Finally, finally today I went for a run! I knew I wanted to run trails and normally that means heading to my favorite stomping/tromping grounds — MacRitchie Reservoir. But today, I was in the mood to explore. So I headed to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, a small pocket of green next to the island’s much larger central catchment. This area is home to a sizeable rainforest where root laden trails wend their way up the sides of the summit after which the reserve is named. ”Bukit” means “hill” in Malay and “Timah” is “tin”, although no tin has been found there. Fun fact. Anyway, as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I recognized the entrance as part of The North Face 100K course that I ran (the 50K duo) in October but I decided to head off on a small woody trail at the back of the parking lot and just see where it led. As luck would have it (or not…depending on your perspective), it led me straight up toward the summit path. The first part is a super steep concrete path and after a week of inactivity, I had a lot of pent up energy. So I pumped and pushed as hard as I could up the hill for as long as I could. This turned out to be a great deal further than I expected. It felt amazing to strain and exert and just keep going. Then, once at the top (which is a bit anticlimactic since there’s really no view to speak of), I let fly down the other side and discovered some jungle paths to scurry over, deep stairs to jump down and as I found my way back to where I started out, the same super steep hill to sideways sachet down (running straight down would have been suicide). I had a blast! My music selection for the day certainly helped. When I ran in California, I almost never wore an iPod but here I find it helps so much to distract from the heaviness of the heat. No heaviness whatsoever today. It was all about pushing upward, cresting and then flying, quite literally, over the ground and through the air.
As I was running/flying, I thought about my virtue for the week. This is actually the last virtue on my list of 10 and it’s the one that I find hardest to get a good grip on: creativity. I realized the notion of being a “creative” person, makes me nervous. In the past, my creative outlet was always dancing (ballet and modern dance). But I haven’t been to a dance class in maybe 2 decades (!!) However, since I’ve been in Singapore, I’ve become aware that running is a form of expression for me, especially when I run with a camera. It’s a way to document perspectives and capture thoughts and feelings while moving through space. I also came to an understanding today that for me, creativity is about taking risks and facing my own vulnerabilities with compassion and openness. This is the interesting place that this virtue seems to be leading me. But for this to occur, I need a fully rested mind and body. So it’s off to bed for me!
