Stick to Your Runs!

It is most often that I get into contact with the ever increasing macaque population while running in parks, connectors or along less human trafficked roads.

While most times, I just needed to be a little more prudent not to go too near to the babies, avoid eye contact and pick up pace to run ahead. Occasionally there might be a few Alphas that were really very wary and cautious to protect their families and young, that they literally tried to grab and chase after you!

The Mandai Road gang is one such gang. 

And it is unavoidable on my route to the Upper Peirce Reservoir.

So I have noticed this gang of macaques for some time. They are almost certainly there, whenever I run down Mandai Road after crossing the traffic emerging from the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector. Usually I just continue running without eye contact and fussing about them. But it was on one encounter that I got confronted by the seemingly alpha male even when I just "ran my own business". It was then I realised this is one not to be trifled with, and I needed to be more vigilant.

When the alpha wasn't there, the other members of the troop would just cry out as if in distress, when I passed them by.

I needed to have a plan to protect myself.

I learnt from the Hub that using a stick as a defensive weapon could help. Not to use the stick to attack the macaques of course. I learnt that just by swaying the stick in your hand gently in a left to right motion helps to keep the macaques away. They would just move away or leap off, and when at a safer distance from them, you could just discard the stick along the side of the path - usually from the grass patch from where it was taken a distance away much earlier on.

The stick that I used

So, whenever I know I am approaching the hangout area of this troop of macaques, I would first select a fallen-off branch on the roadside, that is of suitable length, durability and making sure there are no ants nor insects on it. I would hold it as I run, and when I do see the troop, gently sway it left and right as a defensive motion. 

On this particular day, the alpha was there. He saw me approach and again attempted to snare at and approach me. But when the stick gently swayed to his direction, he too had to flee away.

Took the pictures of the "gang" only after running from them at a safer distance

It is by no means a way to taunt nor to attempt to attack and injure these animals - nor any animal we encounter. I do appreciate having wildlife aound us very much. The best practice is to admire them from a distance, appreciate their pressence and wild way of life and do not interact with them especially not feeding them. I do have a lot of personal encounters with park-goers or the public who instead tried to "unwild" these lives, and hence creating ripples of negative consequences through these actions. This is another topic of course and I shall not dive into it and turn it into a lecture here! 😜

Sometimes the best way to co-exist with wildlife peacefully is to still have some form of barrier - and in this case a way of defending yourself so that no "fights" happen and each group can still survive in its own way of life.

Sunrise Run

 

14 September 2025

I made it!

Finally got to do this: woke up at around 5am and got out of the house around 6am. It was a Sunday and the usual Bukit Timah Hill climb with the Hub was off.  I decided to TRY to catch the infamous misty dawny rays at the Ulu Sembawang Park Connector, hyped much about some time back.

I estimated that I would need about half an hour to reach the sunrise view point. My aim was to reach the spot at around 6.30am or so.

Forwent my usual longer morning routine and because I am someone who can't run empty-stomach, I made 3/4 mug of Coffee-Lo (Instant coffee with Milo), with a slice of plain wholemeal bread and 2 mini Marie biscuits. Grabbed a sweet and a snack as well and off I went. As I was afraid of not making it in time, I did a much scaled-down warm up and stretching in less than 5 minutes.

And boy I ran - at tempo pace - I seldom, or in fact, never started a run with such speed. But it was a good training nevertheless.

I did not expect that waiting for the traffic lights to change colours could be so long in the early morning. Our city was already well-lit with moderate activity ongoing along the roads - walkers, work-goers, and many buses were already full-engined. It was no quiet run.

I read that the Park Connector is not lit 24 hours and hence it would be dark. No problem! The MRT Depot next to the entrance was well-lit up with rows of lamp-posts providing ample lighting. The morning sky was already brightening - I thought to myself if I would really catch the 1st rays through the forest? The time now was 6.24am.

Switching out of such gloomy thoughts, I congratulated myself for having climbed out of bed on a Sunday morning at 5am, and made it in an hour to leave the house. Sunrise or nor it didn't matter anymore - I had gained a new experience and a personal milestone!

Unexpectedly,  I was the sole intruder into the park connector. 

And before long, it was well, darkness. The Depot left behind, this stretch of the road was dark. No lights. I heard only sounds - of wildlife. 

Feeling rather nervous, I turned on the torch function of my cell-phone - but it was still very dim. I could barely see the front. It didn't help that I did not carry my glassess along with me on long runs...

Finally as I emerged from the thicket of trees and vegetation into the open field on my left, morning rays had seeped through the greenery in the distance. It was around 6.40am when I reached the sunrise spot.

There were no dramatic hues of the morning rays promised in the pictures, online. I was disappointed.

I climbed up the slope to have a better view, and yes it was misty, but not that mysterious...

I felt some slight drizzles and I thought this must be the reason for the dismal sight.

What I saw vs.... what was seen in the picture online below:

https://mothership.sg/2021/06/cyclist-sunrise-ulu-sembawang/

I tried to capture the "best" views on my phone camera. I lingered for a while and was careful to climb down from the pretty steep though low slope - it was still rather dark after all. I took another few more pictures to remember this moment and day. 😝 

Mist could be seen

Still dark...

This one turned out not too bad after I applied filter 😝

More filtered photos...

Then I continued running down the connector, hearing the chipping of wood by the woodpecker, which I never manage to spot on this route. I see a second human on this stretch of the connector when a cyclist zoomed past me as we exchanged morning greetings. The sky seemed to be giving way to dark clouds looming and grey weather seemed eminent ahead. A few more early bikers appeared and I decided to explore the side of the Mandai Park Connector leading to the Zoo, which I never had ventured onto. At this time groups of road cyclists have started their weekend hobby as well.

