Now, that sounds kinda scary considering that we both just returned from walking 30.1km(that's 7 x 4.3km) around Bedok Reservoir for the 50 Hour Non Stop Run just yesterday. Despite just walking round and round the same loop seven times, it still was quite an interesting experience. For one, the idea of a running event happening over 50 hours is already an interesting concept. This meant that we could take a break during our run to go for a meal or a drink, and continue later. In fact, we could even run five or six rounds on the first day and come back again the next day to continue. So cool right? I was also going to have to walk 43km to get three medals which was our aim. Basically, we get one medal each after the third, sixth and tenth round. That is sure going to be a challenge!
Hmm, why all these talk about walking when this is supposed to be a run? Well, we did intend to do some running during this event, even if we didn't complete all 10 rounds running. However, it was only when we got there that I realised that the path we were to be running on was mostly sand, with only some short sections being hard, solid ground. This means that the ground which we were running on was really uneven. That sure made running much more difficult. Therefore, after trying to jog a little for the first two rounds, we decided to give it up and just walk the rest of the way. Due to not having trained for this run, we were both starting to pant quite a bit as well.
We decided to finish off our third round and then go for lunch as we were both getting a little hungry by then. We also really needed a break badly to catch our breaths, to get some reprieve for our aching legs and to get some shelter from the scorching midday sun. Haha, it was really a great mistake. I had totally forgotten that we would be under the midday sun for a good couple of hours if we started the run at 11am. Otherwise, I would have picked a later timing to start our run and prepare sunscreen lotion as well. We had a rather quick lunch at a coffee shop nearby, during which we hydrated ourselves with a cool drink and took a good rest sitting down. When we felt we had rested enough, we returned to the starting line to begin our fourth round. At the end of our fourth round, which meant that we had walked more than 17km, my feet were starting to get really sore.
By our fifth round, I was really starting to get quite familiar with my surroundings. The first landmark was a sort of generator I think. That was the signal that we had just started on the long route. Then next landmark was just before the 2.8km point which was the water point. A little further on and we'd pass by TP and then a bistro called "WAWAWA". Coming to that bistro meant that we were slightly more than a kilometre from the finishing point. Then we would pass by some rowing event happening on the reservoir before passing by a huge balloon of NILA floating above the reservoir before reaching the finishing point. Well, the balloon was supposed to be floating, but it was clearly having difficulty doing that haha!
It was also somewhere around the fifth round that we finally met up with one of JL's friends who was also participating in the run. Well, she was also walking too actually haha! She was only planning to do three rounds and get one medal but we did manage to persuade her to do six rounds to get a second medal. We decided to accompany her and end off with seven rounds that day, continuing the last three rounds the next day.
So, long story cut short, we finished off the last two rounds with our legs getting ever more painful, with us being so glad to move from walking on sand to solid ground. Interestingly, my feet felt less painful walking on solid ground compared to walking on sand. I could see that the others felt the same too as I saw them both hop onto the solid ground as gratefully as I did. Walking on solid ground sure offered much relief for our aching feet. I did realise that JL and his friend seemed to be doing much better than I did most of the way so I tried to just suck it up and hurry along, though I fell back quite frequently. For me, my ankles were hurting terribly with my calves and knees aching slightly. However, JL's thighs were the source of pain for him.
It was already 10pm by the time we were done. Boy were we relieved and glad that it was finally over. As we were all feeling really shagged out mentally and physically, with aches all over our legs we hardly knew which part was really aching, we decided to skip dinner. It was actually kind of comical; the three of us hobbling along gingerly on our feet. I wonder why we signed up for this to torture ourselves haha! We even wanted to take a cab home instead so that we could get some rest asap. JL's friend then suggested something called Uber which was really a much cheaper and more convenient alternative to taking a cab. I didn't know much about it so I just went along with the idea. Hmm,.. and it did turn out to be much better than taking a cab. It was definitely much cheaper and I got home in only 20 minutes!! I was really quite surprised too but relieved all the same.
Well, you might have already guessed it. We weren't ready to go for our last three rounds this morning and decided to give it up. JL's ankles were starting to hurt really badly by this morning, though my legs were feeling much better. It was still a really awesome experience, something I will remember for a long time to come!:)
We decided to finish off our third round and then go for lunch as we were both getting a little hungry by then. We also really needed a break badly to catch our breaths, to get some reprieve for our aching legs and to get some shelter from the scorching midday sun. Haha, it was really a great mistake. I had totally forgotten that we would be under the midday sun for a good couple of hours if we started the run at 11am. Otherwise, I would have picked a later timing to start our run and prepare sunscreen lotion as well. We had a rather quick lunch at a coffee shop nearby, during which we hydrated ourselves with a cool drink and took a good rest sitting down. When we felt we had rested enough, we returned to the starting line to begin our fourth round. At the end of our fourth round, which meant that we had walked more than 17km, my feet were starting to get really sore.
By our fifth round, I was really starting to get quite familiar with my surroundings. The first landmark was a sort of generator I think. That was the signal that we had just started on the long route. Then next landmark was just before the 2.8km point which was the water point. A little further on and we'd pass by TP and then a bistro called "WAWAWA". Coming to that bistro meant that we were slightly more than a kilometre from the finishing point. Then we would pass by some rowing event happening on the reservoir before passing by a huge balloon of NILA floating above the reservoir before reaching the finishing point. Well, the balloon was supposed to be floating, but it was clearly having difficulty doing that haha!
It was also somewhere around the fifth round that we finally met up with one of JL's friends who was also participating in the run. Well, she was also walking too actually haha! She was only planning to do three rounds and get one medal but we did manage to persuade her to do six rounds to get a second medal. We decided to accompany her and end off with seven rounds that day, continuing the last three rounds the next day.
So, long story cut short, we finished off the last two rounds with our legs getting ever more painful, with us being so glad to move from walking on sand to solid ground. Interestingly, my feet felt less painful walking on solid ground compared to walking on sand. I could see that the others felt the same too as I saw them both hop onto the solid ground as gratefully as I did. Walking on solid ground sure offered much relief for our aching feet. I did realise that JL and his friend seemed to be doing much better than I did most of the way so I tried to just suck it up and hurry along, though I fell back quite frequently. For me, my ankles were hurting terribly with my calves and knees aching slightly. However, JL's thighs were the source of pain for him.
It was already 10pm by the time we were done. Boy were we relieved and glad that it was finally over. As we were all feeling really shagged out mentally and physically, with aches all over our legs we hardly knew which part was really aching, we decided to skip dinner. It was actually kind of comical; the three of us hobbling along gingerly on our feet. I wonder why we signed up for this to torture ourselves haha! We even wanted to take a cab home instead so that we could get some rest asap. JL's friend then suggested something called Uber which was really a much cheaper and more convenient alternative to taking a cab. I didn't know much about it so I just went along with the idea. Hmm,.. and it did turn out to be much better than taking a cab. It was definitely much cheaper and I got home in only 20 minutes!! I was really quite surprised too but relieved all the same.
Well, you might have already guessed it. We weren't ready to go for our last three rounds this morning and decided to give it up. JL's ankles were starting to hurt really badly by this morning, though my legs were feeling much better. It was still a really awesome experience, something I will remember for a long time to come!:)
