Across the TPE :)

Well, I did cross the TPE this morning and into Punggol.



Started at 6:10am. Up Sengkang East Road, across the TPE. The pavement on the bridge above TPE was covered by slabs that made a lot of noise as you run/walk over it. Once in Punggol, I had wanted to run up the length of Punggol Way (following the Punggol LRT) and then U-turn to come back to Punggol Central as planned yesterday. However, the pavement on Punggol Way was dark and had insects and I was hit by strands of spider web 2x over my lips and 2-3x over my arms. It was annoying especially the web strands dancing on my arms which gave the feeling insects were buzzing over the arms. So, I turned right into Punggol Central instead of running to the end of Punggol Way. Hiaz! Punggol Central, the pavement also had low tree leaves which you had to duck and another strand of spider web snared my lips. Quite irritating. Somemore, in the dark, the spider strands on my arms felt like insects buzzing on it.

I ran the length of Punggol Central, passing under the Punggol Central LRT and bus interchange, past Punggol Secondary School, the Central Christian Church till I reached Punggol East. Turning right, I ran down till I reached the bridge over the TPE. Reaching the top, I tripped. Right hand covered in dirt and my right thigh felt a light pull as I caught myself with the palm of my hand. Brushing off the dirt, I walked across the noisy slabs towards Sengkang.

Once on Sengkang East Drive, I was wondering how I should run home. My right knee was feeling slight strain. I had a slight sniffle. Looking at my watch, I figured I only did 5km+ and wanted to clock at least 8km-10km. Well, I ran on till I saw the bridge over Serangoon River and decided to turn into Sengkang instead of carrying on down Upper Serangoon Road to Hougang. Turned into Buangkok Drive. The pavement is atrocious, especially after the Sengkang Central interchange. First, it was not flat, lots of up and down and later on, there was much dead leaves and dirt.

Finally reached Sengkang East Road. First time at this part of Sengkang East Road and dismayed I had to run uphill on foot. After the NEL Depot, I turned left into Achorvale and decided to run on till I reached my 2km route and finish by doing a reverse of my standard 2km route.

Completed my 11.78km run at 7:43am. 1 hour 33 mins. Average pace of 7.6km/hour which was a lot faster than I realiased whilst runnning. I don't think I will run up Punggol Way again. Don't like the feeling of strains of spider webs across my lips or arms and also had to duck under tree leaves quite often. Not sure if it would have been safe trying to run on the road on a dark empty stretch. But I am happy to at least had the experience of running across the TPE (twice!).