Is it as flat as it looks?

When we see the moon from earth at a distance of 400,000km away, moon looks as flat as a mirror.  But man's landing on moon proved otherwise.  The surface of moon is not flat, but rather 'volcanic'.

Similarly, when the elevation of the 100k route is shown in ONE single representation of less than 10cm wide, what we see might be deceiving.  So, the question is:

Is the 100k route as flat as it looks in its 10cm representation?

A quick terrain view suggested that there may be some elevations the can bite.

To answer the question, we have to zoom into the route and to plot the elevation.

To zoom-into the route, I "chopped" the whole route into sections of 10km each.  As it is an "out-and-back" route, we just have to map the first 5x10k of the route.

In the following 5 maps, Part-1 is the first AND the last 10km of the route; Part-2 is km10 to km20, as well as km80 to km90 of the route... and so on.

To explore the 5 maps in mapmyrun:
2011 Sundown Ultra 100km Part-1: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28290616
2011 Sundown Ultra 100km Part-2: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28290784
2011 Sundown Ultra 100km Part-3: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28290924
2011 Sundown Ultra 100km Part-4: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28291052
2011 Sundown Ultra 100km Part-5: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28291246

2011 Sundown Ultra Route, km0 to km10 (left-to-right) AND km90 to km100 (right-to-left).

As flat as it looks? No!
Elevations to watch: km1.75, km2.25, km98.5!

2011 Sundown Ultra Route, km10 to km20 (left-to-right) AND km80 to km90 (right-to-left).

As flat as it looks? Yes!
Elevation to watch: nil (thanks organizer!).

2011 Sundown Ultra Route, km20 to km30 (left-to-right) AND km70 to km80 (right-to-left)

As flat as it looks?  Yes!
Elevation to watch: nil (thanks organizer!).

2011 Sundown Ultra Route, km30 to km40 (left-to-right) AND km60 to km70 (right-to-left)

As flat as it looks?  No!
Elevations to watch: km33.25, km37.75, km60.25, km65.

2011 Sundown Ultra Route, km40 to km50 (left-to-right) AND km50 to km60 (right-to-left)

As flat as it looks? Yes!
Elevation to watch: nil (thanks organizer!).

So, the route is actually not as flat as +/-1 as it seems from its complete view.  The part that worry me is the last 2km stretch, which is the only 'red' in elevation!

Finger crossed!

Can't wait to reach km-47

The 100k route is in "mapmyrun", at http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/fullscreen/27986230/.

Old memories are at km-47.  Are the people that I know still there?

And the route is "maximaly" flat...

...really thankful to the organizer!  Kudosss!

Strange thing... unlike myself (a human being, obviously) who stop growing 20 years ago, Singapore actually "grew" bigger.  The stretch from km-21 to km-27 used to be sea/sea-side.  The land towards the East of this stretch was non-existence back then.

Singapore is just "strange".  When the human/neighbour(s) stop growing/start shrinking, Singapore actually grows, literaly, like a living organisme!

It is 100k out-and-back

Finally, the much anticipated 100k route is out.

I would say that my CNY wish has "partially" came true... the route is NOT some nonsense boring loops, not even 2 loops of 50k!

Well, an out-and-back might be considered a loop of the same route.  But to me, it is still better than loops which you are "invited" or "given a chance" to give up easily.

In fact, the out-and-back 100k route gives me pleasant surprise: it ends at Bedok Reservoir before we U-turn back... exactly where the campus of my alma mater situated.  I have never studied at this campus before... was graduated before the campus was completed 20 years ago.  It is always my wish to visit the Bedok Reservoir campus which, according to old friends, is impressive.

Now, mentally, I am just taking a trip from Marina Bay... a place which I spent a lot of Saturday nights eating steamboat and "lepaking" with old friends 20 years ago... to the new campus of my alma mater... on foot.  Gosh... this is just too exciting!

More... more... seeing the perfect sunrise along the Changi Airport stretch on my way back... the place that I spent countless nights studying for final exam... yes, we studied at Terminal 2 of Changi Airport overnight, all the nights before and during exam!  All my good memories of school day just flashed back!

Am anticipating, with fear-of-unknown and excitement!

Everything checked, except... (duhhhh!)

It is Chinese New Year period with semi-long working holidays again.  While planning for the holiday, one dilemma that always confuse me:

- should I grab the opportunity to clock the much needed mileage on every holiday?, or
- should I take a break from running?, or
- should I follow the schedule like any working day?

For the 'barely over' Chinese New Year, I decided to skip running on day-1 (Thu) and day-2 (Fri), pampering myself after my first ever 80k+ week.

With the 2 'run-less' days, I planned to compensate by doing another "back2back" during the weekend.

On Friday (day-2 of new year), I would be travelling to Malacca and then straight to Klang for the weekend.  So, my much needed weekend "back2back" has to be done in Klang.

For the much anticipated "back2back" weekend in Klang, I have done a long checklist making sure that all the long run survival kits are with me to Malacca... and then... to Klang.

So... with the help of my Home Minister, we make sure that I have two sets of running shirt, pants, socks, towels... and
- hydration belt + bottle: checked;
- stopwatch: checked;
- gps: checked;
- gps charger: checked;
- contact lens: checked;
- arm porch: checked.
and the family travelled happily to Malacca, and then, to Klang on Friday night.

The fun happened when I was driving along the boring Seremban-KLIA-detour-Klang expressway... and mentally going through what to do on the next (Saturday) morning for my run.

I posted the following dumb question to my Home Minister who had just waken up from the sleep after travelling for nearly 2 hours in the car...

...mama, did you put my running shoes in the 'boot'?

Her reply in sleepy tone: no.

That's why I am sitting here blogging now.