The Great Singapore Loop - Day 4

Day 4 - 04 August 2017

I had to wake up early this day as had to meet friends at 6AM and 10km's of running to get there, and I was just not sure how my legs and feet were going to feel today.

The first km I took it slow and as everything warmed up, I picked up speed. Then I started pushing 6:00/km speeds with my fastest km at 5:30 and I still could not get my heart rate over 120bpm. Something has defintely changed in my body the last few days!

I arrived at West Coast Park to find Mark waiting for me. He has been an absolute star on this challenge, taking lots of photos when I would have just pushed on, and having great conversations in the early hours of the morning.

 My last leg!

We had 2km of nice park running till we met Ruud and Kiyomi at Haw Par Villa MRT. I had made adjustments to my final day run as these guys wanted to join, and I thought it would be crappy to just take them on highways. So, we headed slightly inland and climbed up to Kent Ridge, and going down through Hort Park. The pace was slower now but we were joking and laughing a lot. Coming down into Labrador Park and my starting point3 days ago felt very anti-climatic. I just did not feel I have had a run today. We stopped at the finish line for some photos at 20km.

Thankfully Mark suggested we run a loop around Labrador Park and end up on Keppel Island for breakfast. At 22k, my left foot started hurting and, as I deliberately did not have any energy bars so far, I was running low.

When we stopped at 25k I finally felt it. Yes, I have done this!! 182km over 4 days barefoot!

Then it was getting some breakfast surrounded by people on their way to work. Always a surreal thing when you know you have done something they could not be able to comprehend.
 I am very grateful to all the support from my running group doing this! And special thanks to my awesome girlfriend who had to listen to a blow-by-blow account every night of a 50k run, and endure the smells!

I have learnt so much about how my body reacts to doing this amount of running. I felt my running style has changed this week for the better and am feeling so much more confident working towards my goal of a 100 mile ultra one day.

I was surprised how much slower the day went and how much time was spent finding water and making sure of routes etc etc. I thought I would be spending 6 hours total per long day but it was more 7 to 7.5 hours a day.

Running in Singapore is definitely not easy. We might not have elevation but the heat and humidity are killers. The first 3 days, I drank 15L of water each day with hardly any urination on the runs.

I'm definitely going to do this again but will cut Tuas out and try for a 2 days total to fit it in over a weekend.