Record 16 turned up for ABC Run on 29 Jan 2012 at ECP F2 Car Park

Who started this round of laughter? Must be all their witty one-liners!

What a joy to see ABC runners enjoying themselves.

Mahean: "MU lost last night so I am here to de-stress and run with a psychiatrist (who enjoys taking photos (including this one) on Sunday)"

Leader B is back; 2 Sundays in a row. Choon Chiang sms me to inform me that before 2012, Ldr B's last run was on 30 Jan 2011 at Marina Bay area.

New member Mr John Lee, brought in by Nai Eng. Welcome John. I over heard you saying that you have signed up for 2012 Sundown Half-Marathon.

Leader C with Naresh, who has been busy lately and has not joined us for quite a while. But he will be seen  more often judging by the amount of fun and laughter he must have experienced interacting with the ABC gang.

Jasmine, here with Wen Eng, has also been coming for Sunday runs more often. How much should I charge Jasmine for increasing her hand-phone battery capacity by a meagre 10%? 

Answer: 10 cents!

Dr Chan Cheow Ju, a general practitioner and class mate of Wee Boon, dropping by to say hello. Cheow Ju, how about joining ABC Runners?

Choy May, effortless run on Sundays I am sure.

Nai Eng, sorry you tilted your head, couldn't show more of your hair. But the smile (more important than hair I am sure) is great.

Look at Yoke Weng's eye brows. Thicker and denser by the year.

Wow, such loyal ABC runners. Shih Pin and Pei Lin have been seen coming in ABC singlets on many occasions. Keep it up!. When we have the next batch of new ABC singlets (a reward for all if attendance continues to be maintained at 15 per week level), I propose that two of you shall be the first to get them. I am sure Leaders B and C would agree with me.

Lily came, ran and went. 

She had to run her clinic which started at 9.30am whilst the rest of us continued to run our runs.

The magnificent 7 with ABC singlets. We have so far had 4 colour singlets (white, red, blue and green). If attendance hits 15 per regularly, Leader A (with Leader B and C if both agree) will sponsor the next batch of singlets. 

Lucky 13.

One birthday "boy" to another birthday "boy". How nice to be forever "boy"? Somehow, they don't say birthday man. Birthday buns courtesy of Nai Eng.

Good shot taken by Nai Eng at Old Kallang Airport Foodcourt.

Another shot by Nai Eng. The topic of our breakfast conversation: "differences between men and women when it comes to........"

Masthead Photo of 22 and 23 Jan 2012 Run

To see more photos, click on the two links just below the main masthead above.

29 Jan 2012 Run starts from ECP Car Park F2. See you.

Gong Xi Fa Cai. I hope everyone had a good time with all the eating, drinking, laughing, singing and maybe some gaming ( ie gambling).

Last weekend, we had two mini impromptu birthday celebrations. On Saturday, we had Mahean ( aka The Indian) celebrating his riches as he turn old enough to collect his CPF. So, the SLR runners bought a mini cake and had a mini celebration with a fairly quiet birthday song. ( We do not want the rest to know that he is collecting his CPF lah !!)

On the first day of CNY, we had another mini celebration for Ldr A (see photo below), this time for his Chinese calendar birthday for he is born on the first day of the Chinese New Year. No wonder he is so prosperous !!

We also had a lo-hei (see photo below) after the Sunday run courtesy of Pei Lin mum. All in, lots of eating !!! No one cares about how far they run or if the track is muddy or not !! Perhaps, the only one counting is Jasmine who promised to do at least 20 runs with the ABC runners this year. I think, so far it is already 3 .

This Sunday, to take advantage of the cool weather, we will venture back to the East Coast and start the run from F2 carpark. I hope it would not rain like the last time. I really hope all will try to come early and it is really refreshing to do an early morning run. Talking about the birthdays, it is everybody birthday on Sunday !! Time to celebrate again at the hawker center at Blk 17, Bedok South Rd .

So, see you at 6.30 am at ECP carpark F2 this Sunday.

Regards

Sunday 22 Jan: Marigold Drive and Monday 23 Jan: Dempsey Road

Finally, we had a reason to go to the Labrador Park for a run. Well, Jasmine was the enthusiastic one that mapped out the route and we had to do the jetty part 2 times so that the total distance exceeds 10 Km.

The early morning rain seems to have deter early risers. Hence, as I drove into carpark B at 6.30 am, I could only see Nai Eng standing there with his bag. After some time, others started to drift in. So, we finally begin our run at about 7.10am and the carpark was starting to get full. We started off with a slow jog to the jetty (closed due to safety reasons) and then up the hill to whether all the old British big guns are. All are facing the sea, and the Japanese attacked us from land !! Belakang mati lah !! We went down the hill and joined back to Port Rd onto the MRT station which makes the start of Berlayer Creek Mangrove trail. It does not lead you into the mangrove swamp but merely skirt the edges – which is better since the mangrove are not disturbed. Then onto Bukit Chermin boardwalk which is created for you to salivate at the multi-million dollar dwellings and the yachts along the coast line. Finally, round the so-called Keppel Island which is probably just one big football field.

As the weather is quite cool, it is quite a pleasant morning run. As most of the route is not quite shaded by trees, it can be quite hot when the sun is up. Will try to feature this route into our regular Sunday run and see if others also like it or not.

Back to the run this Sunday. This Sunday is CNY eve , not so many places are open for breakfast. As such, we will start the run from Shih Pin/Pei Lin house on Sunday. The usual 10 km round the McRitchie Reservoir. After that, we will have a sumptuous breakfast prepared by Shih Pin. If you like, you can bring some of your New Year delicacies as well.

On the first Day of CNY ie Monday 23^rd Jan, we will do our traditional first day run ie a short run of about 3 km. No breakfast and all can go home after the run for their visits and other programs. We will start from Dempsey Road. Try to start about 6.45 am as some may need to rush home. Come in your red clothing.

So, Sunday run – Marigold Drive. Monday run- Dempsey Rd.

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Yoke Weng  

Welcome back to our ABC Runners' Blog. Run on 8 Jan 2012 starts from ECP Carpark F2

I hope everyone had a good holiday season.

At 7 am last Sunday, there were just me and Nai Eng at Dempsey. Well, some of the others started to stream in a little while later, and we managed to start off at about 7.10am. Most did the usual WKS route. Sort of miss the Gurkha at the gate !! The cool weather makes the run quite pleasant.

It was a different story at breakfast time. The handful of runners had turned into a crowd. The number of non-runners (7) was about the same as the runners (8).  We had to join 3 tables at Ah Seng to accommodate the eaters. Also, we had to replenish the you char kuey and carrot cake as Ah Seng took ages to deliver his fish ball and prawn noodles. I thought that it would be helpful to write down our orders for coffee given the lack of helpers at the coffee stall. However, we had a small problem – the stall holder could not read English and hence we had to translate it into simple Hokkien instructions. As usual, with AYG around, there were a lot of laughter round the table and some sharing of the holiday experiences. AYG promised to post the photos on the blog (see photo in the ABC Runners masthead).

With the opening of a few new trails eg Labrador, Serangoon etc, we will see if we can go there for a run. In the meantime, we have not done East Coast run for while. Parking at carpark B1 is always a problem. So, for this Sunday, we decide to do the run from carpark F2 – this is the carpark after Bedok jetty. From there, we will do the run towards SAFRA (about 4 km one way)  and the airport coastal route. Likely to be around 12 km. Will decide on breakfast venue later.

So, I hope to see everyone there early this Sunday – ECP carpark F2 . usual time.

Regards

Yoke Weng