This one has no filter... I continued running on the connector to Mandai.

Did I miss the hues after I left and ran on Mandai Park Connector next?

Mandai Lake. The Rainforest Resort in the distance.

Gateway to the Mandai Wildlife Parks

After slightly more than a kilometre and my curiosity satisfied, I turned around and ran back to where I came from. By now the sun is up. No rain. As I entered Ulu Sembawang Park Connector again, more cyclists appeared, so did runners and walkers. Upon reaching the Sunrise view point,  I took a closer look at the Bidens Pilosa flowers, admiring their beauties in the morning light and freshness. And I spotted something extra amongst them!

A Mantis Nymph on the Bidens pilosa flower

 A Katydid Nymph?  

Spot Me!

That's when my run became a hike and nature walk plus macro-photography time! I discovered more and more little critters in the macro world as I trained my phone lens on the grounds and shrubs.

An uncle cyclist greeted me and requested that I help him take a photo. He started to chit chat with me about exercise, food places etc that took about 10 minutes. He explained that the sunrise here appears only at around 7.30am! The misty condition is weather dependent. It was almost 7.30am and I really wanted to see the effect but he was so excitedly talking that I found it impolite to just turn around to look for the sunrise instead. Finally, I managed to cue him that I wanted to move off and we parted.

By the time I went hunting for any sign of the renowned sunrise rays, the sun was fully up and about and I only managed to see some small patches of orange hue shadowed by the trees. Nevertheless, the uncle gave me some tips that I told myself I would make another or more trips for this experience.

This was taken after 7.30am.

The moon still visible...

Since I had rested so long, I decided to walk and admire the nature instead. I could hear a woodpecker nearby and I finally caught glimpse of it "climbing" on a  single bamboo stalk that shot high into the air. It was too distant for me to discern what woodpecker it was.

Woodpecker

The more I looked, the more critters and unique nature I spotted. It made me very happy too, that many fellow walkers, runners, cyclists were high-vibed and chirpily greeting "Good Morning!" 😀

A Hover Fly

A Cricket

Woodlouse or Pillbug

A Cereal Leaf Beetle

Snail

Black-and-Yellow Millipede

Mushroom

Morning dews

By the time I resumed running it was already 2.5hours past since I started running from home.

I slowly regained pace to run back to my neighbourhood but happy that I had discovered so much more in our world of nature, and also about extending and renewal of the current version of myself!

Run Flexi!

10 September 2025

What was intended as a 20+ km of run at earlier hours covering 5 locations, became shortened and restricted to within my neighbourhood.

I woke up an hour later than planned and by the time I could get out the door, it was past 9am with the sun shining happily bright. My plan was dented and I had to quickly reshuffle training plans for the week.

It was of no choice but to cover shorter distance today and preferably more shaded. 

I quickly decided to split the my runs for the week into 2 shorter long runs over two separate days, instead of the usual routine of 1 long run day and another for speed and intensity. And a cheerful thought pepped me up - I could do a sunrise run on Sunday as the usual running schedule may be tweaked - and I could get another solo running day - I will do that!

So I covered 16km today by running in my neighbourhood, from home to the Sports School and returned to run in the Nature Park that I usually do Intervals. I tried to rein myself in and refrained from spotting nature and photo- taking but ... well I guess I spent shorter time looking and taking pictures than I usually would :P

The only real personal slow-down was to go investigate how the Mangrove came to be now as I haven't gone in to that part of the park for a very long while.

Dismally, some large trees had been cut, and polluted the swamp area was - littered with plastics and cans. I did not see much wildlife except some mangrove crabs and shells.

Spot the Crabs in the Mud!

Well, if not for the change of plans, I would have not gotten the opportunity to visit this area of the Park again, and to plan for the sunrise run on the coming weekend!

Sometimes sudden and unforeseen changes can be a boost in life, and we need to make effort to realize that. 😊

Wildlife On The Run

My runs often got interrupted whenever I needed to investigate some nature of interest.

In fact, it has become such a norm, unless I was bent on focusing on a harder workout for that particular day. This habit derails my plan to improve on speed, form and breath... especially on my longer run days. 

Very often I run at parks or connecting pathways. There are often patches of green and bodies of water here and there (even along roads). I would have my eyes peeled for birds, insects or other wildlife, if not some interesting looking, or beautiful plants. I have turned my runs into nature watches like what I would do on hikes!

And so, my pace and timing get compromised quite a bit! 😅 However I am not complaining. In fact I am thankful for the many "harvests" I have accumulated thus far... 🙏

Is this a bee?

A katydid nymph?

Smooth-Coated Otter family

Black Spitting Cobra

Striated Heron

Sometimes my runs slowed down to a walk --- and became an actual hiking activity instead! 

In fact sometimes I spent so much time searching for a sound of an animal and bird or that I would spend a great deal of time and tries just to get a better shot of the nature I spotted. Before I knew it, a good 20-30 minutes had passed and my heart rate had gotten to almost resting pace. To get back the momentum and rhythm to catch up on my distance and journey, I needed to restart and regear the body engine.

Not all such ventures (adventures or mis-adventures?) end with "a catch". Sometimes the long time spent may be in vain. Nature after all could be elusive. And I have also learnt that the more you pursued, the more they fled. And the mindset and attitude has to be fine-tuned  - to let nature take its own course. To acknowledge and embrace the fact that sometimes we cross paths to say hello, sometimes we are on our own ways - and that is ok. 

And we should apply this to our life pursuits as well, and I am still learning... 😊