))

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  6. Congrats great run. Went to Universal studios or not?

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  7. Awesome run babe!! 100k is a must if not every year, then at least once.

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  8. ray ray: hahaha thanks! i'm sure it's not going to be your last! congrats to you! ok la, i nak tanya deo :P

    selly: apa kata semua buat 100km je next year?!! *peng-sun* :P

    deo: thanks! :) hahaha don't kutuk my happymill ok! :P jom tnf ngan i next year ;P congrats to you again! :)

    syah: thanks! well done to you! :D well, i'll think about it ;P

    fandi: thanks! nah, legs were just too tired ;P

    kash: thanks! congrats to you again! :) well let me think when will that be then ;)

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  9. agus: didn't know you have a blog! ;) thanks for being an awesome company on the last 10km, had a blast running with you :)

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