wet trail run.....shoes and socks well tested

I went MR alone this morning....still remember the last time i came here alone was during my 30km run somewhere in oct/nov last year....times really flies....about half a year has passed..... i was having difficulty to wake up since i din promise anyone except myself that i will be down at MR in the early morning....but still the lure of mother nature fresh air and the trails has conquered my laziness....managed to wake up and reach MR at 7.30am to start my run....today i decided to try my injinji again with my Salomon XA Pro 3D to checkout where i will have abrasion problem due to my shoes long tougue and my short socks. As usual, MR was filled with students kayakers and seems to have less runners this mornning......it have been raining crazily for past days and i am expecting a wet trail to run on....the northern trail is still good..not too wet and comfortable to run on....i was going at a much faster pace than before.....having started at the toilet, i took 21min to reached the clubhouse, which usually i will reach at 22-24min running about 500m less. i decided to go for more trail so instead of running along the road up to the service reservoir and down the footpath to the ranger station, i took the more difficult route by turning to the trail on the left...this trail was less used by walkers and runners becos of the short but challenging rocky trail and a big upslope....i reached the ranger station and rested for 3 and a half min before moving on. the starting upslope from the ranger station was very rocky...man...i actually din ran here for past weeks as i went in from the golf course side.....i can feel my ball of foot landing on rocks but i think the ground feel of this shoes is damn good..plus my injinji, i was able to feel where i landing and this actually helps a lot in maintaining my balance and train my legs to run at shorter strides with higher cadance..... Like what Dr Romanov had mentioned in his book, which tally with what i have been believing for past years, the unevenness and unpredictable support conditions of the trail actually keep you alert and promotes a more well-rounded development of the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints, especially the lower legs strength and ankles....that's the reason why MR trail running is a must for my base training for the past 3 years...and seriously, i din not get any serious running injuries except for my under-trained ultramarathon 2005....however, trail training need to be done with care and moderation...we must know our body and control our effort to prevent more injuries...we cannot run with efforts that we used to dash on the hard roads. back to my run, the past days rainy effect was very prominently seen at rifle range trail....i was running on very soft muddy grounds that the run-off has created a "stream" along the wide trail..i got to be very sensitive to balance myself properly as this is a different ground situation compared to previous rocky trail...... finally reached the first "river"...expect it to have high water level but it was OK....after crossing the second river, the exciting part came...it was like a small river overflowing the trail...the ground for this stretch is very rocky and it was filled with running water up to ankle deep....this is the best time to test my shoes and socks...i went with cautious steps and managed to clear the stretch without difficulty....my shoes and socks are soaked with water..... When i reached jelutong tower, my socks was squashing inside my shoes....i continued to run and after about 5min of running....miracles!!! no more squashing and i was like running with dry socks and shoes.....i am really impressed with the drainage of this shoes and the drying ability of the coolmax toe-socks....however, i also felt sore on my BOF...must the rocks...good..that means i landing properly on my BOF....the soreness actually went off after just 1-2min of running and my legs are tired due to the challenging wet and rocky path. i maintaned my pace and continue to ran thru the small hill after the golf course and reached the MR25 TT trail.....the rest of the journey was easy and i decided to end my run right at the toilet estimated to cover abt 11km today, i finished in abt 1hr 12min including rest....considering the tough trail today, it was a very good run for me.especially the wet test for my socks and shoes... ***need to find a replacement for my salomon soon before it give way.....