VIVO City, Labrador MRT - Friends Are Important To Cultivate a HealthyLifestyle

2 weeks of running ban from doctor, 1 week to remove stitches and wait for wound to close and 1 week of flu/cough.Thanks to the recent bad air from the bushfires of Indonesia, I have been developing a cough every time the air pollution level jumps. This always gave me a mental excuse to skip my runs earlier in the week, after my recovery from my flu. The funny thing, is that I used to be immune from all the bad air Singapore has seen in the past decade. Perhaps the Grave Disease has started affecting my lungs too?? It has been a month since I stopped running and it could have been longer, if not for my usual running friends urging me to resume our Saturday weekend run. So cough or no cough, I dragged myself out of bed at 7am in the morning, despite turning in late at 2am the night before.

The Playground of the rich!

We decided on the Labrador Park route again, but this time, with a slight twist: We are going to start from VIVO city, instead of from Labrador Park. 

I started the run real slow. How slow? I was running along with the ladies, whom normally would not be able to catch up with me prior to my Changi Hospital escapade.

Since I covered this route before in an earlier article, I will cease to gush on how scenic this route is. Instead, I will let the pictures do the talking.

Broadwalk connecting Keppel Bay and Labrador Park

Symbolic Replica of the Dragon Teeth Stones(龙牙门).
Helped Admiral Zheng He navigate around the
waters of Singapore during Ming Dynasty 

The morning sun at Labrador Park

Whoever Mark Loves the night before,
it is still around in the morning...

My plan was to do a run to Labrador Park, out to the Labrador MRT and back to VIVO City. The whole route will be around 6-7km, a pretty gentle start up run for a person who has completed 10km before. Didn't work out as what I planned...

After 3km, I was feeling winded, which is unusual for me, as I normally would not even feel tiredness even after 5km (unless there are many slopes for me to conquer). By the time I reached the end of the Labrador Park, my pace dropped to a slow walk. I was thinking that I would be able to resume running after I caught my breathe. That's when I started getting a stomachache...

One of the symptoms of the drugs I am taking, will result in frequent desire to pass motion. And more often than not, the signal comes in a form of intense sharp pain, which will persist, until I have released all the toxic waste stored in my system. The symptoms also occur frequently in the morning, which is why I usually spend some time in the toilet before I go for the regular Saturday run. But this morning, I spent just too much time trying to hustle myself out from my comfortable bed, that I could not muster enough time to visit the loo that morning. 

The End of the Labrador Park. Labrador Jetty. Seems like
it has some history!

They should fence up Bedok Reservoir instead, since there
are much more people drowning there than at the Labrador
Jetty! Nanny State!

Thinking the pain can be, and shall be endured until the end of the run, I continued my run, bypassing the toilet at Labrador Park. That was one big mistake! The next 1km, the journey from the Park to the MRT station, is simply an agony. My conclusion is: It is hard to run with a stomachache... even when you are desperate to dash for the toilet, but the toilet is another 400-500m away. I think you get the irony of the whole idea. 

The long walk to Labrador MRT

Take the Left turn to get to the beach park

Its a long long walk under the hot sun.

My poor stomach is saved by the sight of the MRT station!

After 10 mins of brisk walk and cursing at my weak stomach, my goal is in sight! Labrador Park MRT! After taking a quick snap of the station entrance, I dashed to the MRT toilet. Making sure that there is enough toilet paper in my cubicle (Important!), I spent the next 10 mins in high heavens, stinking up the whole toilet...

After the whole ordeal, I decided to take a photo of the toilet, to commemorate the reboot of my running hobby again. That is when I was approached by the station control staff...

"Sir, you can't take photos here!!"

"Erh, OK. But just one picture of the toilet? Please?"

The picture that got me into trouble...

That's when the staff looked at me suspiciously, thinking whether or not to slam me to the wall and frisk me, to check for explosives, or any blueprints of the station. I think my sweaty smelly shirt dissuaded him to do that. I quickly apologized and tapped my EZlink card at the gantry, taking a ride back to Harborfront MRT. All my friends are already waiting for me at VIVO. Besides, I am tired...

 One day after the run. I woke up with a screaming muscle ache at my thighs. Time to retrain back to my former fitness...